Many of us are foxed by spelling, and panic slightly at the thought of a world
without a spellchecker. Is it definitely or definately? Necessary or
neccessary?
This month The
Times launched the UK's first national Spelling Bee to bring these
issues out into the open and to fuel interest in what some would say is a
forgotten art.
In the past, poor spelling was attributed to all manner of things, from bad
schooling to a lack of moral fibre. But science is offering a new
explanation. A difficulty with spelling could be rooted in your genes and in
the way that your brain is wired. These findings stem from research into the
language disorder dyslexia, but they are proving important for the wider
population. Biology, it seems, not only influences those with dyslexia but
also people without the syndrome. If you are a bad speller you can blame
your grey matter.
Spelling and reading require a phenomenal amount of brain power. According to
John Stein, Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University Medical School,
simply deciphering this sentence, and all forms of the written word, is the
most complex task your brain will face. The reason for this is that the
written word is a relatively recent invention.
“It was invented only 5,000 years ago. It is piggybacked on to our linguistic
ability, which was invented 30,000-40,000 years ago,” he says. “The
consequence is that many people fail to read or spell.”
In other words, as we developed written language, our brain had to adapt and
upgrade. Unlike a man-made device, where additional requirements mean that
the whole thing can be pulled apart and rebuilt, the brain has had to tack
on reading and spelling circuits to meet the new demands made of it. And
things can go wrong, such as in dyslexia. In the search for the genetic
causes of the syndrome, scientists have stumbled across a gene that could
cause some of us to be bad spellers, but not to the extent that we have a
clinical disorder.
Spelling ability is rooted partly in our DNA
Tony Monaco, a scientist at the Wellcome Centre Trust for Human Genetics,
Oxford University, believes that our ability to spell lies partly in our
DNA. “Around 60 per cent of the variation in the ability to spell lies in
our genes,” he says.
But how can our genetic make-up affect our ability to remember that “I goes
before E except after C”? Professor Monaco says that our genes dictate how
our brain develops. In his study, his lab tracked the development of 6,000
children born in the early Nineties. Previous studies highlighted a
particular gene that might affect reading ability, which goes by the rather
catchy name of KIAA0319. We all carry it, but he found that 15per cent of
the population have a slightly different version than normal. According to
Professor Monaco, the normal version of the gene helps to guide brain cells
into the cortex, the thinking part of the brain, when a child is developing
in the womb. When the gene is different, however, it is unable to properly
fulfil its function; brain cells get lost on the journey and end up in the
wrong place. “This may disrupt the processing of information,” he says.
But what exactly is going on in our brain when we are asked to spell a word?
Considering that we've had 5,000 years to figure this out, we are still
pretty much in the dark as to how it handles spelling. What we do know, says
Professor Stein, is that there are two main processes at work. The brain
thinks of what the word looks like - how it appears on the page - and how
the word sounds - its phonology. The contributions of each of these factors
to spelling is a subject of fierce debate, with some arguing that the visual
component is key and others championing the sound of the word as most
important.
What the experts do seem to agree on is that the visual and phonetic
information are fed into our mental dictionary, our lexicon. This is in an
area just above our ear, called the angular gyrus. Processing all the visual
and phonetic information, it quickly tells us how to spell the word. This
information then zips across to the part of the brain that controls movement
and we write or say the word.
The brain's spelling circuitry is located in its left side, probably because
it is more efficient to have our mental dictionary in close proximity to the
areas that control speech and writing. However, in left-handed people, these
areas are usually on the right, as these tasks are performed on this side.
But why do some words prove harder to spell than others? After all, who
hasn't at some point tripped over the spellings of accommodation or
embarrassed? These words are difficult because they have illogical
spellings, and simply don't follow the rules, says Stein.
Irregular spellings use more brain power
In a study last year at Dartmouth University, New Hampshire, researchers found
that irregular spellings, such as yacht, use more brain power than words
that sound as they are spelt, such as blink. But all our brains are wired
differently. Some people have a stronger visual area and can easily see in
their mind's eye how a word is spelt, whereas others have a stronger
phonological area; they are better at breaking down the word into its
composite sounds.
The former group tend to be better spellers. But how do you know which group
you fall into? Professor Stein says: “Take the word Tegwop. It's a non-word,
but if you use phonology more than visual factors, you can spell it by
translating the word into sounds. If you are a visual person, and have never
seen that word written on the page, then you'd have problems spelling it.”
