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Revealing children's implicit spelling representations
Author(s) -
Critten Sarah,
Pine Karen J.,
Messer David J.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/bjdp.12000
Subject(s) - spelling , psychology , task (project management) , cognition , similarity (geometry) , cognitive psychology , representation (politics) , linguistics , cognitive science , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , management , neuroscience , politics , political science , law , economics , image (mathematics)
Conceptualizing the underlying representations and cognitive mechanisms of children's spelling development is a key challenge for literacy researchers. Using the Representational Redescription model ( K armiloff‐ S mith), C ritten, P ine and S teffler (2007) demonstrated that the acquisition of phonological and morphological knowledge may be underpinned by increasingly explicit levels of spelling representation. However, their proposal that implicit representations may underlie early ‘visually based’ spelling remains unresolved. Children ( N = 101, aged 4–6 years) were given a recognition task ( C ritten et al ., 2007) and a novel production task, both involving verbal justifications of why spellings are correct/incorrect, strategy use and word pattern similarity. Results for both tasks supported an implicit level of spelling characterized by the ability to correctly recognize/produce words but the inability to explain operational strategies or generalize knowledge. Explicit levels and multiple representations were also in evidence across the two tasks. Implications for cognitive mechanisms underlying spelling development are discussed.