Word prediction has been offered as support for children with spelling difficulties. The literature however has shown wide-ranging results, as the use of word prediction is at the cost of time and fatigue due to increased visual-cognitive demands. Spelling support with word prediction is through word completion, keystroke reduction and the interactive process between spelling and reading. The research project was a cross-over within-subject design using 80 Grade 4 – 6 children with spelling difficulties in a school for special needs. The research task took the form of entering 30 words through an on-screen keyboard, with and without the use of word prediction software. The subjects were divided into four groups, who completed the research task in combinations of one of two equivalent wordlists and the presentation order of the typing method used. The Graded Word Spelling Test, administered before the study began, served to investigate whether there was a relationship between the children’s current spelling knowledge and word prediction efficacy. The results indicated an increase in spelling accuracy with the use of word prediction, but at the cost of time and the tendency to use word approximations, which decreased as grade and age increased. Children’s current spelling knowledge could not serve as an indicator of who would be most likely to benefit from word prediction use. The cross-over design counter-balanced the effects of the inequalities in the two wordlists and the effects of practice and fatigue noted in the presentation order. Further research into the impact that more extensive training and practice would have on word prediction efficacy and the usefulness of word prediction in more functional writing is necessary. / Dissertation (M (Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

This research is concerned with an investigation into the development of a formal diagnostic assessment tool for spelling in the foundation phase. A literature study and information acquired from educators provided information to compile a suitable spelling list that could be used as a diagnostic tool in the foundation phase. A self-designed questionnaire was administered to fifty educators Who provided their expert opinion regard the spelling list. This was followed up by second questionnaire that was based on the analysis and interpretation of the first. The Delphi-technique was applied to this investigation. The study was complete when consensus was reached among the educators with regard to which words should be included in the final spelling list. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

No description available.

This thesis sought to conceptualise children’s spelling and reading representations in a novel way based upon the implicit-explicit framework proposed by the Representational-Redescription (RR) model (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992). The children studied were aged 4-7 years. Existing models of spelling and reading (e.g. Frith, 1985, Ehri, 1998, 1999, 2002) describe the developmental process as a series of stages/phases. An alternative approach adopted here is derived from the author’s previous research (Critten et al. 2007). It employs a coding scheme that analyses children’s explanations of and performance on, recognition tasks that reveal varying levels of explicitness in understanding of spelling. In this thesis the levels are empirically validated for both spelling and reading. It begins with an attempt to show that young children represent spelling knowledge implicitly. A longitudinal study then elucidates the developmental trajectory of both spelling and reading over the course of a year demonstrating that changes occur in the explicitness of children’s underlying representations. By comparing the co-development of spelling and reading it was possible to demonstrate that phonological information is often explicitly used first in spelling before reading, lending support to Frith’s (1985) “pace maker” notions. The final study examined how context, previously known to facilitate children’s reading ability can also facilitate their spelling development. This effect occurs not just for reading and spelling performance but for explicit understanding, building on the Lexical Quality Hypothesis (Perfetti & Hart, 2002) that proposes a role for semantic information in successful spelling and reading. These findings are integrated into a proposal for a new model of development: the Spelling and Reading Explicitation Model (SREM). This model postulates that children develop beyond implicit recognition to form “active” explicit representations, accounting for generalisation errors and characterised as being consciously accessible and verbalisable. It proposes that the development of reading and spelling skill is based upon processes of abstraction, interpretation and application of phonological and morphological knowledge.

We used fMRI to examine the neural substrates of sublexical phoneme-grapheme conversion during spelling in a group of healthy young adults. Participants performed a writing-to-dictation task involving irregular words (e.g., choir), plausible nonwords (e.g., kroid), and a control task of drawing familiar geometric shapes (e.g., squares). Written production of both irregular words and nonwords engaged a left hemisphere perisylvian network associated with reading/spelling and phonological processing skills. Effects of lexicality, manifested by increased activation during nonword relative to irregular word spelling, were noted in anterior perisylvian regions (posterior inferior frontal gyrus/operculum/precentral gyrus/insula), and in left ventral occipito-temporal cortex. In addition to enhanced neural responses within domain-specific components of the language network, the increased cognitive demands associated with spelling nonwords engaged domain-general frontoparietal cortical networks involved in selective attention and executive control. These results elucidate the neural substrates of sublexical processing during written language production and complement lesion-deficit correlation studies of phonological agraphia.

No description available.

