How to learn spellings for adults

Learning to spell for adults and mature learners

Not all adults have perfect spelling skills. In fact, many have developed bad spelling habits over the years. This is even more so the case today given the nature of communication on social media networks and mobile texting.

Abbreviations are common in order to save space in posts and message chains and people ignore English capitalization and punctuation rules. It’s also the case that individuals who left school early may simply have missed out on learning how to spell in the first place.

And while spelling is only one aspect of productive language knowledge, it tends to be a rather obvious one. You may not know what a word means, but when you misspell something, everyone notices.

Spelling is not a reflection of intelligence. Nonetheless, it is still necessary to know how to spell in order to be successful in academic and work endeavours. Having poor spelling skills in English can cause an adult to be judged negatively by others.

They may lose out on job or career advancement opportunities and often will experience feelings of embarrassment and low self-esteem. Worse still, poor spelling skills can cause individuals not to reach their full potential at school.

This is because when a young adult finds certain words hard to spell, they may rely on more common and less specific vocabulary in writing, or avoid writing altogether. Their written work can appear over-simplified and may not reflect the true extent of their vocabulary.

While it may be embarrassing to practice spelling as an adult, an intervention is often required as it is not a skill that will fix itself. Learning to spell involves targeted work, including repetition and transcription exercises.

Enrollment in a basic adult education course at a local school is recommended, particularly if poor reading skills are also a factor.

Individuals who can’t spell may also wish to sign up for an adult spelling course or use a program or app that runs on a home computer.

It's even possible to learn how to spell and acquire a new skill at the same time! This is the case with mastering touch-typing using Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS). Originally developed to help learners with dyslexia, it takes a unique whole-word approach and teaches spelling together with typing.

Learning spelling as an adult vs. as a child

Because English spelling is so irregular, children learn spelling at school. Some even compete in spelling bees, which are competitions that cover some of the hardest to spell words in the English language.

However, for adults it is assumed that they already learned the spelling of most words at school. Thus when it comes to people working in specialized fields, there isn’t always the same level of attention to subject and domain specific vocabulary, which may prove problematic.

Again, that’s where Touch-type Read and Spell can help. You can create your own modules that contain the relevant vocabulary you need to practice.

Moreover, most children learn how to spell at the same time as they learn new words.

This means their spelling skills develop along with their vocabulary. On the other hand, an adult with poor spelling skills may have a wide knowledge of spoken language but experience difficulty when it comes to writing down all of the words he or she knows.

An adult who is learning English as a second language can have trouble with English spelling due to the lack of 1:1 sound letter correspondence. In other words, there are many ways of writing the same sound in English.

Spelling is even further complicated if the adult learner’s native language does not have a specific letter, or if it uses a different alphabet.

Reading and spelling skills are related, as spelling is part of the sound-letter mapping children need to decode words.

But while children learn at school, adults may need to be taught how to learn spelling. This can involve mastering memory tricks or understanding that repetition and multi-sensory learning can improve retention.

Specific learning difficulties

Fear of being exposed for bad spelling, reading or writing habits can keep many adults from improving their skills. But sometimes an adult’s struggles with spelling are the result of an undiagnosed learning difficulty that caused them to miss out on crucial early literacy skills or to leave school due to frustration with reading and writing in the classroom.

These individuals can highly benefit from addressing their specific learning difficulty and learning strategies that will help them overcome literacy roadblocks and improve spelling, no matter what their age.

Dyslexia can manifest in different ways, but it's common for it to cause spelling difficulties rooted in a lack of phonological awareness. Luckily, there are strategies that can help dyslexic adults learn how to spell.

As opposed to dyslexia, dyspraxia is more related to planning and fine motor skills interruption. However, it can cause problems when it comes to writing words out by hand. Without ample practice writing, an individual may develop poor spelling skills. That’s why learning how to type is an excellent solution for dyspraxic individuals who are looking to improve their skills.

Handwriting difficulties may be a result of dysgraphia, a condition that makes it difficult and sometimes even painful to write by hand. An individual who has avoided writing for most of his or her life is likely to have underdeveloped spelling skills.

Individuals with attention difficulties may find it difficult to focus and can have trouble sitting still. This makes it hard to concentrate during writing activities, particularly when it comes to learning spelling rules. Tactile learning via touch-typing can be a solution in these cases.

Spelling tips

1. Know the rules. They aren’t consistent and there are plenty of exceptions, but it’s still worth learning some spelling rules in English. When you learn a rule, be sure to review a set of common examples that demonstrate it, as well as words that break the rule. You may decide to pick up a page of English text and underline all of the words that conform to the rule. When you’re done, look for the exceptions, as you are sure to find a few! 
    
