Consistency and word-frequency effects on spelling among first- to fifth-grade French children : A regression-based study

We describe a large-scale regression study that examines the influence of lexical (word frequency, lexical neighborhood) and sublexical (feedforward and feedback consistency) variables on spelling accuracy among first, second, and third- to fifth-graders. The wordset analyzed contained 3430 French words. Predictors in the stepwise regression analyses were grade-level-based and compiled from child-directed written materials. In all grades, feedforward consistency and word frequency had independent effects. However, whereas the feedforward-consistency contribution remained high and did not vary across grades, the impact of word frequency exhibited a massive jump between first and second grade. Interaction analyses showed that the feedforward-consistency effect was significantly lower for monosyllabic words than for polysyllabic ones, and significantly higher for low-frequency words. The effect of feedback consistency was difficult to clarify. Finally, the feedforward-consistency effects obtained at two different grain sizes suggest that children use more contextual information to spell words as orthographic knowledge develops. The findings are discussed in relation to models of spelling and to the developmental aspects of learning to spell.