Spelling Tests: Teacher-Chosen Words vs. Student-Chosen Words

Abstract

This study investigated student-selected spelling words and teacher-selected spelling words. The subjects consisted of 14 urban second graders. Each week students took a spelling test of five teacher-selected words and five student-selected words. The scores on these tests were used to determine which type of spelling words the students performed better on. This study lasted four months. The data was analyzed using a t-test with dependent means. A descriptive analysis of the types of words selected was also performed. The data from this study indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between the scores of the teacher-selected words and the student-selected words. The students performed better on the portion of the test with the teacher-selected spelling words. Students had a tendency to choose words that were very difficult to spell. They chose words that were concrete, of low frequency, and were mostly nouns.