2. Study Dolch Words. Also called Sight Words, these are among the most frequent words in English and account for up to 50% of most texts. They include prepositions, verbs, adjectives, articles and adverbs and overlearning them will allow you to spend more time learning the spelling of harder, less frequent vocabulary. 
    
3. Recognize prefixes and suffixes. When one or two letters appear at the start of a word and change the meaning in a consistent way, it is called a prefix. For example, re- means to do something again, such as review, regenerate, reiterate. A suffix added to the end of a word functions in a similar way. For example, we use –s or –es to make a noun plural. English is full of common suffixes and prefixes that you can learn. Familiarizing yourself with them will help you to see the various parts of a word and improve your spelling. 
    
4. Read as often as you can. Every language has common combinations of consonants and vowels. The more you read, the more you will be exposed to them and the more familiar they will become. It’s easier to learn the spelling of a word that you already recognize.
    
5. Look for patterns. The human brain is very good at spotting patterns. If you present it with examples of words that contain a similar letter combination, you can learn English spelling rules indirectly. Try taking a highlighter and underlining words with the same or similar spelling across a newspaper page. Next, see if you can write out a rule that describes what you see. Acquiring rules in this way makes them easier to remember, thanks to the extra cognitive energy you expend figuring them out on your own.
    
6. Use mnemonics. Hard to spell words can sometimes lend themselves to visual or auditory cues that create a more robust memory. For example, the word Wednesday can be tricky to spell because the d is silent. To help you spell it correctly, you might picture a bride and think that she is to be wed on Wednesday. 
    
7. Spell out loud. Sometimes spelling a word aloud can make it easier for people with learning difficulties who struggle to put letters down on paper. Create a list of words that you want to learn and practice spelling them while you are in the shower or on your way to work. Speaking them and hearing yourself say each letter will create auditory memories that are especially helpful for individuals who are not visual learners. 
    
8. Research the origin of words. English is a Germanic language but it has adopted vocabulary from various other languages that it came into contact with over the years. For example, it contains plenty of words of French origin thanks to the Normans having ruled England for a few hundred years. When you research where a word comes from, you may see similar spelling patterns for other words with the same origin, such as Greek words, which tend to be found in science related vocabulary.
    
9. Take a multi-sensory approach. When you learn the spelling of a word and encode it physically, as is the case in handwriting or touch-typing, you are adding muscle memory to the process. The more you generate a word, the more likely it is that you automatize its spelling. 

Touch-typing and spelling

A touch-typing course is often a great idea for adults who want to improve their skills. That’s because typing entails repeatedly producing words on a keyboard while seeing and hearing them read aloud. This process encodes spelling patterns in a multi-sensory way and enhances recognition of common letter combinations.

Learn more

Plus, touch-typing is a skill that opens up job and academic opportunities and can be mastered in as little as a few weeks. When the course is modular, such as is the case with the Touch-type Read and Spell program, it’s also convenient for a busy adult who is juggling work and family life and needs to move through the material at his or her own pace. The best part is it's a way of improving spelling skills without calling attention to ability, as the focus is on typing.

Do you have any tips for adults who are learning how to spell? Join the discussion in the comments!

For adult learners

TTRS is a program designed to get adults with learning difficulties touch-typing, with additional support for reading and spelling.

Tricks for Becoming a Better Speller

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"People tend to think they don't need to learn how to spell because the computer will do it for them," says Dr. J. Richard Gentry, literary expert and best-selling author. 

INSIDER spoke with Dr. Gentry, who has spent over four decades specializing in education, including writing, spelling, reading, and dyslexia. He has also written 12 books, including "Spelling Connections," an extensive spelling program used for students to become proficient spellers. 

Gentry revealed that spelling is critical to learn in kindergarten and first grade, but that you can hone your skills as an adult too.

Here are 9 tips on how to become a better speller.

Read a lot.

Reading is probably one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with words and their spelling, but Gentry says to take it one step further: "If you see a word you don't recognize, try to figure out what it means," he suggests.

However, becoming a good speller can also make you a better reader. "Spelling is connected to the architecture of the reading brain, and is a lot more important than we recognize," he said.

Use spell check — but don't rely on it.

Gentry says that one of the best ways to learn how to spell as an adult is to use spell check — to a degree.

While spell check is a great way to check yourself and see if you are spelling words correctly, the computer isn't always right. 

For example, if you are trying to spell homophones, two words that sounds the same but have different meanings, the computer doesn't always catch it. Gentry shows a video to his students which plays the sentence "If someone told me I would not need to learn how to spell, computers do it for me." If you don't know how to spell correctly, you might type the sentence as "If sum one tolled me I wood knot knead two learn how too spell, computers dew it four me. " Since computers don't get context, they may present you with the wrong homophones.

Quiz yourself frequently.