This sociolinguistic diploma thesis focuses on the implementation of spelling reform in Austria. Practical research is based on the theory of language management. The thesis describes also developmental path to the spelling reform through the entire 20th century. The work aims to shed light on the issues and barriers associated with the implementation of spelling reform, i.e. the last phase of language management. Regarding methodology, it was conducted qualitative research using semi-structured interviews with participants in the process. Representatives of secondary schools and newspapers were chosen for the research. The obtained data is analyzed in comparison with the discourse concerning the spelling reform in the German-speaking area. Keywords Language management, language planning, spelling reform, Austria, secondary education, print media

Notre recherche est une contribution socio-constructiviste à la compréhension de l’entrée dans l’écrit en portugais. Spécifiquement, nous nous intéressons au rôle de la syllabe dans ce processus. Traditionnellement, les écrits syllabiques sont entendus comme une tentative mise en œuvre par l’enfant apprenti-scripteur pour mettre en correspondance l’oral et l’écrit. Néanmoins, l’universalité d’une période syllabique de l’écrit a été contestée par des recherches récentes. Il semble que les écrits syllabiques sont dépendants de facteurs contextuels, tels que les caractéristiques de la langue d’apprentissage ou le type d’activités didactiques menées au sein des classes.L’objectif de cette thèse est l’approfondissement de la relation entre les facteurs contextuels et l’écriture syllabique. Pour ce faire, nous avons réalisé cinq études empiriques : dans la première étude, nous analysons les écrits produites par les élèves portugais de jardin d’enfants, tout comme les différentes procédures et mécanismes mobilisés pour y parvenir. Dans la deuxième étude, nous cherchons le type de pratiques didactiques mis en oeuvre autour de la syllabe par les enseignants portugais de jardin d’enfants. Dans l’étude trois, nous nous intéressons à la relation entre le contexte didactique et l’écriture syllabique. Dans l’étude quatre, nous analysons la relation entre le contexte linguistique, notamment la structure syllabique et le nombre de syllabes, et l’écriture syllabique. Finalement, dans la cinquième étude, nous menons une intervention didactique expérimentale pour inciter l’enfant à produire des écrits syllabiques.Les résultats obtenus dans l’ensemble de ces études indiquent que les écrits syllabiques sont fortement dépendants des facteurs contextuels. L’entrée dans l’écrit en portugais doit être considérée comme un processus développemental de nature psycho-socio-génétique, lors duquel la syllabe joue un rôle déterminant. / Our research is a socio-constructiviste contribution to the understanding of spelling acquisition in Portuguese. Specifically, we are interested in the role of the syllable in this process. Traditionally, syllabic spellings have been seen as an attempt put forward by children in order to connect speech and print. Nevertheless, the existence of a universal syllabic period has been contested by recent research. It seems that syllabic spellings are dependent of contextual constrains, such as the proprieties of the language of acquisition or the type of didactic activities conducted at kindergarten classrooms.The goal of this research is to study the relationship between the contextual constrains and syllabic spellings. In order to do it, we have conducted five empirical studies: in the first study, we analyze the spellings produced by Portuguese-preschool-children, and also the different procedures and mechanisms put forward to spell. In the second study, we investigate the type of didactic practices carried out around syllables by Portuguese kindergarten teachers. In the third study, we are interested in the relationship between didactic context and syllabic spellings. In the fourth study, we analyze the relationship between the linguistic context, namely the syllabic structure and the number of syllables, and syllabic spellings. Finally, in the fifth study, we have conducted an experimental didactic intervention intended to encourage children to produce syllabic spellings. The results obtained in all this studies indicate that syllabic spellings are heavily dependent on contextual constrains. Spelling acquisition in Portuguese should be considered as a developmental process with a psycho-social-genetic nature, in which the syllable plays a determinant role.

The Phonic Inventories are an instrument consisting of three spelling tests. This study explored the potential of this instrument to be used in group administration to identify children with potential learning difficulties. This was done with a sample of full-time mainstream and full-time remedial learners. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to establish if the Phonic Inventories could distinguish the spelling error patterns of learners in different grades for mainstream and remedial. A distinct pattern of key errors was found, which was similar for mainstream and remedial learners. There were performance changes over grade for mainstream learners but not for remedial learners. This suggests the Phonic Inventories may be measuring an underlying spelling ability which progresses in normal learners and not remedial learners. A stepwise regression analysis was used to establish whether the Phonic Inventories predict performance on contrast spelling tests. A good degree of fit was found between the tests, suggesting the Phonic Inventories are measuring the same abilities as other spelling tests, with the advantage of providing additional information. Finally, a discriminant analysis found errors made on the Phonic Inventories to predict group affiliation between the mainstream and remedial group to a good degree. It was concluded that the Phonic Inventories have strong potential as a group administered screening instrument for identifying children with potential learning difficulties.

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the Degree of M aster of Science November 1987