W. 5 062 GOVERNMENT OF PORTO RICO UNIVERSITY OF PORTO RICO BULLETIN No. 1, 1922 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO RICAN PUPILS BY CHARLES W. ST. JOHN Dean of the University of Porto Rico, Bio Piedras, P. R. PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY RIO PIEDRAS. P. R. 1922 GOVERNMENT OF PORTO RICO UNIVERSITY OF PORTO RIGO BULLETIN No. 1, 1922 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY POETO RICAN PUPILS BY CHARLES W. ST. JOHN Dean of the University of Porto Rico, Rio Piedras, P. PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY RIO PIEDRAS, P. R. 1922 SAN JUAN, P. R. BUEEAU OF SUPPLIES, FEINTING, AND TEANSPOETATION 1922 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Pages. Preface 5 Hie Spelling of English by Porto Rican Pupils: I. The Most Frequent Misspellings 7 II. A Classification and Analysis of Spelling Errors 25 III. Methods of Instruction 32 IV. A Comparison of Individuals and Groups 47 Errors in English Grammar in Porto Eico 59 2067409 PREFACE. Some years ago, while serving as Professor of Education and Psychology in the University of Porto Eico, the writer was im- pressed by certain persistent errors in spelling in the examination papers and other written work of his students. "Without their knowledge he kept for some months complete individual records of all misspellings in the written work and note books submitted by each of his two or three hundred students. These records were so rich in interesting material bearing upon problems of bilingual in- struction in Porto Rico, and so suggestive of significant facts in the psychology of spelling, that the author desired to make a more extensive study of the spelling of English under the unusual con- ditions existing in Porto Rico. The present bulletin gives an account of the results of this investigation, together with some parallel recommendations concern- ing the teaching of spelling in Porto Rico and Latin-American countries. It is to be followed within a few months by a series of text books for use in the teaching of spelling, organized along the lines suggested herein. There may follow also some attempt to cull from the material here presented those parts which appear most significant with relation to the psychology of spelling. The data available here seem to throw some light on the question of the relative importance of the several mental factors involved in spelling. The author wishes to thank the Department of Education of Porto Rico for the hearty cooperation of the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner of Education, the district Supervisors of Schools and many teachers in the collecting and preliminary mark- ing of the composition papers upon which the investigation was based. To the editor of the Porto Rico School Review he is in- debted for permission to republish in its present form this report, which first appeared serially in that publication and has now been very slightly revised and corrected. CHARLES W. ST. JOHN. Rfo PIEDRAS, April, 1922. THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO RICAN PUPILS. THE MOST FREQUENT MISSPELLINGS. In brief, the method of this investigation was as follows: On Wednesday of the first week of school after the Christmas vacation the pupils in 44 eighth grades (one or more in each of the school districts of Porto Rico) wrote compositions in English entitled "How I Spent My Christmas Vacation," the time allowance being thirty minutes and the work being done quite independently. After the papers had been marked by the teachers in accordance with in- structions they were sent to the writer together with certain infor- mation from the Supervisors of Schools concerning methods of teach- ing spelling in their districts. It was found that the marking had not been uniform, and the writer himself had to mark and score all 44 sets of papers, accord- ing to rules which had been given a long trial and then revised. The assurance of absolute uniformity of marking compensated for this burden of work. This final marking was partially checked up several times, and exceedingly few errors were found. At the same time that each individual paper was marked and scored, a card catalog record was kept of every word misspelled by any student, of each different misspelling of each word, and of each repetition of each misspelling. There were 1,131 composition papers, of which 559 were written by girls and 572 by boys. The total number of words in the entire set of papers was about 200,000. Ex- actly 1,000 different words were misspelled and the total number of errors in spelling was 3,890, in addition to about 1,700 errors in capitalization (not including those in the title or in the first words of sentences, which were counted as errors of grammar). Before the results are reported it may be well to call attention to certain significant facts. (1) These papers represent the average "finished product" of the urban elementary schools, being secured through tests in eighth grades in headquarters towns. (2) The 8 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO EICAN PUPILS. spelling is presumably typical of what may be expected in the best free compositions of the eighth grade, since these compositions were undoubtedly written with a desire to make the best possible showing. (3) This was announced as a test in composition, not spelling, and so gives a more just indication of practical spelling proficiency. (4) The topic was such as to call forth, in the main, the vocabulary of every-day life. Finally, (5) the fact should be emphasized that the reports on the frequency and types of errors in spelling and grammar in these 1,131 compositions are based upon facts, recorded and available for verification. The recommendations concerning methods of teaching spelling, in the third part of this report, are based upon the theory of the mental processes of spelling as well as the actual results of this investigation ; the other reports are facts, as far as these 1,131 compositions (200,000 words) are concerned. In view of the large mass of material examined, probably they may be safely considered valid for eighth-grade written work in Porto Rico in general. The errors in capitalization (not including those in the title and in the first words of sentences) average nearly 1% per composition, 0nd spelling errors other than these, nearly 3^2 per composition. The average composition contained about 170 words. Table IV gives a list of all of the 502 words which were misspelled more than once, arranged in descending order as to frequency of misspelling. The distribution of errors in capitalization is indicated in a separate table (V). Illogically, but to call the reader's attention to the significant facts before he becomes too fatigued by a long list of misspellings, the remarks on the list are placed before the list. This is not the place for a complete commentary, and only the most important points are given here. In the rest of this part the word "misspelling" will be used not to include any errors in capitalization. The words italicized in the list are those which occurred with unusual frequency because of the topic of the composition ("Christmas words," we might call them). They are not counted in any way in the calculations upon which the following remarks are based thus making the results, we believe, fairly true of compositions in every-day vocabulary in gen- eral. After these are eliminated we have 980 different words, with a total of about 3,500 spelling errors other than of capitalization. THE MOST FREQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 9 REMARKS. 1. mile over 50 per cent of these 980 misspelled words were misspelled only once in the 1,131 compositions, yet 10 per cent of all spelling errors were made on the first four words, "these," "passed/' "then" and "where". (While some of the errors on "these" and "passed" might be considered errors of grammar, in the writer's opinion they are technically, and in the mental processes of the pu- pils, errors of spelling.) Twenty- five per cent of all spelling errors occurred in the writing of the first 22 words (1-29 in the list in Table IV, "Christmas words" being eliminated). The first 102 words (about one-tenth of the total 980) caused 50 per cent of all of the 3,500 misspellings. The following tables show these facts in detail. TABLE I. DISTRIBUTION OF SPELLING ERRORS. Serial Number Per cent of numbers. of words, all words. Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 1- 7 .5 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 8- 23 12 1.5 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 24- 43 18 2.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 44- 73 28 3.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 74 113 39 4.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 114 173 59 6.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 174- 265 86 9.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 266- 405 140 14.