Ana B. Mesquita, Inês Salomé Morais, L. Faísca, A. Reis, S. Castro
What is the hallmark of a good speller? Spelling is a critical component in learning to become literate, but how it works in literate adults remains poorly explored. We examined word and pseudoword spelling in 214 adults in relation to general cognitive abilities, vocabulary, reading history, reading performance, phonological processing and rapid automatized naming. We conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses to uncover predictors of spelling performance and compared a subsample of good and poor spellers to identify patterns of cognitive and language abilities associated with high vs. low spelling ability. In the regression model under test, which progressed from general cognitive and language abilities to specific reading-related skills, the most important predictor for word spelling was vocabulary, and for pseudoword spelling phonological processing (phoneme deletion). The model explained 20% of word spelling, and 8% of pseudoword spelling, variance. Good spellers outperformed poor spellers in reading connected text and pseudowords, and in phonological processing; poor spellers typically had a history of reading difficulties but similar levels of cognitive ability, word reading and RAN performance. Overall, our findings indicate that adult spelling relies more strongly on word knowledge than on reading proficiency and that, as in literacy acquisition, good phonology-related abilities are a hallmark of proficient adult spellers.
{"title":"Predictors of adult spelling in an orthography of intermediate depth","authors":"Ana B. Mesquita, Inês Salomé Morais, L. Faísca, A. Reis, S. Castro","doi":"10.1075/wll.00062.mes","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00062.mes","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 What is the hallmark of a good speller? Spelling is a critical component in learning to become literate, but how\u0000 it works in literate adults remains poorly explored. We examined word and pseudoword spelling in 214 adults in relation to general\u0000 cognitive abilities, vocabulary, reading history, reading performance, phonological processing and rapid automatized naming. We\u0000 conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses to uncover predictors of spelling performance and compared a subsample of good\u0000 and poor spellers to identify patterns of cognitive and language abilities associated with high vs. low spelling ability. In the\u0000 regression model under test, which progressed from general cognitive and language abilities to specific reading-related skills,\u0000 the most important predictor for word spelling was vocabulary, and for pseudoword spelling phonological processing (phoneme\u0000 deletion). The model explained 20% of word spelling, and 8% of pseudoword spelling, variance. Good spellers outperformed poor\u0000 spellers in reading connected text and pseudowords, and in phonological processing; poor spellers typically had a history of\u0000 reading difficulties but similar levels of cognitive ability, word reading and RAN performance. Overall, our findings indicate\u0000 that adult spelling relies more strongly on word knowledge than on reading proficiency and that, as in literacy acquisition, good\u0000 phonology-related abilities are a hallmark of proficient adult spellers.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84111739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Early spelling development is an important area of research as it presents an opportunity for our understanding of how children begin to represent sounds within words through application of letter-sound mapping. The development of spelling is often characterized by stage-like theories, although it has been suggested that children may draw on different patterns of representations (Integration of Multiple Patterns). This study examined early spelling acquisition among monolingual English-speaking and ELL kindergartners with Spanish as L1. ELLs receive all academic instruction, including written language, in English (L2) while continuously using oral L1 for all other communications. As languages differ in their linguistic and structural composition, our aim was to identify possible influences of oral L1 on spelling abilities in L2. We were particularly interested in representation of sublexical units within the words, as English and Spanish differ in their intrasyllabic awareness. Our results showed expected differences in psycholinguistic profiles of language groups as well as differences in allocation of resources in spelling attempts. While there were no statistically significant differences in representation of sublexical units between language groups, there were notable differences in percentage of correct responses pointing to language specific influences. These findings support the Dual System Model of phonological representations development among bilingual individual and suggests that in the early stages of spelling acquisition in L2, L1 Spanish kindergartners are still influenced by their native language although they use it in their oral modality only.
