Instructional Practices for Spelling by Spanish-Speaking Children With and Without Learning Disabilities in Early Grades

The main objectives of this study were to examine the type of adaptations made by Grades 1 through 3 primary school teachers working with children who are poor spellers of a transparent language such as Spanish and to analyze whether these adaptations were determined by the grade taught by these teachers. Using the total population of primary school classroom teachers in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands as a base, the authors took a random sample that was stratified by level, resulting in a representative sample of 300 teachers. For data collection, the authors employed an online questionnaire containing a list of specific teaching activities or procedures the teachers used to work on spelling. Results revealed that regardless of the grade taught, the teachers made a variety of adaptations in these teaching activities or procedures when working with weaker spellers, as compared to when working with stronger spellers. Furthermore, the results provide information on Spanish language spelling practices for these specific grades.