Cover not available

Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 18:1 (1995) ► pp.109–128

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The development of spelling and word knowledge in older students (Years 5 – 11)

 | University of Western Sydney (Nepean)
Published online: 1 January 1995
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.18.1.07gol
Abstract
Language standards in the community are a recurrent theme of public debate and concern. They are rarely said to be rising, rather, to be falling. However, those in the classroom with the task of assisting students to learn to read and write are not the ones likely to pass judgment or attempt generalisations about standards. The writer investigated older school students’ (Years 5 – 1 1 ) word knowledge in a large scale empirical study. The development of 280 students across the seven grades in spelling and word knowledge was explored and the pattern of use of lower to higher order strategies by those students in their attempts to spell words, write derivations and display syntactic knowledge . There was confirmation that older students gradually make less and less use of lower order strategies in spelling, writing derivations and in use of homonyms in syntactic frames.
References (36)
References
Anglin, J.M. (1970) The growth of word meaning. Research Monograph No. 631. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beers, J.W. and C.S. Beers (1980) Vowel spelling strategies among first and second graders: A growing awareness of written words. Language Arts 571:166–172.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beers, J.W. and E.H. Henderson (1977) A study of developing orthographic concepts among first graders. Research in the Teaching of English 11,2:133–148.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biggs, J.B. and K.S. Collis (1982) Evaluating the quality of learning: The SOLO taxonomy (Structure of the observed learning outcome) New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bookman, M.O. (1984) Spelling as a cognitive, developmental linguistic process. Academic Therapy 20,1:21–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bouffler, C.M. (1984) Case study explorations of functional strategies in spelling. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chall, J.S. (1983) Stages of reading development. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, C. (1970) Reading, writing and phonology. Harvard Educational Review 40,2:287–309. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corson, D. (1985) The lexical bar. Oxford, Pergamon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cronbach, L.J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 161:297–334. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Derwing, B.L. and W.J. Baker (1979) Recent research on the acquisition of English morphology. In P. Fletcher and M. Garman (eds) Language acquisition: Studies in first language development. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dupuis, M.M. and S.L. Snyder (1983) Develop concepts through vocabulary: A strategy for reading specialists to use with content teachers. Journal of Reading 26,4:297–305.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fischer, F.W., D. Shankweiler and I.Y. Liberman (1985) Spelling proficiency and sensitivity to word structure. Journal of Memory and Language 241:423–441. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Floriani, B.P. and J.C. Cairns (1982) Assessing ‘combining forms’ in science. Science and Children. Washington, DC, National Science Teachers Assocìation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freyd, P. and Baron, J. (1982) Individual differences in acquisition of derivational morphology. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 211:282–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gentry, J.R. (1978) Early spelling strategies. The Elementary School Journal 791:88–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1981) Learning to spell developmentally. The Reading Teacher 34,4:378–381.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1984) Developmental aspects of learning to spell. Academic Therapy 20,1:11–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gentry, J.R. and E.H. Henderson (1978) Three steps to teaching beginning readers to spell. The Reading Teacher 31,6:632–637.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gillet, J.W. and M.J Kita (1979) Words, kids and categories. The Reading Teacher 321:538–542.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goyen, J.D. and M. Martin (1977) The relation of spelling errors to cognitive variables and word type. British Journal of Educational Psychology 471:268–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harste, J.C., C.L. Burke and V.A. Woodward (1982) Children’s language and world: initial encounters with print. In J. Langer and M. Smith-Burke (eds) Bridging the gap: Reader meets author. Newark, Del., I.R.A.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hodges, R.E. (1982) Research update. On the development of spelling ability. Language Arts 59,3:284–289.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDonald, R. P. (1985) Factor analysis and related methods. Hillsdale, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (and private communication, Macquarie University)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marsh, G., M. Friedman, V. Welch and P. Desberg (1980) The development of strategies in spelling. In U. Frith (ed.) Cognitive processes in spelling. London, Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milligan, J.L. and D.C. Orlich (1981) A linguistic approach to learning science vocabulary. The Science Teacher 48,2:34–35.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Rourke, J.P. (1974) Toward a science of vocabulary development. The Hague, Mouton Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peters, P. (1993) Language standards: What are they based on? Australian Style 1,2.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Read, C. (1971) Preschool children’s knowledge of English phonology. Harvard Educational Review 411:1–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Read, C. and Hodges, R.E. (1982) Spelling. In H.E. Mitzel (ed.) Encyclopedia of educational research. Fifth edition, New York, Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, F. (1971) Understanding reading. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sulzby, E. (1978) Children’s explanation of word similarities in relation to word knownness. In P.D. Pearson and J. Hansen (eds) Reading: Disciplined inquiry in process and practice. Clemson, South Carolina, National Reading Conference.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Templeton, S. (1983) Using the spelling/meaning connection to develop word knowledge in older students. Journal of Reading 27,1:8–14.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Templeton, S. and Spivey, E.M. (1980) The concept of word in young children as a function of cognitive development. Research in the Teaching of English 141:265–278.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, T.G., Power, M.A. and White, S. (1989) Morphological analysis: Implications for teaching and understanding vocabulary growth. Reading Research Quarterly 24,3:283–304. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zutell, J. (1979) Spelling strategies of primary school children and their relationship to Piaget’s concept of decentration. Research in the Teaching of English 13,1:69–80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue