Investigates the role of phonological and orthographic information in vowel selection across grades 1, 2, and 3. Results suggest: (1) beginners make best-guess decisions to spell ambiguous vowels based solely on phonological information; and (2) as they acquire more sound-letter correspondence knowledge, children start to use orthographic…

Finds that good inventive spellers learned to read two sets of phonetically simplified words more effectively than poor inventive spellers. Confirms a strong relationship between spelling and reading even when spellers are found in classrooms where spelling is not taught. (RS)

Examines the historical background of children's invented spelling, describes and exemplifies the stages of spelling development, and discusses current research concerning the effects of the use of invented spelling on learning to read. Explores the development of invented spelling in journal writing and articulates ways to foster children's…

Since one way to study a non-reading primary child's phonics knowledge is to examine his/her invented spelling, a researcher's quandary led to a quasi-experimental design study, employed to answer three questions: (1) Do primary non-readers possess phonics knowledge? (2) Do primary non-readers possess phonemic awareness? and (3) Do primary…

A study determined the impact encouragement of invented spelling has on a child's writing through a comparison of writing samples produced by children encouraged to use invented spelling with writing samples by children encouraged to use conventional spelling. Three first grade classes participated in this study, two of which are located in…

Discusses 10 often-asked questions regarding writing and young children, synthesizing current research on developmental writing stages, information from experienced classroom teachers, and observations from a variety of early childhood settings. (SR)

Highlights the teacher's critical role in spelling instruction and provides examples of how to support spelling development in classrooms. Argues that educators need to look closely at children's emerging capacities as writers, focusing especially on the issue of invented spelling, and its use and misuse in classroom practices. (SG)

Declares that invented spelling ability reflects young children's developing awareness of the internal structure of words. Examines effects of an instructional approach that emphasized integration of language analysis teaching into the whole-language kindergarten curriculum. Finds that children who received instruction were representing all the…

Since phonemic awareness is a crucial element in the invented spelling process, a survey of 15 whole language teachers determined the standpoint of phonemic awareness in the philosophy of whole language teachers. The 15 teachers, all 5 kindergarten and 10 first-grade teachers in a school district in western New York, were administered a 16-item…

Examines the relationship between ability to invent spellings and ability to finger-point read memorized text in 109 kindergartners in whole-language classrooms. Finds that letter name knowledge and phonemic awareness account for ability in finger-point reading, but that invented spelling, because it requires the left-to-right alphabetic principle…

A longitudinal study determined if children's invented spelling served as a viable predictor of reading achievement and compared the predictive value of assessing children's invented spelling relative to other notable predictors, such as letter names, letter sounds, a concept of a word, and phonemic awareness. Subjects, 52 kindergarten children…

Tests a hypothesis about the growth of word knowledge in kindergarten and first graders. Notes that it was predicted that phoneme awareness develops in phases and that ability to finger-point read interacts with phoneme awareness in the development of early reading skill. Concludes that structural equation modeling showed that the longitudinal…

Finds that kindergarten children trained in phonemic awareness significantly outperformed control children in phoneme segmentation, letter name and sound knowledge, and reading phonetically regular words and nonwords. Notes that they produced invented spellings rated developmentally superior to those of the control children. (SR)

A study examined the invented spelling of kindergarten and first grade students as an indicator of problem-solving strategies. The study explored the operations, by gender, of good spellers and poor spellers and how those operations change over time. A sample of 12 kindergarten girls and 12 kindergarten boys who were learning to read and write in…

A study investigated whether predictions of reading achievement could be improved by studying the relative contributions of alphabetic knowledge and invented spelling over time. Subjects, 38 upper middle-class children enrolled at an elementary school in the Midwest, were administered an alphabetic knowledge task (measuring letter names and letter…