Bakgrund: Vi har valt att titta på stavning utifrån två perspektiv. Det historiska perspektivet visar hur stavningen förändrats genom åren. Det är viktigt eftersom det än idag har betydelse för hur vi stavar. Nyare forskning visar olika forskares syn på stavning. En stor del i nyare forskning är skolverkets studie 2003 där de bland annat undersökt undervisningen i svenska och elevers kunskaper. Forskare visar att det finns yttre faktorer som påverkar vår stavning. Dialekter och datorn är två faktorer som påverkar stavningen både positivt och negativt. Stavning och skriftspråk har stor betydelse för varandra så vi har valt att plocka ut de delar som stämmer bäst överens med vår studie.   Syfte: Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka elevers stavningsproblem ur ett lärarperspektiv i årskurs fyra till nio. Utifrån syftet skapades följande två frågeställningar:   Finns det skillnader i stavningsundervisningen på de olika stadierna? Finns det skillnader i stavningsproblematiken mellan de olika stadierna?   Metod: Vi använder oss i vår uppsats av en kvantitativ metod som delvis består av kvalitativa frågor. Vi använder oss av en enkät undersökning som riktar sig till pedagoger i årskurs fyra till nio. Pedagogerna som svarat på enkäten arbetar i en Västsvensk kommun. Det är totalt 12 skolor, varav 9 F–sex-skolor och 3 sju–nio-skolor. 29 pedagoger medverkade i vår studie. Enkäten består av 17 frågor, varav 14 kvantitativa och 3 kvalitativa frågor. Resultatet har behandlats i tre omgångar. Vi delade upp varje stadie för sig innan vi gjorde en jämförande analys. Vi kategoriserade respondenternas svar och sedan försökt hitta likheter och skillnader i dessa.   Resultat: Resultatet behandlar stavning utifrån tre aspekter: Ordkunskap, inlärning och undervisning. Resultatet har delats upp i tre delar: årskurs 4–6, årskurs 7–9 och jämförande analys. Läsning, dialekter och kommunikationsverktyg har stor betydelse för elevers stavning. Läsning har positiv inverkan på stavning eftersom elever exponeras för ord. Oavsett elevers ålder kan man se att läsning spelar stor roll. Talspråk och skriftspråk har ibland en otydlig gräns. Elever stavar orden som de uttalas istället för att använda sig av skriftspråkets normer. Dialekter berikar vårt språk men kan samtidigt ses som en svårighet i stavningssammanhang. En stor del av vår vardag innebär kommunikation av olika slag. Barn och ungdomar kommunicerar bland annat genom sms och datorer. Vid denna typ av kommunikation använder de sig av ett förkortat språk. Dessa språk har stora influenser av talspråket men även av engelskan. Det har visat sig att elever använder sig av dessa språk även i skolan. Det påverkar deras stavning eftersom de hellre använder sig av dessa ord.

This study investigates spelling errors among Swedish students of English. The purpose of this research is to develop a better understanding of the causes of spelling errors and to investigate whether there are any differences between program orientation and gender. The participants are English A students from Swedish high schools in year 1. The data analysed in this study consists of essays written by the participants which have been gathered into the Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC). The results showed that the academic program has a lower error rate when compared to the vocational program and that female students display a lower error frequency than male students. These results reflect the same pattern found by previous studies on achievement between the programs and across gender. However, when comparing all variables, both gender and program, the results demonstrate that academic male students had the lowest error rate of all groups, which could partially be explained by the fact that the academic male students have a higher level of engagement with video- and online games when compared to the other groups. The language processes that the participants found the most challenging were letter omission, letter insertion and letter substitution. These results follow the same pattern highlighted in previous studies on spelling among both native speakers and learners. Finally, the exchange between the vowels <a>, <e> and <i> was found to be a frequent error among the students. Experiencing difficulties with the correct usage of vowels can be explained as a transfer error.

No description available.

