Adult spelling program
This adult spelling program:
- transformed many poor spellers into proficient, confident spellers when all other methods failed
- is a genuine learning tool for spelling, not just another kid's computer game dressed up as educational software
- does not insult the adult learner's intelligence
- is being used by adult and workplace literacy tutors, adult learners, medical practitioners, police officers, colleges, universities, companies and government departments to improve their spelling
- identifies your bad spelling habits (habit pattern errors) and quickly corrects them, once and for all
- helps you learn and remember your words from one day to the next
- tests your spelling and tracks your progress
- uses proven learning methods endorsed by Australian education departments
- is the only spelling tutor that uses Old Way New Way®, an effective research-based and user-friendly learning method
- uses an improved version of Look Say Cover Write Check, the old standby method for learning spelling
- provides hundreds of editable word lists in both U.S. English and U.K./Oz English, plus you can create and edit your own lists
- requires Windows 98 or later operating systems
- is available as an affordable Windows software program or as a low-cost one-page, self contained, multiple-user, re-usable, printable spelling tutor.
Quality endorsed by EdNA
Old Way New Way® Learning is used in Personal Best Spelling and is an Australian Educational Network quality endorsed resource for adult education and higher education.
Adult spelling program user feedback
"It's like a teacher I never had."
"I left school at 15 not knowing how to spell simple words like 'any', 'there', 'their', 'dancing', 'colour', 'become', 'because', 'believe', 'open', 'once', 'days of the week or month'. Since I’ve been working with Personal Best Spelling improvement in my spelling has been unbelievable. At 47 years old I thought I was just thick as two planks. Not the case. I have a learning brain and I am enjoying it. It's like a teacher I never had."
Jonathan immediately experienced success
"Many tutors working in adult literacy programmes are often faced with learners who are showing limited progress despite everyone's best efforts .... In many cases, despite years of learning and the exposure to a variety of different tutors, discouragement slowly begins to pervade the effort, as nothing appears to work .... This was the case of Jonathan, a mature learner in Galway when Frank Monaghan, a literacy organiser in Galway, Ireland, introduced him to the Old Way New Way® technique. Following a few brief workshops with Jonathan he was immediately experiencing success and able to self-correct. Jonathan is now able to remember the spelling of words months after being learned, which previously would have been forgotten in hours. More importantly it shifts the locus of control to himself so that with very little help from a tutor he can work on his own spellings allowing him to focus on writing poetry which he enjoys so much. It is with a degree of pleasure that Frank, through the evidence of the learner Jonathan, recommends the Old Way New Way® system to other literacy programmes."
"I would recommend the program highly" (Department of Education)
In 1985 the Commonwealth Department of Education employed the services of Personal Best Academy on behalf of several Aboriginal students. In a letter of referral dated February 5, 1986, the Education Officer reported that,
"Most of the cases were with secondary level students where the intervention techniques with English and mathematics problems proved most beneficial to all the students. Further to this, the techniques proved remarkable in the case of a young adult who had previously been struggling to hold a position in the Public Service. This young person has now assumed increasingly more difficult and complicated tasks and aspires to permanent employment and promotion. I would recommend the programme highly on the results I have seen in only one year."
Spelling program independent reviews
Endorsed by EdNa Online
Old Way New Way® Learning is a quality endorsed resource for adult education and higher education.
Computer Corner review of Personal Best Spelling by Bill Gillespie
".... This program takes a no nonsense approach to the teaching of spelling... This is not a game dressed up as educational software.... One advantage of this approach is that it can correct persistent, learned and habitual spelling errors... It is worthwhile visiting the website just to read the information on the Old Way New Way® approach to learning." Education: Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation.
The Way Ahead: Old Way New Way® and Mediational Learning
Classroom. Issue 7, 2000, pages 12 - 13. Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd.
This article describes how Old Way New Way® is used to improve spelling.
ZDNet Software Library review, 17 December 1998 (version 1, old name for the program)
Personal Best Speller received a four star rating and was the Editor's Pick.
"Learn new words and correct problem spelling with Personal Best Speller. Using an innovative and progressive method, this program encourages you to say the word, asks you to type it several times and tracks your problem areas. Three modules include learning new words, testing and correcting problems or habitual errors. The error correction uses a psychological approach by having you analyze what it is that you do wrong and repeatedly spell it the wrong way and then the correct way. You're asked to state what you've been doing wrong, typing in this statement and then correcting the spelling several times. Two word lists are available to work with in the demo version and registered users will be able to input their own lists. Personal Best Speller requires dedication and time, but its effective methods are sure to improve your spelling."
Mediational Learning: Old Habits No Longer Die Hard
By Dr Paul Baxter. Write On: Queensland Council For Adult Literacy Newsletter. Volume 18, No. 1, September 2000, pages 10 - 15. Discusses the theoretical background to Mediational Learning (a derivative of Old Way New Way®) and its application to literacy teaching. Contains 32 references to research journal articles and links to other Old Way New Way® web sites.
