Patterico's Pontifications

4/9/2013

Should Spelling Bee Contestants Have to Know the Definitions of the Words?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:37 pm



Because all of a sudden, they have to:

Spelling-bee champions have a lot in common with Scrabble players. They might not have the same command of all the three-letter words in the Scrabble dictionary, or have impressed on their memories the anagrams for all the common combinations of letters, but the purpose of the spelling bee has been the formal arrangement of letters in the right order, not the meaning of the resulting word.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee — the biggie of them all — is about to change that. In the elimination rounds, contestants also will be judged on their ability to define words, or at least pick out the definition from a multiple-choice question.

“It represents a deepening of the bee’s commitment to its purpose,” Director Paige Kimble told USA Today, “to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.”

I have a theory, and I want to see how it plays out in the comments. My guess is a lot of people who are into writing in some form or another are spelling nerds who did fairly well in spelling bees as children. (And who would be only too happy to tell you just how well they did in those spelling bees.) And my guess is that those people have an affinity for spelling bees being about, you know, spelling.

Whereas probably other people either support the whole vocabulary thing, or (say it isn’t so!) just don’t care at all.

Where do my readers come down on this — and how do your feelings correlate, if at all, with your childhood success at spelling bees? Is my theory right or wrong?

32 Responses to “Should Spelling Bee Contestants Have to Know the Definitions of the Words?”

  1. I never did spelling bees.
    It seems to be a significant change.
    Given the success of most other changes in the arena of education, I’m inclined to be skeptical/suspicious.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  2. When I was 10 years old our teacher wrote the word “addendance” on the board instead of “attendance.” I pointed it out and she went nuts. Berating me in front of the whole class and finally sending me to the headmaster. Who brought me back to the class and said what a bright young man I was, etc, etc. I imagine she got quite a bollocking in the staff room. No definition necessary, IMHO. Smart kids know the derivation of many words and may be able to reason out the etymology without knowing the meaning.

    Gazzer (087432)

  3. I am carefully refraining from offering any opinion as to whether this is totally the stupidest idea ever so as not to bias anyone.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  4. I was a champion speller (at least in fourth grade) and we could ask for the definition of the word we were asked to spell especially in the case of homonyms or teachers with imperfect pronunciations, e.g., weather, whether, whither, bear, bare, beer, you know….

    nk (d4662f)

  5. Comment by Patterico (9c670f) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:46 pm

    This is defintiely not the stupidest idea ever, and many ideas that are stupidorer (?) are of much worse consequence, unfortunately.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  6. OK, MD in Philly is right.

    Re-electing Barack Obama was the stupidest idea ever.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  7. So, yeah, it’s not how I remember spelling bees but then again I don’t remember like I used to remember.

    nk (d4662f)

  8. Much harder to challenge that one, Prosecutor P.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  9. Speaking of stupid ideas…
    Why do we have a NASA if we are not sending rockets into space, but are grounding F-22’s and B-2’s while NK is making noise??
    While we are spending more money than we did 6 years ago when we actually had a NASA doing something??
    I need to do the dishes and go to bed. G’ night youse all.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  10. That is as they say, MD, a poser. No it doesn’t make any sense,

    narciso (3fec35)

  11. As I’ve said before, a person in any other job would be fired for this degree of malfeasance.
    I guess some think the President is “too big to fail”, as long as they are a D.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  12. As Joe Biden might say, too many 7-eleven clerks winning these spelling contests. We need to make it “fair”. And then we can get to “words mean what liberals say they mean”. Words banned from the bee: “illegal”, “terrorist”. “islamist”, “handout”, “liberal”, “2nd amendment”, “1st amendment”, “10th amendment”, “balanced budget”….

