What type of computer-assisted exercise supports young less skilled spellers in resolving problems in open and closed syllable words?

Dutch bisyllabic words containing open and closed syllables are particularly difficult to spell for children. What kind of support in spelling exercises improves the spelling of these words the most? Two extensions of a commonly used dictation exercise were tested: less skilled spellers in grade 2 (n = 50; 7 years and 10 months) either received explicit syllabic segmentation cues or received spelling cues by means of a visual preview. Comparisons between pre-, post-, and retention tests of spelling skill showed that extra syllabic cues did not show a significant improvement beyond normal spelling dictation and that visual preview was most effective as compared to the other types of training. The findings suggest that word-specific knowledge can effectively be improved by exposure to the correct letter pattern during exercises in spelling and seems to result in lasting improvement of word-specific orthographic representations, at least for 5 weeks.     

Effects of explicit rules in learning to spell open- and closed-syllable words

Second graders (N = 222; 7.7 years of age) practiced with open- and closed-syllable words in a computer-assisted training program and appropriate spelling rules were either explicitly provided during practice or not. Also, children practiced either with a small set of exemplars or with a large set; the latter condition was expected to promote the use of rules. A control group consisting of 209 second graders, who did not practice in the computer-assisted training program, was also included in the study. Learning effects of practice were established by testing the spelling of practiced words, as well as novel transfer words, in pre-, post-, and retention tests. The results in the posttest showed that with a large set of exemplars during practice explicitly provided spelling rules are supportive for learning to spell novel words but no further effects of explicit rules were found, either for practiced words or in the retention test.     

Spelling pronunciation and visual preview both facilitate learning to spell irregular words

Spelling pronunciations are hypothesized to be helpful in building up relatively stable phonologically underpinned orthographic representations, particularly for learning words with irregular phoneme-grapheme correspondences. In a four-week computer-based training, the efficacy of spelling pronunciations and previewing the spelling patterns on learning to spell loan words in Dutch, originating from French and English, was examined in skilled and less skilled spellers with varying ages. Reading skills were taken into account. Overall, compared to normal pronunciation, spelling pronunciation facilitated the learning of the correct spelling of irregular words, but it appeared to be no more effective than previewing. Differences between training conditions appeared to fade with older spellers. Less skilled young spellers seemed to profit more from visual examination of the word as compared to practice with spelling pronunciations. The findings appear to indicate that spelling pronunciation and allowing a preview can both be effective ways to learn correct spellings of orthographically unpredictable words, irrespective of age or spelling ability.     

The sbelling of sdops: Preliterate children’s spelling of stops after /s/

Newly literate children have a tendency to spell s-stop sequences in words like spin, stop, sky with B, D, G (SBIN, SDOP, SGY), rather than with standard P, T, K. This observation potentially has implications for theories of English phonology as well as of language and literacy acquisition. Understanding these implications, however, requires data about the spelling preferences of preliterate children. In this study, a training-and-transfer design was used to test these spelling preferences in preliterate children. Results confirm that these children relate words with stops after /s/ to words with initial /b, d, g/ rather than to words with initial /p, t, k/. The paper outlines several possible interpretations: that preliterate children have a different phonemic analysis from adults, that they believe spelling represents archiphonemes that they believe spelling represents allophones, and that their early spelling attempts track the phonetic surface. The data suggest rejection of the second interpretation and in our view favour the last over the remaining interpretations. Several theoretical issues are raised that need to be resolved before a full account of the data can be offered.     

The Role of Instruction for Spelling Performance and Spelling Consciousness

This study examined the role of instruction for spelling performance and spelling consciousness in the Dutch language. Spelling consciousness is the ability to reflect on one's spelling and correct errors. A sample of 115 third-grade spellers was assigned to a strategy-instruction, strategic-monitoring, self-monitoring, or control condition representing different types of metacognitive aspects. The results showed that students in all three training conditions made more progress in both spelling performance and spelling consciousness than students in the control condition. With respect to spelling consciousness, only students in the strategy-instruction condition made significant improvement between pretest and posttest. Students made more progress in spelling performance on regular words than on loan words. Students in all four conditions became more accurate at assessing which words they could spell correctly. Students in the control condition more frequently overestimated their spelling ability.     

