Effects of a Morpheme-based Spelling Intervention Challenging Previous Results

AbstractChildren who struggle with writing are a heterogeneous group and may experience difficulties in a range of domains, including spelling, reading, and oral language. These difficulties are reflected in their writing and may influence their responsiveness to writing interventions. The effectiveness of a targeted sentence-combining intervention to improve the writing skills of 71 struggling writers, aged 7 to 10 years, was compared with a spelling intervention and a business as usual (waiting list) control condition. Some struggling writers also performed poorly on measures of reading and oral language. Children's performance on a range of writing measures were assessed at baseline (t1), immediate post-test (t2) and delayed post-test (t3). Children receiving the sentence-combining intervention showed significant improvements in the sentence combining measure at t2 and t3 compared to both the spelling intervention and waiting list controls. Exploratory regression analyses found that children in the sentence-combining intervention, with a low t1 sentence combining score, low reading skills or better t1 spelling skills, were more likely to show improvements at t2. Findings indicate that when devising interventions for struggling writers, specific profiles of skills should be considered. Specifically, sentence combining may be more appropriate for SWs whose primary area of difficulty is reading, rather than poor spelling or oral language.

Download Full-text

Orthographic Knowledge and Clue Word Facilitated Spelling in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00710 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Gareth J. Williams ◽

Rebecca F. Larkin ◽

Naomi V. Rose ◽

Emily Whitaker ◽

Jens Roeser ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Disorder ◽

Orthographic Knowledge ◽

Chronological Age ◽

General Knowledge ◽

Developmental Language Disorder ◽

Print Exposure ◽

Phonological Information ◽

Word Condition ◽

Spelling Intervention ◽

Task Conditions

Purpose This study investigated the orthographic knowledge and how orthographic and phonological information could support children with developmental language disorder (DLD) to make more accurate spelling attempts. Method Children with DLD ( N = 37) were matched with chronological age–matched (CAM) children and language age–matched children. These children completed specific and general orthographic knowledge tasks as well as spelling task conditions with either no clue word (pretest), a phonological clue word, or an orthographic clue word. Results Children with DLD were significantly less accurate in their specific orthographic knowledge, compared with CAM children, but had similar scores for general orthographic knowledge to CAM children. Children with DLD and both controls had significantly higher spelling scores in the orthographic clue word condition compared with a pretest pseudoword spelling task. Conclusions Children with DLD acquire the general knowledge of a written language's orthography but, possibly through less print exposure, have less well-represented word-specific orthographic knowledge. Moreover, children with DLD are able to extract the orthographic features of a clue word and employ these to produce more accurate spellings. These findings offer support for a spelling intervention approach based on orthography.

Download Full-text

The “How to” Guide to Spelling Assessment

Perspectives on Language Learning and Education ◽

10.1044/lle20.4.129 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 129-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Danielle Brimo

Keyword(s):

Phonemic Awareness ◽

Morphological Awareness ◽

Spelling Errors ◽

Potential Intervention ◽

Spelling Intervention

A spelling assessment is used to determine a student’s baseline spelling percentage,potential intervention goals, and, ultimately, the student’s spelling progress. Additionally,a spelling assessment can provide information about a student’s linguistic awarenessabilities such as phonemic awareness, orthographic pattern awareness, mentalgraphemic representations, and morphological awareness. In this paper, a case exampleis presented to describe the spelling assessment and analysis of spelling errors toultimately determine baseline spelling percentage and spelling intervention goals, basedon a multilinguistic approach.