You can also read all the scientific publications on the Old Way New Way® learning method in our annotated adult spelling method bibliography.
Breaking bad spelling habits
Have you noticed whenever adults misspell a word they spell it the same wrong way? Consistency in spelling errors indicates they have learned to spell it "wrong". They now have a "learned error" or a habit error that, like all bad habits, dies hard.
Experience the powerful influence of habit patterns as blocks to learning by taking this brief self-test.
Many poor spellers don't actually have a learning disability; they have a learned disability, i.e., they have many learned errors that impede learning and defy correction by conventional teaching and learning methods.
Only Personal Best Spelling uses Old Way New Way®, an Australian government endorsed adult learning method, backed by Australian government funded research and school trials. Old Way New Way® quickly overcomes learned errors and bad habits and accelerates learning.
Personal Best Spelling also uses an improved version of Look Say Cover Write Check, a widely used method of learning spelling, to quickly learn unfamiliar words.
The Old Way New Way® approach to spelling draws on newly emerging research into the psychology of learning and explains why adult learners keep falling back to old ways under conventional, i.e., currently available, methods of coaching, teaching, home tutoring, home education and self teaching.
Personal Best Spelling is an affordable, self-paced spelling tutor software program designed by teachers and educational psychologists for all teachers and students of spelling.
Spelling program features
Adult spelling—learn New Words
This helps you learn new words quickly so that you remember them better. It uses a modified form of the widely used and recommended method of learning spelling called Look Say Cover Write Check. Practice or drill is built into the program in a special way to improve your learning and memory.
You can create your own word lists, use the inbuilt lists or use a wide range of ready-made special purpose word lists that you can download from this web site. Ready-made word lists include lists of commonly misspelled words, words that cause special difficulty to adult learners and other useful lists.
You can learn sentence structure using the special contextual learning feature that allows you to enter more than just one word at a time. Foreign language learning is also possible using this feature because you can learn words in their proper context.
You can also learn specialised occupational vocabularies.
Adult Spelling Tester
You can test your spelling of previously learned words. A special feature is that the program remembers any errors you make. If the error is consistent , i.e., you spell it incorrectly in the same way, the program recognises that you have developed a learned error and it automatically saves these errors in a separate word list for special treatment and correction.
Adult spelling—correct Bad Spelling Habits
The program uses a new learning method called Old Way New Way®. With Old Way New Way® you can correct persistent, learned and habitual errors. You can also, once and for all, learn to spell those tricky words that you are uncertain about and often have to look up before you use them.
Homonyms, words like "their" and "there", that sound the same but have different meanings, often create confusion but this can be readily resolved by placing the word in context when using Old Way New Way®.
Old Way New Way® is a new user-friendly and truly effective method for changing incorrect learning to the correct version and for eliminating uncertainty.
Personal Best Spelling is especially licensed to use Old Way New Way®. The learning advantages that Old Way New Way® gives you and its other special benefits are all described and explained in this web site.
And you can read some typical case studies where Old Way New Way® has helped people of all ages become competent and confident spellers.
Adult spelling program uses Old Way New Way® Learning
Personal Best Spelling is the only spelling program licensed to use the Old Way New Way® learning method. Extensive spelling method research and trials in schools and workplaces shows that Old Way New Way® works very well with adults because it does not insult their intelligence by treating them like children.
Not just another educational computer game, the adult version of Personal Best Spelling employs research-based learning methods yet it is very user friendly and engages the learner in a very effective learning process, unlike many so-called spelling programs that are little more than games.
Adult spelling—who's using it?
Personal Best Spelling and our other learning systems are being used all over the world. Here are some of the latest additions to the many adult and workplace literacy tutors, adult learners, colleges, universities, companies and government departments where Old Way New Way® is improving learning and performance in spelling.
Adult spelling versions, preview, free trial
Before you buy, please check out the many spelling program features. You can preview this spelling program, download and try the demo adult version for free, and then purchase either the download or the CD version using our secure spelling program order form.
Spelling program word lists: U.S. | U.K. | Oz
Personal Best Spelling comes complete with hundreds of word lists when the program is registered. Unregistered, the program contains two word lists for demonstration purposes.
Registered users with earlier versions can download and use one or more of the following word lists, as well as create their own word lists. Please note the following details about these lists:
- Lists are zipped text files (ASCII DOS TEXT), take up very little disk space on your computer, will download quickly and are accompanied by a brief description.
- Unzip the word list files to the same directory as the one in which you install the spelling program (usually c:\windows\pbs16adu), so that the program can automatically find and use the word lists.
- Words are in both U.S. English and U.K./Oz English spelling.
- New lists are added from time to time. These are the currently available lists:
Download lists of commonly misspelled words (demons) here.
Download lists of the most common words in children's reading, here.
Download lists of the most common nouns in children's reading, here.
Download lists of a core of words that students should be able to spell on sight, without sounding, here.
Download lists of the most common words that cover about three-quarters of adult reading, here.
Download all the above word lists in one file here: U.S. English and U.K./Oz English.