Gentry says, "Self-testing has been found to be one of the best techniques for adults and anyone who is learning how to spell — or learning anything."

Try quizzing yourself daily on some of the more difficult words you are having trouble with.  

Practice for 15 minutes a day.

Gentry suggests practicing spelling for 15 minutes a day, and advises people to mix up their exercises — whether it's coming up with a list of words you're having trouble with, looking them up, practicing their spelling, or simply saying them out loud. 

Create mnemonic devices.

Sometimes it's hard to remember how to spell a word, like "separate." Most people spell it with an "e" instead of an an "a."

Gentry suggests using a mnemonic device to remember how to spell a tricky word like separate. "A good way to remember it is that there is 'a rat' in 'separate,'" he explains.

Look up a words' etymology.

Looking up the history or origin of a word can help break down its spelling. For example, sometimes words that all begin a certain way are related. Also, knowing its language of origin can help with remembering certain rules for spelling it, and understanding its root can help give it meaning and context.

Play word games.

If you're looking to become a better speller, you can play games like Scrabble or Words With Friends. These games allow you to analyze and think about the spelling of words. 

Keep a journal.

Gentry also suggests keeping a journal of words you have difficulty with. Writing the words out over and over again will help you to remember them more clearly. 

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7 free resources for improving literacy

Dariko Tutova

is not afraid of mistakes in the text and in herself

As a child, folding words into sentences seemed like magic to me: they themselves were combined according to unknown laws.

At school, I realized that the Russian language, although mystical, is strict, and all its magic is subject to harsh rules with endless exceptions to them. Errors in the text are normal, because you can learn how to find and correct them.

Here are seven sites that will help you improve your Russian. Choose what you would like to improve:

• Literacy
• Punctuation
• Pronunciation

Literacy

Briefly: get an answer to the question "Why so?"
Read more: on the site

Gramota-ru is the easiest portal for checking words. But this is not only an online dictionary: here you can find out both the origin of the word and examples of use. Here you can also ask a question about all aspects of the language and get detailed comments from scientific consultants or try to find a solution among the answers to other people's questions.

For children, the site has a "Game" section, in which the rules are presented in the form of riddles and puzzles. Perhaps this is one of the best ways to learn to see mistakes even as adults.

/list/ni-be-ni-me/

8 language courses

Literacy

Briefly: for the first time in the first grade
More details: on the website

The City Methodological Center of Moscow invites you to remember your school years and write a dictation. You can listen to the text and play it in its entirety, or insert missing characters on the dictation website. In this case, the system will count the number of errors and show how it should have been written.

But the site does not give explanations for the errors: the simulator is designed only for a momentary literacy check.

Literacy

Briefly: remember everything
Read more: on the website

Often we make mistakes because we do not understand the logic of the language. Any unfamiliar word seems to be an exception to the rule, and we simplify complex syntactic constructions as much as possible so that you do not have to choose between a comma, a dash, and a colon.

Designer Ilya Birman has created a Russian language reference website, where he collected the basic rules of spelling and punctuation. The main plus is the ease of searching: you select the desired section, for example, "Signs in Direct Speech", and study the rules with examples from classical literature.

/list/micro-learning/

8 microlearning courses

Literacy

Briefly: see the punctuation in Evgeny Vodolazkin's text and not die
More details: on the website

Total Dictation was conceived as a project to promote literacy. Anyone can sign up for the annual dictation and test themselves on the example of the text of a Russian-speaking author. In 2020, the event was moved from spring to autumn and held in two formats: online and offline. In 2021, the dictation will take place on April 10 - there is still an opportunity to take part in it.

Total Dictation is also a free online school to improve your knowledge of the Russian language. On the site, you can write dictations from past years and view a full analysis of texts, take a free punctuation course, learn the history of spelling, and even conduct a dictation in your city on your own.

Punctuation

Briefly: punctuation trainer
Learn more: on the website

It is often the punctuation that causes the greatest difficulties. The creators of "Pushkin" urge to learn from the best, so they chose quotes from Russian classics as examples to reinforce the rules.

Like any simulator, "Pushkin" calls for regular classes: then the question "Why is there no comma before "how" here?" stop being so complicated.

/list/courses-for-life/

25 courses for life

pronunciation of

Briefly: become the very person who corrects everyone and always
Download: iOS. There is a similar app for Android

Genesis or Genesis? "To how many" or "to how many"? Doubts often arise: we hear the wrong pronunciation, remember and are surprised when faced with a different option.

