The patterns and prevalence of monosyllabic three-letter-word spelling errors made by South African English First Additional Language learners

Abstract

There is growing evidence of systematic underachievement of South African primary school learners in reading in English as the first additional language. There is a small but growing literature that provides insights, that is, causes, patterns and prevalence, into this phenomenon. Through a secondary analysis of a spelling component of a literacy test that was administered as an end-line assessment for a randomised control trial, this article provides new evidence for and insight into the patterns and prevalence of English language spelling errors made by Grade 4 second-language learners. The study specifically coded errors on four monosyllabic three-letter words for 2500 Grade 4 learners tested individually at the end of the second term in 2014. Three distinct linguistic error patterns were identified. The most frequent error patterns involved the incorrect use of the vowel grapheme, for example bed was spelled ‘bad’. The second pattern related to common errors associated with the transfer of linguistic, orthographic patterns from the first language (isiZulu). The final pattern suggests that between 6% and 8% of learners were struggling to make the basic phoneme–grapheme connection. This pattern, however, would need to be confirmed with oral interviews. The implications of these error patterns are discussed.

A linguistic analysis of spelling errors in Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners

“…If one were to simplify it, spelling is understood as a process of encoding, in which spoken words are converted into written symbols (Mpiti 2012). Studies on spelling have centred around three central topics (Fleisch et al 2017). The first deals with the developmental stages of spelling, the second the relationship between spelling and reading and the last, to a lesser extent, the linguistic categories and analysis of spelling errors (Fleisch et al 2017).…”

“…Studies on spelling have centred around three central topics (Fleisch et al 2017). The first deals with the developmental stages of spelling, the second the relationship between spelling and reading and the last, to a lesser extent, the linguistic categories and analysis of spelling errors (Fleisch et al 2017). These topics have been explored predominately in English, with few studies focusing on African languages (Alcock & Ngorosho 2003, 2007De Sousa, Greenop & Fry 2011;Diemer, van der Merwe & de Vos 2015).…”

“…An understanding of the linguistic literacy skills that contribute to reading success in these languages can assist in developing pedagogically sound curricula and teaching practices. The current article reports on an investigation into a largely neglected variable in the understanding of reading development, which is that of spelling (Fleisch, Pather & Motilal 2017;Schaefer & Kotzé 2019;Treiman 2017). Specifically, the main purpose is to explore the nature of spelling in isiXhosa by identifying the patterns of spelling errors made by isiXhosa home-language Grade 3 learners.…”

Pitfalls and possibilities in literacy research: A review of South African literacy studies, 2004–2018

“…• In quantitative research, information about the reliability index of test instruments was not always reported. In 'The patterns and prevalence of monosyllabic three-letterword spelling errors made by South African First Additional Language learners', Fleisch et al (2017) provide a level of detail that should be made available to readers of research articles.…”

Language learning and teaching in South African primary schools

“…A related question is what causes lack of access to bottom-up decoding and encoding strategies? A study of the patterns and prevalence of monosyllabic three-letter-word spelling errors made by English FAL learners (Fleisch, Pather, & Motilal, 2017) brought to light misspellings of vowels in monosyllabic words and a high prevalence of errors which the researchers classified as pre-grapho-phonemic. Results showed that over two thirds of Grade 4 learners in the sample had not mastered the spelling of words benchmarked for Grade 2 learners.…”