Entwicklung der orthografischen Kompetenz im Englisch- und Deutschunterricht in der Mittelschule

The aim of this paper is to present the attitude towards spelling in L2 and L3 lessons of English and German in Slovene secondary schools. It not only includes teachers’ viewpoints on the subject, but also those of the students. The paper also aims to identify common spelling mistakes in both foreign languages. The first chapter, divided into two sub-chapters, presents English and German orthography, from letter-sound correspondence to aspects of the languages that set them apart from others, such as capitalization and punctuation. Since English and German spelling are not taught separately in secondary schools, the third chapter examines how native speakers learn to write in their mother tongue. The paper also briefly describes how Slovene students learn to spell in the Slovene language. The forth chapter then presents different types of approaches and activities for practicing English and German spelling as foreign languages, with dictation and games in foreground. The final chapter analyses the current role of spelling in secondary school foreign language teaching. It is based on research conducted among secondary-school teachers of English and/or German, as well as a dictation exercise carried out with 3rd-grade secondary-school students studying English and German.