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What Is the Relationship between Learning Spelling and Meaning Incidentally during Reading?

de Long, Shauna P. A.

Abstract Details

2019, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences.
Past research on incidental vocabulary learning during reading found links between the development of orthographic (spelling) and semantic (meaning) knowledge, but the nature of this relationship remains unclear. The current study primarily investigated whether semantic knowledge benefits orthographic knowledge in a series of three experiments. Participants were exposed to 14 novel non-words embedded in sentences with either informative or uninformative context. Participants were exposed to each novel word multiple times in different sentences which either all converged on the same meaning (in the informative context) or which were all semantically neutral. Semantic and orthographic learning was assessed using orthographic and semantic posttests. In E1, participants were exposed to the novel words three times during the learning phase; the spelling frequency of the novel words was also manipulated (high x low). Results of E1 indicated that the relationship between context and orthographic accuracy was moderated by spelling frequency such that when a word had a less common--more difficult--spelling, participants were more likely to learn spellings to words when they also learned the meaning. In E2, participants were once again exposed to the novel words three times during the learning phase, but all of the novel words had low-frequency spelling bodies in an effort to demonstrate that words with more difficult spellings would be benefited by access to those words’ meanings. The results of E2 did not show a main effect of access to meaning on learning spelling, but they did reveal a strong association between learning spelling and learning meaning. In E3, participants were exposed to the novel words two times during the learning phase in an effort to increase the task difficulty; the novel words all had low-frequency spelling bodies. As was the case for E2, there was no main effect of access to words’ meaning on learning those words’ spellings, but there were strong associations between orthographic and semantic posttest accuracy found in conditional analyses. These findings indicate that teaching words’ spellings and meanings independently of one another may not be the most beneficial means of learning new words.
Jocelyn Folk, Dr. (Advisor)
58 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • de Long, S. P. A. (2019). What Is the Relationship between Learning Spelling and Meaning Incidentally during Reading? [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1558543156973626

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • de Long, Shauna. What Is the Relationship between Learning Spelling and Meaning Incidentally during Reading? 2019. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1558543156973626.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • de Long, Shauna. "What Is the Relationship between Learning Spelling and Meaning Incidentally during Reading?" Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1558543156973626

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)