The study investigates the relationship between lexical encoding and production in order to establish whether learners are able to produce a difficult contrast in words that they merged in their mental lexicon. Forty American English learners of Russian were tested on their production and lexical encoding of familiar and highly-frequent words with…

Whether tone should be represented in writing, and if so how much, is one of the most formidable challenges facing those developing orthographies for tone languages. Various researchers have attempted to quantify the level of written ambiguity in a language if tone is not marked, but these contributions are not easily comparable because they use…

Recent research indicates that knowledge of words' spellings can influence knowledge of the phonological forms of second language (L2) words when the first and second languages use the same orthographic symbols. It is yet unknown whether learners can make similar use of unfamiliar orthographic symbols. In this study we investigate whether native…

One intriguing question in language research concerns the extent to which orthographic information impacts on spoken word processing. Previous research has faced a number of methodological difficulties and has not reached a definitive conclusion. Our research addresses these difficulties by capitalizing on recent developments in the area of word…

Two studies examined children's use of letter-name spelling strategies when target phoneme sequences match letter names with different degrees of precision. We examined Portuguese-speaking preschoolers' use of "h" (which is named /a'ga/ but which never represents those sounds) when spelling words beginning with /ga/ or variants of /ga/. We also…

Irish has significant State support, but lacks a research base to support the teaching of Irish reading. Current approaches to teaching Irish reading are presented, and outcomes summarised. Issues of consistency and complexity in Irish orthography are discussed in light of an analysis of a corpus of early reader texts, and the formulation of rules…

Previous cross-language research has focused on L1 phonological processing and its relation to L2 reading. Less extensive is the research on the effect that L1 orthographic processing skill has on L2 reading and spelling. This study was designed to investigate how reading and spelling acquisition in English (L2) is influenced by phonological and…

A sample of 500 misspelled words was drawn from compositions written by students in third, fourth, and fifth grade. Errors were analyzed to indicate the type of misspellings that occur in writing connected discourse, to identify phonemes that cause particular spelling problems, and to identify typical error patterns. Results indicated that most of…

Two nonword spelling and two orthographic awareness experiments examined production and awareness of sound-spelling relationships. Results of the nonword spelling experiments suggest people use phoneme-grapheme sized relationships when spelling nonwords. Orthographic awareness experiments suggest, under some circumstances, people can use larger…

Examines the notion that shorthand systems derive their efficiency from the operation of a nonlexical sound-to-writing route. In an experiment, word frequency and accurate phoneme transcription accuracy were correlated whereas nonsense words resulted in decreased transcription accuracy, indicating that lexical effects for shorthand are just as…

It is argued that a more comprehensive, systematic understanding of the nature of the alphabet, its three identities (letters/graphemes, letters/nomenemes, sounds/phonemes), and their specific functions in the teaching of various language skills and subskills should be an integral part of the language arts curriculum and instructional plan,…

This paper reviews recent research on English spelling and the alphabet, and examines the alphabet in terms of symbols, letter-names, and sounds. English is considerably less phonetic than most Western languages, with many symbols having more than one sound. This factor makes spelling difficult for learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) or…

Describes a study designed to determine whether children's conceptualization of the component sounds in words is influenced by knowledge of the words' spelling using real and made-up words. Shows the phonemic segmentation skill may be a consequence of as much as a prerequisite to learning real words. (Author/BK)

Investigates the processes that deaf school children use for spelling. Compares results with those of hearing children. Finds that "regular" words were easier to learn than "opaque" words (words that could be spelled only on the basis of lexical orthographic information) for all groups. Discusses findings in light of current…

Reports a study that traces patterns of constancy and change in spelling errors as children's word knowledge advances during the elementary years. Reveals clear patterns of coherent change and underscores the persistent difficulty of certain features characteristic of English orthography. (MG)