8.6 Deliberate Orthography

8.6 Deliberate Orthography

From Reading Teachers Lounge by Shannon Betts and Mary Saghafi

January 9, 2026 · 1h 7m · Season 8 · Episode 6

About this episode

Shannon and Mary discuss Structured Word Inquiry and its significance in understanding English spellings with guests Jennifer Petrich and Bradley Johnson.

Shannon and Mary revisit the topic of Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) and discuss the importance of understanding the deliberate reasons for English spellings with guests Jennifer Petrich and Bradley Johnson. The conversation follows the hosts' and guests' experiences with SWI, detailing how it helps students understand and apply the structure of English spelling with its focus on word structures, etymology, and morphology. Emphasizing a shift from a phonics-only approach to one that al...

People in this episode

Hosts: Shannon Betts, Mary Saghafi

Guests: Jennifer Petrich, Bradley Johnson

Topics covered

  • Structured Word Inquiry
  • English spelling
  • word structures
  • etymology
  • morphology
  • phonics

Keywords

  • Structured Word Inquiry
  • English spelling
  • etymology
  • morphology
  • phonics
  • word structures

More episodes of Reading Teachers Lounge

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Reading Teachers Lounge podcast page.