{"title":"Representation of sublexical structure of the word among bilingual and monolingual kindergartners","authors":"Elena Zaretsky","doi":"10.1075/wll.00059.zar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00059.zar","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Early spelling development is an important area of research as it presents an opportunity for our understanding of\u0000 how children begin to represent sounds within words through application of letter-sound mapping. The development of spelling is\u0000 often characterized by stage-like theories, although it has been suggested that children may draw on different patterns of\u0000 representations (Integration of Multiple Patterns). This study examined early spelling acquisition among\u0000 monolingual English-speaking and ELL kindergartners with Spanish as L1. ELLs receive all academic instruction, including written\u0000 language, in English (L2) while continuously using oral L1 for all other communications. As languages differ in their linguistic\u0000 and structural composition, our aim was to identify possible influences of oral L1 on spelling abilities in L2. We were\u0000 particularly interested in representation of sublexical units within the words, as English and Spanish differ in their\u0000 intrasyllabic awareness. Our results showed expected differences in psycholinguistic profiles of language groups as well as\u0000 differences in allocation of resources in spelling attempts. While there were no statistically significant differences in\u0000 representation of sublexical units between language groups, there were notable differences in percentage of correct responses\u0000 pointing to language specific influences. These findings support the Dual System Model of phonological\u0000 representations development among bilingual individual and suggests that in the early stages of spelling acquisition in L2, L1\u0000 Spanish kindergartners are still influenced by their native language although they use it in their oral modality only.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79156563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investigating spelling across typologically diverse orthographies","authors":"Susie Russak, Elena Zaretsky","doi":"10.1075/wll.00058.rus","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00058.rus","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84893316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Reynolds & Teng (2021): Innovative Approaches in Teaching English Writing to Chinese Speakers","authors":"Mostafa Morady Moghaddam","doi":"10.1075/wll.00063.mog","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00063.mog","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84075368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Spelling is a complex skill that requires mobilizing various levels of linguistic and orthographic representation. While there is substantial evidence of the impact of phonological skills in its development, less is known about the explanatory value of non-phonological (e.g., morphological, orthographic) strategies in conventional spelling scores. This study assessed the unique impact of non-phonological spelling strategies after accounting for a large set of linguistic and cognitive predictors, as well as contextual variables (e.g., SES) in a language with a semi-consistent orthography: Catalan. Participants were 328 eighth-grade students from low-income households. Results showed that non-phonological spelling skills explained a substantial proportion of the variance in conventional spelling, over and above the rest of predictor variables, including phonographic skills, with the final model explaining more than 80% of the variance. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.
{"title":"Concurrent predictors of spelling accuracy in secondary education in a semi-consistent orthography","authors":"Naymé Salas","doi":"10.1075/wll.00060.sal","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00060.sal","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Spelling is a complex skill that requires mobilizing various levels of linguistic and orthographic representation. While there is substantial evidence of the impact of phonological skills in its development, less is known about the explanatory value of non-phonological (e.g., morphological, orthographic) strategies in conventional spelling scores. This study assessed the unique impact of non-phonological spelling strategies after accounting for a large set of linguistic and cognitive predictors, as well as contextual variables (e.g., SES) in a language with a semi-consistent orthography: Catalan. Participants were 328 eighth-grade students from low-income households. Results showed that non-phonological spelling skills explained a substantial proportion of the variance in conventional spelling, over and above the rest of predictor variables, including phonographic skills, with the final model explaining more than 80% of the variance. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"63 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78543061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter examines the earliest writing and related marking practices from Egypt (c.3300 / c.3100–c.2750 BCE), namely graphical marks on ceramic jars and small labels of bone, ivory and wood. In contrast to research focusing on production, this material is examined here from the perspective of consumption. Whether through ‘reading’ or other forms of semantic meaning-making, the author argues that such acts were never neutral, but rather situated within a web of embodied and multisensory processes. These are examined on two recursively related levels: firstly, that of micro-relations, including intersections between embodied perception of marking technique, size, shape, colour and format of signs; and secondly, macro-relations between text-objects and the embodied practitioner within particular cultural spaces. Although this early evidence presents many interpretive challenges, this chapter attempts to demonstrate the value of developing more context-sensitive reconstructions of written culture as part of lived experience – experience for which the body was a fundamental vehicle and mediator.
{"title":"‘Reading’ through the body in early Egypt","authors":"Kathryn E. Piquette","doi":"10.1075/wll.00054.piq","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00054.piq","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This chapter examines the earliest writing and related marking practices from Egypt (c.3300 / c.3100–c.2750 BCE), namely graphical marks on ceramic jars and small labels of bone, ivory and wood. In contrast to research focusing on production, this material is examined here from the perspective of consumption. Whether through ‘reading’ or other forms of semantic meaning-making, the author argues that such acts were never neutral, but rather situated within a web of embodied and multisensory processes. These are examined on two recursively related levels: firstly, that of micro-relations, including intersections between embodied perception of marking technique, size, shape, colour and format of signs; and secondly, macro-relations between text-objects and the embodied practitioner within particular cultural spaces. Although this early evidence presents many interpretive challenges, this chapter attempts to demonstrate the value of developing more context-sensitive reconstructions of written culture as part of lived experience – experience for which the body was a fundamental vehicle and mediator.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90180947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Diversity in writing systems","authors":"A. Gnanadesikan, Anna P. Judson","doi":"10.1075/wll.00051.int","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00051.int","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79355499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Past research approached the origins of the Coptic alphabet sociolinguistically and empirically. Neither can fully explain the comparatively sudden and fundamental change from a supraphonemic to a phonemic writing system for Egyptian around the second century AD. This paper adds the cognitive-linguistic concept of the grain size of a writing system to the picture. In essence, by the second century, sound changes in Egyptian had resulted in a phonological structure of the language that mapped more easily onto a phonemic writing system than previous stages of the language. This coincided with socio-political developments favouring the Greek alphabet. As a result, multiple writing systems, which shared the underlying structure, alphabetic, and model, the Greek alphabet, emerged. Eventually, one of these prevailed, the Coptic alphabet.