The "Excellent" application will help you remember the basics of orthoepy and consolidate your knowledge with the help of a test. There are three games in the Accents section: 20 Questions, which you answer and at the end view the result, Until the First Mistake, a challenge to test knowledge, and Work on Errors, which saves all the words in which you chose the wrong accent.

pronunciation of

Briefly: see the meaning in stress
Read more: on the site

For many, the correct pronunciation is a given that needs to be accepted and remembered. This approach is fatal because it does not make the logic of the language clear. The idea of ​​the Russian-pro portal is to show that the rules of the Russian language are not a whim of abstruse philologists, but a completely understandable mechanism.

Here they explain the rules for setting stress, starting from the origin of the word: for example, in "blinds" the stress falls on "and", because this word is of French origin - in almost all French words, the last syllable is stressed.

/list/edu-platform/

12 courses from major companies

Seven effective ways to improve spelling and learn to write without errors

November 17, 2020

How many great careers have not worked out, how many opportunities have been missed due to elementary illiteracy! Do you think a serious investor will accept an "interesting offer" about joint activities? And what will happen to an employee who approved outdoor advertising with an obvious mistake that the whole city is now discussing? Will the girl agree to go on a date? If you feel that spelling is not your forte, we offer several ways to tighten it up.

If you don't have time to sit over textbooks, you can upgrade your knowledge using an online program. As the saying goes, in war all means are good.

Take the course

1. Read quality literature

We write correctly not because we remember the rules every time, but because we have seen most of the words hundreds of times and remember their spelling. Therefore, reading fiction has always been considered the best way to "pump" spelling skills. During this process, visual memory develops, that is, the brain simply remembers what a particular word looks like and will not let you make a mistake, even if you do not remember the spelling rules. But you need to read high-quality books, and not correspondence in a messenger or forums and it is not clear whose texts are on the Internet - that's where you run the risk of stuffing your head with all the mistakes that are in the Russian language. It is desirable to read from early childhood. This method is also good because it not only improves literacy, but also enriches vocabulary.

2. Rewrite texts

You can't learn to skate without going out on the ice. In the same way, reading is not enough for literate writing. Make it a rule to dedicate 15-20 minutes a day to copying texts from fiction or non-fiction books. It is better to write with a pen - this is how not only visual, but also mechanical memory will work. Usually two or three months of classes is enough to bring the spelling up to a decent level.

3. Write dictations

Writing from dictation develops phonemic awareness and teaches you to identify erroneous places. Stumbled, so you need to check. In the age of total computerization, this can be done in a matter of seconds, the main thing is to develop a spelling flair in yourself, and dictations just contribute to this. After the dictation, do a full analysis of your mistakes, and you will see that with each new text there will be less and less of them.

4. Repeat the rules

No, you don't need to memorize them. You are still not in school. It is enough to read the rule carefully, understand it, analyze it with examples and practice a little in writing words with this spelling. Ideally, you need to repeat one new rule every day, but taking into account employment at work, at home, you can limit yourself to 2-3 classes per week. Set aside a few days for complex or voluminous rules to consolidate what you have learned. You can study according to school textbooks or use special books where the material is summarized and systematized. For example, Dietmar Rosenthal's textbook "Russian language" or the manual of the same author "Please write correctly!".

5. Watch video lessons and lectures

If you perceive visual information better, video lessons and popular science lectures on the Russian language, of which there are a great many on the Internet, will be a good help. You can find lessons on a specific spelling, for example, about "tsya" and "tsya", doubled "nn" in participles, continuous and separate spelling of different parts of speech. For those who want to improve not only literacy, but also stylistics, we recommend listening to lectures by well-known popularizers of the Russian language Irina Levontina, Anna Wall, Marina Koroleva. It will be not only informative, but also very interesting.

6. Re-read and edit

Are you used to writing “thank you”, “I’m sorry” in instant messengers? If you want to increase literacy, it is better to refuse this method of communication, because your brain gets confused and at the wrong moment can slip an erroneous option. Write literate messages and, before pressing Enter, reread them, correct errors. If in doubt about the spelling of a word, google it, if you don’t know where to put a comma, break this piece of text into separate sentences. This skill is especially important when writing business letters. It won’t take long to skim through the text again, and your reputation will not suffer.

7. Study with a tutor or take online courses

In any business, a system is important. If you feel that regular self-education is not for you, study with a tutor. This method is especially effective when the gaps in spelling are too large or they need to be eliminated in a short time. A personal teacher will build an individual training program, help you quickly and accurately deal with the main problems. At the same time, it will be that external stimulus that will not let you go the distance. Note that classes with a tutor are not cheap. If you can’t afford them, instead of a real teacher, you can use the services of a virtual one on one of the specialized Internet platforms.

For example, you can take an express program at Smart University online school. If you just need to improve your written language, choose the Spelling for All course, or if you want to plunge into the language environment a little deeper, sign up for the Competent Blogger course. The programs consist of short lessons, videos, testing tests. You can study at Smart University online via a computer or smartphone.

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