To Show or Tell: Improving the Spelling of Rule-Based Words with Explicit or Implicit Practice

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study design.

Table 1. Participant characteristics.

Characteristics	Explicit practice	Implicit practice	No additional practice
% Girls	54.5	47.7	39.2
Age year;months	7;8	7;8	8;0
Home language(s)
% Only Dutch	31.8	34.1	52.9
% Dutch and another language	56.8	5.0	33.3
% Not Dutch	11.4	15.9	13.7

Table 2. Number of correct spellings per word set, group and measurement.

Word set	Explicit practice				Implicit practice				No additional practice
	Pretest		Posttest		Pretest		Posttest		Pretest		Posttest
	M(SD)	Range	M(SD)	Range	M(SD)	Range	M(SD)	Range	M(SD)	Range	M(SD)	Range
Target	7.80 (1.50)	5–10	9.36 (0.94)	7–10	7.64 (1.53)	4–10	8.61 (1.53)	5–10	8.06 (1.33)	4–10	7.76 (1.37)	4–10
Transfer	8.14 (1.36)	5–10	8.70 (1.36)	5–10	8.23 (1.84)	2–10	8.73 (1.48)	5–10	8.78 (1.22)	5–10	8.22 (1.68)	4–10
Generalization	7.84 (1.46)	5–10	8.75 (1.26)	5–10	8.00 (1.86)	4–10	8.36 (1.71)	5–10	7.39 (1.78)	4–10	7.92 (1.97)	4–10
Filler	7.39 (1.99)	2–10	7.89 (1.83)	3–10	7.57 (2.27)	2–10	7.86 (1.98)	4–10	8.08 (1.75)	2–10	8.29 (1.86)	2–10

Table 3. Proportions of errors per word set, group, and measurement.

Word	Explicit practice		Implicit practice		No additional practice
	Pretest	Posttest	Pretest	Posttest	Pretest	Posttest
Target
−t	.22	.06	.26	.11	.21	.22
−d	.22	.06	.22	.16	.18	.22
Transfer
−t	.16	.10	.17	.08	.12	.15
−d	.21	.16	.19	.17	.13	.20

Note. An error for a target or transfer word ending in -t indicates incorrect use of d; an error for a target or transfer word ending in -d indicates incorrect use of t.

Table A1. Stimuli.

Target			Transfer			Generalization		Filter
Word^1	Freq s^2	Freq p^2	Word^1	Freq s^2	Freq p^2	Word^1	Freq s^2	Word^1	Freq^2
bad bath	42.58	3.50	pad toad	41.99	0.78	web web	4.51	sneeuw snow	24.31
hond dog	168.65	51.34	mond mouth	165.93	1.89	krab crab	3.86	meeuw gull	0.64
baard beard	11.64	0.82	paard horse	83.63	46.03	slab bib	0.02	buren neighbors	30.14
kind child	333.3	474.49	wind wind	35.61	5.51^3	rib rib	2.17	kussen pillow	45.62
speld pin	2.65	0.96	held hero	59.64	14.98	schub scale	0.18	lach laugh	46.72
Average d:	111.76	106.22	Average d:	77.36	13.84
kat cat	52.85	15.46	gat hole	49.97	5.14	step scooter	0.53	vlag flag	17.79
lont fuse	2.79	0.30	kont buttocks	73.57	1.04	trap stairs	52.28	zooi mess	9.65
taart cake	31.35	3.34	kaart postcard	79.67	11.56	stap step	126.53	kooi cage	13.81
lint ribbon	7.98	0.82	tint shade	0.64	0.19	stip dot	1.56	ijs ice	58.70
munt coin	10.89	6.43	punt point	73.77	4.47	drup drop	0.69	reis trip	90.37
Average t:	21.17	5.27	Average t:	55.52	17.09
Average:	66.47	55.74	Average:	66.44	15.47	Average	19.23	Average:	33.78

Note. ¹ English translation in italics. ² Freq s = frequency of the word in singular form, and Freq p = frequency of the word in plural. Frequencies are derived from Subtlex (Keuleers et al., 2010). ³ For this target, there is only a frequency for the verb dominant target (winden = to fart).

Keuleers, E., Brysbaert, M., & New, B. (2010). SUBTLEX-NL: A new frequency measure for Dutch words based on film subtitles. Behavior Research Methods, 42(3), 643–650. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.3.643

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