Russell Smith replied:
> My comments: I recently finished third in an adult spelling bee
> missing the word "patronymic." I inserted an i instead of the y.
> Definitely a phonics-induced mistake. Can you tell I'm not a big phonics
> fan? *:-)
Pete Holsberg <pjh@mccc.edu> commented:
>I may be missing the point, but isn't phonics perscribed
>for reading, not spelling? I'm old enough to have learned
>to read with phonics, but I think I learned to spell by
>reading a lot and just remembering what the words looked
>like.
Phonics is just one of the tools used to decode language, both reading and
writing (spelling). I have never considered myself a particularly good
speller, but I have learned to employ a wide variety of tools. I do
examine words for auditory clues to spelling. I read extensively. I use a
spell checker to catch typos and my errors. Then I first try to remember
the errors and followed by the corrections. If I know I have trouble with a
spelling, I'm more likely to reach for my dictionary. (I continue to use a
"real" book, but I would like a good electronic counterpart. Any
suggestions?)
I am not prepared to discard any of the tools I use to enhance, promote,
and decode the English language. I am continuing to acquire more tools of
communication. I can no more imagine being without phonetic access to my
language than I can imagine doing it without considering the context in
which words and phrases occur. How can you spell correctly without
understanding English grammar? "Joe and Jane runs to the store", "He went
two the store" or "She must of had two hammers" demonstrate to me how
indiscreet these tools are.
I strongly suspect that I would have failed the spelling bee challenge of
"patronymic" as well. However, in any communication in which the spelling
was discernible, it would be correct. If you rate third in a set of people
who consider spelling significant enough to engage in spelling bees, it
seems to me that your education concerning spelling was extremely good. You
didn't know the spelling so you chose a strategy to produce the most likely
correct answer. In this case that strategy didn't work, but it might have.
An additional spelling strategy might be to also have considered that in a
spelling bee, as it was closing down on the last three challengers, the
words given would try to divert from one or more of the more common
decoding rules and used a 'y' because it was NOT the phonetic choice (but
is the other letter that can produce that sound). That clearly incorporates
context into correct spelling. To close out such competitions at higher
levels (and to advance to the next level?) it is clearly important to
develop, explore and utilize as many tools and strategies as possible to
produce a correct spelling on demand. Discarding particular tools is not
the solution. (I would never discard my screwdriver because I now own both
a hammer and a battery powered drill/screwdriver.) To assert a direct
causal connection between phonics and errors in a spelling bee is somewhat
tenuous.
Ron
Ron Brunton
rbrunton@fox.nstn.ca