Learning to spell in brazilian portuguese: children’s patterns of spelling errors and unconventional word segmentation

• Autores: Jane Correa
• Localización: Development of writing skills in children in diverse cultural contexts: contributions to teaching and learning / coord. por Alina Galvao Spinillo, Carmen Sotomayor, 2023, ISBN 9783031292859, págs. 21-41
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • There are several aspects involved in the learning of spelling, comprising linguistic, cognitive, and socio-affective domains. Spelling is particularly affected by language-specific features. In this chapter, we examined, from a developmental perspective, the knowledge and skills underpinning elementary school children’s learning to spell in Brazilian Portuguese, a relatively transparent orthography with a quite complex morphological structure. We examined children’s spelling performance in two tasks: dictation and spontaneous written narratives. Spelling in dictation provided an opportunity to evaluate spelling skills in a systematic control of orthographic syllabic patterns of dictated words. Children’s spontaneous written text allows us to assess spelling errors, as children are more likely to spell words as they normally do. Children’s spelling patterns were described and analyzed in their relationship with cognitive and linguist skills. We also examined occurrences of unconventional word segmentation in Brazilian children’s written texts and the role of cognitive abilities in influencing segmentation patterns. Theoretical contributions and implications for educational practice were also discussed. In the case of Brazilian Portuguese, a set of characteristics at the phonological level of language organization makes phonological processing a fundamental skill for learning spelling. The relative regularity of phonographic correspondences, the predominance of simpler syllabic patterns, as well as the prominence of the syllable as a sublexical unit of references contribute to delay the process of morphic analysis of words as a strategy to be used in Brazilian children spelling. Theoretical contributions and implications for educational and clinical practice were also discussed.