Second Graders as Spellers: What Types of Errors Are They Making?

Beginning second-grade students (N = 60) were administered a researcher-developed, dictated spelling test. Spelling errors of students were analyzed by grade-level spelling patterns and linguistic characteristics: phonological, orthographic, orthographic image, transposition, and morphological. Results revealed that morphological spelling pattern errors occurred most frequently. The frequency of linguistic category errors for this sample, ranging from least to most, was transposition, phonological, orthographic image, orthographic, and morphological. Further analysis of the bottom quarter of students, as determined by their performance on a timed word reading measure, indicated a pattern of spelling errors similar to the rest of the sample, but occurring in significantly greater quantity on average. These findings support previous research suggesting poor spellers display similar error patterns as better spelling peers, but with higher frequency. Initial implications suggest to educators that in spite of the wide range of spelling ability in their classrooms, the pattern of knowledge appears similar. Students rely on multiple sources of linguistic knowledge, and by analyzing their spelling errors based on the information students use to generate their spellings, instruction may be provided to explicitly and systematically target students' weaknesses.