# Vocab questions reduce spelling bee to 3 letters: A, B or C



## Leeda.the.Paladin (Jun 2, 2022)

Vocab questions reduce spelling bee to 3 letters: A, B or C​By BEN NUCKOLStoday





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Roy Seligman, 13, from New Providence, Nassau, competes during the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Wednesday, June 1, 2022, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — The Scripps National Spelling Bee was rolling smoothly through the second day of its first fully in-person competition in three years. Then it transformed into the SAT.

An onstage vocabulary round during Wednesday’s semifinals introduced an element of randomness into the venerable bee, forcing spellers to demonstrate a different skill set and knocking out some of the bee’s most accomplished competitors.







Vivinsha Veduru and Roy Seligman, who tied for fourth place in last year’s bee: gone. Deetya Vuppala and Yash Shelar, the co-champions of this year’s expert-level SpellPundit online bee: also gone. All denied a shot at Thursday’s finals without spelling a word incorrectly.

“I thought it was tragic,” said Grace Walters, a coach to multiple previous Scripps champions.

Walters’ only pupil this year, four-time bee participant Harini Logan, made it through the vocabulary round and was one of a dozen finalists. She’ll be joined on stage Thursday night by Sahasrad Satish, Ekansh Rastogi, Vikram Raju, Aliyah Alpert, Abhilash Patel, Sahana Srikath, Kirsten Santos, Nitya Kathiravan, Vihaan Sibal, Shijay Sivakumar and Saharsh Vuppala — Deetya’s twin brother.
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For many spellers, the multiple-choice vocabulary questions took away their opportunity to use the skills they’ve honed over years of study: asking questions of the judges to help piece a word together; identifying roots; deducing which vowel makes the dreaded “uh” sound known as a schwa.
“The words that are sometimes asked may not necessarily be based on roots or easily decipherable, and so in that case it becomes a case of which kids are natural readers and have a lot of cultural capital, and which kids aren’t as culturally sophisticated,” said Scott Remer, a former speller who coached 21 competitors this year, including Saharsh and Deetya. “Some words you’re only going to pick up by reading newspapers, by reading certain books, and are not necessarily guessable.”






Yash was knocked out on “Stockholm syndrome,” a phrase that can’t be parsed via a speller’s expert knowledge of how sounds are constructed in various languages. Vivinsha didn’t know “ragout” was a sauce. Deetya was given “ergogenic,” and Roy’s bid to become the first champion from The Bahamas ended when he was asked to define “rumbustical.”

“With the word meaning, it’s a crapshoot,” said Arthur Seligman, Roy’s father. “You and I know what ‘Stockholm syndrome’ means, but an 11- or 12-year-old?”

Chris Dominick, an excitable 14-year-old from Struthers, Ohio, illustrated the grab-bag quality of the vocabulary round when he was given “leitmotif” and exclaimed, “I know what this is!”

A reliable narrator, Chris didn’t make it through the next spelling round. He was given “sirtaki” — a Greek dance — and said, “OK, I think I’m going to get out on this one.” And he did, after guessing the word started with a “c.”




“Goodbye, cruel world,” Chris said after hearing the bell.

Vocabulary has long been part of the bee, but only on written tests. The bee’s new executive director, J. Michael Durnil, who took over in 2021, added it to the live spelling rounds when a test became impractical during last year’s mostly virtual, pandemic-altered competition.
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“This is Scripps’ way of ensuring that the competition does not become about memorizing words like code,” Walters said. “Putting in a vocab segment, it almost forces intimacy with language because you have to know what those words mean.”




Although spellers had to answer a vocabulary question during Tuesday’s preliminary rounds, it was sandwiched between two words they had to spell. The semifinals, then, were the first time that so many spellers — 31 at the start of the vocabulary round — had to stand in front of the microphone and pick one of three possible answers on a screen in front of them.

Some knew the answers right away. Some didn’t, and had to guess — A, B or C. And that was that.
Vihaan, a 13-year-old from McGregor, Texas, who’s in the finals for the second time, was asked to define “vermillion” and noted that every multiple-choice option he was given was a color. He was shocked to see Roy knocked out.

“I know he’s a really strong speller. Probably stronger than me,” Vihaan said.

Harini, a 14-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, was one speller who kept her cool throughout, even when pronouncer Jacques Bailly made a rare flub, initially leaving a syllable out of “quinquefoliolate,” the word that got her into the finals.
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Much like her mastery of language, Harini puts plenty of work into her onstage sangfroid.
“Even though I am stressed in the moments leading up to getting my word, as soon as I get my word, I just try to put myself into a thinking process where I can really feel calm,” she said.


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Jun 2, 2022)

The article says that vocabulary tests have always been a part of the bee, just usually on paper. So why did so many kids get thrown off by it if that’s the case?


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Jun 2, 2022)

I was wondering why the homeschooled black girl wasn’t in the mix this year but I guess she aged out. I found this great interview with her. I feel like we will be hearing from her again soon









						Zaila Avant-garde Made Spelling Bee History. What Will the 15-Year-Old Do Next? - EdSurge News
					

If you were just tuning into the Scripps National Spelling Bee last summer, settling in to watch the competition play out, for the first time, during a ...




					www.edsurge.com


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Jun 2, 2022)

The reason that I was interested in the vocab trial tripping everyone up was my suspicion that they wanted less minorities in the mix. There are always a slew of Indian American kids but I just wonder if people got really upset when a black girl won last year.

