Exploring strategies used by English language teachers for teaching formal writing in term of spellings to grade x studentss

With the rising demands of English language worldwide, efforts are being made to improve the quality of teaching. In such circumstances, English language teachers must be very clear about the aims and goals of teaching English since they play a fundamental role in helping students learn English Language. Several studies have been done to highlight the difficulties of English language spellings but not much work has been done in relation to find out strategies for teaching spellings. The aim of the current exploratory study is to gain insight into teaching spelling practices and to explore some strategies currently being used by private secondary school’s English language teachers in their lessons of Karachi, to help students in their learning English language spellings. Four English language teachers with different levels of experience were selected as participants for current study. The major findings of the study showed English is taught as a subject rather than as a language and majority of participants were using traditional language teaching approaches in their classes. Moreover, the factors that influence the teachers’ choice of selecting the methods are: lack of professional trainings, lack of respect for teachers, motivation/de-motivation towards learning process based on classroom teaching experience and beliefs of teacher participants, attitude of students and parents etc. It is thus, important for teacher of English to raise awareness of the significance of using spelling strategies, with professional trainings. The results provide insight into the need for significant and differentiated development opportunities for teachers, as well as students that focus on a deep understanding of the English Language spelling system, and how to teach students so that they grow into good spellers and, hence, good writers. In light of the results, the following recommendations are suggested to deal with the spelling challenges faced by students: Spelling instruction must be planned according to the needs of students