Date of Award
12-5-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Communication Disorders, MCD
First Advisor
Amy Shollenbarger
Committee Members
Arianne Pait; Joy Good
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2017 G66
Abstract
In English, sound-letter correspondence is not always consistent, and one letter or string of letters can represent many sounds. Additionally, there are many exceptions to spelling rules, making spelling difficult to master. Spelling is a linguistic skill. Children use a variety of linguistic strategies and spelling rules when spelling, including knowledge of morphology, phonology, orthography, and etymology. In the upper elementary years, derived word reading and spelling becomes integral to vocabulary growth and literacy development (Anglin, 1993). Taran and Shollenbarger (2011) found that 5th graders had a higher frequency of spelling errors involving derived words that originally ended in silent ‘e’ than derived words that did not. In their study, students performed significantly poorer on words that were more opaque in transparency. The aim of the current study was to determine if college freshmen know when to keep or drop the silent ‘e’ in derived word spelling. If errors occurred in this population, it was also a goal to determine if transparency factors in to how often words are misspelled. It was hypothesized that the more opaque the spelling of a derived word, the more often it would be misspelled. Participants included 128 college freshmen. An original spelling exam containing derived words varying in transparency was administered. Errors within the juncture of the derived words were analyzed. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in spelling performance between categories of transparency. The student’s performance on the least opaque words was significantly worse than that on the opaquest words. The findings of this study were not consistent with the findings of Taran and Shollenbarger’s study, though they did not target derived words originally ending in silent ‘e’. These results support the claim that transparency impacted the spelling of derived words that originally ended with silent ‘e’.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Goodon, Olivia Peek, "Should it stay or should it go? The case of silent 'e' in derived word spelling." (2017). Student Theses and Dissertations. 536.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/536
