Student Number : 0006815V - MA research report - School of Human and Community Development - Faculty of Humanities / In South Africa, the majority of children are bilingual and little research exists on the cognitive processes bilingual children use to spell. This has far-reaching and challenging implications for cognitive models of spelling. Specifically, bilingualism exhibits a pervasive influence on children’s literacy development (Bialystok, 2002). The majority of research on children’s spelling has been conducted internationally with monolingual English children. From international literature, cognitive processing (simultaneous processing and sequential processing) has been identified as an important area for consideration in the spelling acquisition process of English children (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983b). Simultaneous processing is important for whole word spelling, whilst sequential processing is important for decoding letter sound correspondences. Cross-linguistic research demonstrates a bias towards one or the other spelling strategy may be tied to the depth of a language’s orthography, possibly due to the different demands the language orthography places on how children learn to spell (Frost et al., 1987; Wimmer & Hummer, 1990, 1994; Goswami et al., 1998). The present study examined the relationship between simultaneous and sequential processing and spelling in Grade 3 monolingual English-speaking children and bilingual Afrikaans-English speaking children at one point in time. Thirty bilingual Afrikaans-English children (Afrikaans first language, English second language) and were learning to spell in Afrikaans and in English simultaneously, and thirty monolingual (English first language) learning to spell in English. Simultaneous and sequential processing subtests of the Kaufman Assessment Battery (K-ABC) were administered to the monolingual and to the bilingual children. Monolingual Englishspeaking children received the English word and non-word spelling tests, while the bilingual Afrikaans-English children were asked to spell English and Afrikaans words and non-words (Klein, 1993). The results suggest that lexical (logographic or simultaneous) and non-lexical (alphabetic or sequential) routes are available in English and Afrikaans, but orthography did exert an influence on cognitive processing strategies. Sequential processing demonstrates a higher relationship than simultaneous processing with spelling in English and Afrikaans, although sequential processing contributes more to spelling in a shallow orthography, because the reliable relationship between spelling supports easier and faster computation than in an opaque orthography. Additionally, the results demonstrate that in the bilingual Afrikaans-English children spelling in a second language (L2) rely on spelling skills in a first language (L1), even when the same teaching strategies are used for spelling instruction. Orthography as a tool of academic literacy instruction, influences whether the transfer of spelling skills has a positive or negative influence on spelling in English as a second language in bilingual Afrikaans-English children with a transparent L1. A dual-route model that incorporates the influence of orthographic depth is supported (Seymour, Bunce & Evans, 1992). The present research study concludes that (1) simultaneous processing and sequential processing influence and predict the production of spelling in L1 and L2 in both English and Afrikaans alphabetic orthographies that differ in orthographic transparency, (2) orthographic demands of learning to spell in different orthographies varies and influences cognitive processing resources and decoding skills, which may provide an indication of a cumulative or challenging development of L2 spelling skills particularly when the L1 is transparent. The present research has implications for assessment, traditional spelling models and teaching bilingual children learning to spell in a second language, which is orthographically opaque relative to their transparent mother tongue.

Spelling development is a linguistic process which involves the interaction of phonological, orthographic, and morphological knowledge (Bahr, Silliman, & Berninger, in press). It is also clear these linguistic factors are influenced by a person's dialect. Previous research has indicated that use of African American English (AAE) does influence spelling performance (Kohler, Bahr, Silliman, Bryant, Apel, & Wilkinson, 2007); however, few studies have considered how dialect use influences spelling as a function of spelling task (i.e., real vs. non-word tasks), error category (phonological, orthographic, or morphological) or grade. A secondary goal was to note if dialectal or developmental errors predominated in the noted misspellings. The Phonological, Orthographic, and Morphological Assessment of Spelling (POMAS, Silliman, Bahr, & Peters, 2006) was used to provide a fine-grained analysis of the spelling errors of 80 typically developing African American children in grades 1 (n = 39) and 3 (n = 41). These children were screened for language ability and they were determined to be AAE speakers by observing their use of phonological and/or morphosyntactic dialect features when retelling a story. Age-appropriate real word and non-word spelling tasks were developed which incorporated common features of AAE. A three-way ANOVA revealed that differences in error frequency were dependent upon word type, error type and grade. On the real word spelling task, children in both grades made more orthographic errors than phonological or morphological errors. On the non-word spelling task, students in both grades made fewer orthographic errors and students in grade 3 made significantly more phonological errors, while the number of phonological errors noted remained fairly constant across tasks for the children in grade 1. Common misspelling patterns revealed developmental errors, as well as errors attributed to AAE. A closer look at the occurrence of AAE features revealed that first graders were more likely to reflect dialectal patterns in their spelling than the third graders. This is possibly due to differences in exposure to the academic register and experience in code-switching. Finally, the real words elicited more AAE features than non-words suggesting that phonetic and linguistic contexts might influence the occurrence and use of AAE.

The current study investigated developmental spelling in a group of English as a second language (ESL) and non-ESL children. The purpose was to determine if a measure of developmental spelling differed between a group of ESL and non-ESL kindergarten children, and further, what linguistic and literacy skills were related to developmental spelling for each group. The results from 37 ESL and 40 non-ESL children revealed that the groups did not differ on a measure of developmental spelling, and that the predictors of developmental spelling included syntactic knowledge (Syntax Construction) and phonological processing (Sound Matching) for both groups, and Letter Identification for the non-ESL group only. The results revealed many similarities between the groups in their English spelling development. Some differences emerged, however, including phonological processing (Non-word Repetition) being related to developmental spelling for the ESL group only, and Letter Identification being related to developmental spelling for the non-ESL group only.

Σκοπός της παρούσας μελέτης ήταν να εξετάσει τις στρατηγικές μάθησης της ανάγνωσης και της ορθογραφημένης γραφής, τις οποίες εφαρμόζουν οι Έλληνες μαθητές που φοιτούν στις πρώτες τάξεις του δημοτικού σχολείου και το κατά πόσο αυτές είναι σύμφωνες με το μοντέλο της διττής θεμελίωσης της ανάγνωσης που έχει προταθεί για τη μάθηση της ανάγνωσης στην αγγλική γλώσσα. Η συγκεκριμένη έρευνα εντάσσεται στο πλαίσιο μια ευρύτερης διευρωπαϊκής προσπάθειας (LiteracyAcquisitioninEuropeanOrthographies) για τη διερεύνηση της μάθησης της ανάγνωσης σε διαφορετικά ορθογραφικά συστήματα γραφής. Συγκεκριμένα, στην παρούσα εργασία επιχειρήθηκε να διερευνηθεί διαχρονικά η μάθηση της ανάγνωσης και της ορθογραφημένης γραφής των μαθητών. Για το λόγο αυτό η έρευνα κινήθηκε σε δύο άξονες. Ο πρώτος αφορούσε τη μελέτη της ανάπτυξης των αναγνωστικών και ορθογραφικών δεξιοτήτων 50 μαθητών της Α΄ τάξης, οι οποίοι εξετάσθηκαν σε τέσσερις διαφορετικές χρονικές στιγμές κατά τη διάρκεια της φοίτησής τους στην Α΄ Δημοτικού. Στο δεύτερο άξονα της μελέτης αξιολογήθηκε η αναγνωστική και ορθογραφική ανάπτυξη 100 μαθητών της Α΄, Β΄, Γ΄και Δ΄ τάξης του δημοτικού σχολείου. Η αναγνωστική επίδοση των μαθητών αξιολογήθηκε με βάση το χρόνο και την ακρίβεια ανάγνωσης λέξεων και ψευδολέξεων, ενώ συνυπολογίστηκαν μεταβλητές όπως η ορθογραφική συνέπεια, το μήκος, η συλλαβική δομή, η συχνότητα κ.α. Επιπλέον, η μελέτη περιελάμβανε και την αξιολόγηση μεταβλητών ελέγχου, το επίπεδο γλωσσικής επίγνωσης, τη νοημοσύνη, τη μνήμη κ.α. Με βάση την ανάλυση των δεδομένων προέκυψαν τα ακόλουθα συμπεράσματα: (1) οι μαθητές φαίνεται να κατακτούν γρήγορα και με σχετική ευκολία το στάδιο της θεμελιακής ανάγνωσης, (2) η ταχεία μάθηση των γραμμάτων, η γρήγορη ανάπτυξη των δεξιοτήτων φωνολογικής επίγνωσης και η ακολουθούμενη μέθοδος διδασκαλίας προωθούν την υιοθέτηση της αλφαβητικής στρατηγικής στην ανάγνωση κατά τα πρώτα στάδια, (3) δεν αποδεικνύεται η ύπαρξη του λογογραφικού σταδίου της ανάγνωσης στην ελληνική γλώσσα, (4) αντίθετα τα δεδομένα φαίνεται ότι επιβεβαιώνουν την ύπαρξη της ορθογραφικής στρατηγικής ανάγνωσης, (5) στο τέλος της Α΄ τάξης υπάρχουν ενδείξεις ότι οι Έλληνες μαθητές βρίσκονται στο στάδιο της μορφογραφικής ανάγνωσης, (6) η βασική μονάδα αποκωδικοποίησης στην ανάγνωση φαίνεται ότι είναι η συλλαβή, (7) προς το τέλος της Α΄ τάξης οι μαθητές χρησιμοποιούν μια πιο ολική στρατηγική ανάγνωσης, η οποία δε φαίνεται να επηρεάζεται από τη δομή της συλλαβής ή τις ορθογραφικές συμβάσεις τις γλώσσας, (8) η θέση της εξαιρέσιμης συλλαβής αποτελεί παράγοντα που επιδρά τόσο στο χρόνο ανάγνωσης όσο και στο ποσοστό αναγνωστικής επιτυχίας και, (9) η απόδοση των μαθητών στην άσκηση της ταχείας κατονομασίας είναι δυνατό να προβλέψει τη μεταγενέστερη αναγνωστική επίδοση έως την τετάρτη τάξη του δημοτικού σχολείου. / The aim of this study was to examine the learning strategies of reading and spelling that Greek primary school children apply. Moreover, it is evaluated whether these strategies are compatible with the dual foundation model of reading development that has been proposed for learning to read in the English language. This study is part of a wider cross-european project (Literacy Acquisition in European Orthographies) that focuses on the investigation of learning to read in different orthographic writing systems. More specifically, the present thesis attempted to investigate reading development over time and for that reason a two-axis design was adopted. The first axis focused on the reading and spelling development of 50 children attending primary 1, who were evaluated in four different testing points throughout the year. The second axis assessed the reading and orthographic growth of 100 students of grades A΄, B΄, C and D΄. Reading achievement was evaluated on the basis of word and nonword reading fluency and accuracy, while variables as orthographic consistency, item length, syllabic structure, frequency etc were taken into account. Furthermore, this study included the evaluation of testing variables such as the level of phonological awareness, intelligence, working memory as well as control processes. Data analysis revealed the following conclusions: (1) children quite quickly and relatively easy acquire the foundation level of reading development, (2) the rapid acquisition of letter knowledge, the phonological awareness skills, as well as the standard reaching approach induce the development of the alphabetic process in the early stages of reading acquisition, (3) evidence acquired from data analysis does not support the existence of a logographic phase in reading development in the Greek language, (4) on the contrary, data analysis confirms the existence of an orthographic reading phase, (5) at the end of primary 1, children’s reading strategies appear compatible with the development of the morphographic phase of reading, (6) syllable seems to be the basic linguistic unit used in decoding, (7) towards the end of Primary 1 children tend to use a more holistic strategy in reading, which is not affected by either the syllabic structure or the orthographic conventions of the Greek language, (8) a position-of-irregularity effect can be detected on both reading speed and accuracy and, last but not least, (9) performance on rapid naming task may predict later reading performance through fourth grade.

Föreliggande studies syfte är att undersöka hur tre svensklärare som undervisar i årskurs 2 och 3 stöttar elevernas stavningsutveckling. För att samla in studiens data används metoden Design-based Research (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012) där observationer visar hur de deltagande lärarna genomför stavningsundervisning samtidigt som intervjuer används för att se hur studiens deltagare säger sig planera och utvärdera sin stavningsundervisning. Med hjälp av observationer och semistrukturerade intervjuer har relevant data för studiens syfte samlats in. Studiens teoretiska ram grundar sig i det sociokulturella perspektivet med utgångspunkt i begreppet stöttning. Vidare analyseras studiens insamlade data med hjälp av fem stöttningskomponenter: ägarskap, lämplighet, struktur, samarbete och internalisering (Langer & Applebee, 1986). Observationerna visar att studiens deltagare genomför sin stavningsundervisning med en liknande struktur. Däremot framkommer det av intervjuerna att endast en av tre deltagare kontinuerligt undervisar om stavningsregler. Samma deltagare väljer också att rätta alla uppkomna stavfel, medan de andra deltagarna väljer att göra olika beroende på situation. Dessa två deltagare är rädda att för hård stavningsrättning hämmar elevernas skrivlust. Trots att deltagarna har olika syn på effektiv stavningsundervisning och väljer att arbeta på olika sätt kan vi urskilja de fem komponenterna av stöttning hos samtliga deltagare.

The literature on spelling and spelling development suggests there is a strong relationship between spelling and phonology (Bruck & Treiman, 1990; Caravolas, Hulme & Snowling, 2001; Craig, 2006; Gindri, Keske-Soares & Mota, 2007). Spelling, however, is considerably less researched than reading (Caravolas, Humle & Snowling, 2001). Spelling difficulties are known to be more persistent in people with reading and writing disabilities, even when their reading has become acceptable (Høien & Lundberg, 1999) but more research is needed in this area. Assessment and detailed knowledge of the difficulties is of great importance in order to provide the appropriate help for children with reading and writing disabilities (Frisk, 2010; Magnusson, Nauclér, & Reuterskiöld, 2008). The purpose of the present study was to develop and try out a phonologically based spelling test for children, with focus on medial phonemes. The study contained 150 pupils in grade 1 and 2 as well as pupils in remedial teaching due to reading and spelling difficulties in the same grades. In addition to spelling, all pupils were tested for reading ability, phonological awareness, nonverbal intelligence and auditory discrimination. Misspellings were analysed with three quantitative and one qualitative classification methods. Results showed that the spelling test based on analyse of medial phonemes captured misspellings to the same extent as the other quantitative classification method.  Pupils in grade 2 received significant higher results in the spelling test than pupils in grade 1. The group of typically developed pupils had significantly better results than the pupils with reading and writing disabilities. Results also showed that real words were significantly easier to spell than non-words. Moreover, significant correlations between spelling and reading ability, and spelling and phonological awareness, were found. The strong correlation between spelling ability and phonological awareness, and the fact that children with reading and writing disabilities performed poorly on spelling of non-words, lead to the conclusion that spelling and phonology are closely related, which is supported by the literature (Bruck & Treiman, 1990; Caravolas, Hulme & Snowling, 2001; Craig, 2006; Gindri, Keske-Soares & Mota, 2007).

Les élèves dyslexiques éprouvent de grandes difficultés à lire et à écrire. Leurs difficultés en production orthographique sont reconnues pour être persistantes. Elles peuvent être expliquées par un déficit des procédures phonologiques. Or, pour orthographier une langue alphabétique comme le français, il est indispensable de développer des connaissances phonologiques puisque l’entrée dans l’écrit repose en grande partie sur la mise en correspondance de la langue orale et de sa réalisation à l’écrit. En plus des connaissances phonologiques, le système orthographique du français exige du scripteur d’acquérir des connaissances visuo-orthographiques et morphologiques. Les recherches menées sur la compétence orthographique des élèves dyslexiques se rapportent majoritairement à l’anglais et sur la compétence en lecture. La présente étude a pour objectif général de décrire, dans une visée explicative, la compétence orthographique de 26 élèves dyslexiques québécois âgés de 9 à 13 ans. Les objectifs spécifiques sont de décrire les performances de ces élèves en contexte de productions libres et de les comparer à celles de 26 élèves normo-lecteurs de même âge chronologique (CA) et à celles de 29 normo-lecteurs plus jeunes mais de même niveau en lecture (CL). Pour ce faire, nous avons analysé les erreurs en prenant en compte les propriétés phonologiques, visuo-orthographiques et morphologiques des mots écrits. Les résultats indiquent que les élèves dyslexiques ont des performances inférieures à celles des CA, mais aussi, dans certains cas, à celles des CL. Les résultats sont discutés en fonction des connaissances que doivent développer les scripteurs dyslexiques et des pistes orthodidactiques à envisager. / Learning to spell is very difficult for dyslexic children. Their difficulties to spell are known to be persistent. It can be explained by a deficit in processing phonological information. However, in order to spell correctly in an alphabetic language as French, phonological knowledge is required, as spelling is based on the connections between oral and written language. In addition to phonological knowledge, the orthographical system of French demands from the speller to acquire visual-orthographic and morphological knowledge. The majority of studies aimed at describing dyslexic children’s spelling abilities refers to English and to reading. The general goal of this study is to describe the spelling performance, in an explanatory viewpoint, of 26 dyslexic children, French-Canadian and aged 9 to 12 years old. The specific goals are to describe the spelling performances of these pupils in context of free productions and to compare them to those of 26 normally achieving children matched on age (AC) and to those of 29 younger normally achieving children matched on reading-level (RC). To do so, errors were classified according to phonological, visuo-orthographic and morphological properties of French written words. The results indicate that the dyslexic pupils made performances lower than those of the CA, but sometimes also than those of the CL. The results are discussed according to the types of knowledge required to spell correctly in French and to special-education intervention avenues.

Le développement de la compétence orthographique est particulièrement difficile pour les dyslexiques. Orthographier en français implique la prise en compte de connaissances et de stratégies variées. Cette étude a pour objectifs de décrire l’utilisation des stratégies de production orthographiques de 32 élèves dyslexiques (ED) âgés de 9 à 12 ans ainsi que d’établir les liens entre les stratégies orthographiques et la compétence orthographique. Les élèves devaient orthographier 24 mots sous dictée et commenter, pour chaque mot, les stratégies employées. Les performances des ED ont été comparées à celles de 25 normo scripteurs de même âge chronologique (CA) et à celles de 24 normo scripteurs de même compétence écrite (CE). Les résultats indiquent que les stratégies phonologiques sont les plus utilisées par tous les groupes de participants. Si aucun type de stratégies n’est lié à la compétence orthographique des ED, la stratégie visuo-orthographique nous éclaire sur les résultats des CA et des CE. / The development of spelling skill is a very difficult task for students with dyslexia. Spelling in French involves the consideration of various knowledge and strategies. This study aims to describe the use of spelling strategies of 32 dyslexic students (ED) aged from 9 to 12 years and to establish the links between spelling strategies and spelling skill. Students had to spell 24 words under dictation and for each word, provide comments on the strategy employed. The performances of dyslexics were compared to 25 children of the same chronological age (CA) and to 24 children of the same writing skill (CE). The results show that phonological strategies are the most commonly used by all groups of participants. If no such strategy is related to the spelling skill of ED, visuo-orthographic strategy generally accounts the results of CA and CE.