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 406- 654 248 25.0 Ten per cent of all errors occurred in 655-1,000 346 35.0 TABLE II. Twenty-five per cent of all errors occurred in 1- 29 22 2.0 Twenty-five per cent of all errors occurred in 30- 113 80 8.0 Twenty-five per cent of all errors occurred in 114- 307 186 19.0 Twenty-five per cent of all errors occurred in 308-1,000 692 71.0 2. The first aim in spelling instruction should be automatic cor- rectness in writing the most essential words of the every-day vocabu- lary. A glance at the accompanying list of misspellings (Table IV) gives painful evidence that a great deal of careful and skilful instruc- tion on the spelling of the simplest words is needed. Of the first 400 words in the list (causing 80 per cent of all errors) 191 have but one syllable, 136 have two syllables, 57 three, 14 four and 2 five. 3. The confusion of the 19 pairs or groups of short words listed below caused 628 errors in spelling (18 per cent of the total). 10 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO RICAN PUPILS. TABLE III. CONFUSION OP SHORT WORDS. Number of errors. 1. these and this ___________________ - 147 2. then and them _____________________ 3. passed and past ____________________ - 90 4. where and were ____________________________________ 64 5. too, two and to ------------------------------------ 32 6. there and their ____________________________________ 31 7. custom, accustom and costume ----------------------- 25 8. bathe, bath, breathe and breath ----------- 24 9. feel and fill _______________________ - 21 10. think, thing and sing --------- 17 11. went and when ------------------------------------ 15 12. not and no ________________________________________ 13 13. country and county _________________________________ 12 14. later and latter ____________________________________ 11 15. most and must _____________________________________ 9 16. rice and rise _______________________________________ 7 17. seem and seen _____________________________________ 6 18. hear and here _____________________________________ 6 19. fine and find _______________________________________ 6 4. The writer's analysis of the spelling errors has revealed many distinct classes. Some of these are detected in a brief examination of Table IV. The cross references o-m, at the end of the list, indicate some of the most noticeable. Groups g, c, d, a and b include over 10 per cent of all spelling errors. TABLE IV. WORDS MOST FREQUENTLY MISSPELLED. Words in italics have not been considered in the above Eemarks since the frequency of their occurrence results from the special topic of the compositions. Under the heading "Misspellings," (writing) means the writing of an m or w with four curves, or some similar error which cannot be represented in print. The numerals in parenthesis after words in the first column indicate the se- rial numbers of other words to be compared. The letters, similarly used, refer to the Cross References at the end of the list. ^"IJ "2^^ MISSPELLINGS. " " = "5 3."n2 Most Second in Third in ^ ?C_ ";== frequent. frequency. frequency. 1. these (20) __ ..127 3 this (125) thise (1) theese (1)" 2. passed (78) ------- 93 3 past (83) pased (8) pasted (2) 3. then (45)_- ----- 84 4 them (79) that (3) _ 4. Christmas--. 76 21 Chrismas (14) Chritmas (11) Christmast (8) 5. feast ------------ 59 3 fiest (55) fist (3) fest(l) THE MOST FEEQUEXT MISSPELLINGS. 11 Ml-iSI'KLLIXGS. 6. vacation (j) 56 7. where (22) 52 8. automobile 51 9,. studying (a) 49 10. friend 41 11. night (b) 32 12. there (59) 30 13. and (c) 28 14. beginning (d) 27 15. dance 27 16. feel 27 17. too (69; 147) 25 IS. Christ 24 19. December 24 20. this (1) 24 _'1. i>icnic 23 22. were (7) 23 23. clock 22 24. happiness (e) 22 25. wait 22 26. beautiful 21 27. because 21 28. country 21 29. custom (31) 20 30. town 20 31. accustom (29) (g) 10 32. anxious 19 33. begin 19 34. holiday (42) 19 35. running (d) 19 36. didn't 18 37. my 18 38. prepare 17 39. went (71) 17 40. bathe (63; 203) __ 15 41. bicycle 15 42. holy (34) 15 43. pleasant 15 44. receive '. 15 45. them (3) 15 46. I (c) 14 47. pig 14 48. until (h) 14 49. happiest 13 50. invite . 13 fcf f Most Jz; T3 S frequent. 14 vaccation (30) 3 were (50) 9 automovil (22) 3 studing (45) 8 frcind (2) 7 nigth (19) 7 their (21) 5 an (17) 2 begining (26) 8 danze (13) 4 fill (21) 2 to (24) 1 Crist (24) 3 Dicember (22) 3 these (22) 14 pinic (6) 6 where (14) 9 clok (13) 6 happines (12) 11 wate (6) 4 beatiful (13) 14 becouse (7) 5 county (12) 7 eostum (9) 4 toun (12) 5 acustom (9) 5 ansious (11) 5 beging (10) 3 holyday(ll) 2 runing (18) 4 din 't (15) 6 muy (8) 7 p repair (6) 7 when (7) 1 bath (15) 6 bycicle (6) 1 holly (15) 6 plesant (9) 5 recive (6) 3 then (13) 5 a (8) 4 pick (10) 2 until'l (8) 4 Happies (10) 9 envite (2) Second in frequency. vacacion (11) wliare (1) automovile (14) studyng (3) frind (9) might (5) they (4) 1(7) bigining (1) ' danse (4) fell (3) two (1) Diccember (1) thic (1) pickness (2) we (4) doak (2) happyness (4) weit (4) beautifull (6) beacause (2) contry( 5) costume (3) twon (5) acostum (6) ancious (5) bigin (6) 'holly day (7) runining (1) did't (1) (writing) (4) prepear (6) uent (4) Third in frequency. vaquetion (2) uhere (1) automobil (9) studiying (1) frend (3) knight (3) (2) dace (4) feell (2) Decembrer (1) his (1) picknic (2) well (2) (2) (2) becase (2) cowntry (2) costom (2) tawn (2) acustum (2) holliday (1) dindt (1) may (3) pripare (2) vent (2) bicicle (4) bycycle (2) pleasent (2) recieve (6) they (1) and (2) pit (2) ontil (6) invit (2) (writing) (1) in (2) lit (2) 12 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO RICAN PUPILS. WORD. -2*-g -2" 1 Sa| gr. X'ZV r= 51. review 13 3 52. theater (-re) 13 10 53. celebrate 12 7 54. happy 12 5 55. later 12 2 56. left 12 8 57. not (437) 12 2 58. remember 12 4 59. their (12) __1 12 2 60. think (127; 468) _ 12 4 61. tons 12 4 62. assign (g) 11 4 63. bath (40; 203) __ 11 6 64. church 11 7 .65. Santa Claus 11 7 66. saw 11 5 67. seeing (i) 11 2 68. tired 11 3 69. two (17; 146) ___ 11 4 70. walk (320) 11 7 71. when (39) 11 4 72. which 11 4 73. with 11 6 74. coming (d) 10 1 75. in (c) 10 4 76. most 10 2 77. next 10 6 78. past (2) 10 2 79. permission (j) 10 3 80. sorry 10 5 81. stayed 10 5 82. through 10 4 83. very 10 7 84. accept (g) 9 4 85. an (e) 9 2 86. being (i) 9 3 87,. glad 9 7 88. going 9 4 89. immediately (k)__ 9 4 90. life 9 1 91. many 9 7 92. morning 9 4 93. our 9 2 94. spent 9 7 95. accompany (g) 8 2 M I SSPEItLINOS. Most frequent. revew (8) threatry (4) selebrate (5) hapy (4) latter (11) let (5) no (11) remenber (9) there (9) thing (9) toils (8) asign (5) bathe (4) chorch (3) Santa Claws (5) so (4) seen (6) tire (8) (writing) (5) went (7) wolk (5) wich (7) we (5) comming (10) 1(7) must (9) nest (3) passed (7) permision (6) sory (5) state (5) throught (4) bery(3) acept (6) and (7) been (7) gladd (3) goin (6) inmediatly (5) live (9) may (2) mornning (4) owr (8) acompany (7) pent (3) Second in frequency. reviw (3) celebrete (2) happhy (3) leter (1) nor (1) thier (3) toes (2) sign (4) vast (3) cliourch (2) sow (3) seing (5) tried (2) to (4) whem (2) whic (2) which (2) en (1) mist (1) mext (2) pass (3) permition (3) sorrow (2) stated (2) throw (3) were (2) a (2) bing (1) Third in frequency. re-wiew (2) heppen (2) chruch (2) sau (2) tair (1) too (1) an(l) nex (2) permsion (1) throng (2) bee ing (1) inmidiatly (2) mamy (2) mourning (3) awr (1) accompaign (1) THE MOST FREQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 13 *i MS. -S^TS 2' ? ~ S MISSPELLINGS. 96. afternoon 8 97. ate 8 98. buy 8 99. candies 8 100. eat 8 101. joyful (f) 8 102. play 8 103. pretty 8 104. recite 8 105. return 8 106. roast 8 107. school 8 108. seem (313) 8 109. they 8 110. those 8 111. week 8 112. class 7 113. dinner 7 114. enthusiasm 7 115. etc 7 116. first 7 117. fourth (1) 7 118. gift 7 119. new 7 120. on (c) 7 121. playing 7 122. possible 7 123. rice 7 124. stay 7 125. study 7 126. swimming (d) 7 127. thing (60; 468)__ 7 128. thought (b) 7 129. three 7 130. uncle 7 131. was 7 132. work 7 133. ball 6 134. breakfast 6 135. candy 6 136. commemorate 6 137. eighth (1) 6 138. expect 6 139. hours 6 140. house- 6 Most Second in Third in frequent. frequency. frequency. aftermoon (3) afternoom (2) aet (4) at (2) aete (1) by (5) bay (2) candys (5) eate (6) it (2) joyfull(5) pay (5) ply (2) pleay (1) pritty (3) preety (3) resite (5) returm (3) retail (2) rust (3) shoal (5) scholl (2) selool (1) seen (3) seam (2) the (6) their (1) thej (1) does (4) thovise (2) '. weeck (5) clase (7) diner (3) deaner (2) enthusiam (3) entusiasm (3) entuthiams ( 1 ) ect. (6) andsoford(l) - firsth (1) frith (1) ferst (1) forth (6) foruth (1) give (2) guift (2) mew (4) knew (2) wew(l) an (4) om (1) 1(1) plain (3) playind (3) playn (1) posible (6) posibel (1) rise (7) state (5) stey (1) staigh (1) stody (4) estudy (3) Fwiming (7) think (4) thign(l) sing(l) though (4) sough (1) thoughth (1) tree (3) the (1) thre (1) auncle (3) uncl (1) oncle (1) wos (2) wark (3) boll (5) bal (1) breadfast (4) breastfast (1) breafast(l) kandy (2) eonmemorate(4)comemorate (l)commerate (1) eigth (4) eighty (1) eightth(l) spect (3) spet(l) spent (1) ours (3) howrs (2) haur (1) hause (5) nouse (1) THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO RICAN PUPILS. WORD. I %* III 141. immediate (k) 6 142. merrily (e) 6 143. reach 6 144. sew 6 145. sitting (d) 6 146. to (17; 69) 6 147. twelve 6 148. we (c) 6 149. you 6 150. all 5 151. almost (h) 5 152. announce (g) 5 153. around 5 154. at (c) 5 155. aunt 5 156. card 5 157. could 5 158. day 5 159. dresses 5 160. eating 5 161. enjoy 5 162. evening 5 163. farm 5 164. felt 5 165. fine (283) 5 166. fruit 5 167. grandmother 5 168. happily (e) 5 169. how 5 170. imagine 5 171. immense (k) 5 172. king 5 173. know (234) 5 174. laugh 5 175. liquors 5 176. make 5 177. me 5 178. Monday (m) 5 179. nine 5 180. noise 5 181. occurred (g) 5 182. Protestant 5 183. remained 5 184. ride 5 185. sleep 5 Sri ^^~ Z = 5 frequent. 