THERES MORE TO CHILDRENS SPELLING THAN THE ERRORS THEY MAKE - STRATEGIC AND AUTOMATIC PROCESSES FOR ONE-SYLLABLE WORDS

Researchers have attempted to understand the cognitive processing used in spelling by looking at children's spelling errors. The authors exa mined 2 other types of data-children's self-reported verbal protocols and on-line measures of spelling latencies. Elementary school children spelled 3 types of common 4-letter words, consonant-consonant-vowel-c onsonant, consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant, and consonant-vowel-con sonant-silent e. Correctly and incorrectly spelled words were analyzed as a function of word type, verbal report, and keystroke latencies. D ifferent typing patterns emerged for strategic and automatic reports a nd for different word types. Children seemed to use a relatively seque ntial read-out from long-term memory when directly retrieving a spelli ng, whereas they used a consonant pair strategy for final consonant cl usters when sounding out words. Implications for spelling instruction are discussed.