From Sounds to Sentences: Integrating Vocabulary and Spelling for Meaning�
Nancy Frey, PhD
Professor of Educational Leadership
San Diego State University
Member, International Literacy Research Panel
Corwin Author
Cengage/National Geographic Reach for Reading Author
PPT available at www.fisherandfrey.com
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Words are tools to…
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Phonics Instruction
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Vocabulary Instruction
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Word Recognition
Learning a new word or phrase is more efficient when both the meaning and the form are presented.
Adlof & Patten, 2017
“Being strong on the lower strands affords more opportunities to acquire knowledge of the upper strands and being strong on the upper strands has been shown to enable faster and more accurate decoding of unfamiliar words.
Therefore, if any of the strands gets frayed, it can hold back development of the other strands and by extension can eventually weaken the entire rope.”
--Scarborough, 2020
Braiding the reading rope amplifies learning.
Overlooked?
Weave together Phonics, Vocabulary, and Anchored Spelling Instruction to amplify reading and writing.
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Spelling Instruction
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Spelling counts…
Especially at school…
Especially when you’re thanking the teachers…
Especially when it’s a tattoo.
Learning Intention: We are learning about the overlapping, flexible strategies drawn from when reading, spelling, and writing .
We’ll know that we’re successful when we can:
What do your students think spelling is?
How do your strongest spellers experience spelling time?
How do your most struggling spellers experience spelling time?
Spelling Stories
Spelling is a transcription skill.
Spelling is a fluency skill.
Students can’t get ideas down on paper when they’re trying to figure out how to spell.
But spelling is also a reading skill, and an undertaught one.
How was spelling taught when you were an elementary student?
How was spelling taught when you were trained as a teacher?
Spelling Stories
Spelling and the Science of Reading
Spelling is the encoding side of word recognition.
If decoding is reading print and turning it into speech, spelling is hearing speech (aloud or in your head) and turning it into print.
Moats, L. C. (2005). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers (2nd ed.). Paul H. Brookes.
Spelling and Word Recognition
When students spell, they must reverse the reading process.
Instead of seeing letters and blending them into a word, they begin with a spoken word and analyze it sound by sound.
Spelling and Word Recognition
While often treated as a separate subject or confined to weekly word lists, spelling is deeply connected to phonemic awareness, alphabetics, phonics, and ultimately orthographic mapping.
Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21.
Orthographic mapping explains how words become sight words. Skilled readers do not memorize word shapes.
Orthographic (written) sequences of letters are attached to pronunciations of words that are stored.
Torgesen, J. K. (2002). The prevention of reading difficulties. Journal of School Psychology, 40, 7–26. doi:10.1016/S0022-4405(01)00092-9
So spelling is not just transcription. It is analysis.
By Grades 3–5, reading difficulty often shifts from simple decoding to multisyllabic word recognition and academic vocabulary.
Spelling instruction that emphasizes morphology directly supports this transition.
What surprised you about the research we just reviewed?
What was confirmatory for you?
If spelling strongly supports reading development, what might need to shift in our instruction?
Spelling Stories
Ideas We’ve All Heard
“Good readers naturally become good spellers.”
Why it persists: Reading and spelling both involve words, so they must develop automatically together.
What research suggests:�Spelling and reading are reciprocal but not automatic. Spelling requires deeper orthographic knowledge than reading. You can recognize a word in print without being able to spell it accurately. Spelling strengthens decoding because it draws attention to phoneme-grapheme correspondences and word structure.
Do we see students who read well but spell poorly? What might explain that?
“English is just too irregular to teach systematically.”
Why it persists: Words like said, enough, colonel feel chaotic.
What research suggests:�Nearly 90% of English words are explainable through phonology, orthography, and morphology. The system is more consistent than commonly believed.
How might our beliefs about English influence how we teach spelling?
Venezky, R. L. (1999). The American way of spelling: The structure and origins of American English orthography. Guilford Press.
Carlisle, J. F. (2003). Morphology matters in learning to read: A commentary. Reading Psychology, 24(3–4), 291–322.
“Spelling is mostly about memorization.”
Why it persists: English feels irregular.
What research suggests:�English orthography is highly systematic. Spelling is governed by predictable phonological, orthographic, and morphological patterns. Instruction that highlights patterns is more effective than rote memorization.
If English is so irregular, why do spelling patterns cluster the way they do?
Try it: There’s only one letter in the English alphabet that doesn’t have a silent version (e.g.,/a/ in leaf, /b/ in comb, etc.).
Which one is it?
Try it: There’s only one letter in the English alphabet that doesn’t have a silent version (e.g.,/a/ in leaf, /b/ in comb, etc.).
Which one is it?
“Weekly word lists improve spelling.”