Effects of spell checkers on English as a second language students’ incidental spelling learning: a cognitive load perspective

Computer-based spell checkers help to correct misspells instantly. Almost all the word processing devices are now equipped with a spell-check function that either automatically corrects errors or provides a list of intended words. However, it is not clear on how the reliance on this convenient technological solution affects spelling learning. According to cognitive load theory convenience might be harmful for learning because it reduces the amount of effort invested in the learning task. In this study, effects of spelling aids on detecting and correcting misspelled words were examined by comparing English as a second language students’ performances on detecting and correcting the misspelled word across four conditions: control, red underline, spell-check (drop-down list), and dictionary. Learning transferability and durability were also examined. Results indicated that all spelling aids induced error-detection learning even when the errors were presented in a different context (transferability) or in a delayed posttest (durability). For error-correction learning, results showed that both the spell-checker (drop-down list) and the dictionary helped the students to learn the spelling incidentally. On the delayed posttest, error-correction performance in these two aided conditions was significantly higher than the performance in the control group. In conclusion, effort spent on searching for the correct words relates to better incidental spelling learning. Convenience and effort should be considered as factors influencing incidental spelling learning in the design of computer-based spell checkers.     

Reading and spelling acquisition in French first graders: Longitudinal evidence

This study was aimed at investigating the development of reading and spelling skills in French. First graders were tested twice (in February and in June). Phonological mediation was expected to play a major role at the beginning of reading and spelling acquisition, and thus a regularity effect was predicted. Under the assumption that alphabetical processing is primarily sequential, i.e. letter by letter, a complexity effect was predicted as well. In other words, subjects would read and spell words containing one-letter graphemes more accurately than words containing multi-letter graphemes. Further, processing was assumed to be strictly alphabetical at the beginning of acquisition, no frequency effect was expected. Overall, the role of phonological mediation is confirmed. A complexity effect testifying to sequential alphabetic processing was observed for spelling but not for reading. The hypothesis of a strict reliance on alphabetical processing is not confirmed since a frequency effect was observed in both reading and spelling. These findings are discussed in the light of the Frith, Morton, and Seymour models.     

Meaning As a Factor in Predicting Spelling Difficulty

Abstract

This study was designed to assess whether knowing the meaning of a word facilitates one’s ability to spell it. A total of 180 fourth, sixth, and eighth graders took four spelling tests and four multiple-choice vocabulary tests on a list of 100 words. Results of analysis showed that when the effects of word frequency, word length, and phoneme-grapheme regularity were partialed out, there was still a significant relationship between ability to spell words and understanding of their meanings. Implications for the teaching of spelling and vocabulary are discussed.     

Manipulating Written Hebrew Roots Across Development: The Interface of Semantic,Phonological and Orthographic Factors

The study examined children and adolescents’ ability to improve root spelling in Hebrew words by paying attention to phonological, semantic and orthographic properties of priming roots. One hundred and fifty 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15-year olds were administered two spelling tests in Hebrew. The same 40 target words were used in both tests, each word containing a root with at least one homophonous letter. Target words were matched one-to-one with 40 priming words containing the same root. The pool of prime-target word pairs was classified into two major groups:Words containing genuine root primes, and words containing false root primes. In the first test, participants had to spell the 40 target words. In the second test they had to spell the same words, each primed by its written genuine or false match. Results showed that unprimed spelling improved with age. Priming – both genuine and false – improved spelling performance significantly, especially in younger grades, but genuine priming was more effective. Spellers were able to overcome phonological opacity in root primes and to take root semantics into account. This finding testifies to the robustness of the root as a unified morphological entity in Hebrew and to children’s ability to make use of their knowledge of lexical and morphological organization in learning to spell.We thank Dominiek Sandra, Harald Baayen and an anonymous reviewer for their important and constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

