Relations Between Dialect Variation, Grammar, and Early Spelling Skills

Relationships among African American English (AAE), linguistic knowledge, and spelling skills were examined in a sample of 92 children in grades one through three whose speech varied in the frequency of morphosyntactic AAE features. Children were separated into groups of high (AAE speakers) and low (standard American English, SAE, speakers) use of AAE features in speech, and asked to produce, recognize, and spell four inflected grammatical morphemes because variable omission of these endings in speech is a morphosyntactic characteristic of AAE. The groups differed in their spelling and elicited spoken production of inflections, but not recognition of these forms. AAE speakers omitted the inflections more often at each grade. Density of morphosyntactic AAE features in speech was related directly to spelling inflections, but this effect was mediated by children’s understanding of standard grammatical forms.     

Spelling in Children With Dyslexia: Analyses From the Treiman-Bourassa Early Spelling Test

We examined the oral and written spelling performance on the Treiman-Bourassa Early Spelling Test (Treiman & Bourassa, 2000a) of 30 children with serious reading and spelling problems and 30 spelling-level-matched younger children who were progressing normally in learning to read and spell. The 2 groups' spellings were equivalent on a composite measure of phonological and orthographic sophistication, representation of the phonological skeleton of the items, and orthographic legality. The groups showed a similar advantage for words over nonwords on the phonological skeleton and orthographic legality measures. The children with dyslexia and the comparison children also showed an equivalent advantage for written over oral spelling on the composite and phonological skeleton measures. Further analyses revealed that children with dyslexia made many of the same linguistically based errors as typically developing children but also pointed to some subtle differences between the groups. Overall, the spelling performance of children with dyslexia appears to be quite similar to that of normally progressing younger children.     

The Development of Invented Spelling

Ninety-three children were tested on a variety of reading-related skills, including Tangel and Blachman's (1992) invented spelling measure, four times over 1.5 years. Results revealed that this measure of invented spelling was 1) stable, 2) highly associated with traditional phonological awareness tasks, and 3) substantially predictive of standardized spelling and word and nonword decoding tests over time. A measure of orthographic processing, as well as phonological processing, was significantly associated with time 4 invented spelling, suggesting that both orthographic and phonological processes are involved in invented spelling. These results indicate that this measure of invented spelling may be an optimal diagnostic tool for researchers and educators interested in predicting subsequent reading ability/disability in early development. Invented spelling administered in early kindergarten may be an even better predictor of subsequent decoding skills than are traditional phonological awareness tasks, for American school children.     

Early Predictors of Later Attainment in Reading and Spelling

A good deal of research has tried to establish the precursors of literacy in terms of the abilities in children which are most likely to lead to good progress in reading and writing. As Monica Lazo and Peter Pumfrey point out, several aspects of metalinguistic ability have been identified as important and in their research, reported here, they found that three aspects of this ability were particularly significant to children's literacy development. These aspects, phonological awareness, print awareness and semantic/syntactic awareness seem to play crucial roles in children's reading and spelling but not in isolation. It is the combination of these which seems to make the difference, a finding with important implications for teachers of early literacy.     

Phonemic Representation and Early Spelling Errors in Bilingual Children

The relationship between linguistic experience and phonemic representations in spelling was investigated in two groups of Mandarin–English bilingual children (aged 5–6 years) who spoke mostly Mandarin-L1 (n = 23) or mostly English-L1 (n = 27) at home. A 60-item cloze task including high- and low-frequency words with word-initial and word-final target phonemes that are either common to Mandarin and English (/f/ and /p/), or found only in English (/v/ and /b/), was developed and administered to both groups. With performance for a neutral control phoneme /m/ matched, spelling accuracy for the common phonemes was equivalent but the Mandarin-L1 children's performance for /v/ and /b/ was significantly poorer than that of their English-L1 classmates in low-frequency words. For both groups, performance on word-final targets was poorer for English-only phonemes than common phonemes. If early literacy development depends on stored phonological representations of the first language, these findings have implications for language minority communities.     

Developing Reading,Spelling and Phonemic Awareness Skills in Primary School Children

Phonemic awareness is beginning to become rather a buzz term in discussions about methods of teaching reading and there is widespread agreement that children need to develop this awareness in order to read effectively. It is not yet clear exactly how they should be taught this awareness and Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson here describe their research into this issue.     

