C. Reece et R. Treiman, Children's spelling of syllabic vertical bar r vertical bar and letter-name vowels: Broadening the study of spelling development, APPL PSYCH, 22(2), 2001, pp. 139-165
Many previous studies of children's spelling have adopted a narrow approach
, examining one linguistic structure at a time and paying little attention
to differences among children or changes with development. We broadened the
focus by examining two different, but potentially related, patterns (stres
sed syllabic /r/ and letter-name vowels) and by tracking changes in perform
ance from fall to spring of first grade. The results show how children move
from using one letter for each phonological unit (e.g., SR for sir; KON fo
r cone) to appreciating the function of "extra" letters (e.g., the vowel le
tters i of sir and e of cone). Errors such as SRE for sir may arise during
this process, reflecting an overgeneralization of the silent e pattern. The
results are generally consistent with the view that spelling becomes more
"orthographic" with development. However, the course of development is not
always as predicted by existing stage theories.