Word Play

Danielle Workman’s* Grade 3 class loves to play Whirly Word on their iPads. I learned this from interviewing the children as part of a research project on iPad use in Language Arts. Whirly Word is a simple software application (app) involving six scrambled letters, with the purpose being to find as many words as possible with three letters or more. The ultimate goal is to make a six-letter word from the letters given. This reminded me of Patricia Cunningham’s work with Making Words,[1] so I was not surprised that the Grade 3 students found the game appealing.

Danielle Workman’s* Grade 3 class loves to play Whirly Word on their iPads. I learned this from interviewing the children as part of a research project on iPad use in Language Arts. Whirly Word is a simple software application (app) involving six scrambled letters, with the purpose being to find as many words as possible with three letters or more. The ultimate goal is to make a six-letter word from the letters given. This reminded me of Patricia Cunningham’s work with Making Words,[1] so I was not surprised that the Grade 3 students found the game appealing.

What did surprise me was a passing remark made shortly after my visit to Danielle’s classroom. I was in a meeting with a senior administrator of my university, when he pointed to his iPhone and joked that he was addicted to a new app called Whirly Word. I decided it was time for me to explore this word game more fully. What kind of app would appeal to such a wide range of ages and stages of linguistic development?

I discovered that Whirly Word is one of a cluster of word study apps using scrambled letters as their base. Variations of the game include Wordly, Wordle, Word Storm, and Shake and Spell. As I played the game myself and spoke with Danielle about her students, I realized that Whirly Word is simple in its premise but elegantly designed to provide support for players at many levels of language proficiency. In the hands of a skilled and perceptive teacher like Danielle, it becomes a valuable tool for fostering language growth in a wide range of learners.

Consider the following six letters: I T E N D H. These appear around a wheel with blank spaces above for entering the various words. Answers are grouped alphabetically by the number of letters. The player will see, for example, that there are 14 possible three-letter combinations for this cluster, 15 four-letter words, one five-letter, and one six-letter.

Now the fun begins! A few sight words come to mind: din, hind, den, hid, hit. From this point on, the player’s knowledge of how words work must be applied strategically. Rhyming patterns create nit (hit), tin (din), hen (den), and so on. The presence of the letter E suggests that the “magic E” might be added to make some of the vowels long. This produces dine, tine, hide, tide. Alphabetical order helps to narrow down options for answers. If there is a three-letter word between den and din, it cannot start with de because the only other final letter left alphabetically is t, and det is not a word. The answer diet is the only possibility. Knowledge of past tense markers (d, and ed) produces tied and the six-letter word hinted. Two other words emerge when t and h combine to make the digraph th: then and thin.

Certainly the ability to apply these varied linguistic concepts seems perfectly reasonable for a highly educated university administrator. Yet how can they possibly be within the realm of third-grade students? “These apps have so many great features that build student confidence and encourage them to think strategically about words,” says Workman.

These same features are present in many word study apps and signal the need to examine more carefully the potential for mobile applications in the Language Arts classroom. As one Grade 3 student remarked, “I have an iPad at home, but I didn’t know until this year that I could use it for learning, too!”

Features that promote linguistic growth

There are many word game apps available – how to choose? Look for the following features.

Immediate feedback

Most word study apps will only register correct answers. In Wordly the “Apply” button turns green when a real word is formed. At the end of the game in Whirly Word, Wordle, and Word Storm, all the correct answers are displayed and the player’s score is shown. If the player is uncertain of the meaning of a word in Wordle, just tapping on the answer calls up a dictionary definition. Many apps keep a tally of top scores or accumulated statistics about the player.

Early success

There is usually a range of difficulty in the words used in each game. In this way, even younger players can experience success. The answers in Word Storm, for example, are arranged from easiest to most challenging, and more points are actually allotted for the easy words. In Whirly Word, the game is structured in the early stages to require fewer correct answers before progressing to the next level. As the player’s skill level improves, a higher threshold is set so that the game naturally becomes more challenging.

Versatility of use

Games such as Whirly Word can be played by an individual, with a partner, or in small groups. When the game Bluster is set to “Versus” mode it is configured so that players facing one another can both play competitively.

Danielle Workman found with her students that cooperation was more prevalent than competition. Less able students often partnered with a more advanced classmate. “I heard one student, who is a very good reader, describing her strategies as her friend watched. She was actually teaching her about patterns for plurals, past tense, rhyme, the magic ‘e.’ It was one-on-one teaching!”

Customization

Word study apps typically provide for a variety of options that can be controlled by the player. These may include level of difficulty, whether or not the game is timed, background colours, fonts, music, and sound effects. Some of the cosmetic features may seem insignificant, but one student told me she was drawn to games that provided just such choices.

These screen captures from Whirly Word show a game in progress (left) and the completed score (right). Courtesy Mighty Mighty Good Games.

Fundamental to these apps is the fact that players can progress at their own pace. More linguistically sophisticated students can move on without having to wait for their slower classmates. Struggling learners can experiment and take their time, unafraid of being centred out. The physical size of tablets, iPads, and other mobile devices provide for privacy that interactive whiteboards, computer screens, and traditional blackboards do not afford.

What does this mean for the Language Arts classroom?

Mobile apps such as Whirly Word have the potential to alter the fundamental dynamics of the classroom experience. What students will learn on a given day is no longer the sole privilege of the teacher. Students have greater control over their pace of learning and the modes that best fit their learning styles. This is not to say that teachers should stand back and become passive observers of their students’ learning. Teachers should see mobile devices as an enhancement for their teaching, not as a substitute for it.

Teacher-directed lessons on word building are still needed to establish basic concepts and terminology for discussing language. These are the tools students use when strategically approaching the challenges presented by word games. Mobile apps can consolidate and deepen these understandings. Students should be encouraged to think reflectively about their use of language, whether it is during the solving of a word puzzle, reading an unfamiliar text, or making word choices in writing.

Teachers are also positioned to help students bridge what they learn through mobile apps with their use of language in other contexts. They may ask, “How does understanding how words work help you with reading? How can it make you a better speller? In what ways can the words you discover through playing word games lead to a richer vocabulary?”

When Workman included various word study apps in literacy centres, she was able to assess student understanding of language through conversations about the tactics they were employing. She often used these apps as part of guided reading lessons, where small groups of students could share their strategies for solving the puzzles.

As students and their teachers explore the possibilities of the apps together, they learn that words have patterns, that there are strategies that can be applied to reading and writing, and that there are many thousands of words comprising the English language.

A word of caution, however: Word study apps can be addictive. I am currently on my 133th round of Whirly Word – and counting! 

This research is supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

* Name changed by request

First published in Education Canada, September 2013

EN BREF – Cet article porte sur une classe de troisième année où les élèves utilisent des « apps » d’étude de mots dans le cadre du programme des arts du langage. Les auteures soutiennent qu’en plus d’être très captivantes, les applications Web (appelées aussi apps) portant sur l’étude des mots favorisent l’utilisation des connaissances linguistiques avancées concernant le « fonctionnement des mots ». Les multiples options de personnalisation des jeux de ces « apps» permettent un apprentissage différencié. L’article présente des suggestions d’intégration de logiciels d’étude de mots dans les classes des arts du langage, à différents niveaux scolaires.

[1] P. Cunningham and J. Cunningham, “Making Words: Enhancing the invented spelling-decoding connection,” The Reading Teacher 46 (2) (1992): 106-115.