Children spell regular words more accurately than pseudowords and irregular words, and irregular word accuracy falls below pseudoword accuracy until Yr 5¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associationalr3·q3
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? Regular word accuracy was significantly higher than pseudoword and irregular word accuracy, and pseudoword accuracy was significantly higher than irregular word accuracy. → Niolaki 2022
q3 i? Irregular word accuracy was significantly lower than pseudoword accuracy up to Yr 4, but significantly higher in Yr 5 and Yr 6. → Niolaki 2022 (2)
Evidence¶
Niolaki 2022¶
Niolaki, G., Vousden, J., Terzopoulos, A., Shepherd, D.-L., Debney, L., & Masterson, J. (2022). Spelling predictors; investigating the role of phonological ability and rapid naming in a large cross-sectional British study. Learning and Instruction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101635
q3 · i? · associational · r3
Bonferroni-corrected pairwise comparisons of word type in the mixed-model analysis of 641 children's spelling; regular words (M = 21.6) exceeded pseudowords (M = 18.2) and irregular words (M = 15.4), and pseudowords exceeded irregular words.
"These revealed that accuracy for regular words was significantly (ps < .001) higher (M = 21.6, SD = 10.8) than for pseudowords (M = 18.2, SD = 8.9) or irregular words (M = 15.4, SD = 11.7)."
Niolaki 2022 (2)¶
Niolaki, G., Vousden, J., Terzopoulos, A., Shepherd, D.-L., Debney, L., & Masterson, J. (2022). Spelling predictors; investigating the role of phonological ability and rapid naming in a large cross-sectional British study. Learning and Instruction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101635
q3 · i? · associational · r3
Year-group pairwise comparisons in the same mixed-model analysis show the irregular-versus-pseudoword ordering reverses with experience: irregular accuracy is lower up to Yr 4 (apart from Yr 3) and higher in Yr 5 and Yr 6.
"Irregular word accuracy was significantly lower than pseudoword accuracy up to Yr 4 (apart from Yr 3), but for Yr 5 and Yr 6, irregular word accuracy was significantly higher than pseudoword accuracy."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Irregular word and pseudoword spelling dissociate after controlling for year group, consistent with distinct lexical and sublexical processes — related
- Phonological awareness predicts irregular word spelling from Yr 2 onward but does not predict regular word or pseudoword spelling at any year group — related
- Reading is the strongest predictor of spelling across all word types, while sublexical knowledge predicts pseudoword spelling only and is negatively associated with irregular word spelling — related
- Spelling accuracy for irregular words, regular words and pseudowords improves significantly with year group (spelling experience) — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
regular-words-spelled-better-than-irregular-pseudowords |
title |
Children spell regular words more accurately than pseudowords and irregular words, and irregular word accuracy falls below pseudoword accuracy until Yr 5 |
description |
Children spell regular words more accurately than pseudowords and irregular words, and irregular word accuracy falls below pseudoword accuracy until Yr 5 |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2022 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-22 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
2 — niolaki-2022, niolaki-2022-2 |
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