Morphological Processing Before and During Children’s Spelling

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive Background Statistics for Younger and Older Age Groups

	Younger	Older
	M (SD, Range)	M (SD, Range)
n	23	25
Age (years; months)	7;1 (0;7, 5;11–7;11)	9;2 (1;0, 8;0–11;6)
TOWRE sight word efficiency (standard score)	120.00 (10.30, 99–139)	111.56 (12.22, 91–133)
TOWRE phonemic decoding (standard score)	120.22 (12.91, 93–145)	114.08 (13.9, 95–141)

Note. TOWRE = Test of Word Reading Efficiency.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics (M, SD) for Stimuli in Spelling Task, Including Univariate Analysis of Variance Statistics Comparing Word, Suffix, and Sentence Length and Frequency (SUBTLEX-UK Overall and CBBC), Base, Control, Inflected, and Derived Conditions

	Base M (SD)	Control M (SD)	Inflected M (SD)	Derived M (SD)	Univariate ANOVA, F(2, 18)
Word length (letters)	3.7 (0.8)	5.6 (1.3)	5.9 (1.5)	6.0 (0.6)	0.2, p = .8
Suffix length (letters)	0.0 (0.0)	1.9 (0.7)	2.1 (1.2)	2.3 (1.1)	0.3, p = .8
Sentence length (words)	8.3 (1.0)	8.6 (1.4)	7.9 (1.5)	8.0 (1.3)	0.2, p = .8
Log SUBTLEX-UK overall frequency	4.9 (0.4)	4.1 (1.0)	4.0 (0.6)	4.2 (0.5)	0.1, p = .9
Log SUBTLEX-UK CBBC frequency	4.9 (0.7)	4.2 (0.9)	4.2 (0.6)	4.3 (0.7)	0.0, p = 1.0

Note. SUBTLEX-UK Overall and CBBC: Van Heuven et al. (2014).

Figure 1. Mean (a) root accuracy (% correct), (b) writing onset latency, and (c) root writing time for base, control, inflected and derived words by younger and older children. Note. Error bars represent standard errors.

Table 3. Linear Mixed-Effects Summary Statistics for Predicting Writing Onset Latency and Root Writing Time With Fixed Factors Condition (Base, Control, Inflected, Derived) and Age Group (6–7, 8–11 Years)

	Writing Onset Latency			Root Writing Time
	β	SE	t	β	SE	t
(Intercept - base word spelling in younger children as baseline)	1274.77	101.50	12.56	4667.39	334.13	13.97
Condition: control	210.86	86.73	2.43	−407.96	122.69	−3.53
Condition: inflected	−95.73	83.14	−1.15	−449.78	126.67	−3.55
Condition: derived	−51.83	86.57	−0.60	−423.90	130.81	−3.24
Age group: older	−90.72	134.93	−0.67	−909.93	295.41	−3.08
Condition: control; Age group: older	−75.72	118.68	−0.64	261.12	168.65	1.55
Condition: inflected; Age group: older	102.94	113.83	0.90	351.52	173.48	2.03
Condition: derived; Age group: older	57.29	118.39	0.48	273.62	179.71	1.52

Table A1 Stimuli for Morphological Spelling Task

Base	Target Condition	Stimulus and Sentence Frame Presented to Child
	Practice	Cats. The old lady has six cats. Cats.
	Practice	Snowy. In the winter the school yard is very snowy. Snowy.
Mill	Base	Mill. At the farm, we saw a mill. Mill.
	Control	Million. When she won the lottery, she got five million! Million.
	Inflected	Mills. The grain was turned into flour in the mills. Mills.
	Derived	Miller. The flour was poured into sacks by the miller. Miller.
Rob	Base	Rob. Paul knows that it is very naughty to rob. Rob.
	Control	Robin. The bird watcher spotted a robin. Robin.
	Inflected	Robbing. Yesterday, the man was caught robbing. Robbing.
	Derived	Robber. The police officer arrested the robber. Robber.
Rock	Base	Rock. While hiking, we climbed up a huge rock. Rock.
	Control	Rocket. After the blast-off, fire blazed behind the rocket. Rocket.
	Inflected	Rocking. In the wooden chair, Grandma was slowly rocking. Rocking.
	Derived	Rocky. The beach on the island was very rocky. Rocky.
Sing	Base	Sing. In the morning we like to sing. Sing.
	Control	Single. The ticket for the bus journey was a single. Single.
	Inflected	Singing. In the early morning the birds were singing. Singing.
	Derived	Singer. The punk band performed with a very famous singer. Singer.
Trick	Base	Trick. The magician did an amazing trick. Trick.
	Control	Trickle. I can see the rain starting to trickle. Trickle.
	Inflected	Tricked. Yesterday, I saw my brother getting tricked. Tricked.
	Derived	Tricky. The puzzle that Sarah completed was tricky. Tricky.
War	Base	War. The soldier left with his army to go to war. War.
	Control	Wart. The mean witch’s nose had a big, shiny, green wart. Wart.
	Inflected	Wars. Remembrance Day honours those who fought in the world wars. Wars.
	Derived	Warrior. The chief of the tribe was a powerful, strong warrior. Warrior.
Win	Base	Win. When I play games, I like to win. Win.
	Control	Wink. During the parade, Santa Claus loved to wink. Wink.
	Inflected	Wins. The girl with the long legs always wins. Wins.
	Derived	Winner. The brown and white horse was the winner. Winner.

Van Heuven, W. J. B., Mandera, P., Keuleers, E., & Brysbaert, M. (2014). SUBTLEX-UK: A new and improved word frequency database for British English. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67(6), 1176–1190. doi:10.1080/17470218.2013.850521

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