Download Full-text

Effectiveness of spelling treatment approaches for learners with dyslexia – A meta-analysis and systematic review

10.31219/osf.io/h2mva ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Katharina Galuschka ◽

Ruth Görgen ◽

Julia Kalmar ◽

Stefan Haberstroh ◽

Xenia Schmalz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Treatment Approach ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

High Impact ◽

Treatment Approaches ◽

Spelling Performance ◽

Morphological Instruction ◽

Spelling Intervention ◽

Adolescents And Adults ◽

Sample Characteristics

This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the efficacy of spelling interventions for the remediation of dyslexia and spelling deficits. Theoretically important moderators, such as the treatment approach as well as orthographic and sample characteristics, were also considered. Thirty-four controlled trials that evaluated spelling interventions in children, adolescents and adults with dyslexia and spelling deficits were included. Results show that treatment approaches using phonics, orthographic (graphotactic or orthographic phonological spelling rules), as well as morphological instruction had a moderate to high impact on spelling performance. A significant influence of interventions that teach memorization strategies to improve spelling could not be confirmed. This work shows that understanding the principles of an orthography is beneficial for learners with dyslexia or spelling deficits and presents key components for effective spelling intervention.

Download Full-text

The Link Between Language and Spelling: What Speech-Language Pathologists and Teachers Need to Know

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools ◽

10.1044/2020_lshss-19-00009 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (4) ◽

pp. 939-954

Author(s):

Carol Moxam

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

School Age Children ◽

Teaching Staff ◽

School Age ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Speech Language Pathologists ◽

Spelling Development ◽

Spelling Intervention ◽

Shared Goal ◽

Collaborative Working

Purpose Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working within the pediatric field will find themselves working with school-age children and consequently collaborating with teaching staff. Knowledge of the links between language, speech, and literacy can support and inform successful collaboration between the SLP and the teacher and their shared goal of facilitating the school-age child in accessing the curriculum. To facilitate and develop the collaborative working practices of SLPs working with school-age children and teaching staff, it is helpful, to both parties, to develop and extend their explicit understanding of the link between language, speech, and spelling. Method In this tutorial, I describe how verbal and written speech and language skills are inextricably linked and key to spelling development and progress. I will (a) discuss the complexities of spelling in the English language; (b) describe the links between language, speech, and spelling; and (c) propose a linguistically informed approach to spelling intervention. Conclusion SLPs have expertise in the key speech and language domains such as phonology, morphology, and semantics and are therefore well placed to play an important role in supporting learners in making links between these domains in relation to spelling development and intervention.

Download Full-text

SPELLING TEST FOR LEARNERS WITH DYSLEXIA LEARNING GERMAN AS A SECOND FOREIGN LANGUAGE

European Journal of Special Education Research ◽

10.46827/ejse.v7i2.3648 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Sofia P. Tsakalidou

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Primary Education ◽

Language Teachers ◽

Greek Language ◽

Foreign Language Teachers ◽

Internal Reliability ◽

Doctoral Research ◽

Spelling Test ◽

Spelling Intervention ◽

High Degree

Spelling is a basic skill as well as means of acquiring knowledge over the school years. Moreover, it is a complex cognitive process, which can be challenging for learners with specific learning difficulties (dyslexia) in their mother language as well as when learning a foreign language. A challenge, that foreign language teachers face in everyday practice, is being able to respond to the needs of all learners within the mainstream classroom in primary education, including learners with dyslexia. Foreign language teachers need to become equipped with further knowledge and skills, so that they are able to identify these difficulties and teach learners with dyslexia more effectively in an inclusive way (Tsakalidou, Koufokotsiou, & Gaganis, in press; Tsakalidou, 2021, 2020, in press). In the present study we examined the spelling difficulties of learners with dyslexia, when learning German as a second foreign language. The aim of the study was twofold: (a) the comparative analysis of the spelling difficulties across two populations (95 learners between 10 and 11 years, twenty of who had dyslexia) and (b) the evaluation of the effectiveness of spelling intervention in respect to learners with dyslexia. In this article we will describe the Spelling Test constructed and adjusted for the doctoral research, which was undertaken in order to record the spelling difficulties that the learners with dyslexia face, when learning German as a second foreign language in primary education. This test was based on a standardized Spelling Test in the Greek language (Mouzaki, Protopapas, Sideridis, & Simos, 2010). As far as the Spelling Test, we constructed is concerned, satisfactory construct validity and internal reliability were demonstrated, as the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .944 and revealed a high degree of internal consistency of the instrument. Article visualizations:<img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0771/a.php" alt="Hit counter" />

Download Full-text