{"title":"The missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle","authors":"Victoria Fendel","doi":"10.1075/wll.00053.fen","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00053.fen","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Past research approached the origins of the Coptic alphabet sociolinguistically and empirically. Neither can fully explain the comparatively sudden and fundamental change from a supraphonemic to a phonemic writing system for Egyptian around the second century AD. This paper adds the cognitive-linguistic concept of the grain size of a writing system to the picture. In essence, by the second century, sound changes in Egyptian had resulted in a phonological structure of the language that mapped more easily onto a phonemic writing system than previous stages of the language. This coincided with socio-political developments favouring the Greek alphabet. As a result, multiple writing systems, which shared the underlying structure, alphabetic, and model, the Greek alphabet, emerged. Eventually, one of these prevailed, the Coptic alphabet.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74242041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Decoding a writing system is an impressive task requiring recognition of connections between printed symbols and the language they represent. Recognising the linguistic anchors for individual symbols is however not enough. Inferences are needed about unseen and often unstated encoding principles. This paper reviews task demands implicit in children’s books and find the models of orthographic learning in an Indic writing system must go beyond a focus on intra-symbol cues, the size of the symbol set, and the nature of sound-symbol mapping. The child-directed print corpus also shows a substantial demand for recognition of multimorphemic words. Since children encounter an ever-expanding variety of such words in the books they read, it is essential to mount systematic studies on morphological development. At a methodological level, this exploratory study shows the limitations of building models of literacy development when real world encounters with a writing system are not adequately taken into account.
{"title":"How children learn to use a writing system","authors":"Sonali Nag","doi":"10.1075/wll.00056.nag","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00056.nag","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Decoding a writing system is an impressive task requiring recognition of connections between printed symbols and the language they represent. Recognising the linguistic anchors for individual symbols is however not enough. Inferences are needed about unseen and often unstated encoding principles. This paper reviews task demands implicit in children’s books and find the models of orthographic learning in an Indic writing system must go beyond a focus on intra-symbol cues, the size of the symbol set, and the nature of sound-symbol mapping. The child-directed print corpus also shows a substantial demand for recognition of multimorphemic words. Since children encounter an ever-expanding variety of such words in the books they read, it is essential to mount systematic studies on morphological development. At a methodological level, this exploratory study shows the limitations of building models of literacy development when real world encounters with a writing system are not adequately taken into account.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"292 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72541723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
It has often been claimed that writing systems have formal grammars structurally analogous to those of spoken and signed phonology. This paper demonstrates one consequence of this analogy for Chinese script and the writing systems that it has influenced: as with phonology, areal script patterns include the borrowing of formal regularities, not just of formal elements or interpretive functions. Whether particular formal Chinese script regularities were borrowed, modified, or ignored also turns out not to depend on functional typology (in morphemic/syllabic Tangut script, moraic Japanese katakana, and featural/phonemic/syllabic Korean hangul) but on the benefits of making the borrowing system visually distinct from Chinese, the relative productivity of the regularities within Chinese character grammar, and the level at which the borrowing takes place.
{"title":"Areal script form patterns with Chinese characteristics","authors":"J. Myers","doi":"10.1075/wll.00055.mye","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00055.mye","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000It has often been claimed that writing systems have formal grammars structurally analogous to those of spoken and signed phonology. This paper demonstrates one consequence of this analogy for Chinese script and the writing systems that it has influenced: as with phonology, areal script patterns include the borrowing of formal regularities, not just of formal elements or interpretive functions. Whether particular formal Chinese script regularities were borrowed, modified, or ignored also turns out not to depend on functional typology (in morphemic/syllabic Tangut script, moraic Japanese katakana, and featural/phonemic/syllabic Korean hangul) but on the benefits of making the borrowing system visually distinct from Chinese, the relative productivity of the regularities within Chinese character grammar, and the level at which the borrowing takes place.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90846675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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