La maitrise du français écrit chez les élèves québécois s’améliore au fur et à mesure qu’ils progressent à l’école. Cependant, un nombre important d’élèves n’atteint pas les cibles d’apprentissage en ce qui a trait à l’écriture. Plus spécifiquement, la compétence des élèves à orthographier les mots demeure un défi important. Parmi toutes les erreurs d’orthographe, celles qui concernent les accords verbaux seraient parmi les plus difficiles à corriger, malgré des années d’apprentissage formel. Écrire un verbe correctement est particulièrement complexe. Le scripteur doit identifier le sujet dans la phrase et ajouter les marques de temps, de mode, de personne, de genre et de nombre à la terminaison du verbe en fonction du sujet. Le scripteur doit donc être en mesure de répondre adéquatement à ces questions en considérant des variables tant syntaxiques que morphologiques pour accorder correctement le verbe dans la phrase. Malheureusement, il existe peu de données descriptives précises sur les phénomènes liés à l’accord verbal qui occasionnent le plus de difficulté aux élèves. L’objectif de cette étude est de pallier ce manque en recherche afin de documenter les phénomènes les plus fréquemment associés aux erreurs observées dans les productions des élèves du primaire. Pour répondre à cet objectif, une étude descriptive a été réalisée auprès de 102 élèves de la 2e année du primaire. Les productions écrites réalisées par les élèves ont été collectées et tous les verbes ont été analysés à l’aide d’une grille permettant de documenter la réussite des élèves en fonction des phénomènes à prendre en compte pour bien orthographier les verbes. Les résultats principaux montrent que : 1) la présence d’un écran distracteur entre le sujet et le verbe pose des difficultés aux élèves ; 2) les verbes réguliers sont plus complexes à orthographier puisqu’ils sont moins fréquents ; 3) les verbes au présent et à l’imparfait sont mieux réussis que ceux au passé composé ; 4) l’infinitif est plus difficile que l’indicatif et 5) les verbes au pluriel sont plus complexes à orthographier pour les élèves que ceux au singulier. La plausibilité phonologique des marques d’accord sur la terminaison joue également un rôle important dans les performances des élèves. Ces résultats sont discutés de manière à exposer l’importance de considérer les variables syntaxiques et morphologiques dans l’analyse des performances des élèves en lien avec le verbe. / The development of writing competence improves as French Quebec students’ progress through school. However, a significant number of students do not meet the learning targets in writing. More specifically, students' ability to spell words correctly remains a challenge. Of all the spelling errors, those related to verb agreements are among the most difficult to correct, despite years of formal learning. Writing a verb correctly is particularly complex. The writer must identify the subject in the sentence and add the appropriate verb tense and mood, person, gender and number markers to the verb ending based on the subject. Therefore, the writer must be able to answer adequately these questions by considering both syntactic and morphological information to correctly inflect the verb in the sentence. Unfortunately, there is a lack of precise descriptive data on the phenomena related to verb agreement that are the most difficult for students. The aim of this study is to address this research gap by documenting the phenomena most frequently associated with errors observed in the written productions of primary school students. To meet this objective, a descriptive study was conducted with 102 second-grade primary school students. The written productions produced by the students were collected and all the verbs were analyzed using a grid that documents the students' success based on the information that need to be considered to spell verbs correctly. The main results of this study show that: 1) the presence of a distractor between the subject and the verb seems difficult for students; 2) regular verbs are more difficult to spell because they are less frequent; 3) verbs in the present and imperfect tenses are better spelled than those in the past perfect tense; 4) the infinitive is more difficult than the indicative and 5) plural verbs are more complex for students to spell than singular verbs. The phonological plausibility of agreement markers on verb endings plays an important role in students' performance. These results are discussed to highlight the importance of considering syntactic and morphological information in the analysis of students' spelling performance related to verbs.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study comprises an investigation into the restandardisation of Afrikaans. Since the 1980s, there have been various calls from the Afrikaans speech community for the democratisation of Afrikaans by making it representative of the whole Afrikaans speech community. Despite these calls for the restandardisation of Afrikaans, a matter which has been brought to the fore in recent years, there are still no real theoretically-based and practical suggestions for such a project. The practical approach to the restandardisation of Afrikaans suggested in this study, with a specific focus on the restandardisation of the orthography of Afrikaans, informs the suggestion of a model by which such a planned restandardisation programme for Afrikaans could be carried out. This is done based on existing theories of standardisation and restandardisation, as well as a thorough investigation into the history of the standardisation of Afrikaans in order to determine the reasons underlying this need for its restandardisation. Firstly, relevant theories of standardisation are considered in order to determine which aspects of language standardisation give rise to restandardisation and play the most important role in it. The history of the standardisation of Afrikaans is also considered, in order to indicate the factors which gave rise to the calls for the restandardisation of Afrikaans. The world-wide phenomenon of destandardisation – an increasing trend by which the validity of standardised languages is called into question – is subsequently considered. Following this, restandardisation is considered in greater detail. Although the term is used widely, there are not yet thorough theoretical descriptions of the nature of the process itself. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical consideration of what restandardisation comprises. An investigation into various examples of attempts at the restandardisation of languages in South Africa, Africa, and the rest of the world serves as a backdrop against which the need for the restandardisation of Afrikaans is discussed. The standardisation of the orthography of Afrikaans, as outlined in the ten issues of the Afrikaanse woordelys en spelreëls (“Afrikaans word list and spelling rules”) which have been published to date, is the next research focus. The purpose of this critical evaluation of the primary source for orthographic standardisation of Afrikaans is to point out the weaknesses in the current standardisation process which necessitate a new approach to the standardisation of Afrikaans (and by extension, its restandardisation). Finally, a model is presented for the restandardisation of the orthography of Afrikaans, but also Afrikaans as a whole, based on various theoretical and practical considerations contained in the study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie word die herstandaardisering van Afrikaans onder die loep geneem. Dit word gedoen teen die agtergrond van verskeie oproepe vanuit die Afrikaanse spraakgemeenskap sedert die 1980’s om Standaardafrikaans te demokratiseer deur dit verteenwoordigend te maak van die totale Afrikaanse spraakgemeenskap. Ten spyte van hierdie oproepe om die herstandaardisering van Afrikaans wat in die afgelope aantal jare op die spits gedryf is, ontbreek daar egter nog teoreties gefundeerde, praktiese voorstelle vir hoe so ’n herstandaardiseringsprojek daar sal uitsien. Hierdie studie verteenwoordig ’n praktiese benadering tot die herstandaardisering van Afrikaans, met ’n besondere fokus op die herstandaardisering van die Afrikaanse ortografie, deur ’n model daar te stel waarvolgens so ’n beoogde herstandaardiseringsprogram vir Afrikaans kan geskied. Dit word gedoen aan die hand van bestaande standaardiserings- en herstandaardiseringsteorie en ’n grondige ondersoek na die standaardiseringsgeskiedenis van Afrikaans ten einde te bepaal wat aanleiding gegee het tot hierdie herstandaardiseringstrewe in Afrikaans. Eerstens word daar gekyk na relevante standaardiseringsteorieë ten einde die belangrikste aspekte van taalstandaardisering te belig wat ’n rol speel in en aanleiding gee tot herstandaardisering. Die standaardiseringsgeskiedenis van Afrikaans word ook in oënskou geneem om te dui op die aspekte wat aanleiding gegee het tot die oproepe om die herstandaardisering van Afrikaans. Vervolgens word daar na die wêreldwye tendens van destandaardisering gekyk waardeur die geldigheid van standaardtale toenemend bevraagteken word. Hierna word herstandaardisering van nader beskou. Alhoewel die term reeds wyd gebruik word, bestaan daar nog nie diepgaande teoretiese beskrywings oor die aard van hierdie proses nie. Daar word dus vervolgens teoreties besin oor wat herstandaardisering behels. Verskeie voorbeelde van pogings tot die herstandaardisering van tale in Suid-Afrika, Afrika, en die res van die wêreld word ondersoek, waarna die redes vir ’n behoefte aan die herstandaardisering van Afrikaans uiteengesit word. Die standaardisering van die Afrikaanse ortografie, soos uiteengesit in die tien uitgawes van die Afrikaanse woordelys en spelreëls wat tot op hede verskyn het, kom volgende as navorsingsfokus aan bod. Die doel van hierdie kritiese evaluering van die primêre ortografiese standaardiseringsbron van Afrikaans is om te dui op die swakplekke in die huidige standaardiseringsproses wat ’n nuwe benadering tot die standaardisering van Afrikaans (dus die herstandaardisering van Afrikaans) noodsaak. Ten slotte word ’n model vir die herstandaardisering van die Afrikaanse ortografie, maar ook Afrikaans in geheel, voorgestel aan die hand van verskeie teoretiese en praktiese oorwegings soos in die loop van die studie uiteengesit.