2 inmediate (5) 3 merely (4) 2 rich (5) 1 saw (6) 2 siting (5) 5 too (2) 3 twelf (4) 2 he (3) 2 yow (5) 3 oil (3) 3 allmost (3) 3 anounee (3) 3 arround (2) 2 a (4) 3 ant (3) 2 cart (4) 3 cowld (3) 3 they (3) 2 dressess (4) 1 eaten (5) 5 injoy (1) 2 evenning (4) 3 farmer (3) 3 fell (2) 2 find (4) 3 frut (3) 3 gramother (3) 3 happy]y(3) 3 hou (3) 2 imagen (4) 1 inmense (5) 1 kind (5) 1 now (5) 4 laught (2) 2 licors (3) 3 may (3) 3 mi (3) 3 Mondy (3) 1 night (5) 2 noice (4) 5 occurrd (1) 2 Protestan (4) 2 remaind (3) 4 rise (2) 3 asleep (3) MISSPELLINGS. Second in Third in frequency. frequency. immidiate (1) merryly (1) merily (1) rech(l) sitten (1) two (1) the (1) tweve (1) twel (1) tie (3) your (1) al (1) or (1) all mot (1) almos(l) announse (1) anouse (1) round (2) allound (1) as(l) aunnt (1) ount (1) carte (1) cut(l) cuit (1) date (1) (writing) (1) (1) enjou (1) enjoice (1) evenig (1) fam (1) tarm (1) feld (2) fold (1) fin(l) fruite (1) fouit (1) granmother (1) grantmother (1) happiely (1) happidly (1) whow (1) haw (1) imgine (1) lauph (1) liquords (2) maeke (1) mee (1) Munday (1) laf (1) my (i) my (3) Moniday (1) nois (1) occured (1) ocurred (1) Protestand (1) - remainded (2) raide (1) ripe (1) slep (1) slip (1) THE MOST FREQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 15 WORD. = = 186. 187. 188. 189. 190. 391. 192, 193. ]94. 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 209. 210. 211. 212. 213. 214. 215. 216. 217. 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 225. 226. 227. 228. 229. 230. z'Z some 5 Sunday (m) 5 suppose (g) -- surprise 5 H* S.-.2 MISSPELLINGS. than twenty us women Xmas about account (g)- also (h) 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 . 4 always (h) 4 appreciate (g) 4 assist (g; 4 athletic 4 begun 4 breathe (40; 63 )_ 4 brilliant 4 brother 4 can't 4 Catholic 4 climb 4 coach 4 college 4 companion 4 cousin 4 delicious 4 don't 4 drink 4 eve 4 family 4 felicitation (j)_-_ 4 fifteen 4 fifth (1) 4 flowers 4 giving 4 go (c) 4 grandfather 4 handkerchief 4 health 4 hymns 4 January 4 leave 4 like __ 4 Most frequent. som (2) Sonday (3) supose (5) surprice (2) that (4) tweenty (4) use (2) woman (5) Kmas (2) abaut (4) acount (2) olso (3) allways (3) apreciate (4) r.sist (3) atletic (2) begon (2) breath (4) brillant (3) brothe (1) cann 't (3) Catolic (3) dim (2) couch (2) collage (2) Second in frequency. son (1) Sundy (2) surpraise (1) tham (1) twemty (1) uss (1) Xma (1) iccont (1) allso (1) alway (1) assit (1) atlethic (1) begone (1) Third in frequency. sorprise (1) ous (1) Xms (1) occount (1) atthletie (1) begome (1) brilluant (1) frother (1) con't (1) Catolict (1) claim (1) coache (1) colege ( 1 ) companyon (1) companium (1) cousing (2) counsin (1) delisious (1) delicous (1) blrother (1) clib (1) cochage (1) colage (1) companioun (1) don (2) drinck (3) ive (2) familly (1) dn't (1) drimk (1) eads (1) fammily (1) felicitacion (3) felisitation (1) fifthteen (1) fith (2) flours (2) given (3) got (3) fifttin (1) fift (1) flowrs (1) givin (1) good (1) deliceous(l) dont (1) eaf (1) famili (1) fifhteen (1) fiveth (1) flores (1) granfather (3) gramfather (1) handekerchief (1 )handchief (1) hearth (3) Himms (1) Jannuary (1) live (4) lake (1) headth (1) himns (1) Janury (1) liked (1) hancherchief (1) heath (1) Hym (1) Juanuary (1) kike (1) J6 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY POETO EICAN PUPILS. 02 n a 231. 232. 233. 234. 235. 236. 237. 238. 239. 240. 241. 242. 243. 244. 245. 246. 247. 248." 249. 250. 251. 252. 253. 254. 255. 256. 257. 258. 259. 260. 261, 262. 263. 264. 265, 266. 267. 268. 269. 270. 271. 272. 273. 274. 275. live lunch mass now (173) occupy (g) one open order __. pass place __, priest putting scholar shepherd sometimes sweet taking whole writing (d) 4 ache after afterwards any appropriate (g) arrive (g) 3 asleep 3 awakened 3 balcony 3 banana 3 bed 3 bell 3 between 3 bright (b) 3 bring 3 brought (b) 3 by (e) 3 came 3 camera 3 car 3 carrying (a) 3 cemetery 3 certain 3 chorus 3 close 3 clothes--- 3 1*1 MISSPELLINGS. i-'S ' Most Second in Third in j-alj frequent. frequency. frequency. 3 life (2) leave (1) lire (1) 2 lonch (2) launch (2) 3 mas (2) mise (1) meat (1) 2 mow (2) know (2) 3 ocupy (2) occuppy (1) acupy (1) 3 ome (2) once (1) on (1) 2 oppen (3) opon (1) - 4 alder (1) orde (1) orther (1) 1 Das (4} J_ pda {* ) 4 play (1) pace (1) plase (1) 1 prist (4) , 1 puting (4) . . 1 schoolar (4) . 4 sheperd (1) sheapper (1) shephered (1) 2 sometime (3) sometimed (1) . 3 swit (2) suit (1) swet (1) 2 taken (3) takeing (1) 3 hold (2) hole (1) boll (1) 3 eche (1) eak (1) age (1) 2 afther (2) ofter (1) 3 afterwads (1) afterwars (1) afterward (1) 2 eny (1) end (1) , 3 approppriate(l)apropieted (1) apropiated (1) 2 arive (2) arraive (1) 1 sleep (3) . 1 awaked (3) . _ 2 valcony (2) balconey (1) 1 bannana (3) 2 let (2) beg (1) . . 3 belt (1) beld (1) bird (1) 2 bettween (2) bet wee (1) 1 brigth (3) 3 brind (1) brig(l) (writing) (1) 2 brough (2) broucl (1) 2 my (2) (writing) ('\\ 2 cane (2) can (]) 1 camara (3) _ 2 card (2) earr (1) ._ 2 carryng (2) earring (] ) 2 cementary (2) cemetary ( 1 ) 2 certian (2) ceartain (1) 3 corns (1) chours (1) chorous (1) 2 clouse (2) cloose (1) 1 cloth (3) - THE MOST FBEQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 17 MISSPELiLINGS. E 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 H.W 1 3 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 2 3 2 3 2 1 1 1 3 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 2 3 2 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 2 r Most frequent. colect (3) cone (1) confution (3) deceide (1) stablish (3) excelent (3) exept (3) fine (2) for (2) fnio-ant (3) funk'-, (2) geting (3) giving (3) goverment (2) here (3) helpped (1) hear (3) hose (2) emportan (1) joyious (2) adknowledge(l litters (2) mayority (3) marked (3) medows (3) movin (1) niese (1) occure (2) once (3) order (1) parck (2) pacient (3) peaple (1) peace (2) Presbiterian(2; plasent (1) ridding (2) seem (3) thought (1) specialy (2) spened (1) studyed (3) super (1) swing (3) tolk (2) Second in frequency. Third in frequency. 277 come comce (1) con (1) 279 decide dicede (1) diside (1) fined (1) force (1) 284 forth 86 funny fany (1) govenment (1) 291 helped kelp (1) held (1) 292 here (290) 293 horse house (1) importance (1) joyus (1) ) knowlegde ( 1 ) lettle (1) 294 important importans (1) 296 knowledge knouledge (1) 297 little 299 market 301. moving movement (1) niece (1) ocurr (1) muving (1) mice (1) 302. nice 303 occur (g) 305 other another (1) parket (1) orther (1) 306 park 308 people peopple (1) pice (1) 1 Previsterian (1) pleasant (1) riden (1) piople (1) 309 piece 310. Presbyterian priest (1) shut (1) 311. present 312. riding 313 seen (108) 314 shot shoot (1) spetially (1) spen (1) 316 spend expend (1) 317 studied (a) 318. supper soup ( 1 ) souper (1) 319 swim 320. talk tok , 1 } 18 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO RICAN PUPILS. WORD. | a * 321. taught (b) Jf 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1l S.-.2 Jzj-sE 3 o 1 2 3 2 3 J 3 9 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 ?. MISSPELLINGS. Most Second frequent. frequen< fought (1) touch (1) tall (2) sell (1) (cap.) Free (l)tre (1) trolly (3) in Third in ^ sy. frequency. tougn (1) 322 tell 323. tree three (1) 324 trolley 325. Tuesday (m) 326. visit Thuesday (2) Tuestday visite (1) visict (1) weak (2) walk (1) vals (1) walz (1) Wcncsday (3) C\ } bisit (1) wals (1) 327. wake 328. waltz 329. Wednesday (m) __ 330. won wound (1) own (1) wonderfull (2) wondeful wong (1) n \ 331. wonderful (f) 332. accompanied (g) . ' Most frequent. accompanied (1) adquire (2) afraid (1) agreable (2) and (1) annother (1) apetite (2) at (1) asalt (1) asembly (1) attemp (1) atract (2) bak (1) bear (2) benefie (1) besides (2) vest (2) bigest (1) bleu (1) borned (1) break (1) broock (1) by (2) coal (1) came (2) cary (2) chauffer (2) churchs (2) Clauds (1) coconates (1) coffe (2) cormmerce Cl") Second in frequency. acompained (1) 334. afraid afreight (1) 335 agreeable 336. am (e) an(l) anothere ( 1 ) 337. another 338 appetite 339 as (c) af (1) asault (1) assembling (1) atend (1) 340 assault (g) 341. assembly (g) 342. attend (g) 343 attract (g) 344 back bad (1) 345 beer 346. benefit benefit (1) 347. beside 348. best 349. biggest biges (1) blew (1) burn (1) (writing) (1) broke (1) 350. blue 351 born 352;. bread 353. brook 354 but (e) 355. call coll (1) 356. cane _ _ 357. carry 358. chauffeur 359. churches 360 clouds clause (1) coacunuts (1) 361 coconuts 362 coffee 363. commerce comprpfi (~\ "I THE MOST FBEQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 19 WORD. 364. commission (j) 365 compose f-S |p- III: 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 R > h made 426 (class) mate -ment (1) matine (1) 427 matinee 4^8 mind 429. minutes mis (1) 430 moon 431. much muck (1) miusic (1) neart (1) 432. music 433. near 435. necessities neccesaty (sing.) (1) neighbords (pi.) (1) obserb (1) ocassion (1) 436. neighbor 437 no (57) 438. observe 439. occasion (g) (j) _ 440 of (c) 441. opportunity (g) 442. out oportunity (1) owt (1) oun (1) 443. own 444. pair 445. panorama 446 passing (d) 447 phonograph phonograp (1) 448 planned (d) 449 plays 450 pork polk (1) previlege (1) nnit Cl "1 452. prosperous 453. nuite THE MOST FREQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 21 WORD. 454 recited . aS ^ S * &a -o ta-o f o7 5 02- S& aS~ 3 > fc^g 1 -36 2 1 MISSPELLIl ?GS. r Most frequent recitated (2) regrest (2) righ (1) rode (1) rokin (1) roon (2) sat (2) seat (1) Satuesday (1) see (2) seventing (1) several (1) saw (1) seak (1) think (1) sith (2) schy (1) slipping (1) soo (2) soom (2) spectacul (1) speach (2) spendid (2) stike (1) stoking (2) strock (1) sucess (1) suddent (1) sum (2) sorround (1) teaches (1) tin (1) tenus (1) the (1) thow (1) Thousday (1) tine (1) tall (2) truithly (1) tooke (1) trompets (1) vermu (1) vecinnity (1) waitting (2) waste (1} Second in frequency. 