The effects of code-based literacy interventions on spelling achievement: A meta-analysis
Item
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Title
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The effects of code-based literacy interventions on spelling achievement: A meta-analysis
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:2afcdb73721b:11887
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identifier
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12531
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Creator
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Lin, Joy,
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Contributor
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Patricia J. Brooks
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Educational psychology | Developmental psychology | intervention | literacy | meta-analysis | review | spelling | synthesis
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Abstract
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Poor spelling is a pervasive problem among children and adults alike. Yet despite an abundance of research on reading development, there is a surprising lack of emphasis on spelling, a related and arguably equally important skill. Given that research in the past two decades has established the importance of code-based knowledge such as phonological and alphabetic knowledge in reading, it is reasonable to suspect that code-based knowledge would also impact spelling ability. However, few intervention studies have directly addressed spelling. To investigate this issue, this study utilizes meta-analysis to quantitatively assess the effects of systematic code-based literacy interventions on spelling achievement. Studies included in the meta-analysis were published in English, involved a code-based literacy intervention in a school setting, included a control or comparison group, measured spelling as an outcome at post-test, and reported sufficient statistics to compute effect sizes. Random effects analysis models were based on 91 studies and 153 computed effect sizes. The mean effect size for all studies was moderate, d = 0.58, 95% CI [.49, .67], indicating that systematic code-based literacy instruction is more effective at improving spelling outcomes than non-code-based or less systematic code-based instruction. The total sample size was 9,341 participants in pre-school to Grade 11.;These findings directly oppose the claim that learning to spell is a passive process that occurs in all literacy contexts, as well as lay assumptions that knowledge about spelling does not need to be taught. Rather, the findings from this meta-analysis suggest that students who had received interventions that incorporated explicit instruction in phonological, orthographic, morphological knowledge fared better than their control-group peers on spelling outcomes. However, given the limitations of meta-analysis, further research is needed to substantiate these findings. Overall, evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that spelling, like reading, is best improved by explicit instruction in linguistic knowledge.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
