The relation of metalinguistic skills and vocabulary to spelling in Korean children with hearing loss

This study investigated the relationships between metalinguistic skills, including phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness, and Hangul-word spelling in Korean first through third graders, encompassing both deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and children with typical hearing (TH). The participants comprised 24 children with cochlear implants (CIs), 24 children with hearing aids (HAs), and 24 TH children, matched for chronological age, vocabulary age, and nonverbal intelligence. Results indicated that DHH children with CIs and HAs exhibited delays in spelling accuracy and in all metalinguistic skills compared to their TH peers, with no significant differences observed between children with CIs and those with HAs. In DHH children, vocabulary showed a strong and negative correlation with spelling and morphological awareness, whereas these correlations were not significant in TH children. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness independently contributed to the unique variance in spelling accuracy beyond vocabulary knowledge in DHH children, while phonological and orthographic awareness remained significant in TH children. These findings suggest that metalinguistic skills and vocabulary knowledge play different roles in Korean word spelling during the initial three years of elementary school for DHH and TH children in Korea.