Relationship Between Spelling And Reading In Adults

In English, a relatively opaque language, adults are sometimes required to spell words for which they do not have complete orthographic representations. Prior research does not give a clear indication whether phonological awareness, decoding abilities, and lexical knowledge helps adults to spell difficult words. This study used a correlational design to determine if in adult college students (N-65) reading and related measures are correlated with spelling infrequent words containing a schwa. These words were chosen because the participants were unlikely to have complete orthographic representations of the words, and this means in order to spell the words correctly, participants needed to draw upon their phonological and lexical knowledge. The study found that better adult readers were better speller; and that phonological knowledge and lexical knowledge are significant predictors of spelling ability. The study also identified several recurring spelling errors in key examples.