How Children Learn to Write Words How Children Learn to Write Words Rebecca TReiman and bReTT KessleR 1 3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 © Oxford University Press 2014 All rights reserved. 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A copy of this book’s Catalog-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress ISBN 978–0–19–990797–7 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper CONTENTS Preface xi Symbols and Abbreviations xiii Abbreviations xiii General Symbols xiii Phonetic Symbols xiii CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Writing as a Tool 2 1.2 Orthographic Knowledge as a Part of Writing 6 1.2.1 Cognitive Resources and Technical Tools 7 1.2.2 Social Implications of Nonstandard Spelling 9 1.3 How Can Orthographic Knowledge Be Achieved? 11 1.3.1âDiscovery Learning and the Whole-Language Approach 11 1.3.2 Direct Instruction and the Phonics Approach 13 1.4 Spelling and Reading 16 1.5 Orthographic Reform 17 1.6 Past Work on Writing Systems and How They Are Learned 18 1.7 Our Approach 19 CHAPTER 2 Writing Systems 23 2.1 Outer Form of Scripts 24 2.2 What Writing Systems Represent 25 2.2.1 Representing Ideas: Semasiography 25 2.2.2 Representing Speech: Glottographic Writing 27 2.2.2.1âRepresenting Words and Morphemes: Logography 28 2.2.2.2 Representing Syllables: Syllabary 30 2.2.2.3âRepresenting Phonemes: Alphabetic Writing 31 2.2.2.4âRepresenting Subphonemic Features: Featural Writing 34 2.2.2.5 Mixed Writing Systems 35 2.3 How Writing Represents Meaning 41 2.3.1 How Semasiographies Represent Meaning 41 2.3.2 How Glottographies Represent Meaning 42 2.4 Composition of Characters 44 2.4.1 Composing Semasiograms 44 2.4.2 Composing Logograms 45 2.4.3 Composing Letters 46 2.5 Underrepresentation 47 2.6 Arranging Multiple Characters 51 2.6.1 Lines and Pages of Text 51 2.6.2 Grouping of Characters 52 2.7 Conservatism in Writing 55 2.8 Sound Change and its Effects on Writing 56 2.8.1 Types of Sound Change 57 2.8.2âffects of Sound Change on Writing 58 2.9 Which Language Do We Write? 61 2.10 Conclusions 63 CHAPTER 3 Learning and Teaching 65 3.1 Statistical Learning 66 3.2 Learning Through Language 68 3.3 Implicit and Explicit Knowledge 69 3.4 Learning of Language and Learning About Language 71 3.5 Formal and Informal Teaching 76 3.6 Conclusions 83 CHAPTER 4 Theories 84 4.1 Rote Memorization 85 4.2 Dual-Route Theory 86 4.3 Constructivism 91 4.4 Phase Theory 93 4.5 Connectionist Theories 95 4.6 IMP 97 4.7 Methods of Testing the Theories 101 4.8 Conclusions 102 vi | Contents CHAPTER 5 Graphic Form 104 5.1 Surface Properties of Writing 104 5.2 Learning About the Surface Properties of Writing 108 5.2.1 Artificiality and Two-Dimensionality 108 5.2.2 Iconicity 108 5.2.3 Sequentiality and Directionality 109 5.2.4 Knowledge About Units 111 5.2.5 Differences Among Types of Writing 113 5.2.6âDifferentiating Writing From Pictures and Numbers 114 5.2.7 Summary 117 5.3 Theories 117 5.4 Teaching 120 5.5 Conclusions 123 CHAPTER 6 Symbolic Function 124 6.1 Learning That Writing Stands for Something Outside Itself 124 6.2 Learning What Writing Stands for and How 125 6.3 Theories 131 6.4 Conclusions 132 CHAPTER 7 The Order of the Alphabet 133 7.1 Principles in Ordering 134 7.1.1 Arbitrary Ordering 134 7.1.2 Principled Ordering 136 7.1.2.1 Deletions 136 7.1.2.2 Insertions 138 7.1.2.3 Reordering 139 7.1.2.4 Other Scripts 140 7.2 When and How Children Learn About Alphabet Order 143 7.2.1 Oral Methods 143 7.2.2 Alphabet Books 145 7.2.3 Learning About Alphabet Order at School 148 7.3 How Does Knowledge of Alphabet Order Influence Children? 