The influences of language of literacy instruction and vocabulary on the spelling of Spanish–English bilinguals

Abstract

The relation of language of instruction and vocabulary to the English spelling of bilingual first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction and of monolinguals in English literacy instruction was explored. Only bilingual students in Spanish literacy instruction (SLI) exhibited Spanish-influenced spelling, indicating a powerful effect of language of literacy instruction. SLI without English literacy instruction (ELI) may be a prerequisite for the appearance of Spanish influences in English spelling. Spanish-influenced spelling appears to be a normal developmental phenomenon only for those bilingual first graders who have received no ELI. The students in ELI, on average, wrote more orthographically plausible English pseudowords than students in SLI, indicating that the students in SLI simply had not yet learned conventional spelling patterns in English. In addition, children with good Spanish vocabulary showed more Spanish-influenced spelling, while English vocabulary predicted more orthographically plausible English spellings. The relationship between English vocabulary and English spelling was similar for children instructed in Spanish and English. English vocabulary and literacy instruction both made unique, positive contributions to English pseudoword spelling, while Spanish literacy instruction played a more important role than Spanish vocabulary in the production of Spanish-influenced spelling in English.

Bilingual spelling patterns in middle school: it is more than transfer

“…Most of the previous research on Spanish-English spelling focused on the influence of language transfer (e.g., Cronnell 1985;Escamilla 2006;Fashola et al 1996;Rollo San Francisco et al 2006;Rubin and Carlan 2005;Sun-Alperin and Wang 2008). However, as noted in the previous section, many misspellings, whether they originate in Spanish or English, may not always be transfer exemplars but errors that occur in systematic ways, which are not unique to bilingual spellers.…”

“…Prior spelling research on kindergarten and elementary school-age bilingual students focused primarily on how Spanish language knowledge may influence or transfer to English spelling (Cronnell 1985;Escamilla 2006;Fashola et al 1996;Howard et al 2006;Rollo San Francisco et al 2006;Rubin and Carlan 2005;Sun-Alperin and Wang 2008;Zutell and Allen 1988). Analyzing 27 studies of first language influence on English spelling (languages included Arabic, Cantonese, and Spanish, among others), Figueredo (2006) concluded that the interaction of two languages for transfer of spelling knowledge may be facilitated or hindered by the level and depth of transparencies of the first language writing system to English.…”

“…On the other hand, eight studies investigated English-only spellings in Spanish children (Cronnell 1985;Fashola et al 1996;Howard et al 2006;Raynolds and Uhry 2010;Rollo San Francisco et al 2006;Rubin and Carlan 2005;Sun-Alperin and Wang 2008;Zutell and Allen 1988). The most frequently occurring patterns involved vowels and noncontrastive consonants (i.e., consonants not present in the second language).…”

A corpus-based study on the misspellings of Spanish heritage learners and their implications for teaching

“…In stark contrast, various aspects of spelling have been extensively studied among English-speaking children (see, e.g., Allal, 1997;Beers & Henderson, 1977;Ehri & Wilce, 1987;Morris, Blanton, Blanton, & Perney, 1995;Perfetti, Rieben, & Fayol, 1997;Read, 1971;Templeton & Morris, 2001;Zutell & Rasinsli, 1989). There have also been a smaller number of studies exploring spelling acquisition among Spanish-speaking children (see, e.g., Carbonell de Grompone, Tuana, Piedra de Moratorio, Lluch de Pintos, & Corbo de Mandracho, 1980;Cuetos, 1993;Defior, Jiménez-Fernández, & Serrano, 2009;Defior, Martos, & Herrera, 2000) and among bilingual children (Arteagoitia, Howard, Loguit, Malabonga, & Kenyon, 2005;Estes & Richards, 2002;San Francisco, Mo, Carlo, August, & Snow, 2006). Adult spelling development, in contrast, has not been rigorously studied (Greenberg, Ehri, & Perin, 2002).…”

The invented spellings of non-Spanish phonemes by Spanish–English bilingual and English monolingual kindergarteners

“…Alphabetic knowledge and phonemic awareness skills are some examples of skills that transfer positively across alphabetic writing systems (e.g., Cárdenas-Hagan, Carlson, & Pollard-Durodola, 2007;Dickinson, McCabe, Clark-Chiarelli, & Wolf, 2004;Lopez & Greenfield, 2004;Verhoeven, 2007). Negative transfer was observed in L1-influenced orthographic spelling errors (e. g., Bear, Templeton, Helman, & Baren, 2003;Fashola, Drum, Mayer, & Kang, 1996;Ferroli, 1991;Rolla San Francisco, Mo, Carlo, August, & Snow, 2006;Wang & Geva, 2003a, b;Zutell & Allen, 1988). Orthographic mistakes occur when different letters in each language represent the same phoneme.…”