Unfortunately, in recent years, there has been a tendency towards a decrease in literacy among schoolchildren. The reasons for this can be completely different. But, it should be noted that this is partly the fault of the teachers, since often the simplest rules are not explained as easily as they should be.
Practically the most common mistake, not only in elementary, but also in high school, is a misspelled unstressed vowel at the root of a word. It causes difficulties for the most part due to the fact that kids cannot yet understand that we do not always write as we say, and older children make mistakes out of habit. School responses to Teachs.ru. Answers to questions about the school curriculum.
Explaining to schoolchildren the rules for writing an unstressed vowel located at the root of a word, it is worth paying attention to several points.
First, for this, children must clearly know the parts of the word and be able to highlight them. It is not so easy for a younger student to do it as it seems to an adult. The main exercise for this is the selection of cognate words. However, it is worth remembering that some words similar in sound, for example, the noun "mushrooms" and the verb "row", have nothing in common with each other. To do this, it is necessary to remember that words that have one root are also similar in meaning, regardless of which part of speech they belong to. This skill is necessary for a spell checker later.
Secondly, it is important to know that an unstressed vowel at the root of a word cannot always be checked using the same root words. Such a spelling is called an unverifiable vowel and, most often, words with it have to be learned by heart. At the same time, the checked unstressed vowel at the root, in most cases, should not cause difficulties. More often than not, you can simply change the shape of the word so that the vowel is stressed and clearly audible.
This knowledge is quite enough for primary school, however, in secondary school, students have to face a new spelling that will tell you that there is an alternating unstressed vowel at the root. In these cases, the spelling depends on several factors. For some cases (for example, lag-lodge, rast-ros) this is a consonant or a combination of consonants that follow the vowels. In other roots (kas-kos), it is necessary to look at the suffix, if it is represented by the prefix –а, it is written –– (to touch), if any other, the root will be kos- (to touch). Another important point to consider when studying alternating vowels in the root is stress. This applies to the roots of gar-, hor-; zar-, zor-; clan, clone and others. In an unstressed position, O is written in them (for example, to bow), in a stressed position, A (to bow), or in some words, O (bow) can be written.
One of the basic rules for developing the desired skill: constant repetition. Therefore, even after this topic has been studied (and not too many hours are allocated to it), it is worthwhile as often as possible set aside a few minutes of the spelling dictation lesson, which includes words containing an unstressed vowel in root.
When explaining the rules, it is important to pay attention to such a moment as the words-exceptions. They are usually memorized as there are not so many of them. Taking into account the peculiarities of the voluntary memory of junior schoolchildren, it is recommended to use “memos”, special rhymes that are easy to remember, which contain the necessary words. This will make it quicker and easier to remember exceptions in which the unstressed vowel at the root of the word is written contrary to the basic rule.
Thus, an unstressed vowel at the root of a word is one of the simplest rules, while the most common encountered in practice, this is due to the fact that this spelling can occur in any independent parts of speech. The skill of its correct spelling should be developed in elementary school and remain for the rest of your life. When explaining the rules and spelling, do not forget about the age characteristics of schoolchildren.
