Date Approved

7-14-2003

Embargo Period

5-10-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Teaching

Department

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Monahan, Thomas

Subject(s)

High school students--Attitudes; Spelling ability

Disciplines

Secondary Education and Teaching

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to a) gauge the attitudes of a group of high school seniors (n = 211) about the importance of spelling, which strategies they use to solve spelling problems, and the adequacy of spelling instruction at the high school level; b) assess the same group of seniors according to Ganske's developmental levels of spelling; and c) gauge the attitudes of high school language arts teachers in the same school (n = 16) about the importance of spelling and the adequacy of spelling instruction at the high school level, and to determine their spelling assessment practices. Most students judged spelling to be important and felt that spelling instruction during high school was insufficient. Most of the students were predicted to be in the highest developmental level of spelling, although 10% of the students were assessed as not being in an appropriate developmental stage for their grade level. Teachers also judged spelling to be important and in need of increased attention during high school. Their assessment of student spelling varied, but most teachers usually penalized students for incorrect spelling on papers.

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