Treiman, Rebecca & Brett Kessler. 2013. Learning to use an alphabetic writing system. Language Learning and Development 9(4):317–330. doi:10.1080/15475441.2013.812016

Abstract

Gaining facility with spelling is an important part of becoming a good writer. Here we review recent work on how children learn to spell in alphabetic writing systems. Statistical learning plays an important role in this process. Thus, young children learn about some of the salient graphic characteristics of written texts and attempt to reproduce these characteristics in their own productions even before they use letters to represent phonemes. Later, children apply their statistical learning skills to links between phonemes and spellings, including those that are conditioned by context and morphology. Children use what they know about language and about letter names when learning about spelling, and learning to spell in turn influences their ideas about language. Although children learn some things about spelling implicitly, explicit instruction has an important role to play. We discuss some implications of the research for the design of that instruction.

Paper

• Unofficial submitted manuscript, PDF format.
• This is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in Language Learning and Development ©2013 [copyright Taylor & Francis]; the published article is available online at www.tandfonline.com. It cannot be posted here until September 2014.

APA citation:

Treiman, R., & Kessler, B. (2013). Learning to use an alphabetic writing system. Language Learning and Development, 9, 317–330. doi:10.1080/15475441.2013.812016