Teaching Literacy Using a Multiple-Linguistic Word-Study Spelling Approach: a Systematic Review
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Volume 3, Issue 5 June 2009 EBP briefs A scholarly forum for guiding evidence-based practices in speech-language pathology Teaching Literacy Using a Multiple- Linguistic Word-Study Spelling Approach: A Systematic Review Julie Wolter EBP Briefs Editor Chad Nye University of Central Florida Editorial Review Board Frank Bender Anita McGinty Private Practice University of Virginia Bertha Clark Judy Montgomery Middle Tennessee State University Chapman University Gayle Daly Barbara Moore-Brown Longwood University Anaheim Union High School District Donna Geffner Jamie Schwartz St. John’s University University of Central Florida Joan Kaderavek Sheila Ward University of Toledo Detroit Public Schools Cheryl Lang Detroit Public Schools Managing Director Tina Eichstadt Pearson 5601 Green Valley Drive Bloomington, MN 55437 Cite this document as: Wolter, J. (2009). Teaching literacy using a multiple- linguistic word-study spelling approach: a systematic review. EBP Briefs, 3(5), 1–16. 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NCS Pearson, Inc. 5601 Green Valley Drive Bloomington, MN 55437 800.627.7271 www.PearsonClinical.com Produced in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 A B C D E Teaching Literacy Using a Multiple-Linguistic Word-Study Spelling Approach: A Systematic Review Julie Wolter Utah State University Tim is a 10-year-old, fourth-grade boy who has completed skill (Bailet, 2004) and the awareness of sounds in words a language and literacy assessment with his school’s multi- (phonological awareness), knowledge of the spelling patterns disciplinary team. Since first grade, Tim has received speech in words (orthographic knowledge), and understanding and language services for oral syntax and semantics, and special of relationships among base words and their inflectional education services for reading. Tim’s most recent assessment and derivational forms (morphological awareness) all revealed that he has deficits in semantics, reading decoding, influence spelling acquisition, reading comprehension, writing, and spelling. The speech- vocabulary, reading decoding, Phonemic awareness language pathologist (SLP) found that Tim’s phonological reading comprehension, and is an integral part of awareness skills and morphological awareness skills were writing development (Apel, literacy development below what is expected of a child his age. Specifically, Tim had Masterson, & Neissen, 2004; because it best difficulty segmenting phonemes. When he was administered Bourassa & Treiman, 2001). predicts reading and spelling achievement. a morpheme generation task in which he was given a base A developmental treatment word (e.g., explode) and was asked to use this word to fill in approach that incorporates a sentence (e.g., The loud sound was caused by the _____. spelling and nurtures these multiple linguistic factors may explosion), he was not able to generate an appropriate word be an effective way to facilitate language and literacy success derivative (e.g., explode – explosion). for children with LLD. Because word study involves the practice of analyzing Given this assessment picture, the SLP is faced with the task of and facilitating spelling, SLPs often view this as a skill determining appropriate treatment that will make the biggest outside their scope of practice. However, it can be argued impact on Tim’s academic success and of coordinating these that when spelling-based word study is used as a tool to services with the other members on the multi-disciplinary team. assess and facilitate language-specific goals, it can provide She recently heard of using multiple-linguistic word study as an assessment window to determine where linguistic a way to facilitate the language components of morphological breakdowns occur and a tool to prescriptively facilitate awareness and phonological awareness, and is interested in the linguistic underpinnings of phonemic awareness, determining whether such an approach may help Tim in his morphological awareness, and/or orthographic knowledge. phonological, morphological, semantic, and literacy success. Given the SLPs’ expanding scope of practice, which includes written language (ASHA, 2001), assessment, and Before we address Tim’s specific case, let’s take a brief treatment approaches such as spelling that may facilitate look at what is meant by a multiple-linguistic word-study language development in multiple areas of vocabulary, approach, define the underlying language principles of reading, and writing are appropriate and a welcome such an approach, and briefly summarize the research of interpretation and therapy tool. each linguistic principle in relationship to language and literacy achievement. Phonological Awareness Multiple-Linguistic Word Study Defined Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and store linguistic codes or phonemes and later retrieve Word study, specifically the linguistic analysis and and produce them in an appropriate manner. Phonemic focus on spelling, may provide a valuable language-based awareness is a subcategory of phonological awareness that tool for the SLP when assessing and treating children with is specific to manipulation, blending, and segmenting language-literacy deficits (LLD). Spelling is a language-based of phonemes. For example, the word cat phonemically 1 Copyright © 2009 NCS Pearson, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 EBP Briefs Volume 3, Issue 5 June 2009 segmented is /k/-/æ/-/t/. Phonemic awareness is an Evans, Williamson, & Pursoo, 2008). Additionally, this important and integral part of literacy development skill has been associated with children’s development of because it best predicts reading and spelling achievement reading-word recognition and spelling (Ehri & Saltmarsh, (Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 2001). A reciprocal 1995; Share, 2004). relationship exists between phonemic awareness and literacy development: phonemic awareness strengthens Morphological Awareness literacy skills while reading and spelling strengthen skills Morphological awareness can be defined as the in phonemic awareness. An impressive body of research awareness of the morphemic structure and the ability documents the crucial role of phonemic awareness in to reflect on and manipulate that structure. Morphemes reading and spelling (e.g., Bird, Bishop, & Freeman, 1995; are the smallest units of words that carry meaning. For Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000; Storch & Whitehurst, example, the word cats is composed of two morphemes, the 2002). base word cat and the plural –s morpheme. Morphological Orthographic Knowledge knowledge includes a knowledge of inflections (i.e., affixes to root words that indicate grammatical information such Orthographic knowledge involves the translation as tense or number, such as help plus –ed) and derivational of sounds to letter(s), or phonemes to graphemes, which forms (i.e., changes to the base word to create a new word, requires the knowledge and use of general spelling rules which generally change the grammatical category, such as and patterns (e.g., long- and short-vowel rules). For sad to sadness). example, the vowel in the word cat is pronounced as a Morphological awareness is correlated with a short vowel and spelled with the single consonant of a, well-developed grammar system, increased vocabulary which is consistent with the short-vowel-a spelling rule. development, and high reading achievement (e.g., Carlisle Additional factors involved in orthographic processing & Nomanbhoy, 1993; Nagy, Berninger, & Abbott, 2006). may include the implicit appreciation for orthotactic, or Specifically, knowledge of morphology helps children to positional, constraints on the sequences of graphemes that spell, decode, and comprehend new words (e.g., Carlisle, are used in words (e.g., ck cannot occur at the beginning 1996, 2000; Elbro & Arnback, 1996; Windsor, 2000). of an English word). Researchers believe that children use This is not surprising given that approximately 60% of new their orthographic knowledge of individual letters, letter words acquired by school-age children are morphologically sequences, and spelling patterns to recognize words visually complex (Anglin, 1993). while reading and spelling (Ehri, 1992; Share, 2004). Apel and Masterson (2001) have presented a model in which phonological knowledge is connected to Multiple-Linguistic Word-Study orthographic knowledge (i.e., sound-letter correspondence) Spelling to form images of words referred to as Mental Orthographic Representations (MORs). This is based on the work of Ehri Researchers have recognized the importance of (1980), who hypothesized that children develop MORs by phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and making connections between graphemes and corresponding morphological awareness in children’s language and phonemes as they sound out novel words. The establishment literacy development. As a result, these factors have been of these phoneme–grapheme relations results in the ability of integrated into word-study spelling instructional programs children to bond spelling (orthography) to pronunciation of and practices (Bear,