455. ' ' regressed ' ' 2 1 wright (1) rood (1) roking ( 1 ) 456. rio-ht (b) 2 2 457 road 2 2 2 2 2 1 460 sad 2 i 461. sat _ 2 2 set (1) Sarturday (1) seventheen ( 1 ) sever (1) shaw (1) sich (1) thing (1) scky (1) sleepping (1) 462. Saturday (m)__ 463. sea 2 1 464. seventeen 2 2 465 severe 2 2 466 show 2 2 467 sickc 468. sing (60; 127) _ 469. sixth p p 2 1 470. sky 2 9! 471. sleeping (d) 2 2 472 so 2 l 2 1 474. spectacle espeetacle (1) 475. speech 2 1 2 1 477. stick 2 2 steck (1) 478 stocking 2 1 479 struck stroke (1) succes (1) suden (1) 2 2 481. sudden 2 2 482 sun ' 2 1 483. surround surrend (1) techer (1) tean (1) tenis (1) than (1) thought (1) Thirsday (1) tame (1) 484. teacher 2 2 485 team 2 2 486 tennis 2 2 487 that 9 2 488 though 2 2 489. Thursday (m) _ 490. time __ 2 2 2 2 491 told 2 1 492. took to (1) truley (1) tromp (1) vermud (1) visinity (1) 493 troly 2 2 494 trumpets 2 2 495 vermouth 2 2 496 vicinity 2 2 497 waitin" (d) 2 1 498. want 2 2 vant m 22 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO EICAN PUPILS. MISSPELLINGS. 499 water 2 a'-tt'a 2 Most frequent. watter (1) Second in frequency, warter (1) 500 well 2 1 501 wharf 2 2 warf (1) wharve (1) 502. whip 2 2 weab (1) weep (1) 498 other words were misspelled once each in the 1,131 com- position papers. 1,000 different words misspelled in all (counting those above listed.) 1,859 distinct misspelling of these 1,000 words. 3,890 words containing errors in spelling, other than in capital- ization. 1,660 errors in capitalization (not including those in title and first word of sentence). 5,550 errors of all kinds in spelling in the 1,131 compositions. CROSS REFERENCES. a. Adding vowel suffixes to words ending in Y (as STUDYING). See numbers 9, 270, 317, 373, 387 (total such errors here, 59). b. Words ending in -GHT. See numbers 11, 128, 263, 265, 321, 376, 422, 456 (total such er- rors here, 40). c. Confusion of short words. See numbers 13, 46, 75, 85, 120, 148, 154, 223, 266, 336, 339, 354, 407, 440 (total such errors here, 88). d. Doubled consonants before inflectional endings. See numbers 14, 35, 74, 126, 145, 249, 287, 406, 446, 448, 471, 497 (total such errors here, 82). THE MOST FREQUENT MISSPELLINGS. 23 e. Adding consonant suffixes to words ending in Y (a* HAPPILY). See numbers 24, 142, 168 (total, 17). f. Words ending in -FUL. See numbers 26, 101, 331, 377 (total, 14). g- Prefixes duplicating initial consonant. See numbers 31, 62, 84, 95, 152, 181, 188, 196, 199, 200, 235, 254, 255, 276, 303, 332, 340, 341, 342, 343, 379, 380, 439, 441 (total, 87). h. Compounds of TILL and ALL. See numbers 48, 151, 197, 198 (total, 16). i. SEEING and BEING. See numbers 67 and 86 (total, 20). j- Confusion of endings. See numbers 6, 79, 218, 278, 364, 368, 439 (total, 22). k. Words beginning with the prefix IM-. See numbers 89, 141, 171 (total, 18). 1. The ordinal ending -TH. See numbers 117, 137, 220, (total, 10). m. The days of the week. See numbers 178, 187, 325, 329, 462,- 489 (total, 20). 24 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO EICAN PUPILS. TABLE V. DISTRIBUTION OF ERRORS IN CAPITALIZATION. Capitals used where not required--- 1,095 Capitals omitted, general 65 Capitals omitted, "Christmas" and related words 385 Capitals omitted, names of months and days 87 Capitals omitted, Catholic, Protestant, etc 14 Capitals omitted, Spanish, American, etc 14 Total 1, 660 Spelling instruction and drill along the lines which may be inferred from the Kemarks preceding Table IV will considerably reduce the amount of misspellings. The elimination of all of these most frequent misspellings, however, would still leave a great and perhaps discouraging task, the correcting of the "scattering" errors which do not readily fall into groups or classes. The next part of this report will give a detailed classification and analysis of the spelling errors (down to the simplest phonic units) which will be of much more assistance in attacking the spelling problem, and the third part will consist of detailed practical suggestions to the teacher. A CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF SPELLING ERRORS. Many of the 3,890 misspelled words in the 1,131 composition papers which provided the material for this investigation exhibit errors which may be classified readily. The writer's classification follows in Table VI. This selection of types of errors is based upon no arbitrary preconceived plan, but is the result only of a close study of the data. In a number of cases one word contained errors of more than one of the types here indicated, in which cases errors were counted under each of the headings. Also, occasionally, one and the same error was counted under two headings. Thus the 4,985 errors clas- sified in Table VI occurred in about 4,750 words. The remaining mistakes could not be easily or profitably classified. TABLE VI. A CLASSIFICATION OF SPELLING ERRORS. Number of errors. 1. Capitalization 1,660 2. Confusion of English words 1, 077 3. Double and single letters 445 4. Prefixes and suffixes . 348 5. Eules 311 6. Assimilation to Spanish words 259 7. Omission of letters or syllables 222 8. Nasal sounds 127 9. Terminal sounds 109 10. Silent letters 106 11. Insertion of letters or syllables 64 12. Writing 55 13. Transposition of letters 38 14. Confusion of parts of speech .T6 15. Construction 26 16. Compound words 26 17. Initial s, es and ex 20 18. Assimilation to next letter, syllable or word 15 19. Special inflection forms 1J Total ~4^98l SUB-CLASSES AND EXAMPLES FOR TABLE VI. (Each series of examples given is arranged with those of most frequent oc- currence first, and the rest in descending order.) 25 2(j THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY POETO EICAN PUPILS. 2. CONFUSION OF ENGLISH WORDS. In Table III (see the first article of this series) 19 pairs or groups of words wore -iven, confusion of which caused 628 errors. Of the total of 1.077 errors of this class 196 (18 per cent) occurred in homonyms (as: to, too and two; whole and hole; buy and by, etc.). 3. DOUBLE AND SINGLE LETTERS. (a) In 275 cases words were spelled with single letters where double should be used. Ninety-four of these errors were in prefixes (as in: accompany, sup- pose, assign, etc.). The words of this subclass most frequently misspelled were running, happiness, accustom, accompanied, passed, assign, possible, swimming. (b) Double letters were used in place of single in 170 cases. Examples: vaceation, holliday, latter (later), camming, untill, evenmng, tweenty, writting. 4. PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES. (a) Errors in suffixes occurred 240 times. Examples: -ing, -tion, -est, -ed, -ate, -ious, -sion, -ant. (b) Prefixes were misspelled 108 times. Examples: ac-, im-, bi-, un-, dis-, in-, re-, sur-. 5. EULES. The spelling rules given in the section on Orthography in the Guide to Pro- nunciation of "Webster's New International Dictionary" were used as a basis for this classification. Violations of these rules (and of indicated rules concern- ing exceptions !) were as follows (the numbers here referring to corresponding rules): Number 13, 73 errors; 7, 67; 17, 42; S, 29; 8, 20; 18, 14; 1, 13; 14, 12; 19, 12; 10, 11; gl, 5; 4, 4; 9, 3; 15, 3; 11, 2; 20, I. 6. ASSIMILATION TO SPANISH WORDS. Examples: feast, written fiest; automobile, automovil, -bil, etc.; accustom, acostum ; immediate, inmediate ; not, no ; vacation, vacacion. 7. OMISSION OF LETTERS OR SYLLABLES. Examples: Dance, dace; grandfather, granfather; every, evey; clock, elk; remember, rember. 8. NASAL SOUNDS. (This group includes nasal sounds of English words as correctly pronounced, and also as commonly mispronounced in Porto Eico.) Examples: (a) begin, beging; son, song; explain, explaing; friend, frieng. (b) them, then; time, tine; some, son; come, con. 9. TERMINAL SOUNDS. (Terminal sounds are very generally slurred by Porto Eican pupils.) Ex- amples: picnic, picney; island, islan; accord, accor; grind, grain; attempt, attemp. A CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF SPELLING EEEOES. 