Why it persists: Students often score well on Friday tests.
What research suggests:�Memorization of isolated word lists may produce short-term gains but rarely transfers to reading and writing unless words are connected to patterns, morphology, and application.
How often do students stumble over “Friday words” during reading?
“By upper elementary, students should know how to spell.”
Why it persists: Spelling is seen as a primary-grade issue.
What research suggests:�Morphological knowledge (prefixes, suffixes, Greek/Latin roots) continues developing through adolescence and supports vocabulary, reading comprehension, and multisyllabic word reading.
What spelling features are developmentally appropriate at different grade levels?
“Spelling instruction takes too much time.”
Why it persists: Outdated practices treated spelling as a separate subject.
What research suggests:�10 minutes a day of spelling instruction has a significant positive impact on elementary readers. Increased instructional time did not result in increased impact.
Do our own assumptions about spelling instruction prevent us from using newer approaches?
Spelling Instruction to Support Reading and Writing in Grades K-2
Characteristics of Students at the Developing Stage: Pattern-Based Spelling (Grades 1–2)
Spelling Instruction in Grades 1-2: Integrate it with Phonics Instruction�
Graham, S., & Santangelo, T. (2014). Does spelling instruction make students better spellers, readers, and writers? A meta-analytic review. Reading and Writing, 27(9), 1703–1743.
Daily Encoding Practice�
Spelling develops through consistent, distributed practice.
It does not develop automatically or through once-a-week testing.
Daily encoding practice strengthens word recognition systems.
Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing to read: A meta-analysis of the impact of writing and writing instruction on reading. Harvard Educational Review, 81(4), 710–744.�
Daily Dictation Experiences
Early Structured Dictation
Sound Dictation
Word Dictation
Daily Dictation Experiences
Advanced Phrase Dictation: “good dog”
Say the phrase: “good dog”
Students repeat: “good dog”
Draw two lines: _______ ________
Say the phrase and point to the lines: “good dog.”
Students draw lines and repeat: “good dog”
Students write (remind them to stretch sounds)
Students aloud read what they wrote: “good dog”
Sentence Dictation�Students apply multiple patterns within connected text.
Say the sentence: “She is a good dog.”
Students repeat: “She is a good dog.”
Draw 5 lines: ______ _____ ______ ______ ______
Say the sentence and point to the lines: “She is a good dog.”
Students write (remind them to stretch sounds)
Students aloud read what they wrote: “She is a good dog.”
Spelling Instruction to Support Reading and Writing in Grades 3-5
Attention to prefixes, suffixes, and base words
Awareness of word families
Increased spelling stability
At this stage, spelling and vocabulary development become closely linked.
Characteristics of Students at the Consolidated Stage: Morphological Awareness (Grades 2 and above)
Why are vocabulary words disconnected from spelling words?
“Packages” of written academic language information
(Fang & Schleppegrell, 2008)
The ability to draw on what they know about a word not only through word recognition but also by using their growing ability to analyze morphemes within the word to make meaning.
Graphophonological-semantic Cognitive Flexibility
Cartwright, K. B. (2007). The contribution of graphophonological-semantic flexibility to reading
comprehension in college students: Implications for a less simple view of reading. Journal of
Literacy Research, 39(2), 173–193.
These 14 roots comprise 100,000 words
Fisher, D., Frey, N., Ortega, S., Barbee, K., & Allen-Rotell, A. (2025). Teaching foundational skills to adolescent readers. Corwin.
A plan for anchored spelling instruction of vocabulary using morphological awareness�
Word Sums challenge students to build word families and identify nonsense words.
Daily Dictation Experiences
Sentence dictation�Students apply multiple patterns within connected text.
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Daily Dictation Experiences
Scientists use classification to group living things based on their characteristics. One group is the amphibian, which includes animals like frogs that live both in water and on land. Amphibians show great diversity, meaning there are many different kinds with unique features. Many use camouflage to blend into their surroundings and stay safe from predators..
Daily Self-Corrected Spelling�
�
Generative Sentences of Anchored Spelling Words�
Given a word and conditions about the placement of the word, write a sentence.
Forces attention to spelling, grammar, and word meaning.
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“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position
“Volcanoes” in the 4th Position
Expanding a Generative Sentence
How are spelling words chosen?
How are spelling words taught?
How are spelling words assessed?
Spelling Stories: Noticing
How will you notice and investigate in your classroom or school site?
Moving Forward
From Sounds to Sentences: Integrating Vocabulary and Spelling for Meaning�
Nancy Frey, PhD
Professor of Educational Leadership
San Diego State University
Member, International Literacy Research Panel
Corwin Author
Cengage/National Geographic Reach for Reading Author
PPT available at www.fisherandfrey.com
Click “Recordings and Resources” and scroll down