Spelling and Its Role in Literacy Education: An Historical Perspective

There are numerous “literacies” being evoked in these contemporary times. The Literacy Dictionary (Harris & Hodges, 1995, p. 141), for example, defines nearly 40 literacies, ranging from academic literacy to workplace literacy. The common historical understanding for literacy, however, is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (2004) as “The quality or state of being literate; knowledge of letters; condition in respect to education, esp. ability to read and write.”1