For most part, English plays fair

Word sorts are a great way to reinforce patterns.

Believe it or not, English words are overwhelmingly phonetically regular. Most can be spelled by sounding them out.

It often does not seem that way to young readers, who are confronted with the, was, of, etc. almost before mom, dad, cat, and dog. And it’s easy to highlight outliers such as yacht, though, and laugh. But studies show about 84% of English words follow common sound-spelling rules. In other words, they “play fair.” And another 10% or so play fair except for one sound. Only about 6% truly need to be memorized.

Those numbers include words that follow common spelling expectancies: -ck, -tch, -dge, -ll, -ss, -ff, etc. So if students apply phonics plus orthographic (letter pattern) knowledge, they will be correct more than 90 percent of the time. Learning semantics (meaning) and etymology (word origin) makes spelling even more accurate.

For dyslexic students, it is important to teach and apply patterns. For example, the word all does not play fair, but understanding that begats the ability to read (and spell) ball, call, wall, tall, etc. I tell students these -all words play fair because they follow the pattern. They are in the same word family. The word shall, which plays perfectly fair, is an outlier in this case.

Ditto with the -igh pattern: right, night, sight, bright, etc. In fact most single-syllable words that end with the /ie/ /t/ sounds are spelled -ight, rather than -ite.

It is also important to introduce the most common spellings first. Young readers, for instance, will encounter ee (see, feet, feel, sheep) before ea or ie or ey. And even though ou is a tough vowel pattern, research shows it sounds as /ow/ (out, ouch, loud, etc.) more often than anything else. So it should be taught that way.

One great activity to reinforce spelling patterns is word sorting. Say you want to practice /a/ vs. /ae/. Provide target words – real, nonsense, or a mix -- on a desktop, then give your student several example words on 3x5 cards to sort through and place in each category. Have them say each word as they lay it down.

Word sorts can also be done expressively, where teachers dictate a word then students write it in the correct column. I give students a point for putting the word in the right column, and another if they spell it correctly.

With older students, add a phonemic awareness element by mixing in a couple of words such as was and have, and create an “oddball” or “outlaws” column for words that don’t play fair.

Want to make it more challenging? Expand the number of columns (/a/ vs /ae/ vs /ar/). Ready to teach the six syllable types? Make six columns. Want to liven up the lesson? You sort the words, then have the student find your mistakes.

Sorting activates multiple cognitive processes. It promotes stronger phonics and decoding, deeper pattern recognition, enhanced phonemic awareness, improved spelling and word knowledge, vocabulary growth, increased critical thinking, and better comprehension and writing.

At higher levels, students can sort by homophone; prefix, suffix, root; word origin; synonym-antonym; type or species; detail or main idea – almost anything a teacher can imagine.

Once students see that most words play fair, either phonetically or by word family, it is a huge relief. If they follow their mouth, let their mouth guide their pencil, and apply spelling rules, they will be right or very close to right in their spelling most of the time.

Because, believe it or not, English words are more phonetically regular than they seem.