A Study of the Spelling Development of Adult Literacy Learners Compared with That of Classroom Children

Abstract

This study compared the spelling development of 195 child and 124 adult literacy learners through a comparison of spelling errors. These errors occurred across 24 word features, which included examples of phonetic patterns, visual patterns, and word relationships ranging from beginning consonant sound (dig) to root constancy matches such as the vowel in accented and unaccented syllables (compete/competition). The order of mastery of the 24 spelling features examined was assessed through the Guttman scale analysis. This analysis indicated a similar developmental pattern occurring in both child and adult spellers especially at the early spelling levels. The differences that occurred in the two groups showed the adults better at identifying visual patterns and understanding some word concepts. They fell behind the children in their correct representation of certain phonetic features because of a tendency to depart from the phonics of the word in their spellings. However, because the adults showed no tendency to skip or shortcut the developmental pattern, it lends support to the theory that adult spelling acquisition, like that of children, needs careful assessment as an essential part of the instructional process.