27 10. SILENT LETTERS. (a) Omitted. Examples: (1) Final e, as in automobile, noise, etc. 53 er- rors; (2) consonants, as in climb, rhyme, knock, etc. 13 errors. (&) Added. Examples: (1) Final e, as in walke, cate, glade, etc. 33 er- rors; (2) substituting kn for n, as in knew, etc. 7 errors. 11. INSERTION OF LETTERS OR SYLLABLES. Examples: threatre, counsin, bccacause, nrxet, happidly, etc. 12. WRITING. ' Examples: cloth, clotl; inspector, impector; many, mang; we, ue; three, tlree. Others cannot be represented in print. 13. TRANSPOSITION OF LETTERS. Examples: chruch, wrechted^ t\von, thign, consits. 14. CONFUSION OF PARTS OF SPEECH. Examples: being, been; different, difference; like (prep.), liked. 15. CONTRACTIONS. Examples : didn 't, didt, din 't ; can 't, cann 't. 16. COMPOUND WORDS. Examples: holiday, holyday; almost, all most; Sunday, Sundy. 17. INITIAL s, es AND ex. Examples: (a) establish, stablish ; expect, spect. (ft) spectacle, espectacle; spectre, expectre. (c) spent, pent; steady, teady. 18. ASSIMILATION TO NEXT LETTER, SYLLABLE OR WORD. Examples: classes, classess; Longnfelloiv, Lonffellow ; as if, af if. 19. SPECIAL INFLECTIONAL FORMS. Examples: (a) spent, spented; covered, coverd. ( b ) whose, who 's ; family's, f amilie 's. Table VII indicates the number of times that an erroneous sub- stitution of some other letter was made for each letter of the alpha- bet, and for each diphthong or other combination of letters. It also indicates for each letter or combination the number of substitutes which, as used, were phonic equivalents, in English or in Spanish of the correct letter or combination. 28 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO EICAN PUPILS. TABLE VII. RELATIVE FREQUENCY OF SUBSTITUTIONS FOR LETTERS, DIPHTHONGS AND OTHER COMBINATIONS. il I 03 C >S 1 e KnclUh M p li o n i e equivalent. - 1 Sp n nish phonic _, equivalent. o Not phonic rquivalent. I 145 -S 3 31 oy ='=_ 16 ""I C *cs a J> P. ' 3 Jl ~Z 16 Not phonic w equivalent. 1 19 2 n o 140 140 32 wh \ 13 17 3 ea 83 29 20 103 33 f 16 16 4 a 29 ]- 64 93 34 eau 15 15 21 q 69 90 35 nk 15 15 6 o 18 10 66 84 36 1 13 13 62 43 19 81 37 aw 9 10 12 8 u 6 60 66 38 ough 7 12 9 ie T 53 59 39 oa 1 3 10 11 10__ou 11 b 11 22 44 52 55 52 40 ng 41 r 10 10 10 10 12 ee 9 30 43 52 4 ion o 4 9 13 t 49 49 43 oo 1 2 8 9 14 m 15 y 33 9 48 14 48 47 44 ay 45 gh 4 2 1 1 3 5 7 16__ght 17 th 1 1 45 40 46 40 46 uy 47 ev 5 6 2 2 7 6 18 au 26 4 11 37 48 h 6 6 19 ck 1 6 36 49 i 1 6 20 ch 28 87 6 34 j 50 q fi 6 21 d n 31 31 1 4 5 29 k 25 3 6 31 9 2 S 5 23__ai 24 s 24 11 7 10 6 19 30 30 53 ui 54 p o 4 o 5 4 5 4 25 ow 26 v 16 2 13 28 29 55 qu 56 sh 4 3 4 4 4 27 x 1 25 26 17 ue 9 9 4 28 g 2 9, 20 22 58 z s 3 99 W o o 21 21 30 ei 9 7 10 19 Total 535 328 1, 336 1,871 Table VIII indicates that which is noticeably lacking in Table VII that is, which actual letters or combinations were most fre- quently written erroneously in place of the correct ones. The words in the third column, headed "As in, " are given to indicate the phonic values of the correct letters. It will be noticed that in some cases the same phonic value appears several times in the table (as in numbers 6 and 32; 38 and 52; 2, 24 and 41, etc.), since several different letters or combinations were substituted for it. A CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF SPELLING EKEOES. 29 TABLE VIII. ACTUAL SUBSTITUTES GIVEN FOR LETTERS, DIPHTHONGS AND OTHER COMBINATIONS. Serial Letters num- Correct substi- ber. letters. As in tuted. In m Number of substi- tutions. 132 Serial Letters Nun num- Correct substi- of su ber. letters. As in tuted. tuti 32 c dance _ z ber bsti- ms. 13 13 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 6 6 2 ea near ie 54 33 t th 3 e me i 50 34 ee needle e 4 b v 49 35 ou out au 36 ou out ow 37 ai fail a 45 6 c dance s 7 u cup o 8 ee needle i 41 32 30 38 c picture ck 39 f v 9 ck back k 29 40 g bag ck 41 ea near e 42 o broke u 43 ee needle ea 44 i like y 10 t d _ 29 11 ch ache e 28 1 2 ght night gth___ 25 13 a all o 24 24 45 i like al 15 y (vowel) i 24 46 ie friend i 16 d t 23 47 nk think ng 17k ck 23 48 o broke ou 18 e there ei 21 49 o clock oo 19 i dinner e 19 50 th athletic d 90 s release c 19 21 wh whip w 17 52 c picture k 53 i dinner ea 22 oy enjoy oi 23 th athletic t 16 16 54 iew review ew 15 15 55 1 r 26 ow drown ou 15 57 ai fail ei 27 au taught on 8 ea head e 14 14 58 ou course o 59 au taught aw 29 v b 14 30 x s 14 31 a ate e 13 Total 1 157 REMARKS ON TABLES VI, VII AND VIII. 1. "Confusion of English words" (Table VI, number 1) is more properly a matter of spelling not merely of general vocabulary than the phrase suggests, as may be seen readily from the list in Table III (first part of this series) and in note number 1 following Table VI. Certainly there are very few cases where the pupils' ideas were confused as to distinctions of meaning. This one type of error alone, occurring in relatively few words, accounts for about 28 per cent of all misspellings (excluding errors in capitalization). 30 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY PORTO EICAN PUPILS. 2. Probably all of the errors listed under the heading numbered 6 in Table VI, almost all of those under 8, 9 and 17, more than half of those under 3 and 4, and a number of scattering ones under other headings in the same table, are quite directly the result of the lan- guage situation in Porto Rico Spanish being the mother tongue, and English usage and pronunciation, of course, bearing a distinct influence from Spanish and the local pronunciation of Spanish. Errors which show this direct influence are probably about 1,200 or 1,300 in number one-third of all errors. Of course a very large proportion of the remaining two-thirds can be traced back indirectly to the peculiar language situation. 3. While the total number of errors which are clear violations of recognized spelling rules are relatively few, yet (see note number 5 following Table VI) attention should be given to the numerous errors indicated for the four or five rules mentioned first in this list. There were 231 errors clearly falling under rules 13, 7, 17, 2 and 8. 4. Table VII shows that the vowels are the worst stumbling blocks for the speller in Porto Rico. The errors checked against the six vowels, numbers 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 15 (almost all of the errors on ij ; being in cases where it was used as a vowel) total 525 (46 per cent of the total for single letters). Of the errors on combinations of letters, 505 (70 per cent of all combinations) were on diphthongs, triphthongs or combinations like ow, aw, etc. One thousand and thirty errors (55 per cent of all listed in the table) were on vowels or combinations of vowels. 5. The consonants which most frequently trip the unwary are n and m (188 errors) ; c, s and fc (142) ; t and d (80) ; and b and v (80). It will be observed that these occupy the entire field of the single consonants through numbers 1 to 26. The reason for the grouping of the consonants in the first sentence of this paragraph is not merely their relationship as letters, but also the frequent substitu- tion of one member of these groups for its companion. Note (Table VIII) that m is substituted for n 132 times and the reverse 45 times; v for b 49 times and the reverse 14 ; s f or c 45 times and the reverse 19; k or ck for c 19; d for t 29 and the reverse 23. 6. If the 79 cases of substitution of them for then are not counted in Table VIII, number 1, the substitution of m for n will still hold the second place in the list, with a total of 53 errors. 7. Of the total number of substitutes for simple letters or com- A CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF SPELLING ERRORS. 31 binations included in Table VII, 28 per cent were English phonic equivalents of the correct letters and 18 per cent were Spanish phonic equivalents (about 40 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, if from the total we eliminate the letters or combinations for which there is no phonic equivalent). 8. A natural tendency to simplify is evident in the fact that one letter was substituted for two (in one case, two for three) in 49 per cent of all of the diphthongs and other combinations of letters listed in Table VIII, whereas two letters were substituted for one in only 17 per cent of the cases of single letters. 9. To all who have examined attentively the facts given up to the present point in this report, it will be evident that the teaching of spelling has a much more direct and essential relation to other features of the teaching of English than is commonly realized. This relationship will be brought out in the following part. in. