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Pathways to Literacy: A Study of Invented Spelling and Its Role in Learning to Read
Author(s) -
Ouellette Gene,
Sénéchal Monique
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01166.x
Subject(s) - spelling , psychology , phonological awareness , reading (process) , literacy , intervention (counseling) , learning to read , task (project management) , phonemic awareness , cognitive psychology , linguistics , phonology , developmental psychology , pedagogy , philosophy , management , psychiatry , economics
This intervention study tested whether invented spelling plays a causal role in learning to read. Three groups of kindergarten children (mean age = 5 years 7 months) participated in a 4‐week intervention. Children in the invented‐spelling group spelled words as best they could and received developmentally appropriate feedback. Children in the 2 comparison groups were trained in phonological awareness or drew pictures. Invented‐spelling training benefited phonological and orthographic awareness and reading of words used in the intervention. Importantly, the invented‐spelling group learned to read more words in a learn‐to‐read task than the other groups. The finding are in accord with the view that invented spelling coupled with feedback encourages an analytical approach and facilitates the integration of phonological and orthographic knowledge, hence facilitating the acquisition of reading.