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In:Early Language Education in Instructed Contexts: Current issues and empirical insights into teaching and learning languages in primary school
Edited by Stefanie Frisch and Karen Glaser
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 62] 2025
► pp. 118–140

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Chapter 6
L2 spelling predictors of young German learners of English

 | University of Hildesheim
 | University of Hildesheim
 | University of Würzburg
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 22 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.62.06mla
Abstract
Specific cognitive and linguistic factors have been shown to underpin second language (L2) spelling attainment across different alphabetic orthographies. While previous studies into young English language learners’ (YELLs) literacy development have focused predominantly on reading skills, empirical findings on L2 spelling are scarce. The present study investigated how cognitive and linguistic factors as well as reading skills affect L2 English spelling performance in YELLs from a first language (L1) German background (n = 75). Multiple regression analyses and a mediation model revealed that L2 reading comprehension and L2 reading accuracy predicted learners’ L2 spelling outcomes. Learners’ cognitive and linguistic abilities did not predict spelling directly, whereas phonological awareness and L2 grammar had predictive effects on spelling mediated by L2 reading comprehension and reading accuracy.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review and theoretical background
    • 2.1Cross-linguistic influence
    • 2.2Predictors of L2 spelling
    • 2.3Differences in English and German orthographies
  • 3.Research aims and methodology
    • 3.1The present study
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Data elicitation and assessment measures
      • 3.3.1Cognitive measures
        • 3.3.1.1Non-verbal intelligence
        • 3.3.1.2Phonological short-term memory
        • 3.3.1.3Working memory
        • 3.3.1.4Phonological awareness
      • 3.3.2L2 English linguistic measures
        • 3.3.2.1L2 English receptive grammar
        • 3.3.2.2L2 English receptive vocabulary knowledge
      • 3.3.3L2 English reading measures
        • 3.3.3.1L2 Reading comprehension
        • 3.3.3.2L2 Oral reading fluency (rate and accuracy)
      • 3.3.4L2 Spelling measures
        • 3.3.4.1L2 real word spelling test
  • 4.Results: The role of cognitive, linguistic, and reading skills in L2 spelling
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1L2 reading skills as the strongest predictors of L2 spelling
    • 5.2Predictive effects of L2 grammar and phonological awareness on spelling mediated by reading skills
    • 5.3Limitations
  • 6.Conclusion and implications for the classroom
  • Note
  • References
References (77)
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