The art of using error analysis techniques to help build spelling skills

Being able to spell remains an important enabler for meaning-making, and it
supports reading development. In order to empower students to develop the
skills essential for success in spelling, linguistic error analysis can be used to
determine which spelling skills require explicit teaching. This paper offers
teachers and researchers insight into the development of reliable and valid spelling assessments. Informed by Triple Word Form Theory, the Components of Spelling Tests (CoSTs) are innovative tools designed to measure phonological, orthographic and morphological subskills in spelling. The CoSTs involve systematic spelling error analysis and they are suited for use by teachers and their students across Grades 3 to 6. The tools have been validated in a series of studies involving over 2,000 students across 22 school contexts to ensure their psychometric properties are robust. The aim of this session is to provide background to the development and validation testing results of the CoSTs, and to explore ways in which these innovative assessment tools can be used to inform instructional priorities in spelling