I don’t know, maybe I’m being paranoid.


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## Evolving78 (Jun 2, 2022)

Leeda.the.Paladin said:


> The reason that I was interested in the vocab trial tripping everyone up was my suspicion that they wanted less minorities in the mix. There are always a slew of Indian American kids but I just wonder if people got really upset when a black girl won last year.
> 
> I don’t know, maybe I’m being paranoid.


I don’t think you are being paranoid and I feel the same way.


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## Seattle Slew (Jun 7, 2022)

Leeda.the.Paladin said:


> The reason that I was interested in the vocab trial tripping everyone up was my suspicion that they wanted less minorities in the mix. There are always a slew of Indian American kids but I just wonder if people got really upset when a black girl won last year.
> 
> I don’t know, maybe I’m being paranoid.


No, not paranoid. That was exactly my fear. They are introducing white American bias into this with on the spot vocab test. From what I can tell.


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## Theresamonet (Jun 7, 2022)

Why do y’all think that this would be easier for white kids? I think it’s unfair if the kids were unaware that there would be a live vocab portion, but I’m not seeing the white bias.


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## yamilee21 (Jun 7, 2022)

Theresamonet said:


> Why do y’all think that this would be easier for white kids? I think it’s unfair if the kids were unaware that there would be a live vocab portion, but I’m not seeing the white bias.


I think it’s more about not being to “game” the spelling bee. It’s telling that some of the words the kids missed by the vocabulary were not necessarily hard words, but ones that are more indicative of being a reader. Many of the top kids aren’t readers; they are just very talented at memorizing spelling patterns. It actually made me think of the situation with the specialized high schools in New York City; the kids getting the top scores and thus the spots in the schools are not necessarily the brightest, many have just been practicing the test skills for years, while the test itself has become more predictable.


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## Theresamonet (Jun 7, 2022)

yamilee21 said:


> I think it’s more about not being to “game” the spelling bee. It’s telling that some of the words the kids missed by the vocabulary were not necessarily hard words, but ones that are more indicative of being a reader. Many of the top kids aren’t readers; they are just very talented at memorizing spelling patterns. It actually made me think of the situation with the specialized high schools in New York City; the kids getting the top scores and thus the spots in the schools are not necessarily the brightest, many have just been practicing the test skills for years, while the test itself has become more predictable.



The article states that the vocabulary portion was added as a “way of ensuring that the competition does not become about memorizing words like code”. I get that. Still don’t get how the above posters see this as weeding out kids of color. If the vocabulary questions were themselves culturally biased, I would agree. But they aren’t. Any kid of any race could know, or not know, those words and their meanings.


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## Leeda.the.Paladin (Jun 8, 2022)

Theresamonet said:


> Why do y’all think that this would be easier for white kids? I think it’s unfair if the kids were unaware that there would be a live vocab portion, but I’m not seeing the white bias.


I dont know that it's necessarily about the words being easier for white kids. I think it's more about the focus of the kids' preparation. It's about tripping the kids up.

When I read up on it, it says that the vocabulary test has been a part of the bee since 2013, in written form. IF that's the case, why were so many kids tripped up by it? And some of the kids tripped up were top contenders. Something is just not right.  

I was hoping someone could explain it to me. I can be oblivious.


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## fluffyforever (Jun 8, 2022)

This is not a race motive change. They said they started doing this because of Covid, which makes sense that the kids couldn’t all be grouped together for a written exam. 

Kids are tripping up because when you see a word, you see the correct spelling and can more easily deduce the word origin, stems and meaning. Its less stressful compared to being on stage and being asked what a word means. The kid will have to first try to spell it themselves, assuming they get it correct, and then think about the breakdown of the word before they can figure out what it means. Plus they have to hope the announcer says the word correctly, with the right stress, clear accent, and pronounces all of the syllables. 

I’m learning a foreign language and I can tell you, hearing a word compared to looking at a word to identify it’s meaning are two very different skills. There are many times I’ve read a word and I know what it means, but when I hear it I don’t recognize it at all until I hear repeatedly over time (days, weeks, months, not seconds) Plus add in the pressure of being live oral test, it will mess up a lot of kids because they didn’t train for that and develop that skill.


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## nysister (Jun 8, 2022)

I see it as weeding out Indians more than anyone else. They learn by rote, but often don't learn concepts. This makes them work for it. I think most smart Black kids will be fine. They're usually readers.


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## yamilee21 (Jun 9, 2022)

nysister said:


> I see it as weeding out Indians more than anyone else. They learn by rote, but often don't learn concepts. This makes them work for it. I think most smart Black kids will be fine. They're usually readers.


 I was trying to be long-windedly polite about it, but yes, this.


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## naturalgyrl5199 (Jun 9, 2022)

I agree, I think they are trying to weed out Indians and that's disingenuous. Its true they do better with rote memory vs concepts. And I agree the black kids will be fine until they figure out a way to weed them out as well. 

That being said, its also disingenuous to surprise them with a part of the Bee that they didn't have time to practice for either.

A vocab portion of the competition is appropriate. 

But prepare competitors fairly and let them know that the competition will NOT be 100% spelling anymore. Once the kids start including the vocab in their practicing, we will see how who fares better in the future.


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