Moreover, measures of spelling ability no longer appear on standardized tests in some US states, and standalone assessments of spelling skills have also been phased out in other cases (Denn, 2019). Approximately 250 schools and counting have implemented these changes (for a partial list, see Table 1). In fact, in recent years, a growing number of schools in the USA and at least several schools in the UK have deemphasized or eliminated traditional methods of explicit spelling instruction-that is, pedagogical activities that focus on the deliberate teaching of spelling-such as weekly word lists and spelling tests (Barker & Puente, 2013 BBC News, 2008 Gentry, 2011 Mellon, 2009 Murray, 2015 Shalash, 2011 see also Cheek, 2016 Dewar, 2017 Fry, 2015 Sultan, 2010 Woo, 1997). Overall, our goals are to better characterize the role of spelling skills in today’s society and to identify several pedagogical approaches-some derived from traditional methods and others that are more recent-that hold promise for developing such skills in efficient and effective ways.Ī century later, spelling textbooks continue to be published, but many educators no longer regard them as essential. We also discuss the value of explicit spelling instruction and highlight potentially effective ways to implement such instruction, including the use of spelling tests. In this article, we examine the literature to address whether spelling skills are still important enough to be taught, summarize relevant evidence, and argue that a comparison of common approaches to spelling instruction in the early 20th century versus more recent approaches provides some valuable insights. These trends invite a reevaluation of the role of spelling in modern English-speaking societies and whether the subject should be explicitly taught (and if so, what are research-supported methods for doing so). In the early 21st century, however, skepticism as to the importance of spelling has grown, some schools have deemphasized or abandoned spelling instruction altogether, and there has been a proliferation of non-traditional approaches to teaching spelling. That approach was featured in best-selling textbooks such as the Horn-Ashbaugh Speller of 1920. A century ago, spelling skills were highly valued and widely taught in schools using traditional methods, such as weekly lists, drill exercises, and low- and high-stakes spelling tests.
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