Have spelling standards dropped?

[NorhamGardens]

I am shocked that so many teenagers and younger children don't seem to be able to spell fairly simple words correctly? Wonder if this is just my experience?

I know spelling tests have been largely phased out of primary schools as the evidence showed that they were not effective. The children would spell the words correctly in the test and then just forget apparently.

'In my day' :) these tests seemed to work for the vast majority. Just been to an open evening for one of mine and saw the teacher had made corrections that were incorrect in themselves. An example would be 'extrodinary'. I notice from facebook accounts of my older children's friends that even those who have had a great education use 'your' instead of 'you're' and seem to guess simple words and make elementary mistakes.

Has spell check replaced the need to spell these days and I am just out of touch?

Predictive text and abbreviated words when texting don't help. C U L8R.

GR8 :). I am told 'language evolves' and I am being an old stick in the mud by my kids.

I just think it makes otherwise bright students look poorly educated. Some of the mistakes I am seeing are truly shocking and very surprising.

Of course, if a child is dyslexic etc then that's different.

No I am with you NG, I am a stickler for correct spelling, drives my children mad! . I am not a teacher, but I would guess that a very good phonic knowledge forms the basis of good spelling.

And then we walk past Wetherspoons on the way home from school who are advertising a quiz "nite".

Standards have risen. Of the generation leaving school in the 1960s, roughly 40% were illiterate (because jobs didn't demand writing), that had fallen to about 20% for my generation (leaving in the 90s) and continues to do so. A lot of hard work, concern for everyone, and committed teaching has made this possible.

Problem is, we can't account for what we've learned since of for where we stood within the mass of our on cohort when assessing this.

Would note I've edited academic texts that make these errors, and read awfully written reports from business leaders bemoaning the lack of literacy, and am the sort or fool who actually threw a hissy fit because my department wanted to print Dr. (nor Dr-it's a contraction not an abbreviation) on my business card. Here I'm assessing my own cohort too by ludicrously personal standards and finding them (falsely) wanting.

Spelling tests are making a comeback in primaries. I know in ours each class apart from reception has a spelling test once a week. Don't think it's unusual these days.

My DS's infant school does weekly spelling tests.

My head teacher, (Cambridge English degree under his belt) was also my English teacher - his writing and spelling was awful - but he always spotted our mistakes and corrected us - he retired recently I think.

Most of the adults and teens making spelling mistakes are the ones who had regularly spelling tess - shoing that spelling tests are not effective.

More effective is to ensure children know all the phonic ways of making eah spelling and then being confident to try them and try and reread their work to see which looks right.

Reading helps with the recognition of the correct form to.

Things like your/you're is to do with teaching decent grammar.

Spelling tests never helped me, I didn't really learn to spell until I was an adult and worked out rules and saying words wrongly ie Wed-nes-day.

My DS 15 has dyslexic problems and his spelling is atrocious but still forcast an A for his english GCSE, but I don't see why his excellent analytical and comprehension skills should be disregarded because he can't retain spellings. DS spells phonetically but just uses the wrong phonic ie ite instead of ight

I'm with you OP.

yes my DS2 spells phonetically - his spelling is simply atrocious as a result as words learned for his spelling tests are forgotten an hour later - now if Brother really was spelt Bruther - it would be much simpler

DS1 thankfully retained most of his spellings he learned for his tests

Surely you can't depend all that much on phonics, as some words you can spell phonetically and others you can't. 'was' for example is 'wos' phonetically. I'm not a great fan of spelling tests, but learning 5 words a week that don't fit a phonetic pattern has definitely helped DS.

Not if the phonic/spelling rules are taught properly, smee - children then know that an 'a' follwing a 'w' can also make a short 'o' sound.

'can make a short 'o' sound'

yes - but can also not as in 'water'. I don't see how phonic rules are meant to help - because there aren't any rules - only patterns.

both was and woz would be correct using phonic rules - but only one is actually correct. And there is no rule you can use to determine which one is the correct one.

I've got primary age children, who started weekly spelling tests in year 1; as did their friends who went to other nearby primaries. Spelling tests are definitely the norm round here -are we very atypical?

My younger DC seems to gave more structured spelling lists (grouping sounds and/or spelling rules) than the elder - who is now on a remedial programme.

True, but knowing alternative ways to write a phoneme helps more than not knowing any, Indigobell.

Feenie, I can see your point. Makes total sense. DS's school seem to be doing both, so they do a huge phonics programme, but are also doing simple spelling tests too of targeted words which don't fit an obvious phonetic pattern. Seems to be working quite well for him, though it might just be the way his mind works.

"both was and woz would be correct using phonic rules" In phonics rules /w/ followed by "o" rarely represents the /o/ sound ...
I've been trying think of words beginning "wo" where the o represents /o/ as in woz and the I can think of wobble and wok (probably a few others I haven't thought of). In most words when "o" follows "w" it represents either /er/ as in work and world or /u/ as in wolf and woman.

Wotsits

I did think of wotsits but it's a brand name or it would be whatsits

"Of the generation leaving school in the 1960s, roughly 40% were illiterate (because jobs didn't demand writing), that had fallen to about 20% for my generation (leaving in the 90s) and continues to do so."

Do you have a link for these percentages, as they strike me as rather higher than I would have expected.

Surely reading more is the way to improve spelling? I don't remember ever learning 'to spell', but I was a freaky reader, so as far as I know, just always could. My sister was the same, but when she became a teacher, her spelling became less accurate because she reads words spelled wrongly all evening when marking. She now struggles with some of the same words her classes do, because she's seen them written in every possible combination and doesn't know which way is up anymore!

AdelaofBlois

"Of the generation leaving school in the 1960s, roughly 40% were illiterate"

Do you have a reference for thattement? I've seen reports which posit a steady 20 -25% illiteracy rate since WW2, but never anything as high as 40%.

(not 'getting at you', just always interested in statistics for literacy rates from other eras)

Do you have a reference for thattement?

Oh NO! Sticky keys.. statement

Thought you'd developed a lisp there, maizie.