Visual Imagery four-step spelling strategy used as the comparison intervention in the 1990 RCT¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 2 claims (2 against) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 quant-synthesis), q3 · 2 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Visual Imagery is a spelling strategy in which students form mental images of words rather than analyzing their letter–sound structure. When a word was presented, students followed a four-step model: they were asked whether they could "see the image of the word in their minds," directed to "imagine the word displayed on a large outdoor screen," asked to "imagine each letter of the word pasted onto the screen," and told to remember the word "by visualizing themselves nailing the letters of the word onto the screen." Students then applied the strategy to several other words without teacher assistance in independent practice of typically 5–8 minutes. In the 1990 RCT it was delivered for 25–30 minutes per day for 25 days, matching Spelling Mastery's dosage, with the same practice words.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Requires teacher-led modeling of the four visualization steps before students apply the strategy independently

Constraints¶

• In the reviewed trial, students using this strategy scored significantly lower than students using Spelling Mastery's rule-based approach on all three writing measures

Target Learners¶

• Fourth-grade students with learning disabilities

Target Learning Goals¶

• Memorizing the spelling of taught words through visual imagery

Claims¶

• Spelling Mastery produced statistically significant positive effects on all three writing measures in a fourth-grade RCT against Visual Imagery instruction [-W]
• Spelling Mastery has potentially positive effects on writing for students with learning disabilities, based on two RCTs with a small extent of evidence [-W]

Related Elements¶

• Visual Imagery

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. (2014, January). Students with Learning Disabilities intervention report: Spelling Mastery. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/579