Spelling—A task analysis

This paper analyzes a typical school spelling task in terms of an information processing model of spelling performance. It explores the nature of the speller's internal representation of the word to be spelled, the information he must have in memory about the target word, and the organization of the processes available to use that information to produce a spelling and verify its accuracy. Sources of error in the execution of the task, with examples of errors from children's spelling tests, are discussed in terms of the model. Ways in which the model may be adapted to explain performance on other kinds of spelling tasks and some implications for instruction are suggested. A partially implemented computer simulation of the spelling process is described.