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An investigation of Grade 5 children's knowledge of the doubling rule in spelling
Author(s) -
Steffler Dorothy J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2004.00230.x
Subject(s) - spelling , pronunciation , psychology , linguistics , grammar , reading (process) , artificial intelligence , computer science , philosophy
The goal of this study was to investigate Grade 5 children's knowledge of a common word pattern in English, to double the final consonant of a one‐syllable word when adding – ed . Significant correlations were found between – ed spelling and general spelling ability, as well as correct pronunciation of – ed words in isolated word reading and spelling. The correlation between – ed spelling and – ed word reading ( r =0.31) is lower than one would expect to find in general spelling and reading ability. Individual interviews were conducted to assess children's explicit awareness of the doubling rule, followed by a measure of consistency in spelling a selected number of – ed words. Performance on an artificial grammar task indicated a correlation between implicit learning of nonsense letter strings and spelling ability. Overall results point to the unstable nature of children's knowledge of the doubling rule . Implications for instruction are discussed.