The ie-ei rule's slight advantage is questionable because most citers relied on mnemonics covering only one or two of the eleven words¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1917 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Most collegians who cited the ie-ei rule as consciously used relied on the word Alice and other mnemonic devices giving a clue to only one or two of the 11 words, so their slight superiority does not seem entirely due to the rule itself. → Cook 1917

Evidence¶

Cook 1917¶

Cook, W. A. (1917). Shall we teach spelling by rule? The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Shall+we+teach+spelling+by+rule%22

q2 · i? · associational · r1

University freshman test results for the ie-ei word group; the author interprets the small advantage of rule-citers as partly due to mnemonic reliance rather than the rule, noting that "most of the collegians who cited a version of the ie-ei rule as consciously used relied upon the word "Alice"". No significance test is printed.

"The slight superiority of those citing a rule does not, therefore, seem to be entirely dne to the rule itself."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Only the exceptionless ie-to-y rule demonstrated efficiency, with 13 of 16 collegians citing and applying it correctly — related
• The final-e rule was too complex for most writers, gaining a slender advantage in the university group that it more than lost in the academy — related
• The final-y rule showed a 3 per cent advantage in the university group but lost an equal amount with the academy students — related