Date of Graduation

Spring 2009

Degree

Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Committee Chair

Julie Masterson

Abstract

The relationship between reading and spelling has been debated for a number of years. Traditional views have stated that reading and spelling are entirely separate processes. Recent views suggest that reading and spelling are more like "two sides of the same coin" (Ehri, 2000, p.33). There have been few studies involving spelling and reading that have used a scoring system other than correct/incorrect. In the current study, we compared the reading and spelling skills of children in the primary grades (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) using differential scoring systems for both reading and spelling. Correlations among all measures used to represent reading and spelling were significant. The correlations strengthened as the measure used became more precise. To further analyze the results, the participants were placed into quartiles based on their Broad Reading Scores from the Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery-Revised (WDRB-R). Quartile results followed a similar pattern to overall results with correlations becoming stronger as the measure became more precise. For nonsense words in both reading and spelling, precision of measure became less influential. Regardless of the measure used to represent performance, participants read more accurately than they spelled for both real and nonsense words. Interestingly, SSS-Segment scores for nonsense word spelling more closely resembled the RSS-Segment scores for real and nonsense word reading when comparing the Segment Sensitivity Scores for reading and spelling of both nonsense and real words.

Keywords

reading, spelling, Spelling Sensitivity Scores, Reading Sensitivity Scores, Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery-Revised

Subject Categories

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Copyright

© Virginia Lynn McLaughlin

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