The Development of Invented Spelling

Ninety-three children were tested on a variety of reading-related skills, including Tangel and Blachman's (1992) invented spelling measure, four times over 1.5 years. Results revealed that this measure of invented spelling was 1) stable, 2) highly associated with traditional phonological awareness tasks, and 3) substantially predictive of standardized spelling and word and nonword decoding tests over time. A measure of orthographic processing, as well as phonological processing, was significantly associated with time 4 invented spelling, suggesting that both orthographic and phonological processes are involved in invented spelling. These results indicate that this measure of invented spelling may be an optimal diagnostic tool for researchers and educators interested in predicting subsequent reading ability/disability in early development. Invented spelling administered in early kindergarten may be an even better predictor of subsequent decoding skills than are traditional phonological awareness tasks, for American school children.     

First-Grade Spelling Scores Within the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Screening: An Exploratory Study

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity evidence of first-grade spelling scores from a standardized test of nonsense word spellings and their potential value within universal literacy screening. Spelling scores from the Test of Phonological Awareness: Second Edition PLUS for 47 first-grade children were scored using a standardized procedure and an alternative invented spelling procedure. Correlations were examined among spelling and diagnostic word reading and decoding scores, along with scores from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Spelling scores were significantly correlated with word reading and decoding scores, as well as DIBELS scores, except Phoneme Segmentation Fluency. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that spelling scores reliably accounted for significant variance in decoding but not word reading scores, beyond DIBELS scores. Implications are discussed related to the potential value of including early spelling scores within universal literacy screening.     

对韩高中汉语课教学方法探讨

在＂汉流＂涌动的韩国,中国语教学热火朝天。韩国人除了通过电视媒体了解中国文化外,更希望通过系统的中国语学习达到认识中国的目的。在韩国高中的课堂教学中,运用恰当的教学方法,可使学生对汉语产生强烈的认可和渴望。教师能否使用恰当合理的教学方法,是促进课堂生动活泼的关键。     

From Counting to Arithmetic: The Development of Early Number Skills

This article reviews the evidence from the many studies of young children which together trace the sequence of development from counting to the beginnings of formal arithmetic. The author is senior psychologist at Cheeverstown House, Dublin. He proposes that knowledge of the normal progression in this area is invaluable in meeting special educational needs.     

From ITPA Language Profiles to the Componential Analysis of Early Reading Processes

This paper discusses the role of phonological and morphological processing in learning to read and spell. It is also a personal reflection on the author's research program in these areas for nearly 30 years, moving from language profiles of children with special needs to componential analysis of reading and spelling. Several studies on the effect of morphological processing on reading and spelling are outlined. It is suggested that the trend is towards a cross-linguistic framework and studies of psycholinguistic and neurocognitive levels of reading processes.     

Linguistic and Spatial Skills Predict Early Arithmetic Development via Counting Sequence Knowledge

Utilizing a longitudinal sample of Finnish children (ages 6–10), two studies examined how early linguistic (spoken vs. written) and spatial skills predict later development of arithmetic, and whether counting sequence knowledge mediates these associations. In Study 1 (N = 1,880), letter knowledge and spatial visualization, measured in kindergarten, predicted the level of arithmetic in first grade, and later growth through third grade. Study 2 (n = 378) further showed that these associations were mediated by counting sequence knowledge measured in first grade. These studies add to the literature by demonstrating the importance of written language for arithmetic development. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that linguistic and spatial skills can improve arithmetic development by enhancing children's number‐related knowledge.     

Examining the Relationship Between Emergent Literacy Skills and Invented Spelling in Prekindergarten Spanish-Speaking Dual Language Learners

The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among English and Spanish emergent literacy skills of prekindergarten (pre-K) Spanish-speaking dual language learners in relation to their English invented spelling. Study participants included 141 Spanish-speaking 4-year-old children enrolled in state-funded pre-K programs in a large urban city located in the Southeast. All children were receiving English-only instruction. Children’s Spanish and English receptive vocabulary and code-related skills were assessed in the fall and spring of their pre-K year, but their invented spelling was assessed only in the spring. Research Findings: Analyses revealed significant correlations among children’s English and Spanish receptive vocabulary as well as English and Spanish early code-related skills in the fall and spring of the school year. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed direct contributions of children’s English vocabulary and growth in Spanish code-related skills across the year to children’s English invented spelling in the spring of the school year. This analysis also revealed that associations between children’s English code-related skills and invented spelling appear to work through Spanish code-related skills. Practice or Policy: In order to promote young dual language learners’ English invented spelling skills, early childhood educators should seek to support children’s English vocabulary and English and Spanish code-related emergent literacy skills.     