148 7.4 Conclusions 151 CHAPTER 8 Symbol Shapes 152 8.1 Principles That Underlie Systems of Symbol Shapes 153 8.1.1 Economy 153 8.1.2 Conservatism 159 conTenTs | vii 8.1.3 Beauty 159 8.1.4 Expressiveness 161 8.1.5 Similarity 162 8.1.6 Contrast 165 8.1.7 Redundancy 165 8.1.8âSummary of the Principles That Underlie Systems of Symbol Shapes 166 8.2 Learning and Use of Shapes as Graphic Objects 167 8.2.1âLearning About the Similarities Among the Shapes of Writing 168 8.2.2âLearning About Contrasts Among the Shapes of Writing 170 8.2.3 Production 174 8.2.4 Learning Variant Forms of Shapes 179 8.3 Nonarbitrary Links Between Symbol Shapes and Functions 182 8.4 Formal and Informal Teaching 188 8.5 Theories 192 8.6 Conclusions 193 CHAPTER 9 Letter Names 194 9.1 Principles That Underlie Systems of Letter Names 194 9.1.1 Phonetic Iconicity 195 9.1.2 Legality 200 9.1.3 Similarity 201 9.1.4 Contrast 203 9.1.5 Economy 203 9.1.6 Conservatism 204 9.1.7 Other Principles 204 9.1.8âSummary of Principles That Underlie Systems of Letter Names 205 9.2 Learning the Phonological Forms of Letter Names 205 9.3 Do Children Benefit From the Phonetic Iconicity of Letter Names? 207 9.4 Should Children Learn Letter Names? 210 9.5 Names of Auxiliary Marks 212 9.6 Theories 214 9.7 Conclusions 215 CHAPTER 10âarly Spelling in Phonographic Writing Systems 216 10.1 Do Beginners Spell Using One Symbol for Each Syllable? 217 10.2 Letter Names and Early Spelling 218 viii | Contents 10.2.1 Spellings With Whole Letter Names 219 10.2.2 Partial and Inexact Matches to Letter Names 225 10.2.3 Conclusions About Letter-Name Spellings 229 10.3 Other Labels 229 10.4 Phonological Analysis and Classification 230 10.4.1 Consonant Cluster Onsets 231 10.4.2 One Versus Two Sounds 234 10.4.3 Final Consonant Clusters 235 10.4.4 Other Ambiguities Involving Phonemes 237 10.4.5 Suprasegmental Features 238 10.5 Beyond Phonology 239 10.6 Teaching 243 10.7 Conclusions 247 CHAPTER 11 Complex Spellings 249 11.1 Beyond the Dichotomy of Regular Versus Exception Words 250 11.2 Conditioning by Neighboring Segments 253 11.2.1 Coda-to-Vowel Conditioning 254 11.2.2 Onset-to-Vowel Conditioning 256 11.2.3 Vowel-to-Onset Conditioning 257 11.2.4 Vowel-to-Coda Conditioning 258 11.2.5 Do Rimes Have a Special Status? 259 11.2.6âxtended Spellings of Intervocalic Consonants 260 11.2.7âSummary of Results on Conditioning by Neighboring Segments 262 11.3 Conditioning by Position 263 11.4 Conditioning by Stress 265 11.5 Conditioning by Morphology 266 11.5.1 Influences of Morphology on Spelling 266 11.5.2âSummary of Results on Morphological Conditioning 271 11.6 Other Types of Conditioning 272 11.7 Unconditioned Inconsistencies 273 11.8 Other Complexities 277 11.8.1 Homographs 277 11.8.2âWords With More Letters Than Phonemes 278 11.8.3 Additional Complexities 279 11.9 Summary of Findings on Learning of Complex Patterns 280 conTenTs | ix 11.10 Teaching 281 11.11 Conclusions 282 CHAPTER 12 Punctuation and Capitalization 284 12.1 Punctuation 285 12.1.1 Punctuation Marks 286 12.1.2 Word Separation 292 12.2 Capitalization 294 12.3 Teaching 296 12.4 Conclusions 297 CHAPTER 13 Conclusions and Extensions 298 13.1âvaluation of Theories of the Learning of Orthography 298 13.2 Broader Influences of Knowledge About Writing 303 13.2.1 Influences on Reading 303 13.2.2 Influences on Language 303 13.2.3 Influences Outside of Language 307 13.2.4 Summary of Writing’s Influences 309 13.3 Instruction About Orthography 309 13.3.1 Teach Patterns 310 13.3.2âInclude Activities That Focus Attention on Writing Itself 311 13.3.3 Provide Feedback After Errors 312 13.3.4 Don’t Assume Too Much 314 13.3.5 Teach Teachers as Well as Children 314 13.3.6 It’s Just Orthography 315 13.4 Assessing Children’s Spelling 316 13.5 Differences Between Children 317 13.6 Final Words 317 References 319 Author Index 363 Subject Index 379 x | Contents PREFACE he goal of this book is to examine how children learn to use writing systems.