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Hexco Academic

"Okay, give me one good reason why I should spend time teaching my child spelling and spelling rules. Our computer checks spelling, even in our email program." The toughest part of that challenge is choosing just ONE good reason. Here are a few for starters:

Spell-checkers are terrific inventions, but they are limited. If you use "its" for the correct "it's" or "peek" instead of "peak," your usage error goes undetected. Pairs of words such as "symptom" and "syndrome" or "progeny" and "prodigy" are visually close, but by no means interchangeable. A spell checker, and even a finely-honed grammar checker, just does not work if the writer does not know the correct homophone or appropriate word usage.

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Good spelling skills are a signal of a higher educational level – and conversely, the lack of those skills conveys a lack of fairly basic knowledge. A gracious, handwritten note with a spelling error does not receive the same warm response and makes the sender appear careless at best. Essay questions on standardized tests require a student not only to have a command of vocabulary to express ideas but also to be able to spell those words correctly.
Spelling is a crucial link to vocabulary development. As one develops spelling skills, a more dynamic vocabulary is a natural byproduct. A richer vocabulary is the most important ingredient in communication, both verbal and written. A person's vocabulary is not only an indicator of his/her scope of knowledge, but expanded vocabulary skills are essential to additional learning and to clear expression of one's ideas and thoughts.

Indicators suggest that the vocabulary of our nation as a whole has been decreasing over past decades. At the same time, success in academic and business fields calls for a strong vocabulary. The common threads for getting ahead are a strong vocabulary and clear communication skills.
But a student needs more than a casual acquaintance with a word to be able to use it appropriately. Hearing or reading a word with comprehension moves it into one’s passive vocabulary. Learning to spell that word starts to move it into a person's writing vocabulary, and ultimately locks it into his/her active vocabulary for lifetime usage and the path to success.
Vocabulary grows fastest in the formative years. It increases about twice as fast up to age 10 as it will during preteen and teen years. Leveraging that development by teaching spelling, rules, and the conventions for word usage maximizes the benefit for a young student. That window of opportunity for vocabulary explosion closes quickly.

It is a bit more challenging to address a question as to why a student should learn abstruse words such as those encountered by competitors at the National Spelling Bee and other highly valued contests. Students who climb the rungs to succeed in those prestigious competitions generally have an innate interest in words and language. They go beyond memorizing the spelling of thousands of words to an incredible grasp of etymology.

The benefits of learning etymology are myriad:

Students learn spelling patterns and trends in usage. Spelling a word is no longer a matter of stringing together some sequence of letters. There are valuable clues to unlock whole families of words using prefixes, root words, and suffixes.
Vocabulary grows exponentially as basic Latin and Greek root words become familiar friends. Not only do students feel more grounded in their native tongue, but they are also more interested in grasping more root words to unlock unknown words.
Mastery of etymology greatly aids in taking standardized tests. A one-in-four random guess on a multiple-choice vocabulary test quickly can be improved to 50% or even 75%.

It all comes back to spelling skills and using spelling as a launching pad for vocabulary development -- which broadens your student's scope of knowledge. Spelling forms the building blocks of all language, and language enables us to communicate effectively and to enjoy learning over a lifetime.

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