Bookishness and spelling ability

[charlatti]

If you're a big reader, are you good at spelling? Is there a correlation, in your experience?

[BookLover]

I'm a big reader, however, I'm dyslexic, so my spelling is horrible. I use spell check all the time.

[aurora]

I read a lot and I'm good at spelling - I think there is probably some correlation barring things like dyslexia, but I actually think the bigger correlation is between reading and vocabulary.

[Deleted]

I read a lot and I am a HORRIBLE speller! No correlation in my experience.

[rootbeerfloat]

I'm a good speller, but I agree that there is probably more of a correlation between reading and vocabulary.

[secretlyevil]

Spelling is so, so. What kills me is a co-worker is a ferocious reader but can't write to save her soul.

[abitofashout]

I'm a good speller and I read ALL the time. I want my epitaph to say, "She was a great speller."

[jr009j]

Feb 21, 2013 16:09:13 GMT -5 BookLover said:

I'm a big reader, however, I'm dyslexic, so my spelling is horrible. I use spell check all the time.

Same.  

[mollymoe]

I'm a big reader but my spelling is so so. I wonder some times if I'm getting worse or just more lazy. I don't even try to spell a word I'm unsure about and just let spell check catch it.

[booknerd]

I'm a big reader and my spelling is great. And I believe that with every few months of reading my vocabulary grows even more.

[charlatti]

Feb 21, 2013 20:14:50 GMT -5 abitofashout said:

I'm a good speller and I read ALL the time. I want my epitaph to say, "She was a great speller."

I'm stealing this idea.

Spelling has always come easy for me and I've always been a reader. I'd agree that vocabulary might have a closer correlation, though.

[duckduck]

I'm a pretty good speller. I wasn't as a kid, but somewhere along the line, it all just sort of clicked. There is definitely a connection between reading and spelling for me; if someone asks me how to spell a word, I literally see it typed out in Times New Roman in my mind and I just read the letters out loud to them.

I have a kick-ass vocabulary, though you sure can't tell from my posts here. :*)

[writingwithheld]

I'm pretty sure there is extensive research supporting the more reading= greater vocabulary. I don't have any links, though. I have a hard time answering this question. If someone asks me to spell something I usually get it right, but I don't have a lot of confidence because I am always typing, not writing, and I just right click to correct instead of trying to fix the spelling myself. I think I can spell if I need to, but I never practice anymore.

I for sure think that reading has helped me to become a better writer. There is something in my personality and/or experience that makes me really like language itself. Strangely, I kind of doubt myself as a reader and writer often. Every couple of years I'll look back to the year before and think to myself, "Wow, I thought I knew how to read/write then, but I didn't at all. I am so much better now!"

[bluelikejazz]

I am an atrocious speller! When I was in elementary school, during "free-writing" time, the teachers would tell us to sound out words we didn't know how to spell. Ok, great, that's fine to tell a class of 20. But I would specifically go to the teachers desk to ask how to spell words I didn't know, and would be told to go back to my seat.

[Dusky]

I'm a huge book worm but I can't spell worth crap, so I don't think there is a correlation there. There are, however, a few words that I knew by sight before I had heard them spoken and I think my reading is linked to that.

[AJL]

I read a lot. I am a very good speller.

[pooh8402]

I also believe that big reader = good vocabulary. My mom and I are the readers in the family and we have the best vocabulary. She is proof imo that education doesn't mean everything when it comes to spelling and vocabulary. My mom doesn't have a college degree, but she is more well-read and better at the language arts in general than my sisters and I who all have bachelor's degrees.

I am a good speller and decent at grammar. I competed in spelling bees in 7th - 9th grade and was a writer and editor in yearbook.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[apelila]

Feb 22, 2013 10:17:30 GMT -5 duckduck said:

if someone asks me how to spell a word, I literally see it typed out in Times New Roman in my mind and I just read the letters out loud to them.

This is me too! Often when I'm talking with people and they use a word I'm not familiar with I have to ask them to spell it, so I can visualize it in my head. My husband thinks I'm weird because of this. Also, names. Especially ethnic or alternative spellings. A coworker of mine is named Ausman, but in my head I'd spelled it Osman. When I saw his name on the schedule I wondered who that was!