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Morphological, phonological, and orthographic differences between the spelling of normally achieving children and basic literacy adults

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Abstract

In this study, we compared 41 adults in a basic literacy class with 92 achievement-level-matched children on their use of English print conventions, as inferred by a qualitative analysis of spelling errors. The two groups followed similar patterns in their mastery of basic spelling features, including letter reversals, consonant blends, and short vowels, with the adults showing relatively more advanced skill in using orthographic patterns. However, the adults made a preponderance of misspellings that were rarely made by the children, including omissions, substitutions, and additions of derivational and inflectional morphemes, and neglect of word endings in general. The findings indicate clear morphological difficulties along with more subtle phonological coding deficits. We suggest that low literacy adults would benefit from specific direct instruction in linguistic analysis, with particular attention to the morphological principles underlying inflections and derivations. Such instruction should be based on a careful assessment of reading and spelling knowledge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA

    Jo Worthy

  2. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA

    Neva M. Viise

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  1. Jo Worthy
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  2. Neva M. Viise
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Correspondence to Jo Worthy.

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Worthy, J., Viise, N.M. Morphological, phonological, and orthographic differences between the spelling of normally achieving children and basic literacy adults. Read Writ 8, 139–159 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00555366

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