Exploring Teachers' Instructional Techniques for Improving EFL Learners' Spelling Skill Exploring Teachers' Instructional Techniques for Improving EFL Learners' Spelling Skill A Case Study of Cheikh El Hadj Omar Ben El Hadj Massoud and Al-Hayat Institute for A Case Study of Cheikh El Hadj Omar Ben El Hadj Massoud and Al-Hayat Institute for Girls – Al-Furqan Branch Middle Schools

Abstract

This study investigates the methods of instruction utilized by English teachers to help their EFL learners develop their spelling skills in middle school in Algeria. The research aimed to find out about the difficulties in spelling among the learners, the methods teachers used, and how students perceived the effectiveness of these teaching methods. The research adopted a descriptive mixedmethods design and involved questionnaires and semi-structured interviews recorded using audio recorders. A purposive sample of four English teachers and 80 middle school learners, 42 females and 38 males, was selected from Cheikh El Hadj Omar Ben El Hadj Massoud Middle School and Al-Hayat Institute for Girls – Al-Furqan Branch. Data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Findings showed that learners struggled with soundletter relationships, silent letters, and morphological spelling. Teachers applied dictation, repetition, phonics, and corrective methods when teaching. The study recommends diversifying instructional strategies to include phonics-based and multisensory approaches, and improving teacher training in spelling instruction.