    Irish curmudgeon (bc0388)

  13. Why do we have a NASA if we are not sending rockets into space

    We have made rockets obsolete with anti-gravity and teleportation?

    nk (d4662f)

  14. As a further challenge, they should use some of the phone-support people that tech companies use (often named “Ken”) who have heavy accents and cannot seem to pronounce tough English worlds like “battery” or “label”.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  15. But maybe they just need to have a separate “Definition Bee” where words like “antidisestablishmentarianism” are spelled and then a definition and correct pronunciation is requested.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  16. Horrible speller, all my life. I can see that a word is misspelled, but even then not know what the correct spelling is. Spelling tests in high school (not the spelling bee) half the time was that you were given the definition and had to provide the word (spelled correctly.)

    Spring quarter, the only spelling test I got a 25/25 on, everyone was so sure I had cheated. Just dumb luck.

    htom (412a17)

  17. My cynical side thinks this will result in home schooled children doing less well since definitions are more subjective where spelling is objective given a specified reference source. The judges will be deciding if the definitions fit closely enough and their bias can effect outcomes.

    Haven’t we seen this subjective factor showing up in other grading areas?

    Machinist (b6f7da)

  18. My spelling was always very weak. It cost me grades in school. Spell check was a gift.

    Machinist (b6f7da)

  19. Machinist brings up a good argument against having definitions as a part of the contest. I couldn’t even imagine a definition being subject to a ruling on “how close it could be” to the actual definition.

    I just think it’s a good way to speed up some of these contests and to show that the kids actually understand some of the words they’re repeating. When I did contests in elementary school, we always needed to show we understood what the word meant in addition to the proper spelling. This wouldn’t be as radical a change as many think.

    NJRob (fe68e7)

  20. There are many rules (yes, even for English) on how words are composed. In addition, knowledge of some Greek, Latin and French is more important than you might think to understand the spelling and the meaning of many words in the English Language.

    If they demand that they define the words then the contest is at cross purposes as the meaning can dictate the spelling. As you’ve seen if you’ve watched one, one of the allowed questions is what is the definition of the word.

    This is just tinkering with something to be tinkering and I think it’s wrong headed and I’m suspicious of the reasons given for the change.

    Jcw46 (0af03c)

  21. Mixed feelings about this. I was a champeen speller in my day and yes, one could noodle out a spelling when the word was a mystery. But being able to define a word is also a valuable skill.
    One of my current favorite games is Word Yacht in the Hoyle games set. We try a lot of stuff on speculation, resulting in the recurring phrase, “I don’t know what it is, but it took it,” which is also a little fuzzy on the pronouns.

    MT Geoff (a67ef4)

  22. Bye the weigh, ewe mussed awl weighs bee vary car-full width Spill Chick.

    MT Geoff (a67ef4)

  23. A slavish dependence on the definition of words makes you prey to the manipulations of a post modern media. A well known example is the word “gay” which used to mean something like “lighthearted, giddy”.

    Or “faith”, which Bible believers (thumpers?) recognize as “trust based on evidence” but which has now come to mean “belief without or in spite of evidence”.

    Popular novelists of another age used the word “ejaculate” to mean “an explosive utterance”. “Oh, Damn!” he ejaculated. Who would dare use the word that way now?

    “Budget cut” now means “smaller increase”. We have no words for an actual decrease in the budget.

    So…

    Me: “I am feeling gay because I have faith in the efficacy of the President’s proposed budget cuts.”

    You: Ejaculate here

    Harry Phillips (52db02)

  24. My oldest is a great speller, but generally has no idea what the word means. She kind of intuits the spelling from the prefix, suffix, root words, etc …

    JD (b63a52)

  25. I think that sounds like a fine variant on the traditional spelling bee. They should come up with a name for it – maybe a “vocabulary bee” – because if I’m judging a vocabulary bee and you define “spelling bee” as a competition in which contestants define words, I’m sending you home.

    Innovation is great, but don’t invent a new thing and pretend it’s the thing it’s based on. If you want to drink a vodka martini, that’s fine; just don’t call it a “martini.”