The Unique Role of Early Spelling in the Prediction of Later Literacy Performance

ABSTRACT

We examined the predictive value of early spelling for later reading performance by analyzing data from 970 U.S. children whose spelling was assessed in the summer following the completion of kindergarten (M age = 6 years; 3 months). The word reading performance of most of the children was then tested after the completion of Grade 1 (age 7;5), Grade 2 (8;5), Grade 4 (10;5), and Grade 9 (15;5). A computer-scored measure of postkindergarten spelling was a significant predictor of later reading performance even after taking into account postkindergarten phonological awareness, reading, and letter-sound knowledge and prekindergarten vocabulary. The results suggest that, by the end of kindergarten, spelling is more than just a proxy for phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. Given the information that spelling provides, it should be considered for inclusion when screening children for future literacy problems.     

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatized Naming Predicting Early Development in Reading and Spelling: Results from a Cross-Linguistic Longitudinal Study

In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) were investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages.     

The Effects of Morphological Awareness Training on the Reading and Spelling Skills of Young Dyslexics

This article reports data from a training study of morphological awareness involving 33 dyslexic students in grades 4 - 5. The dyslexic students received 36 lessons of morphological awareness training each of about a quarter of an hour. The training was oral and focused on semantic aspects of morphemes. During the training period, the experimental group gained significantly more than a similar group of untrained controls (n = 27) on one of three measures of morphological awareness. Both groups, however, made equal gains on measures of phonological awareness, phoneme discimination and picture naming. The experimental group progressed significantly more than the controls in reading comprehension and in spelling of morphologically complex words. The results of the study suggest that it is possible to develop dyslexic students' morphological awareness. Furthermore, awareness of morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of language, may support the development of meaning - oriented decoding strategies in reading and spelling.     

Phonological Spelling and Reading Deficits in Children With Spelling Disabilities

Spelling errors in the Wide Range Achievement Test were analyzed for 77 pairs of children, each of which included one older child with spelling disability (SD) and one spelling-level-matched younger child with normal spelling ability from the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center database. Spelling error analysis consisted of a percent graphotactic-accuracy (GA) score based on syllable position and existence in English, and a phonological accuracy score (PA). The SD group scored significantly worse in the PA measure and nonsignificantly better than controls on the GA measure. The Group × Measure interaction was significant. Spelling matched pairs had very similar scores for word recognition and orthographic coding, but the SD group exhibited significant deficits in reading measures of phonological decoding and in language measures of phonological awareness.     

Contributions of Emergent Literacy Skills to Name Writing, Letter Writing, and Spelling in Preschool Children

The purpose of this study was to examine which emergent literacy skills contribute to preschool children's emergent writing (name-writing, letter-writing, and spelling) skills. Emergent reading and writing tasks were administered to 296 preschool children aged 4-5 years. Print knowledge and letter-writing skills made positive contributions to name writing; whereas alphabet knowledge, print knowledge, and name writing made positive contributions to letter writing. Both name-writing and letter-writing skills made significant contributions to the prediction of spelling after controlling for age, parental education, print knowledge, phonological awareness, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge; however, only letter-writing abilities made a significant unique contribution to the prediction of spelling when both letter-writing and name-writing skills were considered together. Name writing reflects knowledge of some letters rather than a broader knowledge of letters that may be needed to support early spelling. Children's letter-writing skills may be a better indicator of children's emergent literacy and developing spelling skills than are their name-writing skills at the end of the preschool year. Spelling is a developmentally complex skill beginning in preschool and includes letter writing and blending skills, print knowledge, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge.     

Spelling of Inflected Verb Morphology in Children with Spelling Deficits

Children with spelling deficits demonstrate significant difficulty using inflectional morphology in their writing. This study investigated whether phonological deficits account for these pronounced difficulties or if they are more accurately explained by limitations in morphological or orthographic awareness. Twenty–six 11—13–year–old children with spelling deficits, 31 younger spelling–level–matched children, and 31 age–matched children were asked to spell a series of verbs with past tense and progressive markers in dictated sentences and in list form. Performance on spelling tasks was compared to performance on phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness tasks. Results suggest that children with spelling deficits have significant difficulty including inflections as well as spelling inflections and base words. Difficulty was most pronounced in a sentence context. Ability to spell inflectional forms was related to variation in morphological awareness in children with spelling deficits and to variation in orthographic awareness in spelling–level–matched children.     

中澳小学读写启蒙的比较分析

以一名6周岁儿童于同一年接受中国和澳大利亚小学一年级教育个案分析为背景,采用比较研究的方法,从教学大纲、教学内容和教学方式等方面对中澳儿童读写能力培养模式和方法进行比较,并简要探讨此研究对我国基础教学的借鉴意义。