Abstract
The research presented in this paper aimed to serve two purposes. First, the objective was to understand the relationship between lexical and grammatical spelling. In this way, we studied how the frequency and consistency of verb interacted with the application of grammatical rules. Second, we investigated the dynamics of spelling during the writing of simple sentences to evaluate the impact of spelling one word on another; that is, to determine anticipatory and delayed spelling treatments in a sentence. Second- to fifth-grade students from primary schools completed a spelling-to-dictation task using sentences of the following type: Subject noun + Verb conjugated in the perfect tense + Object noun (e.g. Mon frère a habité cette ville [My brother lived in this city]). Verbs have been selected according to their lemma frequency and spelling consistency, while subject and object nouns were both frequent and consistent. Analyses of the proportions of errors on past participle inflections (N), subject nouns (N-1), and object nouns (N+1) showed an evolution of the impact of verb frequency or consistency during primary school. Depending on the position of the three types of words in the sentence and the grade of the writer, we noted classical or reversed effects of frequency or consistency. We discuss the results in light of statistical learning and Van Galen’s cascading model of writing (Human Movement Sci 10(2-3):165-191, 1991).
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Acknowledgements
Part of this work was supported by grants from the University of Lille Nord de France given to the third author of this paper for the project ‘‘Spelling acquisition: statistical learning. The case of past participles’’. We thank the children and teachers from Nice who voluntarily agreed to participate in this study. This research has benefitted from the statistical consult with Nathalie Lefèvre, Statistical Methodology and Computing Service, technological platform at UCLouvain—SMCS/LIDAM, UCLouvain, Belgium.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Forty experimental sentences according to verb frequency and verb consistency.
Frequent and consistent verbs | 1. Mon frère a habité cette ville/My brother lived in this city |
2. Le papa a porté son bébé/The dad carried his baby | |
3. L’ours a rapporté un poisson/The bear brought back a fish | |
4. Le loup a hurlé une heure/The wolf howled for an hour | |
5. Le corbeau a protégé son nid/The raven protected its nest | |
6. Le danseur a tourné la tête/The dancer turned his head | |
7. Le maître a préparé sa classe/The teacher prepared his class | |
8. Le garde a levé la barrière/The guard raised the barrier | |
9. Le ballon a touché le poteau/The ball hit the pole | |
10. Le fermier a gardé son troupeau/The farmer kept his flock | |
Rare and consistent verbs | 1. Le camion a heurté un lièvre/The truck hit a hare |
2. La pluie a limité le feu/The rain limited the fire | |
3. Le cheval a redouté le tonnerre/The horse dreaded the thunder | |
4. Le chef a varié le repas/The chef varied the meal | |
5. L'avion a survolé la route/The plane flew over the road | |
6. Le gendarme a détourné la voiture/The gendarme diverted the car | |
7. Le pirate a libéré la famille/The pirate released the family | |
8. Le robot a gravé un numéro/The robot engraved a number | |
9. La mère a mouché sa fille/The mother blew her daughter’s nose | |
10. Mon père a vidé le poisson/My father cleaned the fish | |
Frequent and inconsistent verbs | 1. Le clown a arrêté le disque/The clown stopped the disc |
2. Mon copain a compté son argent/My friend counted his money | |
3. Le fantôme a quitté le château/The ghost left the castle | |
4. Le gamin a crié son nom/The kid shouted his name | |
5. Le docteur a appelé la dame/The doctor called the lady | |
6. Le facteur a collé le timbre/The postman stuck the stamp | |
7. Le petit a serré sa maman/The kid hugged his mom | |
8. L’orage a empêché son départ/The storm prevented his departure | |
9. L’homme a aidé son village/The man helped his village | |
10. Le pêcheur a lancé son filet/The fisherman launched his net | |
Rare and inconsistent verbs | 1. Le chien a embêté le chasseur/The dog annoyed the hunter |
2. Le garçon a égoutté la salade/The boy drained the salad | |
3. Le marchand a augmenté le café/The merchant increased the coffee | |
4. Le pompier a scié une branche/The fireman sawed a branch | |
5. Le soldat a emballé son fusil/The soldier packed his gun | |
6. Le bonhomme a arrangé sa chemise/The guy arranged his shirt | |
7. Le chat a déterré une souris/The cat unearthed a mouse | |
8. Mon cousin a embauché un jeune/My cousin hired a young person | |
9. Le professeur a effacé la faute/The professor erased the mistake | |
10. Le gardien a coincé le voleur/The guardian caught the thief |
Appendix 2
Error proportions (with standard errors) on the past participle from 2nd to 5th grade according to verb frequency (frequent vs. rare) and verb consistency (consistent vs. inconsistent).
2nd Grade | 3rd Grade | 4th Grade | 5th Grade | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | |
Frequent | 0.540 | 0.596 | 0.410 | 0.431 | 0.106 | 0.147 | 0.177 | 0.156 |
(0.121) | (0.118) | (0.079) | (0.080) | (0.034) | (0.045) | (0.050) | (0.045) | |
Rare | 0.512 | 0.562 | 0.281 | 0.430 | 0.100 | 0.114 | 0.160 | 0.160 |
(0.121) | (0.120) | (0.066) | (0.080) | (0.033) | (0.036) | (0.046) | (0.046) | |
Appendix 3
Error proportions (with standard errors) on the subject noun from 2nd to 5th grade according to verb frequency (frequent vs. rare) and verb consistency (consistent vs. inconsistent).
2nd Grade | 3rd Grade | 4th Grade | 5th Grade | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | |
Frequent | 0.440 | 0.528 | 0.136 | 0.241 | 0.072 | 0.125 | 0.073 | 0.123 |
(0.057) | (0.059) | (0.021) | (0.029) | (0.014) | (0.020) | (0.014) | (0.020) | |
Rare | 0.357 | 0.536 | 0.129 | 0.292 | 0.075 | 0.191 | 0.045 | 0.205 |
(0.054) | (0.058) | (0.021) | (0.033) | (0.015) | (0.026) | (0.011) | (0.027) | |
Appendix 4
Error proportions (with standard errors) on the object noun from 2nd to 5th grade according to verb frequency (frequent vs. rare) and verb consistency (consistent vs. inconsistent).
2nd Grade | 3rd Grade | 4th Grade | 5th Grade | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | Consistent | Inconsistent | |
Frequent | 0.497 | 0.490 | 0.221 | 0.241 | 0.121 | 0.169 | 0.166 | 0.145 |
(0.055) | (0.057) | (0.027) | (0.028) | (0.019) | (0.024) | (0.023) | (0.021) | |
Rare | 0.349 | 0.465 | 0.169 | 0.165 | 0.123 | 0.076 | 0.152 | 0.087 |
(0.051) | (0.056) | (0.023) | (0.023) | (0.019) | (0.014) | (0.022) | (0.015) | |
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Negro, I., Lefèvre, F. & Bonnotte, I. How do French students in primary grades process past participle inflections and their N-1 and N+1 in sentence dictation tasks? An analysis of the effects of verb frequency and verb consistency. Read Writ 35, 2313–2340 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10277-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10277-3