The role of stroke knowledge in reading and spelling in Chinese

The present study examined the types of orthographic knowledge that are important in learning to read and spell Chinese words in a 2‐year longitudinal study following 289 Hong Kong Chinese children from Grade 1 to Grade 2. Multiple regression results showed that radical knowledge significantly predicted children's word reading and spelling performance across the years. Stroke knowledge contributed both concurrently (Grade 1) and longitudinally (Grade 2) to children's spelling performance after controlling for rapid naming, phonological awareness, morphological awareness and radical knowledge. These findings support the significance of radical knowledge in Chinese reading and spelling and the specific role of stroke order knowledge in Chinese spelling. The findings have implications for the design of an effective curriculum for teaching children to spell Chinese characters.     

Spelling pronunciations help college students remember how to spell difficult words

Studies have shown that children benefit from a spelling pronunciation strategy in remembering the spellings of words. The current study determined whether this strategy also helps adults learn to spell commonly misspelled words. Participants were native English speaking college students (N = 42), mean age 22.5 years (SD = 7.87). An experimental design with random assignment, pretests, training, and posttests assessed effects of the pronunciation strategy on memory for the spellings of 20 hard to spell words. Half of the participants were trained to read the words by assigning spelling pronunciations during learning (n = 21). The comparison group (n = 21) practiced reading the words normally without the strategy. Strategy trained adults recalled significantly more words, total letters, silent letters, and schwa vowel letters correctly than controls. Poor spellers benefited as much if not more from this strategy as good spellers. Results support orthographic mapping theories. Optimizing the match between spelling units and sound units, including graphemes and phonemes, syllables, and morphemes, to create spelling pronunciations when words are read enhances memory for spellings of the words. As a result, higher quality lexical representations are retained in memory. Results suggest the value of teaching college students this strategy to improve their ability to spell words correctly in their written work.     

On the acquisition of some basic word spelling mechanisms in a deep (French) and a shallow (Spanish) system

An experiment was carried out to compare the time course of the acquisition of two basic spelling mechanisms in Spanish, a shallow system, and French, a deep system. The first was lexical. It relies on the orthographic lexicon, a hypothetical structure containing the orthographic representations of words accessible for word spelling. To evaluate its contribution the participants were asked to spell words of high and low frequency containing phonemes which can take different graphemic values. The second mechanism relies on sub-lexical processes. Its contribution was evaluated asking the participants to spell words containing consistent phoneme-to-grapheme translation pairs which were identical in Spanish and French. Two contrasting predictions were considered, one derived from the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH, Frost, 2005) and the other from the Self-Teaching Hypothesis (STH, Share, 2004). According to the ODH, the orthographic lexicon should develop more rapidly in French than in Spanish because Spanish spellers can rely on phoneme-to-grapheme translation mechanisms to spell most words, meaning that they do not need to resort to the orthographic lexicon. In contrast, the STH suggests that effective identification of a word gradually generates its orthographic representation. The results revealed that both spelling mechanisms develop far faster in Spanish than in French. The fact that word frequency effects appeared earlier in Spanish than in French, indicating that the orthographic lexicon incorporates words more rapidly in a shallow than in a deep system, is clearly incompatible with the ODH and easier to handle in the context of the STH.     

The initial development of spelling in Spanish: From global to analytical

During a school year, samples of words written by three groups of children of successive ages were collected. Two groups of children were in first and second year of Kindergarten (4 and 5 years of age), when alphabetic rules were not taught in a systematic way. The third group was in first year of Primary School (6 years of age), and was being taught to read and spell in a systematic way. After classifying the words written by the children, seven categories of spelling were obtained, which may represent different stages in their learning process. Their analysis showed that they are related to different types of knowledge and processes, mainly phonological ones. The results show that the development of spelling in Spanish does not qualitatively differ from that of children who learn to spell in opaque writing systems. The differences mainly involve the time it takes to learn, and the rate of acquisition.     

