READING AND SPELLING ACQUISITION IN FRENCH FIRST-GRADERS - LONGITUDINAL EVIDENCE

This study was aimed at investigating the development of reading and s pelling skills in French. First graders were tested twice (in February and in June). Phonological mediation was expected to play a major rol e at the beginning of reading and spelling acquisition, and thus a reg ularity effect was predicted. Under the assumption that alphabetical p rocessing is primarily sequential, i.e. letter by letter, a complexity effect was predicted as well. In other words, subjects would read and spell words containing one-letter graphemes more accurately than word s containing multi-letter graphemes. Further, processing was assumed t o be strictly alphabetical at the beginning of acquisition, no frequen cy effect was expected. Overall, the role of phonological mediation is confirmed. A complexity effect testifying to sequential alphabetic pr ocessing was observed for spelling but not for reading. The hypothesis of a strict reliance on alphabetical processing is not confirmed sinc e a frequency effect was observed in both reading and spelling. These findings are discussed in the light of the Frith, Morton, and Seymour models.