SCET Journal 2020

Reconsidering

Our Practice

Mastery of Word Wall Words in the Context of Writing Jacqueline Transou

Spelling and mastery of word wall words, and students’ ability to effectively spell and utilize these words within their own writing, is a key skill for stu- dents. In recent years, I have noticed that my students correctly spell word wall words on spelling tests, yet, in their actual writing, students do not correctly spell the same words that they could accurately spell on the test. In addition, students have often asked me how to spell the word and forget to utilize the word wall word as a reference. I wanted to improve this situation as I believe students should to be able to accurately spell these words within their writing, even more so when they are correctly spelling them on a spelling test. As a result, I wanted to determine if my students’ use of and ability to spell word wall words improves with the development of an interactive word wall in conjunction with the explicit review of these word wall words on a daily basis. Spelling and writing are two influential processes that when properly developed, can allow students a myriad of opportunities as they strive to become pro- ductive and successful members of society. These in- tertwined processes are vital forms of communication, and citizens need concrete foundations in both com- ponents of language whether typing or handwriting. As a first-grade teacher in South Carolina, the urgency of student development in these areas is expressed through district-required assessments, along with state-level assessments. Jones et al., (2016) stated: In particular, students who are poor spellers are poor readers (e.g., Ehri 1987) and struggle with writing (e.g., Juel 1988). Poor spellers use simpler terms in their writing, forget ideas they want to ex- press, and write less than students who are strong spellers (p. 386). In thinking about the association of word wall words and application of the correct spelling of these words within students’ writing, we must understand the concepts that go along with this process. As Gentry (1998) stated, “Word walls are the foot soldiers of building spelling skills--your first line of defense in getting kids to look at words” (p. 28). With that being said, looking at a word involves the visual aspect of the mind and brain that can be stimulated by the word wall as students envision the words mentally. Word

wall tools help stabilize these words in students’ long- term memory so that they can be readily accessed and likewise, this promotes detection of patterns in words and strengthens connections between words (Brabham, & Villaume, 2001). Stimulation of these strategies in the brain that stems from the word wall use, in turn, positively influence students’ writing abilities as they access words from their memory while writing and simultaneously, activates phonics and word skills. “Used effectively, word walls can be the core of a systematic phonics and spelling program and document what has been the focus of study in both planned instruction and in moments that teach- ers seize as unplanned instructional opportunities” (Brabham, & Villaume, 2001, p. 701). Correspondingly, when students are able to en- gage in using the word wall during writing, through the incorporation of their visualizations, memory, and phonics/word connections from the stimulations of the word wall, then students should be able to transfer that knowledge to paper when producing writing. The word wall is a visual reference where students can “obtain, evaluate, and communicate information” (Jackson & Durham, 2016, p. 80). Therefore, this visual source of information allows for the transfer of spelling knowl- edge to connect to writing and facilitates the ideal for writers to remain focused on the goal of writing: to express thoughts with strong voice, organization, purpose, and coherence. Moreover, adequate spellers draw from a repertoire of strategies to correctly spell (Daffern, 2017, p. 429). When students effectively in- corporate and draw upon these strategies, such as the word wall as a reference tool, explicit review of these words and interactive activities, these strategies can help teachers enhance students’ mastery of spelling of word wall words along with writing instruction. “Word walls come into prominence in improving vocabulary by rising interactions between student-stu- dent, teacher-student, and word-student” (Kcaarslan & Yamac, 2015, p. 835). Allowing students to interact with a word wall increases their metacognitive skills as they develop a self-awareness about their spelling. This, in turn, gives students the ability to develop a spelling consciousness. As a result, this empowers them to be- come aware of the words they are spelling and writing,

South Carolina English Teacher

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