8th Grade Spelling Worksheets
8th Grade Spelling Worksheets are a fantastic way to help your child practice their spelling skills. The worksheets include both basic and advanced spelling words, and can be used for both classroom and home use.
More 8th Grade Worksheets
Upwell your spell with these 8th Grade Spelling Worksheets!
Summary: Spelling is the ability to form words with correct alphabets in the proper order. It is an essential skill that young children should learn to master for them to acquire other linguistic skills and knowledge. Many researchers agree that having the proper and correct mastery of spelling can help someone have excellent writing and reading skills. Spelling practice also enables them to improve their vocabularies. Learning how to spell also helps young students to develop proper communication skills.
What is Spelling?
Reading and writing are two basic and essential skills for any language. It is the core of communication ability. They are also the initial step for young children to develop their linguistic skills. Writing and reading tightly relate to letters, words, sentences, and text. They are the core elements of writing and reading. For someone to be able to start writing and reading, they should have mastered the spelling skills.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, spelling is the ability to form words with correct alphabets in the proper order. It is an essential skill that young children should learn to master for them to acquire other linguistic skills and knowledge. Some people might refer to this as simple skills. However, it requires various complex background knowledge and preparation. Many researchers agree that having the proper and correct mastery of spelling can help someone have excellent writing and reading skills. Hence, it is why many parents and teachers diligently teach their children and students about spelling.
What are the Elements of English Spelling?
Spelling is how someone spells a word. It is a method to arrange the words in the correct order. Spelling is a window for students to learn various linguistic skills and knowledge. Some grammatists refer to spelling as a manner that influences people to use graphemes (the tiniest part in the writing system) to represent a sound in written text. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, there are three essential components of spelling: phonological, orthographic, and morphological.
Phonological knowledge means the process of acquiring phonemic awareness and understanding. It includes the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words. The phonological skill also involves alphabetic awareness (letter-sounds parallels. When the students combine those two skills, they will develop their reading and writing performance. Orthography means the ability to write words based on the rules. It includes the ability to apply the proper letter and correct spelling. Students with poor orthographic awareness will have difficulties cracking the word decoding. Learning this knowledge is essential because it will help the students avoid confusion while they read. Hence, orthography skills enable the students to have fluency in reading. Lastly, morphological means the knowledge of the word' structure. It helps the students understand the relationship between words. It has a relation with morpheme. These three elements are linked with each other, and each has a role in helping the students build their spelling skills.
How to Teach Students About Spelling?
Spelling is a linguistic skill that needs strategies. It will help them to explore their linguistic skills. There are four effective spelling strategies:
- Phonetic Spelling Strategies: This is the first step that the students should master when they learn spelling. It requires the learners to listen to each sound in a word, and they should be able to represent it with a letter and a combination of alphabets. In this strategy, segmenting is a recommended method to practice.
- Rule-Based Spelling Strategies: Through this strategy, the students will understand many reliable rules and generalizations in English spelling that will help them create proper writing with their spelling ability. For example, the learners will understand the differences in using letters c and k and know that the sound of /ch/ is usually spelled tch after a short vowel.
- Visual Spelling Strategies: The teachers or parents should encourage the students and children to read various books to help them develop visual familiarity with the words. This strategy will enable them to differentiate similar-looking words.
- Morpehemic Spelling Strategies: Through this strategy, the students will learn to connect the meaning of the words to how the word spells. In this method, the learners will study prefixes, suffixes, and abbreviations.
Why is Spelling Learning Important?
Spelling is the foundation of advanced linguistic skills. Correct and proper spelling is crucial for children to help them during school. Learning to spell helps young children develop solid associations between letters and their sounds. Spelling practice also enables them to improve their vocabularies. Many experts agree that children with excellent spelling skills tend to do well in school. Learning how to spell also helps young students to develop proper communication skills.
How to Improve Students' Spelling Ability?
As we learned that spelling is essential for children's literacy growth, we should help them to have the appropriate spelling skills. Below are some tips and strategies for it:
- Use the proper and correct dictionary to help.
- Pick what English style you favor (British or American).
- Try to check the suffixes and prefixes through the dictionary.
- Make a list of words that are tough to spell. Spare some extra time to practice on those vocabularies.
- Learn the standard pronunciation.
- Familiarize yourself with the spelling rules.
- Learn the homophones, near homophones, and other confusing words.
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