‘N-O-R-M-A-L-C-Y’: Why the National Spelling Bee means more now than ever
2020 was a year like no other. Although it understandably wasn’t top of mind, the competitive spelling world also suffered the disruptive consequences of the pandemic. The Scripps National Spelling Bee – which only the second world war had previously cancelled – became a casualty of Covid-19, despite pleas for organizers to find a virtual work-around or at least extend eligibility for unfortunate eighth graders who lost their final chance to compete.
But the spelling bee community proved resilient. A profusion of online bees – including one I held in December – sprang up, giving spellers the chance to keep their skills sharp and compete for prize money even without a televised in-person competition. Covid-19 seems to have permanently transformed the spelling world. While the National Spelling Bee will hopefully return to its pre-pandemic glory in 2022, virtual bees are likely here to stay, adding to preexisting off-season “minor league” spelling bees like the North South Foundation Bee and the South Asian Spelling Bee.
Those who are unfamiliar with spelling as a competitive sport, especially international readers for whom spelling bees are peculiarly American, may ask what all the hubbub is about. Why does spelling matter? Why do many spellers adhere to a grueling, year-round training regimen, even amidst a global pandemic? What do elite spellers gain from the experience? It is remarkable that spellers are so dogged in their pursuit of orthographic mastery. Given the “brain fog”, memory loss, and burnout plaguing us all, most adults wouldn’t be comfortable training intensively for a taxing competition in applied linguistics.
One might think that spelling is simply rote memorization. But there’s much more to it. Spellers need to commit a great deal to memory. Elite spellers learn hundreds of Latin and Greek roots and various other languages’ common prefixes and suffixes to create a toolbox they can use onstage. They drill many thousands of words, building a mental inventory of cases to draw upon when analyzing new words.
Done properly, spelling is applied linguistics, a process of logical reasoning, like chess; words are like puzzles or math equations. Spellers are akin to lawyers examining a legal case or doctors considering a patient, comparing them to previous cases they’ve seen to come up with the correct verdict or diagnosis. High-level spellers are “word detectives”: they apply a method of induction to decode words’ correct spelling. They piece together words by starting with the part they recognize. They work backwards to the part they’re less sure of, listening for keywords in the definition that will help them make connections to roots and thereby crack the code. Spelling is part art, part science: training involves rigorous cultivation of pattern recognition abilities, but a good speller also has an intuitive sense of language – what Germans call Sprachgefühl.
The training in deductive reasoning which spellers derive from their studies can be applied to any field. Their exposure to the history of words and new vocabulary deepens their love of language. And intense training in Latin and Greek roots puts budding doctors and scientists in good stead. There’s also the ineffable pleasure that comes from discovering a word’s spelling using clues, especially when you do so under intense pressure – spellers have two minutes to spell, and only 90 seconds to ask questions. Spellers are richly rewarded for their studies.
The upcoming bee will be unusual. The timing will be different: rather than taking place at the end of May, as is traditional, this year’s bee will occur on four days between 12 June and 8 July. Earlier rounds will be virtual, proctored to prevent cheating. The 12 championship finalists will compete in person.
The competitive landscape will also be different. Many regional qualifier bees were cancelled. To give spellers in areas without bees an opportunity, Scripps created a few “at-large” regional bees. Even so, this year’s competition will feature 209 spellers instead of the usual 500-plus. Observers expect that this will dampen competition: many talented spellers will be absent due to Covid-related upheaval. Alleged instances of cheating marred some 2020 online bees and regional competitions earlier this year, raising the specter of foul play during this month’s digital rounds.
Scripps has instituted some rule changes, the upshot of which remains to be seen. I applaud Scripps for resolving a daunting amount of logistics, although I hope that these rule changes will be discarded after this year’s bee. Vocabulary will share center stage: in the second round of each part of the competition, spellers will have 30 seconds to answer multiple-choice vocab questions. To prevent 2019’s “octochamps” scenario from recurring,
judges will be able to invoke a “spelloff”. The speller who spells the most words correctly from a pre-selected list will win.
We’ve all been craving some degree of normalcy amid so much tumult, anxiety, sadness and loss. For spellers, studying for the Bee offers just that. It has been tremendously impressive to watch my students persevere, dedicating themselves to their preparations despite a multitude of pandemic-induced obstacles. Participating in the bee teaches spellers invaluable life lessons: the inescapable role of chance in determining success; how to maintain grace under pressure; and the importance of self-discipline, advance planning, and setting small, achievable daily goals. This year’s bee is a celebration of perseverance and language. After a long, difficult year of quarantine and social isolation, perhaps watching the bee is exactly what we need.
Scott Remer is a professional spelling bee tutor, freelance writer, and the author of the textbook Words of Wisdom: Keys to Success in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.