Uncovering strategy profiles in young children's reading & spelling

Abstract

Young children are taught to read and spell using a range of different approaches to encourage them to form connections between spoken sound and written text, but past studies have often looked at reading and spelling strategies in isolation. In this study, the performance of 48 young children in Years 1 and 2 was assessed on experimental measures of reading and spelling to encourage the use of different strategies. Strategies were identified by video analysis and verbal self-reports. The findings revealed a strong reliance on multiple strategies as well as similar patterns of development in children's strategy choice for reading and spelling. Two separate cluster analyses revealed separate profiles, based on similar patterns of strategy use for both reading and spelling strategies, respectively and while reading and spelling profiles were strongly related, suggesting a close connection between these two sets of skills, only the spelling profiles were influenced by age.