CHARACTERISTICS OF THE IDEOVISUAL APPROACH

 

This approach is designed to aid the learning of spelling through drawings. These "ortho-drawings" are images that include the orthographically difficult letter or letters in their design, as shown below. The difficult word is written on the drawing, which shows how it must be written correctly. Thus, the picture with the word “vaca” (cow) shows that it is written with “v”, and the long spear of the “jinete” (rider) makes it clear that it is written with a “j” and finally, the twisted “gamba” (prawn) forms a “b”.

  

Thanks to the power and persistence of these visual images, the correct spelling is reinforced in a most efficient manner. The drawings also help to understand the meaning and make the books very attractive. Unlike other methods based exclusively on the memorization of rules, in ideovisual spelling books the rules only appear when they can be applied to a great number of words with no exceptions (or with just a few). The rules are stated concisely and clearly.  These rules, numbered, are printed on the folded flaps of the cover. Each word that conforms to a rule has a number that allows to consult this rule easily. This way you pass from the words to the rules and it is not necessary to learn them by heart.

E.g.  balcón, 1; compás, 2; bárbaros, 3, etc.

Difficult letters are typographically marked in bold characters, e.g. “advertir”, “absorben” and, whenever the structure of a word is backed by a rule, this is also marked in bold:  buzo,19,  buñuelos,19,  subir,18, recibir,18, gente,27, imagen,27, etc.

This method avoids erroneous approaches that have produced very negative results, such as: 

1) Dictating long lists of words which had to be memorised. 

2) Doing dictations without any previous preparation, which led to numerous errors that were very difficult to correct later. 

3) Presenting written texts in which the difficult letters were missing, so that the student could complete them. All those approaches have made students hate the learning of spelling because of the negative results they obtained and also due to the boredom of the method. Enjoyment and success are key factors in all learning. We have devoted particular attention to guarantee both.

The results of this method are based on experimental results. Numerous experiences have been carried out in a large number of classes (in all, over 1,850 students). For example, in two classes of 3rd year of Primary Education, the students did a dictation of 30 difficult words. The results were as follows:

Group A were presented the words along with the orto-pictures and a short explanation. They passed from a percentage of error of 29.4% to a 3.2%. That means that 89.1% of errors disappeared.

Group B were also shown the words, but without pictures. They passed from a 28.8% of error to a 12.5%. Errors disappeared in a 56.5%.

Three months later, students in group A had a 5.2% of errors in the same tests, while group B had gone back to a 23.8% of errors. This proves clearly the reinforcing power of the drawings, which is clearly superior to that of the printed words alone.

 

To make the learning of spelling more varied and more entertaining we have published these materials.

1.      Diccionario Ortográfico Ideovisual. (Spelling Dictionary) With 1.236 pictures. It covers an 87% of the difficult words until the end of College.

2.      Eight books of Ortografía Ideovisual, graded in different levels, for students from 6 to 14 years of age.  

3.      Eight Cuadernos de Vacaciones (Holiday Revision Booklets).

4.      A book for Adults and College students.

5.      Autoprendizaje ortográfico (Self-learning of Spelling), Book + interactive CD-ROM.

6.      Juegos, adivinanzas y ejercicios ortográficos (Spelling Games, Riddles and Exercises). Book + CD-ROM

7.      Memoria Ortográfica (Spelling Memory Game): 144 cards with a picture which, besides playing, allow an endless range of exercises: series, classifications, lexical fields, writing of stories, etc.

8.      Barajas ortográficas (Spelling Cards): Four sets of 33 cards, each one with a word and a picture. They are very useful for children who begin to study spelling, for foreign students and also for students with reading disabilities (e.g. dyslexia).

9.      Dominó ortográfico (Spelling Dominoes): 36 cards, each one with two pictures which allow to establish a connection between words of similar spelling difficulty: b, v, g, j, h, x, ll, y.

10.  To be published soon:

Dislexia, ortografía y lectura (Dyslexia, Spelling and Reading). Book + CD-ROM. It will give invaluable help to students with reading or spelling disabilities.

 

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Besides, we have also published a series of Spelling Stories. The pictures appear in the middle of the text, so that spelling is learnt in an entertaining way. The stories are lively, humorous and always amusing. The difficult words are defined, and each of the drawings is explained to help comprehension.

1.      La taberna alegre. (The Merry Tavern)

2.      El granjero parlanchín. (The Talkative Farmer)

3.      Rebelión en el arca. (Rebellion in the Ark)

4.      Piel de asno. (Donkey Skin, adapted from Perrault)

5.      El cuarteto de Bremen. (The Musicians of Bremen, adapted from the Grimm Brothers)

 

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