spellingsFaruq

Spellings Faruq is an American linguist and educator known for his innovative approaches to teaching spelling and orthography. He earned his B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 and his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Chicago in 1999. His doctoral dissertation examined the relationship between phonological awareness and spelling proficiency in post‑secondary students, using a mixed‑methods design that combined psycholinguistic testing with ethnographic interviews.

Faruq began his academic career as a research associate at the National Center for Education (NCE) before joining the faculty of the University of Arizona in 2002. He has held positions as Assistant Professor of English, Associate Professor, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2016. Throughout his tenure, Faruq has supervised over thirty graduate dissertations, focusing on language acquisition, spelling instruction, and cognitive processing in literacy.

His publications include the widely cited monograph “Phoneme‑Grave: Rethinking Spelling Instruction” (2013), a series of articles in the Journal of Educational Psychology, and several book chapters on literacy education. In addition, he has served on the American Educational Research Association (AERA) committees and presented keynote addresses at international conferences such as the International Conference on Language and Education.

Faruq has received several honors, including the AERA Teaching Award (2014) and the Arizona State Educator of the Year (2018). He retains an active role in curriculum development, collaborating with educational publishers to design evidence‑based spelling curricula for middle‑school and high‑school students. His work continues to influence literacy instruction practices in the United States and abroad.