The realisation that everyone's brain is slightly different is influencing how
children are taught to spell. Professor Stein says that traditionally
children were either taught to memorise how a word looks on the page, or to
learn the various sounds that make up the word. For example, cat is
pronounced k/ah/t. However, teaching only one method isolates some children,
making it difficult for them to learn how to spell. “The best teachers know
that you have to teach both methods and adapt to the skills of the
individual child. If you only use one method - for example, the visual ‘look
and say' technique - it can be a disaster for children with a poor visual
area, and a stronger phonetic area,” he says.
Nutrition and sleep can play a role
Many people attribute inadequate teaching to a decline in reading and writing
standards over the past 40 years, although Professor Stein says this is a
complex issue. He adds that even nutrition and sleep patterns may play a
role, as learning to read and write is energy-intensive and the brain needs
all the help it can get.
In his next study, which he is conducting with the Dyslexia Research Trust, he
will ask dyslexic children to wear yellow or blue spectacles in an effort to
improve their spelling ability. A set of brain cells involved in spelling
are for some reason out of kilter with our body clocks, turning on and off
at the wrong times. Our so-called circadian rhythm is set by the type of
light that enters our eyes, and Professor Stein is hoping that the
wavelengths of yellow and blue light will permanently re-synchronise these
brain cells.
And what of spelling in the future - will spellchecks and texting change our
language for ever? Possibly, says Professor Stein. He suggests that people
whose brains are geared up to translate sounds into spelling may have an
advantage in the future, as the emergence of texting could cause more and
more people to spell words as they sound, such as “RUok?”
But he's not too upset at the prospect. “I don't think there's any harm in the
simplification of spelling. It's nonsense that people are judged by whether
they can or can't spell 'necessary'.”
Tips and tricks: how to improve your spelling
Memory tricks These help you to remember the difference between words
that look similar. For example, when spelling separate, remember that there
is a “rat” in the middle. Or if you have trouble with desert (arid land) or
dessert (a sweet treat), consider that with dessert you generally like
seconds.
Invent a saying For example, receipt: red envelopes contain emotional
invitations privately transmitted.
Don't rely on spell-checkers Some words won't get picked up.
Print out your work It's easier to see spelling mistakes on paper than
on screen.
Make a personal dictionary Write a list of words that you have problems
with. Return to this list regularly.
Break up the words Pronounce words as they are spelt, for example,
bus-i-ness. It may remind you of the silent letters, ie: K-nock, k-nack,
k-nife.
Play word games Hangman, Scrabble and Boggle are great at improving
spelling.
Source: The Spelling Society, Professor John Stein
Spelling tests
Politicians champion the importance of spelling, but do they practise what
they preach? We put three education and youth specialists to the test. Using
words that children commonly get wrong, provided by The Spelling Society,
together with words that Times journalists often misspell, we devised this
fiendishly difficult test. The politicians didn't get the multiple-choice
option; we read them each word over the telephone and after a few seconds
they had to spell it out.
1st place: Liberal Democrats
Lynne Featherstone, Youth Spokesperson
SPELLING TEST SCORE: 15/18
Misspelt words: Deceit, desiccate, cemetery.
“I'm quite good at spelling, if I'm honest. I write a blog and that has helped
to improve my spelling. Although I did have a couple of lucky guesses.”
2nd place: Conservatives
Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
SPELLING TEST SCORE: 13/18
Misspelt words: embarrassed, definitely, desiccate, inoculate,
harassed. “All I can say is that there's nothing that can cover my
embarrassment.”
3rd place: Labour
Barry Sheerman, Chairman of the Select Committee for Children, Schools and
Families
SPELLING TEST SCORE: 9/18
Misspelt words: embarrassed, millennium, separately, liaison,
accommodation, desiccate, occurrence, inoculate, ecstasy.
“My memory is a bit fuzzy on certain spellings.”
Test yourself
1. a) Embarrassed
b) Embarassed
c) Embarrased
2. a) Milennium
b) Millennium
c) Millenium
3. a) Definitely
b) Definately
c) Definitley
4. a) Accidentally
b) Accidentaly
c) Accidently
5. a) Seperately
b) Separately
c) Seperatley
6. a) Receit
b) Receipt
c) Receet
7. a) Deceit
b) Deceipt
c) Decept
8. a) Liaison
b) Liason
c) Liasion
9. a) Acommodation
b) Accommodation
c) Accomodation
10. a) Dessicate
b) Desiccate
c) Desicate
11. a) Minuscule
b) Minisicule
c) Miniscule
12. a) Ocurence
b) Occurence
c) Occurrence
13. a) Cemetary
b) Semetary
c) Cemetery
14. a) Innoculate
b) Inoculate
c) Innockulate
15. a) harrased
b) harassed
c) harrassed
16. a) indetted
b) indepted
c) indebted
17. a) necessary
b) necesary
c) neccesery
18. a) ecstacy
b) ecstasy
c) exstacy
