TY - JOUR
T1 - Spelling acquisition in english and Italian
T2 - A cross-linguistic study
AU - Marinelli, Chiara V.
AU - Romani, Cristina
AU - Burani, Cristina
AU - Zoccolotti, Pierluigi
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - We examined the spelling acquisition in children up to late primary school of a consistent orthography (Italian) and an inconsistent orthography (English). The effects of frequency, lexicality, length, and regularity in modulating spelling performance of the two groups were examined. English and Italian children were matched for both chronological age and number of years of schooling. Two-hundred and seven Italian children and 79 English children took part in the study. We found greater accuracy in spelling in Italian than English children: Italian children were very accurate after only 2 years of schooling, while in English children the spelling performance was still poor after 5 years of schooling. Cross-linguistic differences in spelling accuracy proved to be more persistent than the corresponding ones in reading accuracy. Orthographic consistency produced not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences, with larger frequency and regularity effects in English than in Italian children.
AB - We examined the spelling acquisition in children up to late primary school of a consistent orthography (Italian) and an inconsistent orthography (English). The effects of frequency, lexicality, length, and regularity in modulating spelling performance of the two groups were examined. English and Italian children were matched for both chronological age and number of years of schooling. Two-hundred and seven Italian children and 79 English children took part in the study. We found greater accuracy in spelling in Italian than English children: Italian children were very accurate after only 2 years of schooling, while in English children the spelling performance was still poor after 5 years of schooling. Cross-linguistic differences in spelling accuracy proved to be more persistent than the corresponding ones in reading accuracy. Orthographic consistency produced not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences, with larger frequency and regularity effects in English than in Italian children.
KW - Children
KW - Cross-linguistic comparison
KW - Lexical effects
KW - Orthographic consistency
KW - Spelling acquisition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954236665&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84954236665&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01843
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01843
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84954236665
VL - 6
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
SN - 1664-1078
IS - DEC
M1 - 1843
ER -