EFFECTS OF INVENTED SPELLING AND DIRECT INSTRUCTION ON SPELLING PERFORMANCE OF 2ND-GRADE BOYS

Four second-grade boys, 2 rated by their classroom teacher as below av erage and 2 as above average in basic language skills, participated in a 16-week spelling investigation. The participants alternately receiv ed, in counterbalanced order, 5 weeks of an invented spelling approach that incorporated 15-min creative writing periods and 5 weeks of dire ct instruction that involved 15-min periods of guided practice on spel ling word lists. At the end of 10 weeks, each condition was replicated for 3 additional weeks. Although direct instruction resulted in more targeted words spelled correctly, invented spelling resulted in more n ontargeted words spelled correctly, higher preference ratings by child ren, and higher teacher ratings of the quality of 3 of the children's writing samples.