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the contribution of phonological, morphological and dialect awareness to the prediction of reading and spelling in a Greek bi-dialectal setting. The target group (N=404) consisted of children, aged 6 to 9 years at the start of the project, who learn literacy in Cyprus, where a dialect is spoken in certain contexts but where Standard Modern Greek is also widely used. At present there are few studies with Greek Cypriot children on how phonological, morphological and dialect awareness relates to reading and spelling. Because there are no standardised measures of phonological, morphological and dialect awareness with Greek Cypriot children, measures of these factors were developed during the pilot study and their internal consistency was assessed. With the larger sample the measures were validated by examining their construct validity. The first wave of data collection showed that morphological and dialect awareness make unique contribution to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The second wave of data collection showed that the measures of morphological and dialect awareness predicted performance in reading and spelling eight months later, even partialling out grade level, estimation of verbal intelligence and initial scores in reading and spelling. A model with dialect awareness as a mediator between phonological and morphological awareness and reading and spelling fitted the data better than a model with phonological or morphological awareness as mediators, and hence, phonological awareness and morphological awareness help children to become aware of the differences between their dialect and the standard variety, and dialect awareness in turn facilitates reading and spelling. Cross-lagged correlations showed that the more experience children have with reading and spelling, the more likely they are to develop morphological and dialect awareness. This study makes theoretical, empirical and practical educational contributions. The established mediational model contributes to the theoretical knowledge of the connection between dialect awareness and phonological and morphological awareness and reading and spelling while the longitudinal study contributes to theory the long term relation of morphological and dialect awareness with reading and spelling in Greek. Empirically, the study established the plausibility of a causal link between morphological and dialect awareness and reading and spelling, which must be tested in further research using intervention methods. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing morphological and dialect awareness in the Greek Cypriot setting.

The problem of this study was to determine if study habits can be used to predict academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between selected study skill habits and attitudes and achievement of secondary students in English, mathematics, and spelling. The sample for this study consisted of 82 secondary school students participating in Upward Bound programs at two universities in the north Texas area in a six week period during the summer of 1988. Eighteen different high schools were represented in the study. The sizes of the schools ranged from small to very large. Instruments used were the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes, (SSHA) the Stanford Test of Academic Skills, (TASK), and the Otis-Lennon Mental Abilities Test (OLMAT). The statistical analysis indicated that the four subscores of the SSHA are not accurate predictors of academic achievement. However, some of the correlations among the subscores for the SSHA and the TASK were significant. Most noteable of these were work methods and mathematics, teacher acceptance and mathematics, and work methods and spelling. The recommendation is made that the SSHA should not be used to predict academic achievement in Upward Bound programs. Improving study habits and attitudes should be addressed as a method of refining academic programs, not of predicting academic achievement.

TITLE: Teaching English to Pupils With Dysorthography AUTHOR: Bc. Monika Reslerová DEPARTMENT: Department of English Language and Literature SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Klára Uličná, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The thesis relates the issue of dysorthography in connection to EFL instruction with a special attention paid to lower secondary schools. The theoretical part of the text contains basic information on special educational needs, followed by a chapter on Specific Learning Difficulties, their causes and symptoms. The concept of dysorthography is explained and its possible consequences on acquisition of English spelling and grammar described, followed by a list of recommended approaches, methods, techniques and aids which can be useful for teaching English to dysorthographic pupils. The practical part of the text gives an account of a multiple-case study which was carried out among experienced English teachers at schools that pay special attention to children with SEN. The research is focused on the teachers' experience and know-how and compares the obtained data to the recommendations given in the theoretical part. KEYWORDS Specific Learning Difficulties, Dyslexia, Dysorthography, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, grammar, spelling

M.Ed. / The purpose of this study is primarily to evaluate the curriculum of the subject Communication English with specific reference to the component of reading and spelling. The rationale is to determine whether or not the reading and spelling skills of college students comply with the requirements of the private sector and, if found to be inadequate, appropriate recommendations would be made. The detrimental effect of reading and spelling problems on a person's entire being and self-actualization is attested by the literature. A needs analysis was done by means of questionnaires to establish how the course makes provision for various aspects of a communicative language curriculum. The questionnaires were completed by three groups, these being the N2 and N3 students, the lecturers of Communication English and various members of the private sector. For purposes of this study only the relevant questions concerning reading and spelling from the questionnaires were highlighted. The results of the reading and spelling tests showed that there is a significant discrepancy between the students' reading and spelling ages and their chronological ages, it would appear as if they are below the required norm by approximately four years. From the responses of the questionnaires it was apparent that a high premium was attached to competence in reading and spelling skills.

Au moment où les recherches convergent pour affirmer la baisse du niveau de maîtrise orthographique chez les collégiens, nous souhaitons savoir si le phénomène touche également les bacheliers qui poursuivent leurs études dans le supérieur. Ancrée à la fois en sciences de l'éducation et en sciences de l'information et de la communication, cette recherche-action propose un triptyque scientifique articulé sur une méthodologie plurielle. L'objectif est non seulement de répondre à la question centrale mais aussi d'en mesurer les conséquences sur l'insertion professionnelle et d'esquisser une solution pédagogique. Premièrement, une mesure diachronique présente la forte augmentation du taux d'erreurs orthographiques dans les copies d'examen de première année universitaire. Deuxièmement, une expérimentation in situ atteste de la discrimination à l'embauche dont peuvent être victimes les candidats à l'orthographe lacunaire. Troisièmement, elle propose une remédiation grammaticale à destination d'étudiants de première année basée sur un instrument d'apprentissage et d'évaluation novateur : la dictée normalisée. / At a time when various studies have confirmed that the spelling ability of secondary school students has fallen, our aim has been to discover whether this phenomenon also affects university students who pursue their studies to a higher level. With its fundamental notions set in both educational, as well as information and communication science, this research-action proposes a three-pronged scientific approach based on plural methodologies. The aim is not only to answer the central question, but also to measure its consequences in terms of employability, and to define the outlines of an educational response. Firstly, diachronic measurements reveal a strong increase in the spelling error rate in marked examination papers during the first year at university. Secondly, in situ experimentation confirms that candidates with faulty spelling can be the victims of discrimination in employment. Thirdly, grammatical remediation is proposed for first-year university students, based on an innovative learning and evaluation instrument: the normalised dictation.