Establishing Useful Spelling Rules

All beginning writers soon recognise that the English language is not a regular predictable language. The good spellers realise that despite its irregularity many English words can be grouped according to letter patterns and there are a number of spelling patterns and there are a number of spelling rules which hold true in the majority of cases. Rules and patterns account for 80-85% of English words.

Research by educationalists on the teaching of spelling rules has highlighted two relevant points. Firstly, the teaching of spelling rules should be limited to those rules that have wide applicability and few exceptions. Secondly, the teaching of spelling rules is generally more successful with children of above average intelligence who have a specific spelling disability. Trying to teach spelling rules to slow learners and children with severe spelling problems can be confusing and counter productive.

Some general spelling rules with wide applicability are listed below:

SHORT AND LONG VOWEL SOUNDS

Rule : When a silent "e" is added to the end of a word with a short vowel sound, the vowel sound changes to a long vowel sound.
e.g. pin + e = pine
tub + e = tube
mop + e = mope