American Spelling Instruction: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Spelling as a school subject provides a valuable mechanism for examining the history of curriculum making in the United States. The subject of spelling has had a secure place in the common school curriculum from colonial times to the present because of the importance attributed to correct spelling by the larger society. Once linked directly with reading instruction, the teaching of spelling emerged over time as a subject taught largely independent of other language instruction, with its form of presentation shaped by prevailing views of curriculum makers concerning the nature of English spelling and learning to spell, and subsequently also by the application of scientific method in curriculum development. Recent insights into the acquisition of spelling proficiency reveal, however, the inextricable relationship that spelling has in the development of written language ability in general and which, in turn, pose significant implications for the spelling curriculum.