Question

There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored( 忽视) spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority(优先) it must be given over in general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities(复杂性) of spelling?

If spelling becomes the only focus of his teacher’s interest, clearly a clever child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words that he can spell, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That’s why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical(技术上的) ability.

I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personalexperience: “This work is terrible! There are too many spelling mistakes and your writing is terrible”. It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil’s technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted( 省略 ) to read the composition, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child’s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to pay attention to the mistakes, but if his priorities had centered on the child’s ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to explore improvement.

1.Teachers are different in their opinions about .

A.the difficulties in teaching spelling

B.the necessity of teaching spelling

C.the complexities of the basic writing skills

D.the role of spelling in general language development

2.The underlined expression “play safe” probably means “ ”.

A.to write carefully

B.to avoid using words he/she is not sure of

C.to do as teachers say

D.to use dictionaries frequently

3.Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that .

A.teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes

B.students will have more confidence in writing

C.students will be able to express their ideas more freely

D.students will learn to be independent of teachers

4.The main idea discussed in the passage is .

A.the relationship between spelling and the content of a composition

B.the importance of developing writing skills

C.the correct way of marking compositions

D.the complexities of spelling

Answer 1