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. The length and details of this account may have led already to the inference that the writer considers spelling one of the most important phases of common-school education. Of course correct spelling is not among the really vital, fundamental aims of educa- tion. It is one of the formal and superficial products of schooling, but is sufficiently important to merit study and systematic instruc- tion. The very fact of its formal character renders it more easy to obtain accurate information as to the results of instruction. For the same reason it is also possible to recommend definite methods of instruction with some confidence that they fit the needs. In spite of the length of this particular part, the methods of spelling instruction recommended are not unduly burdensome in any way. They are designed to lighten the peculiar difficulties of pupils studying under a bilingual system, to rationalize spelling instruction and to better the educational product in a feature which is important for all Porto Ricans, at the expense only of slightly increased, per- haps, but much more coherent efforts of teachers and supervisors in this particular. Real spelling instruction is not the extremely simple matter of testing pupils on the spelling of words merely designated (not prop- erly assigned) for study on the preceding day; careful preparation and real teaching are necessary. For economy of space, the general principles of spelling instruc- tion are not fully discussed here. The aim has been to combine a maximum of concrete, practical material with a minimum of theory. The recommendations have special reference, of course, to the public schools of Porto Rico. Most of them are grouped about the three central topics; The Selection of Words; Assignment, Instruction and Study; and Test- ing and the Correcting of Errors. A. THE SELECTION OF WORDS. The suggestions following under this topic are based upon the following assumptions: (o) that the minimum necessity of any in- 32 METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 33 dividual in the matter of spelling is to attain automatic correct spelling of the -words which he will need to write, and that his first need is for the words that are, or should be, in most common use : (&) that one of the spelling problems of first importance is to cor- rect common errors as promptly as possible; and (c) that the words most difficult for spelling are not necessarily the longest (see Re- marks, number 2, Part I of this account), especially in Porto Rico where short English words of Anglo-Saxon origin are more foreign than those of Latin derivation, most of which are long. It is well known that the unaided judgment of teachers as to the relative spelling difficulty of words for their pupils is exceedingly unreliable. In the absence of an official graded spelling book which is known to be fitted to local needs, the following sources for spelling words are recommended. They are arranged in descending order as to the writer's estimate of their value in Porto Rico. (1) The words actually misspelled in general written work 6r/ the special pupils under consideration, as indicated in (a) individual lists, kept by each pupil, of the words misspelled by himself in any written work; (6) class or subject lists, kept by pupils and teacher, of the words specially related to certain subjects which are com- monly misspelled by many pupils; and (c) grade lists, kept by pupils and teacher, of common words generally misspelled by many pupils in the group. If written work is always returned with misspelled words marked, each pupil may be required to add to his individual list all such words not already included. Bound booklets made by the pupils may be use for these lists. They should be paged and indexed to permit an approximation to alphabetical order, so that duplication of words may be avoided and reference may be facilitated. To avoid duplication of words in the class list the teacher may very easily and conveniently keep the list in the form of a card index, using slips of paper arranged alphabetically in a little box, only one word being written on each slip. If the dates on which each word is assigned and reviewed are written on the corresponding slips, the "follow-up" plan (see number 13 of this article) will be easier and the pupils may be made more fully responsible. One of the merits of this method is that it makes spelling more significant through correlating it with other work. (2} The irords most commonly misspelled in Porto Rico as in- dicated in Table IV in the first part of this account. In the upper 34 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY POETO EICAN PUPILS. grades an immediate and direct attack should be made on these words, beginning with those most frequently misspelled and pro- ceeding toward the end of the list, omitting almost no words. Prac- tically every word in the list should be included in the automatic spelling vocabulary of the eighth-grade graduate. It must be remembered that the order of the words in this list indicates neither the relative frequency of their use nor their rela- tive spelling difficulty, but a combination of both the relative fre- quency of their misspelling. For this reason we recommend for the intermediate and lower grades that selections for assignment be made first from the top of the list and proceed toward its end, words being omitted if not needed for the spelling vocabulary of the grade in question, or if too difficult. (3) The thousand commonest words in the English language, as indicated in the Ayres list and other similar lists. The Ayres list we consider excellent for use in Porto Rico, though of course the grouping does not accurately represent relative difficulty or prob- able grade scores for Porto Rican pupils. (4) Modern American spellers and general reading, selection and classification being made along lines indicated in numbers 14 and 15 of this article. A graded English speller for Latin-American countries is very much needed. No speller prepared for continental United States schools is well adapted to the needs of Spanish-speaking pupils. B. ASSIGNMENT, INSTRUCTION AND STUDY. These three phases of spelling instruction are grouped together because, in the absence of a suitable graded speller, the three must be very closely combined in a flexible supervised study scheme. The following have been taken as basic principles which must be observed in any effective plan of spelling instruction : (d) The spelling lesson should be so conducted that there is formed in the pupil's mind a permanent association between mean- ing, pronunciation and the correct succession of letters as seen and as written. (e} Means must be taken to focalize or concentrate the attention of the pupil upon the form of the word, especially upon the parts which offer greatest spelling difficulty the "picture" of the word must be deeply impressed upon the mind. (/) Learning to spell and correcting misspellings are processes of habit-formation, and require time and careful supervision. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 35 (g) The fundamental and most frequent procedure in spelling exercises and tests should be written rather than oral in the last analysis, spelling is a motor habit, and the most direct and econom- ical Avay of forming a motor habit is to practice the correct move- ments. Focali/ation of the form of the word is but an important preliminary and accessory to the forming of the motor habit. (h) Spelling instruction should be more than merely corrective. To be efficient it must anticipate and prevent errors. To permit the formation of an erroneous spelling habit is to double the teacher's task, for then he has to direct not only the formation of a new habit, but also the eradication of an old one. (i) Special periods should be set apart exclusively for spelling instruction in English, above all in Porto Rico. This principle we affirm in spite of the recent general tendency to eliminate special spelling lessons and to rely solely upon incidental spelling instruc- tion in English and other classes. (For a telling attack upon the theories and observations advanced in favor of the incidental method see the second little book mentioned in the concluding paragraph of this part.) The concrete recommendations for English spelling instruction in Porto Rico are as follows: (5) The number of words. Not too many words should be as- signed in a single lesson. If instruction is thorough, 10 or 15 new words per week are enough in the lower grades and 25 or 30 in the upper grades. "When a higher general standard of spelling has been attained in our public schools the number should probably be even less. (6) Teaching the meaning of words. In general, the spelling of a word should not be taught, or its form studied, until the mean- ing is clear. As in almost all subjects, formal definitions are not to be relied upon. The use of the dictionary for study and the using of words in sentences for illustrations, instruction and test- ing are recommended. Teaching the meaning of words, of course, must be a much more important and extensive part of the spell- ing lesson in Porto Rico than among pupils whose mother-tongue is English. Especially in the lower grades (notwithstanding the merits of the "direct" method of language instruction) perhaps the judicious use of translation to Spanish is an acceptable method for teaching the meaning of spelling words in difficult