Learning to read and learning to spell: Two sides of a coin

Learning to read words and learning to spell words are closely related. Both follow a similar course of acquisition. Both rely on the same knowledge sources-knowledge about the alphabetic system, and memory for the spellings of specific words-that develop together and are reciprocally related. Correlations between reading and spelling are high, typically above r = .70. However, the two processes are not quite the same. The amount of information to be drawn from memory is greater for spellers who must produce multiple letters correctly sequenced than for readers who must produce single pronunciations and meanings for written words.