Abstract
Seventy-nine children in grade two spelled pseudowords and real words differing in vowel quality and the presence or absence of consonant clusters, and their accuracy was examined as a function of native language and reading ability. Because of the heavy reliance on phonological processing in spelling, we hypothesized that poor readers, who typically exhibit impaired ability to sequence, segment and transform phonemes into graphemes, would spell more poorly than average readers. This hypothesis was substantiated. Second language speakers also displayed phonological deficits relative to native speakers, and we hypothesized that this deficit would also be obvious in spelling accuracy. However, second language speakers performed in a manner similar to native speakers. Supporting this are findings from multiple regressions showing that the processing profiles of second language speakers and native speakers are strikingly similar, and that only poor readers of both language backgrounds diverge from the common patterns and display pervasive phonological deficits.
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Wade-Woolley, L., Siegel, L.S. (1997). The spelling performance of ESL and native speakers of English as a function of reading skill. In: Treiman, R. (eds) Spelling. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3054-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3054-9_5
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