cases. Al- ways, whether translation is used or not, particular care should be 36 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY POETO KICAN PUPILS. taken to teach distinctions in meaning where words nearly correspond in form in the two languages, but have different meanings. The meanings and uses of words may be brought out effectively in oral English lessons and then assigned for spelling, thus making the spelling lesson meet a real need, in enabling the pupils to use in writing the new words that they have learned. (7) Teaching pronunciation. Pupils should acquire as early as possible the ability to learn the pronunciation of new words from the dictionary, but in Porto Eico imitation of the pronunciation given by the teacher should be the principal method, and the teacher must be insistent upon as close an approximation to the correct English pronunciation as is possible. Words should be pronounced by teacher and pupils when assigned. Mispronunciation frequently leads to misspelling. Three types of mispronunciation common in Porto Rico are reflected in the three classes of spelling errors numbered 8, 9 and 17 in Table VI (Part II). A very large proportion of the misspellings listed in Table IV (Part I) show clearly, to one familiar with the local pronunciation of English, the influence of mispronunciation. See, for example, the following numbers in Table IV: 1, 3, 7, 16, 20, 22, 27, 29, 32, 33, 36, 45, etc. Many of the substitutions listed in Table VIII (Part II) clearly show this same influence. (8) "Eye and ear lists." The pupils' difficulties may be con- siderably reduced by the use of "ear lists" and "eye lists," the former containing words that are perfectly regular and may be spelled "by sound," and the latter containing irregular words like through, ocean, etc. The pupils may be required at the time of as- signment to add the new words to one or the other of these lists, as the case may be, and to use the lists for study and review. (9) Visualizing the words. The desired centering of attention upon the forms of the words and the impressing of the "word-pic- ture" upon the mind may be assisted by the use of the following methods : Writing the new word on the blackboard, erasing it quickly, and then asking the pupils to write an exact copy of it ; using cards each of which has one new word of the spelling lesson written upon it, and which is shown to the pupils for a very short time, after which they are asked to make exact copies from memory. This "flashing" of new words (whether by blackboard or cards) may be repeated several times while the pupils are instructed to make sure that their copies are correct, and the method may be used also in review exercises. METHODS OF INSTKUCTION. 37 Parts of words which are known generally to cause special dif- ficulty (see Tables VII and VIII, Part II) may be focalized by the above methods, with the added feature of the underscoring or writing in a different color of the difficult parts. Occasionally in such eases (as ght, th, wh, etc.) the troublesome part may be writ- ten upon the blackboard quite separated from the rest of the word and left before the class for some time. For purposes of visualization as well as word study, words which are confusing because of their length may be broken up to reveal familiar words or other units (as child-hood, en-courage-ment, etc.) : words with similar combinations (cough, enough, rough, etc.) may be compared; homonyms (too, two and to; boiv and bough; their and there, etc.) may be carefully compared, the distinction being brought out clearly. Leaving the words conspicuously written on the blackboard for a day or more is, in general, not as effective as the ''flash" methods, since attention is never as sharply concentrated upon the list or upon the individual words, but this method is good for supplementing the others. In general, it is preferable for the pupils to study and focalize the words in script as they are written rather than in print. (10) The dividing of words. Both pronunciation and visualiza- tion may be aided by the dividing of words. A recommendation has just been made for divisions which assist in visualizing. For use in either pronunciation or visualizing, division into syllables is recommended for children in the lower grades, and into larger units for upper grades. For a little child the division, re-la-tion-ship, is more helpful than relation-ships, whereas for an upper-grade pupil the latter is more helpful and economical. (11) Forming the correct motor habits. As indicated in (r/), above, writing a word is the most reliable method of forming the desired motor habits. To this, however, a caution must be added, namely, that if it is required that a word be written many times, as a part of the studying of the lesson, special care should be taken to avoid errors during the process. Either the pupils must be emphatically cautioned to write exactly and carefully and to keep in mind the "picture" of the word, or else there must be direct supervision by the teacher. A good habituation method is the distinct and attentive writing of each word five or ten times by the pupil, supplemented by purely 38 THE SPELLING OF ENGLISH BY POETO RICAN PUPILS. mental study of the spelling, and the writing by each pupil of good original sentences containing the words assigned two or three sen- tences for each word. These may be read and given to the teacher at the time of the spelling recitation. This sentence writing mav also be correlated with the general English lessons. (12) Vocalization during study. The learning process is aided, probably in almost all cases, if the drill exercise (the writing of the word five or ten times) is accompanied by vocalization that is, if the pupil "pronounces mentally" or very softly whispers each syllable or larger unit as he writes it. (13) A "follow -up" system. For many words, especially thoso that have been previously misspelled, one lesson is not sufficient to firmly establish the correct spelling habits. Teachers are all too familiar with the fact that words spelled correctly in special spelling lessons and tests are frequently misspelled in free composition. The spelling lesson is very largely wasted unless it is followed by systematic review and a close scrutiny of general written work to detect and correct errors when they first occur. The checking-up of errors in written work is covered by the keep- ing of individual, subject and grade lists of misspellings, to which reference has already been made. The importance of this cannot be overestimated. To expect the elimination of spelling errors in any way except through such systematic attention is quite as un- reasonable as to expect the habit of thumb-sucking by a two-year-old child to cure itself without special care on the part of the parent. For the systematic reviews referred to at the end of the second paragraph above, the following plan is excellent. It has been used with remarkable success in the Cleveland schools for several years. It provides for the including in each lesson, as subordinate words, of all the new words assigned during the two weeks just preceding ; also special more extensive reviews once each week; also, at the en.l of every eight weeks, oral and written contests, between the same grades of different schools where that is possible in any case re- garded as special events, and based upon all words studied during the past eight weeks, or even since the beginning of the year; also annual contests shortly before the end of the school year. This scheme of reviews, in the absence of an official speller, clearly necessitates the keeping of a notebook by the teacher, indicating all new words assigned for each regular lesson. These, like all reviews, should involve new study, not merely i repetition of old lessons. This and other ends will be served if the METHODS OF INSTEUCTION. 