Prephonological spellers produce letter strings that statistically resemble the writing of their language rather than random strings¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2013 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2018: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Brazilian prephonological spellers (mean age about 4;3) tended to use letters and digrams common in Portuguese words. → Treiman Rebecca 2013 q2 i? Brazilian and U.S. prephonological spellers produced subtly different spellings matching their respective languages' letter statistics, e.g. more vowel letters and consonant-vowel alternation in Brazil. → Treiman Rebecca 2013 (2)

Evidence¶

Treiman Rebecca 2013¶

Treiman Rebecca, Kessler Brett. (2013). Learning to Use an Alphabetic Writing System. Language Learning and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2013.812016

q2 · i? · review · r3

Study of Brazilian prephonological spellers with a mean age of 4 years and 3 months, identified with a rearrangement procedure. The review reports that children "tended to use letters and digrams" common in written Portuguese, e.g. ‹VAVI› for dedo.

"We found that these children tended to use letters and digrams (pairs of adjacent letters) that are common in the words of Portuguese."

Treiman Rebecca 2013 (2)¶

Treiman Rebecca, Kessler Brett. (2013). Learning to Use an Alphabetic Writing System. Language Learning and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2013.812016

q2 · i? · review · r2

Cross-language comparison of U.S. and Brazilian prephonological spellers (about 5 months older than the Kessler et al. sample). Children's spellings mirrored the letter statistics of their own language, showing language-specific graphic learning.

"Portuguese words contain a higher proportion of vowel letters than English words, and the prephonological children in Brazil used a higher proportion of vowel letters than the prephonological children in the U.S."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Children's early prephonological spelling statistics predict later conventional spelling success — related
• Prephonological spellers do not show the syllable-length signature predicted by the hypothesized syllabic stage — related
• Preschoolers' writing and writing-related skills increase significantly between ages 3 and 5 on letter, name, and CVC word tasks — related
• Children's writing proficiency is task dependent: children use more advanced features on easier tasks and regress to basic features on harder tasks — related
• Children use letter-name knowledge as a shortcut when inventing phonologically based spellings — related
• Handwriting shows family resemblances attributable to inheritance, with characteristic styles recurring within families — related
• Spelling accuracy increases across Nunes et al. stages, with main steps from stage 1 to 2 and stage 3 to 5 — related