How children learn about morphological spelling rules

A 2-year longitudinal study was carried out to test the hypothesis that children's word-specific learning of inflectional spellings is an essential first step in their acquiring an understanding of morphological rules for spelling inflections. Ninety children, who were 6-years-old at the start of the project, were asked to spell pseudowords and real words on three separate occasions. Inflections in pseudowords can be spelled only on the basis of morphological spelling rules, whereas the same inflections in real words can be spelled either through familiarity with the specific words (word-specific knowledge) or through morphological rules. Cross-lagged correlations suggested that the children's initial word-specific learning may be the basis for their later adoption and use of morphological spelling rules.     

Monitoring variability and change in children’s spelling strategies

This study examined the role of variability and change in children’s strategy performance within the context of spelling. The spelling ability of 34 eight‐ to nine‐year‐olds was examined using an experimental spelling task comprising 45 items, which varied with regard to rime unit frequency. The spelling task incorporated a series of consistent, unique, and exception word items. Children were tested on the same spelling task on three separate occasions over a period of three months. Performance was examined using immediately retrospective verbal self‐reports after the presentation of every word. The findings showed that children spelt words strategically and were adaptive in their strategy selection, showing a general change from using less efficient backup strategies to using more efficient direct retrieval methods over time. Finally, while those less skilled in spelling showed a greater reliance on less efficient backup strategies, the skilled spellers mainly retrieved the correct spellings from memory. However, accuracy only improved across time intervals for each skill group when spelling unique word items. Overall, the findings illustrate the benefits of using a detailed microgenetic approach to assess the progress children make in learning to spell.     

Exploring connections among reading,spelling, and phonemic segmentation during first grade

Exploratory data analysis was used to examine changes in individual reading and spelling patterns during first grade. Subjects were from classrooms receiving, on average, 45 minutes compared to 15 minutes of daily letter-sound instruction. Subjects spelled and read 60 words in October, February, and May, and deleted sounds from spoken words. Spelling and reading responses progressed from nonphonetic, to phonetic, to correct. Additionally, knowledge of a word's spelling informed its reading, while the converse was less apparent. Finally, those slow to improve in phoneme deletion were also slow to spell and read phonetically, especially among subjects receiving less instruction in letter-sound relations.     

Coordination of reading and spelling in early literacy development: An examination of the discrepancy hypothesis

The Discrepancy Hypothesis posits that childrenearly in the acquisition process read visually(holistically) and spell phonologically. Thisclaim was examined and rejected. Weinvestigated reading and spelling in Grade 1and Grade 2 children using controlled nonwordand word materials with a variety oforthographic patterns. While reading andspelling were strongly correlated even amongthe younger readers, discrepancies betweenperformance levels occurred in both directions. Children's responses were affected by wordcharacteristics and whether or not theyreceived school phonics instruction. Phonologically complex words, such as thosecontaining consonant clusters, wereparticularly difficult for Grade 1 children toread, while words that were difficult to spellcorrectly but not to read tended to havemultivalent mappings from sound to spelling.The generation of reading responses tospecially selected nonwords was affected byboth implicit and explicit phonological sourcesof knowledge. Orthographic knowledge gained inspelling did not always transfer to reading,and vice versa.     

Children’s spelling of base, inflected, and derived words: Links with morphological awareness

Two studies examined whether young children use their knowledge of the spelling of base words to spell inflected and derived forms. In Study 1, 5- to 9-year-olds wrote the correct letter (s or z) more often to represent the medial /z/ sound of words derived from base forms (e.g., noisy, from noise) than to represent the medial /z/ sound of one-morpheme control words (e.g., busy). In Study 2, 7- to 9-year-olds preserved the spelling of /z/ in pseudoword base forms when writing ostensibly related inflected and derived forms (e.g., kaise-kaisy). In both studies, the children’s tendency to preserve the spelling of /z/ between base and inflected/derived words was related to their performance on analogy tasks of morphological awareness. These findings add to the growing body of evidence that children recognise and represent links of meaning between words from relatively early in their writing experience, and that morphological awareness facilitates the spelling of morphologically complex words.