39 words are grouped or re-grouped for reviewing and treated in the ways indicated in number 15 of this part, These groupings, in turn, should be reviewed. The prt-cfiliii;;- recommendations arc .specili;- :uid refer to the methods of in- struction and study for a special group of words assigned. The following three recommendations are concerned more with systematic instruction of a general and preventive character. The assignment in the spelling lesson of words most commonly misspelled in Porto Eico (already recommended) is a specific preventive measure as well as corrective. More general preventive instruction should be even more effective. (14) Instruction on the peculiar spelling difficulties' of Porto Eican pupils. The pupils should have special lessons on the follow- ing topics, and should have these facts repeatedly recalled to their attention until they are permanently impressed upon their minds: A. The relative frequency of occurrence of special classes of spelling errors, as indicated in Table VI (Part II). Special at- tention should be given to the following: (a) capitalization and the errors in capitalization which are characteristic here; (&) the exceedingly large number of errors resulting from confusion of English words, and the importance of clear distinctions in meaning and form between words resembling each other; (c) the character- istic ways in which Spanish spelling is reflected in errors in English spelling (see Table VI, numbers 3, 4, 6 and 17, and especially Remark number 2 in Part II ; also numbers 3, 4 and 29, 8, 24, etc., in Table VIII, Part II) ; (d) pronunciation; and (e) the errors resulting from carelessness and lack of pride in spelling (as numbers 7, 11, 12, 13 and 18, Table VI). B. The most troublesome letters and combination?, as indicated in Tables VII and VIII, with special consideration of the following facts: (a) vowels and certain special groups of consonants (see Remarks, numbers 4 and 5, Part II) ; (&) the tendency to sub- stitute single letters for diphthongs (see Remarks, number 8, Part II) ; and (c) the tendency even more common and natural here than in the United States to substitute phonetic spelling for irreg- ular spelling, and the importance of giving particular attention to the words classed as "eye words." C. The five or six rules, including the rules of capitalization in English, of which violations occur most frequently in Porto Rico (see examples given for number 5, Table VI). Only in the most important cases should exceptions to the rules be taught in connection with the rules. Rules should be taught inductively that 40 THE SPELLING OF EXGLISI-I BY POETO RICAX PUPILS. is, with the study of illustrative eases preceding the learning of rules. (15) Inductive word study. An excellent basis for such word study is the use of groupings such as the following: (a) by meaning (food stuffs, as rice, sugar, bread; household furnishings, as table, chair, picture; synonj^ms, as discover, invent, reveal; antonyms, as conquer, surrender}; (b) by phonograms (as enough, rough, tough; design, assign}; (c} by homonyms (as too, two, to} ; (d^ by the lesser phonic units indicated in Tables VII and VIII, Part II, special emphasis being placed, of course, upon those misspelled most frequently (as near, hear, fear; dance, chance, force; night, bought, straight} ; (e} by prefixes, suffixes and word stems, special emphasis being placed upon the most troublesome, as indicated in the ex- amples for number 4 of Table VI (as account, acknowledge, acquire; immediate, impossible; unnecessary, untrue; studying, bem.r/, swiin- ming ; vacation-, promotion; permission, transmission; immediate, Mediterranean, median; act, action, transact). Inductive methods in this case are those which do not begin with abstract principles, but which permit the pupils to discover for themselves the word relationships and principles of word structure. They may be led to discover the groups themselves and to seek ex- amples among words already assigned for spelling or in advance of assignment, or in some cases they may be given a few examples and then asked to find others. In either case special study should be given to the groups arranged by the pupils. After several related groups are prepared, profitable compari- sons may be made among them, leading to broader conclusions con- cerning word relationship and structure. It goes without saying that is unnecessary, unwise and. from the viewpoint of the allotment of time, impossible to have such les- sons every day. They fit in best with the weekly or other reviews, and then serve to make the reviews more significant and interesting. and at the same time to prepare the way for advance instruction. The results of such systematic word study would Avell repav the teacher in Porto Rico, even if the burden of the selection of words and organization of the system rested upon himself. This method joins admirably with the Morin method of general English instruction. For present upper-grade pupils who have not been instructed under that system it is entirely practicable, and when that system has "grown up" through the grades these methods will be merely a further application of the principles of that system. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 41 beginning in the lower grades where the English vocabulary begins to expand fairly rapidly. In effect, this and other parts of the spell- ing work would be integral parts of the system of general English instruction. (16) The use of the dictionary. Pupils should be thoroughly instructed and trained in the use of the dictionary, in finding words and learning their meanings and pronunciation, both for advance study and for correcting their own spelling errors. Using the dic- tionary should become a regular habit. Once the child has left school, the dictionary must take the place of the teacher and the spelling lesson. In the United States the use of the dictionary is generally begun in about the fourth grade, and there is probably no good reason why it should not be begun at that point in Porto Rico. C. TESTING AND THE CORRECTING OF ERRORS. The following are taken as guiding principles: (j) that the real ultimate test of spelling proficiency is in free composition, and that the most reliable special test is that which most nearly conforms to the conditions of this ultimate test (namely, being written rather than oral, and the attention being primarily directed upon the ideas expressed rather than the details of spelling) ; and (k) that the processes of corrective instruction and study should differ in some respects from those of general or preventive instruction and study. (17) Testing: individual, subject and grade lists of misspell- ings. This method of testing is the only one which approaches the ideal test indicated in (j) above. (18) Testing: writing from dictation. For special tests, writ- ing from dictation is superior to any oral methods, according to the principle stated above, and the dictation of sentences is superior to the dictation of isolated words. When written tests of any kind are used the work should in- variably be corrected, and troublesome words reassigned and "fol- lowed up." (19) Testing: oral. Aside from the general pedagogical defects of oral testing, as indicated in (}), there is the added defect that each pupil is tested on only a small number of all of the test words used. On the other hand, the stimulus of rivalry and competition among the pupils and the mere variation from other methods tend 42 THE SPELLING OF EXGLTSTI BY PORTO EICAX PUPILS. to arouse interest, and the oral method is more rapid. Oral tests may probably be used advantageously half as frequently or exten- sively as written tests. The acceptable relative use of the two may be judged somewhat by the teacher if a good "follow-up" plan is faithfully used. (20) A principle for the correcting of errors. "When words have actually been misspelled and are assigned from individual, subject or class lists for study, the immediate aim of the teacher should be to specially direct the attention of the pupil or class to the error committed and to the correct form. This may be accomplished by visualizing devices such as are suggested in number 9 of this part (especially in the second and third paragraphs), the erroneous and the correct forms being presented together. (21) A principle for preventive instruction. "Where the purpose of the lesson is to prevent errors in the spelling of words that are known to present unusual special difficulties to most students, there is little doubt that it is best, at the time of assignment, not to in- form the pupils as to common erroneous spellings, but to lead to specially vivid visualization of the word and particularly of the most difficult parts. "Where it is possible to use them, inductive methods such as those described in the second and third paragraphs of number 15 of this article are excellent. As examples of types of words for which this kind of preventive instruction is suited, the following may be cited : Homonyms, double and single letters, words whose spelling differs but slightly from that of corresponding Spanish words, words, with nasal sounds (as correctly or incorrectly pronounced by Porto Kican pupils), words with silent letters etc. D. GENERAL. (22) Interest and pride. Granted that pedagogically sound methods are exceedingly important, the fact remains that the ef- fectiveness of spelling instruction depends quite as much upon the degree of interest in the work, and pride in the results, experienced by the pupils. The most fundamental sources of this interest and pride are () the pupil's consciousness of the need and value of good spelling; (&) the direct intrinsic appeal of interesting subject- matter and good organization and presentation of the work, and (c) the pupil's consciousness of the progress that he is making. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 43 The teacher must adopt for himself the most valuable methods for stimulating the first of these, (a), in his own particular pupils. The teacher who intelligently and faithfully makes use of good meth- ods will arouse the second. For the third it is recommended that each pupil prepare a chart, planned by the teacher, for indicating daily the marks for each spelling lesson and the number of words misspelled in general written work, for a series of weeks, and be required to keep a careful record for himself. The teacher should examine these records frequently and give each individual his du