University of Tasmania
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Adults' spelling and understanding of possession and plurality: an intervention study

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 11:29 authored by Hokanson, L, Nenagh KempNenagh Kemp
In English, some words sound the same but are distinguished by silent written markers of their morphological status, as in plurals (e.g., cities), singular possessives (e.g., city’s) and plural possessives (e.g., cities’). We examined undergraduates’ ability to correctly omit or position apostrophes in these three word types before and after a 3-week intervention that focused on the conceptual bases for plurality and possession, as well as their associated spelling rules. Pre-test spelling was imperfect for plurals and poor for possessives, especially plural possessives. Abstract understanding of plurality and possession, measured in a morphological awareness task, was also relatively poor. The intervention resulted in significant but imperfect improvement on all tasks, with post-test morphological awareness predicting post-test spelling of plurals and possessives, even after controls for general spelling ability. Control participants showed no change. We suggest that adults’ difficulty in spelling possessives stems from a shaky grasp of the underlying morphological concepts, and we discuss possibilities for future intervention.

History

Publication title

Reading and Writing

Volume

26

Pagination

241-261

ISSN

1573-0905

Department/School

School of Psychological Sciences

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Place of publication

Netherlands

Rights statement

Copyright 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Learner and learning not elsewhere classified

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC