Browsing by Subject "spelling"
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Item Analysis of Third- and Fifth-Grade Spelling Errors on the Test of Written Spelling-4: Do Error Types Indicate Levels of Linguistic Knowledge?(2012-10-19) Conway, Barbara TenneyA standardized test of spelling ability, Test of Written Spelling ? 4, was used to explore the error patterns of Grade 3 and Grade 5 students in public and private schools in the southwestern region of the US. The study was for the purpose of examining the relationship between types of errors students make within a grade level (Grades 3 & 5 for this study), and the students? spelling proficiency. A qualitative analysis of errors on the Test of Written Spelling ? 4 (TWS-4) resulted in distributions of errors categorized as phonological, phonetic, orthographic, etymological, and morphological. For both Grades 3 and 5, a higher proportion of phonological and phonetic errors were made by students in the lowest spelling achievement group. Students with higher standard spelling scores made a lower proportion of phonological and phonetic errors and a higher proportion of errors categorized as etymological and morphological. The Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF; Mather, Allen, Hammill, & Roberts, 2004) was also administered to the students to examine the relationship of these error types to literacy. The correlation between reading fluency standard scores and phonological and phonetic errors was negative, whereas the correlation between reading fluency and orthographic, etymological, and morphological error types was positive. This study underscores the value of looking at spelling achievement as a part of students? literacy profiles. In addition, the study highlights the importance of making sure students beyond the years of very early reading and spelling development (Grades 3-5), especially those with low spelling proficiency, have the basic skills of phonological awareness and basic sound/symbol correspondences in place to support their ability to spell and to read, and that spelling must be taught in such a way as to meet students? individual student needs.Item Effects of preservice and inservice teacher knowledge on the analysis of spelling errors and choice of appropriate instructional activities(2009-05-15) Carreker, Suzanne HuffTeacher knowledge enhances instruction. Of particular importance for spelling instruction is literacy-related content teacher knowledge. This knowledge includes awareness of individual speech sounds, syllables, and morphemes in the English language. Teachers who possess this knowledge are better able to assess student needs and design instruction that meets those needs so that students learn to spell well. In this study, 36 preservice teachers and 38 inservice teachers completed a survey and three measures. The survey asked teachers to calibrate their knowledge of phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling. The measures assessed the teachers? literacy-related content knowledge and their ability to use this knowledge to analyze student spelling errors and choose appropriate instructional activities to meet student needs. Overall, the preservice teachers were more positive in their assessments of their literacy-related content knowledge while the inservice teachers demonstrated greater literacy-related content knowledge. Neither group was adept in analyzing students? spelling errors although the inservice teachers were better able to choose appropriate instructional activities.Item Spelling English Words: Contributions of Phonological, Morphological and Orthographic Knowledge in Speakers of English and Chinese(2011-08-08) Zhao, JingA growing body of literature has provided evidence of the contribution of various metalinguistic skills to children's English literacy development; however, most of the studies focused on reading outcomes while spelling outcomes have been under-researched. Further, very few studies have been conducted to investigate if the results based on native English speakers can be generalized to speakers of other languages who are learning to read and spell in English. In this study, the simultaneous influence of phonological, morphological and orthographic knowledge that may impact English spelling acquisition, among Chinese students learning English as a foreign language in Grade 8 (n = 339) in mainland China and native English-speaking students in Grade 3 (n = 166) in the United States, was investigated. Measures in English tapping into the three aspects of metalinguistic skills?phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA) and orthographic awareness (OA)?were administered to both groups. Multi-group structural equation models were used to compare models between the Chinese and the American group. Results showed that 1) the overall model of metalinguistic skills predicting spelling outcome was highly similar between the American and the Chinese groups; 2) metalinguistic skills were correlated and worked in concert to compose the linguistic repertoire construct which concurrently predicted the spelling outcome; 3) MA was the major component, compared to PA and OA, of Linguistic Repertoire (LING) across the two groups. Linguistic repertoire explained 64.1 percent and 40.2 percent of the total variance in the spelling outcome for the American and the Chinese groups, respectively; and 4) the contribution of OA was greater in the Chinese group than it was in the American group, whereas the contribution of PA was greater in the American group than it was in the Chinese group. This study highlights the important contribution of MA to literacy development among both the American students and the Chinese students. It also sheds light on the influence of first language (L1) orthography on English literacy acquisition. That OA contributed more than PA to the LING construct may reflect that the English learners with L1-Chinese background have enhanced visual-orthographic processing skills. This study challenges phase models of literacy development that claim MA only contributes to literacy acquisition late in the process and offers some empirical evidence to support the emerging "linguistic repertoire" theory of literacy development.Item Spelling English Words: Contributions of Phonological, Morphological and Orthographic Processing Skills of Turkish EFL Students in Grades 6-8(2014-11-12) Unal, MelikeThe number of studies examining the simultaneous impact of multi-level metalinguistic skills influencing spelling in English is scarce. Spelling necessitates an integrated and simultaneous working of various linguistic, metalinguistic skills, and socio-cultural (SES) factors. The present study investigates the concurrent influence of multi-level metalinguistic skills including phonological, morphological, and orthographic knowledge in English as well as the impact of socio-cultural factors on EFL spelling of Turkish 6th, 7th, and 8th grade pupils (N= 367). Measures tapping phonological, morphological, and orthographic skills in English (L2) and a background questionnaire were administered to Turkish 6th to 8th grade EFL children recruited in multiple school sites in a city of Turkey. A robust configural baseline confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model for all grades confirmed that the observed variables constructed a three-factor model (phono, morpho, ortho), as it was hypothesized. The second-order structural equation model (SEM) confirmed the three metalinguistic skills work simultaneously and they tap into the linguistic repertoire construct, which predicted EFL word-spelling of Turkish 6th, 7th, and 8th grade pupils. This provides converging results with linguistic repertoire theory, which suggests utilizing multiple metalinguistic skills when spelling words and teaching spelling. The final SEM model with the integrated SES factors (i.e., SES, home-literacy, and additional English exposure) also reported good model fit statistics where the English exposure factor had the highest regression coefficient on EFL word spelling outcomes. The spelling error analyses showed parallel findings to the quantitative analyses, that phonology and orthography, but not morphology, were the two significant predictors of word spelling errors by Turkish 6th to 8th graders. The key findings can inform foreign language teachers about the roles of phonological, morphological, and orthographic processing skills in English spelling. The pedagogical implications of the present study included the importance of directly teaching the three metalinguistic skills when EFL teachers are engaged in spelling instruction. The findings can also inform Turkey?s foreign language education policy decision making by recommending the tailoring of policy and curriculum according to students? needs.Item The Effects of Handwriting, Spelling, and T-Units on Holistic Scoring with Implications for Dysgraphia(2010-07-14) Hooten, ReginaThis study examined the relationship of holistic scoring with handwriting legibility, spelling accuracy and number of T-units within compositions written by children in grades 3 through 6 using path analysis. A sample of 223 compositions was rated for handwriting legibility and composition quality, and coded for number of T-units and percentage of accurately spelled words. Number of T-units was consistently the strongest predictor of holistic scoring across the four grade levels. Handwriting legibility and spelling accuracy yielded varying results in different grade levels.