Abstract
Basic skills in reading and spelling and supporting metalinguistic abilities were assessed in ninth and tenth grade students in two school settings. Students attending a private high school for the learning disabled comprised one group and the other comprised low to middle range students from a public high school. Both the LD students and the regular high school students displayed deficiencies in spelling and in decoding, a factor in reading difficulty that is commonly supposed to dwindle in importance after the elementary school years. Treating the overlapping groups as a single sample, multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the contribution of nonword decoding skill and phonological and morphological awareness to spelling ability. The analysis revealed that decoding was the major component, predicting about half of the variance in spelling. The effect of phonological awareness was largely hidden by its high correlation with decoding, but was a significant predictor of spelling in its own right. Morphological awareness predicted spelling skill when the words to be spelled were morphologically complex. An additional study showed that differences in decoding and spelling ability were associated with differences in comprehension after controlling for reading experience and vocabulary. Even among experienced readers individual differences in comprehension of text reflect efficiency of phonological processing at the word level.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, R. C., Hiebert, E. H., Scott, J. A. & Wilkinson, I. A. G. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers: The report of the commission on reading. Champaign, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.
Bell, L. C. & Perfetti, C. A. (1994). Reading skill: Some adult comparisons, Journal of Educational Psychology 86: 244–255.
Bruck, M. (1990). Word-recognition skills of adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia, Developmental Psychology 26: 439–454.
Byrne, B. (1992). Studies in the acquisition procedure for reading: Rationale, hypotheses, and data. In: P. B., Gough, L. C., Ehri & R., Treiman (eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 35–48). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Carlisle, J. F. (1987). The use of morphological knowledge in spelling derived forms by learning disabled and normal students, Annals of Dyslexia 37: 90–108.
Carlisle, J. F. (1988). Knowledge of derivational morphology and spelling ability in fourth, sixth, and eighth graders, Applied Psycholinguistics 9: 247–266.
Carroll, J., Davies, P. & Richman, B. (1971). The American heritage word frequency book. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Chall, J. S. (1987). Two vocabularies for reading: Recognition and meaning. In: M. G., McKeown & M. E., Curtis (eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp. 7–17). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.
Coltheart, M., Besner, D., Jonasson, J. T. & Davelaar, E. (1979). Phonological encoding in the lexical decision task, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 31: 489–507.
DeFrancis, J. (1989). Visible speech: The diverse oneness of writing systems. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Dreyer, L. G., Luke, S. D. & Melican, E. (1995). Children's acquisition and retention of word spellings. In: V. W., Berninger (ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge, II: Relationships to phonology, reading, and writing (pp. 291–320). Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Finucci, J. M., Gottfredson, L. S. & Childs, B. (1985). A follow-up study of dyslexic boys. Annals of Dyslexia 35: 117–136.
Fletcher, J. M., Shaywitz, S. E., Shankweiler, D. P., Katz, L., Liberman, I. Y., Stuebing, K. K., Francis, D. J., Fowler, A. E. & Shaywitz, B. A. (1994). Cognitive profiles of reading disability: Comparisons of discrepancy and low achievement definitions, Journal of Educational Psychology 86: 6–23.
Fowler, A. E. & Liberman, I. Y. (1994). Morphological awareness as related to early reading and spelling ability. In: L., Feldman (ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 157–188). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Fowler, A. E. & Scarborough, H. S. (1993). Should reading disabled adults be distinguished from other low literacy adults?, National Center for Adult Literacy, TR 93-7.
Gough, P. B. & Hillinger, M. L. (1980). Learning to read: An unnatural act, Bulletin of the Orton Dyslexia Society 30: 179–196.
Gough, P. B., Juel, C. & Griffith, P. L. (1992). Reading, spelling, and the orthographic cipher. In: P. B., Gough, L. C., Ehri & R., Treiman (eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 35–48). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gough, P. B. & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability, Remedial and Special Education 7: 6–10.
Gough, P. B. & Walsh, M. (1991). Chinese, Phoenicians, and the orthographic cipher of English. In: S., Brady & D., Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy (pp. 199–209). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jastak, S. & Wilkinson, G. S. (1984). Wide range achievement test — revised. Wilmington, DE: Jastak Associates.
Juel, C., Griffith, P. L. & Gough, P. B. (1986). Acquisition of literacy: A longitudinal study of children in first and second grade, Journal of Educational Psychology 78: 243–255.
Karlsen, B. & Gardner, E. F. (1985). Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, 3rd ed. New York: The Psychological Corporation.
Kirsch, I. S., Jungeblut, A., Jenkins, L. & Kolstad, A. (1993). Adult literacy in America: National adult literacy survey. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Kucera, H. & Francis, W. N. (1967). Computational analysis of present-day American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.
Liberman, I. Y., Liberman, A. M., Mattingly, I. G. & Shankweiler, D. (1980). Orthography and the beginning reader. In: J. F., Kavanagh and R., Venezky (eds.), Orthography, reading, and dyslexia (pp. 137–153). Baltimore: University Park Press.
