Misspellings, is it fair to suspend an exam because of you?
A good spelling is the letter of introduction of any person before a job, in studies and even to communicate in writing with your friends in digital media. However, it seems that write without misspellings it is a plus to which we increasingly subtract social importance.
The studies carried out in the teaching centers of the Community of Madrid reveal that the 11 year old students they commit on average 1 misspelling for every 16 words written. And the truth is that, in general, parents are alarmed when their children have difficulties or make mistakes in solving simple mathematical operations, such as addition or subtraction, and on the contrary, downplay the importance of spelling mistakes in text comments, essays or exams.
Perhaps this is the reason why many curricula continue to arrive with spelling mistakes to the human resources departments of the companies. And we already know, that unfortunately, the spell checker is not infallible, and does not detect for example if it has been written well "have" instead of "to see".
Currently, there is no known single cause why secondary and high school students commit misspellings. The experts argue that it is due rather to the summation that includes the use of social networks and new technologies, the lack of reading and the problems in the learning system.
Suspend a test for misspellings, is it fair?
"Spelling errors are not exclusive to one genre or another, nor do they affect more according to the type of school, but the alarm is widespread and extends to all educational levels." What worries teachers the most is the remarkable growth of these deficiencies in the most advanced courses, including in the Baccalaureate and in the entrance exam to the university ", points out Virginia Ricoy, founder of Walinwa.
Many teachers highlight a controversial issue in the classroom: how to evaluate spelling mistakes in written tests. They ask the following question: is it fair to suspend a student in an exam for spelling mistakes, or what has to be evaluated are the contents of the different subjects? There is great discrepancy in this matter, depending on whether you ask the student, the parent, or the teacher. And you, if you were a teacher, what would you do?
Teachers also emphasize that the material that is available on many occasions is repetitive and not very stimulating for students, such as the spelling book or dictations, which have barely evolved the way of working with spelling for decades.
It is the responsibility of everyone, students, teachers, schools and families, to instill in children the importance of writing correctly, since a good spelling is our best letter of introduction.
These are the most common misspellings
Haber and to see
Although both are pronounced in the same way, they must be adequately distinguished in writing.
There, there and oh!
The first is verb, the second adverb and the third interjection.
Find, have, aya and there
Here the complication comes because the verb form, the nouns and the adverb are pronounced the same, and we must know how to use them.
Going and going
The gerund of the verb to go is the first, the second does not exist in our language.
Done and echo
This is one of the most common mistakes of our language. The first is the participle of the verb to do, while the second is the first person in the present tense.
Fence, go and berry
The first is a line of stakes, the second is an interjection and the third is a type of fruit.
How to write without spelling mistakes
1. Read Encouraging reading from childhood helps to memorize the correct writing of words.
2. Memorize the spelling and grammar rules. Although most misspellings are for accentuation, learning when writing with b or with v, with h or without it ... is fundamental.
3. Make dictations. It is a classic technique and widely used in schools. When the written word is copied, it is memorized more easily.
4. Use the spell checker. Only if you write on a device and remember that it is not infallible because sometimes it fails.
5. Use the dictionary. Now it is even easier thanks to the digital versions of the dictionary, for example, that of the RAE.
6. Replace with synonyms. When we doubt a word, before writing it down, use a synonym or a linguistic turn.
7. Do exercises. The use of new technologies is the best ally to help schoolchildren to eliminate spelling mistakes through online games. Nowadays children associate the use of technological tools such as tablets and computers to playful moments, when what they are doing is learning, but in a fun way.
Marisol Nuevo Espín
