The Effects of Three Types of Practice Formats and Two Degrees of Learning on the Spelling Performance of Elementary School Students.

A study was conducted that used three formats for spelling practice, two multiple-choice or recognition conditions based on the Simon model and one production or recall condition. (The Simon generate-and-test model of spelling suggests that spellings can be learned from reading or visual exposure to the correct spelling.) The multiple-choice formats contained distractors that were either plausible graphemic variations of the target word or misspellings of different words. Fifth and sixth grade students learned 15 words whose spellings they had missed on a pretest in a small group instructional setting in which words had been practiced for either three or six trials. Students were blocked into high and low ability groups and the effects of variations in training, degree of learning, and ability were assessed on an immediate and delayed generate-and-test measure and on a delayed recognition test. Results showed that all training groups learned more spelling than did the control group. However, the recall condition was superior to each recognition condition on each test. High ability students outperformed low ability students on all three tests. (Author/MKM)