    Steven (2afcec)

  26. My guess is a lot of people who are into writing in some form or another are spelling nerds who did fairly well in spelling bees as children.

    Not me. I never did any spelling bee – I don’t think I had a chance but I didn’t like the idea anyway. And while I think I can spell very well (not so much type right) I think this mostly comes from using words a lot.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  27. Comment by Harry Phillips (52db02) — 4/10/2013 @ 7:31 am

    A well known example is the word “gay” which used to mean something like “lighthearted, giddy”.

    As in the “Gay Nineties” (1890s)

    That word was hijacked starting in 1935, but only a small group of people. The new definition gained hold in 1969.

    It was hijacked precisely because of its definition, and not because it was true, but the opposite.

    Or “faith”, which Bible believers (thumpers?) recognize as “trust based on evidence” but which has now come to mean “belief without or in spite of evidence”.

    Popular novelists of another age used the word “ejaculate” to mean “an explosive utterance”. “Oh, Damn!” he ejaculated. Who would dare use the word that way now?

    “Budget cut” now means “smaller increase”. We have no words for an actual decrease in the budget.

    So…

    Me: “I am feeling gay because I have faith in the efficacy of the President’s proposed budget cuts.”

    You: Ejaculate here

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  28. Or “faith”, which Bible believers (thumpers?) recognize as “trust based on evidence” but which has now come to mean “belief without or in spite of evidence”.

    The first meaning is that of trust (in promises) the second belief.

    Popular novelists of another age used the word “ejaculate” to mean “an explosive utterance”. “Oh, Damn!” he ejaculated. Who would dare use the word that way now?

    http://books.google.com/books?id=0TY3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA119&dq=%22Oh,+Damn!%E2%80%9D+ejaculated&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ac1lUdu-A9Xe4AOSqYCQDQ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Oh%2C%20Damn!%E2%80%9D%20ejaculated&f=false

    But it turns out Stewart Edward White lived from 12 March 1873 to September 18, 1946.

    “Budget cut” now means “smaller increase”. We have no words for an actual decrease in the budget.

    Sequester? The truth is a reduction from the trendline is a budget cut.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  29. Readers are spellers. People who don’t read can’t spell. People who read books, novels, technical manuals, textbooks, etc., can spell.

    People who don’t read, tv watchers, talkers, blabbers, texters, internet surfers, etc., can’t spell. It’s pretty simple. I don’t know any exceptions to the rule amongst the people I know.

    Larry Geiger (5204fa)

  30. This reminds me of the way that high school woodwork/carpentry classes are now (in this country – New Zealand) are judged on your ability to write an essay about the work afterwards. (Cos, you know, clients always are more interested in the report than the finished goods)

    For some reason, boys are suddenly not doing so well – but we can’t change it, that would be introducing bias.

    scrubone (e7e0ea)

  31. Steven is absolutely correct. If you want to have a vocab bee, do it. But a spelling bee is a freakin’ spelling bee. Spell the word and move on.

    At an old job, when we were going to change a policy or process, one of the managers used to always ask,”What problem are you trying to solve?” The “solution” in this spelling bee case seems to be more along the lines of Nigel’s famous quote from Spinal Tap regarding why his amps go to 11 instead of 10: “This is one louder.”

    AC (624f70)

  32. I’m all for this change, and am astounded that it hasn’t been required all along. If you don’t know what a word means, then in what sense can you really say you know how to spell it? All you’re doing is arranging random letters in a particular order, like a password or something. And what’s the point of being able to rattle off sequences of letters that don’t mean anything at all to you?

    Beside which, if you don’t know the meanings of “literal” and “littoral” then how can you possibly know which one to spell when? (If you know only one of them then you can know when to spell that one and when not to. But if you don’t know either one, and merely know that they’re both valid sequences of letters, then you know nothing of any value, and thus nothing worthy of recognition.)

    Milhouse (15b6fd)


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