Spelling Response Patterns and Development in Children in Grades 1 and 2

A study investigated the development of spelling in 17 children over a 2-year period. All participants were drawn from a larger cohort which was part of an ongoing research project (Project RIME: Preparation in Reading Instructional Methods of Efficacy) funded by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. All children were administered 25 spelling words taken from the Developmental Spelling Analysis at the beginning (pre) and at the end (post) of the school year. In the current study, the 17 children were tested in both first and second grades. On the basis of scores obtained on the Spelling Rating Scale during the pretest, participants were divided into good, average, and poor spellers. The smaller cohort of 17 children was divided into these groups at the beginning of first grade and, again, at the beginning of second grade. The spelling patterns of all participants were analyzed using the expanded analyses (Letter Name and Within Word forms). An average error word score was calculated for each participant; additionally, total scores for error patterns which appeared to be orthographic and phonemic were computed. Results indicate that the pattern of errors for the three groups in the first grade evidenced more phonemic errors than orthographic errors. In the second grade this pattern changed for the average and good spellers, but the poor spellers continued to display more phonemic errors than orthographic errors. Data in the current study support the findings of the previous study in the project. (NKA)