Liberman, I. Y., Rubin, H., Duques, S. & Carlisle, J. (1985). Linguistic abilities and spelling proficiency in kindergartners and adult poor spellers. In: D. B., Gray & J. F., Kavanagh (eds.), Biobehavioral measures of dyslexia (pp. 163–176). Parkton, MD: York Press.
Lukatela, K., Carello, C., Shankweiler, D. & Liberman, I. Y. (in press). Phonological awareness in illiterates: Observations from a Slavic language, Applied Psycholinguistics.
MacGinitie, W. H. & MacGinitie, R. K. (1989). Gates-MacGinitie reading tests, 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: Riverside Publishing Company.
Miller, G.A. (1988). The challenge of universal literacy, Science 241: 1293–1299.
Morais, J. (1991). Constraints on the development of phonemic awareness. In: S. A., Brady & D. P., Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 5–27). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Morais, J., Cary, L., Alegria, J. & Bertelson, P. (1979). Does awareness of speech as a sequence of phonemes arise spontaneously?, Cognition 7: 323–331.
Nagy, W. E., Herman, P. A. & Anderson, R. A. (1985). Learning words from context. Reading Research Quarterly 20: 233–253.
Olson, R., Fosberg, H., Wise, B. & Rack, J. (1994). Measurement of word recognition, orthographic, and phonological skills. In: G. R., Lyon (ed.), Frames of reference for the assessment of learning disabilities: New views on measurement issues. (pp. 243–277). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Perfetti, C. A. (1985). Reading ability. New York: Oxford University Press.
Read, C. & Ruyter, L. (1985). Reading and spelling skills in adults of low literacy, Remedial and Special Education 6: 43–52.
Richardson, E. & DiBenedetto, B. (1986). Decoding skills test. Parkton, MD: York Press.
Rohl, M. & Tunmer, W. E. (1988). Phonemic segmentation skill and spelling acquisition, Applied Psycholinguistic 9: 335–350.
Rosner, J. & Simon, D. P. (1971). The auditory analysis test: An initial report, Journal of Learning Disabilities 4: 384–392.
Scarborough, H. S. (1984). Continuity between childhood dyslexia and adult reading, British Journal of Psychology 75: 329–348.
Shankweiler, D. (1989). How problems of comprehension are related to difficulties in decoding. In: D., Shankweiler & I. Y., Liberman (eds.), Phonology and reading disability (pp. 35–68). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Shankweiler, D. (1992). Surmounting the consonant cluster in beginning reading and writing. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
Shankweiler, D. & Crain, S. (1986). Language mechanisms and reading disorders: A modular approach, Cognition 24: 136–168.
Shankweiler, D., Crain, S., Katz, L., Fowler, A. E. Liberman, A. M., Brady, S. A., Thornton, R., Lundquist, E., Dreyer, L., Fletcher, J. M., Stuebing, K. K., Shaywitz, S. E. & Shaywitz, B. A. (1995). Cognitive profiles of reading-disabled children: Comparison of language skills in phonology, morphology, and syntax, Psychological Science 6: 149–156.
Shankweiler, D. & Liberman, I. Y. (1972). Misreading: A search for causes. In: J. F., Kavanagh & I. G., Mattingly (eds.), Language by ear and by eye: The relationships between speech and reading (pp. 293–317). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Share, D. L. & Silva, P. A. (1986). The stability and classification of specific reading retardation: A longitudinal study from age 7 to 11, British Journal of Educational Psychology 56: 32–39.
Shaywitz, S. E., Escobar, M. D., Shaywitz, B. A., Fletcher, J. M. & Makuch, R. (1992). Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability, New England Journal of Medicine 326: 145–150.
Shaywitz, B. A., Fletcher, J. M., Holahan, J. & Shaywitz, S. E. (1992). Discrepancy compared to low achievement definitions of reading disability: Results from the Connecticut longitudinal study, Journal of Learning Disabilities 25: 639–648.
Stage, S. A. & Wagner, R. K. (1992). Development of young children's phonological and orthographic knowledge as revealed by their spellings, Developmental Psychology 28: 287–296.
Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy, Reading Research Quarterly 21: 360–407.
Stanovich, K. E. & Cunningham, A. E. (1992). Studying the consequences of literacy within a literate society: The cognitive correlates of print exposure, Memory & Cognition 20: 51–68.
Stanovich, K. E., Cunningham, A. E. & Cramer, B. B. (1984). Assessing phonological awareness in kindergarten children: Issues of task comparability, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 38: 175–190.
Stanovich, K. E. & Siegel, L. S. (1994). Phenotypic performance profile of children with reading disabilities: A regression-based test of the phonological-core variable-difference model, Journal of Educational Psychology 86: 24–35.
Stanovich, K. E. & West, R. F. (1989). Exposure to print and orthographic processing, Reading Research Quarterly 24: 402–433.
Venezky, R. L. (1970). The structure of English orthography. The Hague/Paris: Mouton.
Wijk, O. (1966). Rules of pronunciation for the English language. London: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shankweiler, D., Lundquist, E., Dreyer, L.G. et al. Reading and spelling difficulties in high school students: Causes and consequences. Read Writ 8, 267–294 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00420279
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00420279