The modelling of spelling processes : a developmental perspective

A thesis submitted to the faculty of arts, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg, 1991.Literacy includes both the ability to read and to spell. Yet until recently, and despite its importance, there has been less research on spelling than on reading. Perhaps this was because writing as a linguistic skill was considered in a marginal way as secondary to, and derivative from, speech. It was conceptualised as a photograph of spoken language (de Saussure, 1916), or as a code of transcription (Luria, 1970) with spelling presumed to be based on inner pronunciation of the phonic (sound) forms of the spoken language. Cognitive researchers were slow to recognise that written language is neither a complete isomorph of the spoken Language (Gelb,1963),nor a process of reading-in-reverse (Bradley and Bryant, 1979; Bradley, 1983), but rather, is a complex and autonomous system of representation, both of the deeper lexical-morphemic levels of language (Venezky,1970; Ellis, 1982), as well as of the mappings of phonology. As such, spelling proficiency is a highly complex intellectual achievement in its own right, and is worthy of psycholinguistic interest in the same way as other language-based skills, such as speech perception, speech production and reading comprehension. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]GR201