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Development of phonological, morphological, and orthographic knowledge in young spellers: The case of inflected verbs

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Abstract

This study was designed to simultaneously investigate the influence of phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness skills on the ability to spell inflected verbs in structured spelling tasks. Children in grades 1, 2, and 3 (n=103) spelled inflected past and progressive tense verbs and completed awareness tasks. Developmental changes occurred in the ability to include the inflected ending, to spell the ending consistently reflecting the correct morphological unit, and to affix the ending using the correct orthographic pattern. The contributions of phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness to spelling development varied across the three grades but were similar for each sub-component, suggesting a developmental relationship between the ability to spell inflected verbs and linguistic and orthographic awareness.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by an AAUP University Research Grant awarded to the first author by the Connecticut State University system and a Faculty Research Grant from Providence College to the second author. Grateful thanks are extended to the students and teachers at La Perche and Roosevelt Ave Elementary School. Our thanks also to Erin Padgett and Carissa DiMuccio for help with data collection and coding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, 06050, USA

    JOANNE WALKER

  2. Providence College, 549 River Avenue, Providence, RI, 02918, USA

    LAURA BOYNTON HAUERWAS

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  1. JOANNE WALKER
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  2. LAURA BOYNTON HAUERWAS
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Correspondence to JOANNE WALKER.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Appendix A: Inflected verbs used in spelling tasks.

 

/t/

/d/

/id/

Past Tense Words

   

No change

Jumped*

Called

Painted*

Walked

Cleaned*

Lifted

Silent -e

Poked*

Smiled

Voted

Shaped

Waved*

Skated*

Doubling

Dropped

Tugged*

Patted*

Slipped*

Grabbed

Spotted

Present Progressive Tense Words

   

Double

Sitting

  

Running*

  

No change

Reading

  

Going*

  

Silent -e

Making

  

Hiding*

  
  1. *Words that were included in the sentence task. These words were presented randomly in each task, but are organized here to illustrate the phonetic, morphological and orthographic properties that the words represent.

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WALKER, J., HAUERWAS, L.B. Development of phonological, morphological, and orthographic knowledge in young spellers: The case of inflected verbs. Read Writ 19, 819–843 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-006-9006-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-006-9006-1

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