Developmental trends and precursors of English spelling in Chinese children who learn English-as-a-second language: Comparisons between average and at-risk spellers.
Invented spelling plus vocabulary screening in kindergarten spots which ESL children need early literacy help.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team followed Chinese kindergarteners who were learning English as a second language.
They watched how the kids spelled made-up words every year for three years.
Kids were called “at-risk” if their spelling stayed behind their classmates.
What they found
The average spellers kept pulling ahead of the at-risk group in every sound spot—first, middle, and last.
Vocabulary size in kindergarten predicted who would stay stuck.
Low vocabulary was the red flag for later spelling trouble.
How this fits with other research
Laposa et al. (2017) also tracked preschoolers, but they looked at morphological awareness in kids with family dyslexia risk. Both studies say: catch language gaps early.
Bradford et al. (2018) found the same three kindergarten flags—vocabulary, name writing, and rapid naming—predicted first-grade reading in children with autism. The same markers pop up across languages and diagnoses.
Vandewalle et al. (2012) showed that children with language impairment who keep pace in reading still lag in vocabulary and story retelling. Siu-Sze’s ESL spellers echo this: vocabulary weakness drags writing even when other skills look okay.
Why it matters
If you test a preschooler who speaks English as a second language, add a quick invented-spelling task. Score the spelling, but also check vocabulary. When both are low, start dual-target interventions—build words and spelling together instead of waiting.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Invented spelling has been viewed as a window to young children's spelling development. AIMS: This longitudinal study investigated the developmental trends in invented spelling as a function of phoneme position in very young ESL children. It also investigated cognitive-linguistic precursors of L2 spelling difficulties. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: We identified 2 groups of spellers in kindergarten based on their invented spelling performances at the end of kindergarten: average spellers and at-risk spellers. The two groups were compared on invented spelling performance at varied phoneme positions of a word. They were also administered a battery of cognitive-linguistic tasks, including letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, vocabulary and rapid automatized naming at an earlier timepoint. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Both groups performed better in invented spelling on initial consonants than on medial vowels, which in turn were better than final consonants at two time points. In addition, the average spellers improved significantly more than the at-risk spellers at all phoneme positions. Vocabulary was a significant predictor of spelling difficulties when other crucial cognitive-linguistic variables were taken into consideration simultaneously. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The current findings suggest the unique features of invented spelling development in L2 learners and identified precursors to L2 spelling difficulties. Very young average and at-risk L2 spellers showed differential gains in L2 invented spelling. Implications of the present study are (1) invented spelling at kindergarten is able to differentiate average and at-risk spellers and (2) invented spelling training and vocabulary intervention could be useful in the remediation of spelling difficulties.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103456