ABSTRACT
Spelling belongs to the class of behaviours which, if they are to be useful, must be learned with accuracy and permanence. The need to stimulate written expression and the need to establish accuracy in spelling are usually in conflict in education, and it is one of the tasks of the teacher to achieve a correct balance between the two objectives. Children develop a spoken vocabulary which becomes their first written language as they write it down verbatim. Later they learn techniques which modify spoken language in its written form, and it is during this process that accuracy in spelling may be most efficiently fostered. The accuracy of the pupil's recall should be frequently tested, using his spelling vocabulary book. The spelling vocabulary book can be used, like its reading counterpart, as the source for individual and collective word lists, 'scores' of words which have been spelled correctly over a given time, and spelling games.
