Date of Graduation
Spring 2011
Degree
Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Department
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Committee Chair
Julie Masterson
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to broaden the theoretical reach of the multilinguistic model of spelling and extend the Spelling Sensitivity System (SSS) of measuring and coding spelling errors in order to examine the English-language spellings of second graders whose first oral language is Spanish. Participants included 21 bilingual second grade students who attended public school in Memphis, Tennessee, and a comparison group of 19 monolingual first, second, third, and fourth grade students who attended a public school in southwest Missouri. Results indicated that the spelling of bilingual students did not contain more errors based on the phonological and orthographic systems of Spanish when compared to a monolingual English-speaking group. The SSS metric of spelling accuracy did adequately represent the spellings of bilingual students, and could be used as a criterion-referenced measure of students' spelling knowledge to inform literacy instruction.
Keywords
spelling, bilingual, cross-linguistic effects, spelling sensitivity scores, literacy
Subject Categories
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Copyright
© Elissa Eileen Fowler
Recommended Citation
Fowler, Elissa Eileen, "Spanish Influences on the English Spellings of Bilingual Students" (2011). MSU Graduate Theses. 2023.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/2023
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