The importance of phonological awareness (PA) for the acquisition of literacy skills has been widely recognized. Across languages, PA is commonly examined using the Oddity test, however, for Chinese-speaking children, Pinyin invented spelling is recommended as being a more powerful tool to assess PA. However, it is still unclear whether this holds…

Research has established that self-regulation plays an important role in early academic skills such as math and reading, but has focused less on relations with other early skill domains such as writing. The purpose of the present study was to extend that line of research by assessing the relation between self-regulation and early writing.…

This study aimed to enhance our knowledge of the constituent variables affecting invented writing skills in 5-year-olds by investigating the concurrent relationships among home literacy, underlying language skills, and invented writing. The study comprised 111 Norwegian-speaking children (mean age: 5.7 years; 58 girls) and their parents. The…

Although there is a growing body of literature on the development of reading skills of Spanish-speaking language minority children, little research has focused on the development of writing skills in this population. This study evaluated whether children's Spanish early reading skills (i.e., print knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language)…

Thirty-three young people with cochlear implants, aged between 9 and 16 years, were assessed for use of their implant system, cognitive abilities, vocabulary, reading, and writing skills. The group came from throughout England and included 26 born deaf, six deafened by meningitis, one with auditory neuropathy, and five with additional needs.…

This study examined the effects of a 10 week invented writing program with five-year-old preschoolers (mean age 5.7 years) on their immediate post intervention literacy skills and also the facilitative effects of the intervention on the subsequent learning to read during the first 6 months of schooling. The study included 105 children (54 girls)…

During her first two years of teaching, a kindergarten teacher (first author) developed a writing program grounded in five instructional strategies that repeatedly appear in emergent writing research--modeling, Scaffolded Writing, invented spelling, word walls, and reader response--and in the overarching principle of Gradual Release of…

In a graduate literacy course, the author as the teacher educator conceptualized "Visual Literacy" into the course. In-service and pre-service teachers from inner-city schools in Georgia and Virginia invited struggling writers to create graphic novels by envisioning life activities, using drawings, and invented spellings as well as…

Teachers are often confronted with parents' concern of their children's use of invented spelling. Research has found that if educators inform parents of the positive benefits associated with invented spelling, their attitudes towards its use will become more favorable. Consequently, these favorable attitudes will encourage parents to be more…

This study used a pluralistic model to examine the procedures used by two preschoolers to achieve written productions using invented orthographies. The model allows children's procedural variations to be taken into consideration by understanding the hierarchy of different processing modes available to children in completing the task and…

This longitudinal interpretive case study documents the role and significance of one preschooler's name in deepening her understanding of written language. Findings highlight the importance of an authentic, purposeful, literacy-rich, supportive environment for children, that provides them time to invent, predict, and guess how written language…

The effects of different early word spelling practices on reading and spelling were studied in 145 five-year-old children. Three experimental treatments were designed to mimic different teaching activities by having children practice invented spelling (IS group), copied spelling (CS group), or invented spelling with feedback on correct orthography…

Describes how elementary teachers can get good results using invented spelling in the classroom. The article presents the history of invented spelling and whole-language learning, then explains how to use core word lists, avoid sloppy drafts, conduct conferences, teach spelling effectively, and create a balance between writing and spelling. (SM)

Conducts a naturalistic study in a first grade remediation classroom to study language in use and to consider the transactive nature of spelling. Finds that spelling is a social/transactive process in which the learner makes meaning through interpretations of transactions among themselves, others, and the environment. (MG)

This study examined the spelling growth of kindergarten children on a monthly basis to determine if new information about the spelling growth of children could be found and if there was a relationship between spelling level and the point at which children begin to put spaces between words in written sentences. Twenty-seven kindergartners were…