ABSTRACT
It may seem unusual, to say the least, to think of spelling as a system for making meaning, rather than as a system for reproducing meaning; or, to use an older idiom, for accurately ‘rendering meaning’. However, it seems to me that in any serious, closer look at the spellings of young people-really from their very first efforts, from the ages of 2 or 3 years on up to, say, the ages of 8, 9 or 10-what we see is the attempt to make meaning with, and out of, this system. (This is not to ignore adults’ attempts in the same direction, as my example of the cyclemen in Chapter 1 is meant to show.)
I would like to make a distinction here that seems especially important in relation to spelling: the distinction between making meaning with a system, as against making sense of that system. Making sense of is what I think we usually have in mind when we think of children learning to spell: ‘Here is a system; yes, admittedly, it is not entirely straightforward; but with effort you’ll be able to make sense of it’. Making sense of learning a system is a clear step up from learning a system by rote, learning without understanding. By contrast it seems to me that young spellers, left to their own devices, treat spelling as a means with which to make meaning. This is not to say that they don’t experiment, that they don’t puzzle; or that their efforts do not show constant analysis, reanalysis, restart and remaking of assumptions. It is to say that for children spelling is an active system for the making of their meaning.