Le développement de la compétence orthographique est particulièrement difficile pour les dyslexiques. Orthographier en français implique la prise en compte de connaissances et de stratégies variées. Cette étude a pour objectifs de décrire l’utilisation des stratégies de production orthographiques de 32 élèves dyslexiques (ED) âgés de 9 à 12 ans ainsi que d’établir les liens entre les stratégies orthographiques et la compétence orthographique. Les élèves devaient orthographier 24 mots sous dictée et commenter, pour chaque mot, les stratégies employées. Les performances des ED ont été comparées à celles de 25 normo scripteurs de même âge chronologique (CA) et à celles de 24 normo scripteurs de même compétence écrite (CE). Les résultats indiquent que les stratégies phonologiques sont les plus utilisées par tous les groupes de participants. Si aucun type de stratégies n’est lié à la compétence orthographique des ED, la stratégie visuo-orthographique nous éclaire sur les résultats des CA et des CE. / The development of spelling skill is a very difficult task for students with dyslexia. Spelling in French involves the consideration of various knowledge and strategies. This study aims to describe the use of spelling strategies of 32 dyslexic students (ED) aged from 9 to 12 years and to establish the links between spelling strategies and spelling skill. Students had to spell 24 words under dictation and for each word, provide comments on the strategy employed. The performances of dyslexics were compared to 25 children of the same chronological age (CA) and to 24 children of the same writing skill (CE). The results show that phonological strategies are the most commonly used by all groups of participants. If no such strategy is related to the spelling skill of ED, visuo-orthographic strategy generally accounts the results of CA and CE.

Les élèves dyslexiques éprouvent de grandes difficultés à lire et à écrire. Leurs difficultés en production orthographique sont reconnues pour être persistantes. Elles peuvent être expliquées par un déficit des procédures phonologiques. Or, pour orthographier une langue alphabétique comme le français, il est indispensable de développer des connaissances phonologiques puisque l’entrée dans l’écrit repose en grande partie sur la mise en correspondance de la langue orale et de sa réalisation à l’écrit. En plus des connaissances phonologiques, le système orthographique du français exige du scripteur d’acquérir des connaissances visuo-orthographiques et morphologiques. Les recherches menées sur la compétence orthographique des élèves dyslexiques se rapportent majoritairement à l’anglais et sur la compétence en lecture. La présente étude a pour objectif général de décrire, dans une visée explicative, la compétence orthographique de 26 élèves dyslexiques québécois âgés de 9 à 13 ans. Les objectifs spécifiques sont de décrire les performances de ces élèves en contexte de productions libres et de les comparer à celles de 26 élèves normo-lecteurs de même âge chronologique (CA) et à celles de 29 normo-lecteurs plus jeunes mais de même niveau en lecture (CL). Pour ce faire, nous avons analysé les erreurs en prenant en compte les propriétés phonologiques, visuo-orthographiques et morphologiques des mots écrits. Les résultats indiquent que les élèves dyslexiques ont des performances inférieures à celles des CA, mais aussi, dans certains cas, à celles des CL. Les résultats sont discutés en fonction des connaissances que doivent développer les scripteurs dyslexiques et des pistes orthodidactiques à envisager. / Learning to spell is very difficult for dyslexic children. Their difficulties to spell are known to be persistent. It can be explained by a deficit in processing phonological information. However, in order to spell correctly in an alphabetic language as French, phonological knowledge is required, as spelling is based on the connections between oral and written language. In addition to phonological knowledge, the orthographical system of French demands from the speller to acquire visual-orthographic and morphological knowledge. The majority of studies aimed at describing dyslexic children’s spelling abilities refers to English and to reading. The general goal of this study is to describe the spelling performance, in an explanatory viewpoint, of 26 dyslexic children, French-Canadian and aged 9 to 12 years old. The specific goals are to describe the spelling performances of these pupils in context of free productions and to compare them to those of 26 normally achieving children matched on age (AC) and to those of 29 younger normally achieving children matched on reading-level (RC). To do so, errors were classified according to phonological, visuo-orthographic and morphological properties of French written words. The results indicate that the dyslexic pupils made performances lower than those of the CA, but sometimes also than those of the CL. The results are discussed according to the types of knowledge required to spell correctly in French and to special-education intervention avenues.