New Data Study Reveals The Best & Worst States At Spelling
- Oklahoma revealed as the worst US state at spelling followed by Montana, Michigan, and California
- Connecticut is the UK’s best city at spelling followed by Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey, and Kansas
- Teaching expert explains a simple way to improve your spelling
Literacy rates have become one of the most surprisingly common issues over recent years, with many fearing that they are dropping in part due to our increasing adoption of digital mediums for communication and how they affect language. According to data from PIAAC, 21% of Americans 18 and over are technically illiterate. While perhaps not illiterate, many experience issues around spelling, and the tools that are designed to help us with it may be part of the problem.
“While undoubtedly very useful and helpful, the role of autocorrect in our modern ability to spell might actually be quite insidious,” says John Michaloudis, a teacher who runs an online training platform MyExcelOnline. “By automating the process of spelling correctly, many of us are simply not learning to do it ourselves.”
According to a recent study of unscrambled words, 13% of Americans surveyed indicated that they use spellcheck every time they write. On a scale of 1-10 rating the frequency of which they use spellcheck when typing, with 1 being “Never” and 10 being “always,” 42% rate themselves at an 8 or higher. Not only has this led to a widespread problem with spelling correctly, but it is also affecting productivity on a wide scale.
“People are spending more time making silly errors and taking longer to correct them, as a result. Or those mistakes end up in their work when autocorrect fails to make context-sensitive corrections, or they’re unable to rely on it,” says Michaloudis. “This leads to a lot of wasted time spent making corrections.”
In an effort to better highlight the issue the team at MyExcelOnline, has conducted a study that looked into which states were googling how to spell certain words indicating they need help with their spelling, his results were as follows:
The Worst US States At Spelling
-
Oklahoma
-
Montana
-
Michigan
-
California
-
Ohio
-
Maine
-
Oregon
-
Kentucky
-
Virginia
-
Louisiana
The Best US States At Spelling
- Connecticut
-
Arkansas
-
Iowa
-
Kansas
-
New Jersey
-
Texas
-
Utah
-
New York
-
Washington
-
New Mexico
“Based on the search data around terms like ‘how to improve spelling’, Oklahoma stands out as the state that seems to have the highest rate of problems with spelling,” says Michaloudis.
John’s main tip to improve spelling
“However, there are ways that individuals who have trouble with spelling can work on this. Simply by turning off autocorrect and letting the computer highlight the spelling issues will teach you to avoid relying on computers to spell for you and to correct words yourself, which will undoubtedly improve your spelling over time.”
– Ends –
Story credit MyExcelOnline
Methodology
The above study was carried out using Google Keywords Planner. Several context-rich keywords, such as “how can I spell” and “how to improve spelling” were used, and location-specific data was gathered on the rates of use per state, indicating the average monthly search volumes for these keywords over the past year (September 2023 – October 2024). The data was then normalized based on the population size of each state or city to ensure comparability.
About MyExcelOnline:
MyExcelOnline is an online provider of courses specifically designed to help people learn how to use Excel. From introductory lessons to specifics on formulas, formatting, charts, and more, these courses, run by founder John Michaloudis aim to help people save time and money by learning how to more effectively use Excel.
****************************************************************
Know some top athletic performances? Seeing some great teams in action?
We can use your help, and it’s simple. Witness some great performances? Hear about top athletes and top teams in our area?
Athlete of the Week and Team of the Week:
Nominate an athlete or team: HERE
**********************************************
Pancakes or Waffles! We feature top area athletes with our world-renowned feature. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE
College Athlete Roundup! We want to recognize student-athletes from the area who are competing at the college level. Send us information on college athletes from the area with our simple form HERE
Where are they Now? We feature athletes and difference makers from the past, standouts in sports who excelled over the years and have moved on. Know of a former athlete, coach, or difference maker who we should feature? Know of a former standout competitor whose journey beyond central Wisconsin sports is one we should share? Send us information on athletes and difference makers of the past with our simple form HERE
Baked or Fried! We also feature difference makers throughout central Wisconsin: coaches, booster club leaders, administration, volunteers, you name it. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE
We welcome your stories! Contact us at [email protected]!
Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
