Moreover, they need to master the orthographic constraints imposed by the orthographic depth of the language, which comprises the complexity and unpredictability of phoneme-grapheme correspondences ( Schmalz et al., 2015). Good spellers need to be able to match speech sounds in a language (phonemes) with their accurate representation in written form (graphemes). In alphabetic writing systems, accurate spellings rely on a solid knowledge of phoneme-to-grapheme and orthographic conventions 1 ( Treiman and Bourassa, 2000). Problems with word spelling hamper readers’ comprehension, denote poor writing ability, and divert writers’ attention from other processes ( Graham and Santangelo, 2014). The importance of producing accurate spellings is undeniable.
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As they may vary across grade and task, and impact text quality differently, a detailed approach to spelling errors can provide valuable information on the development of this skill. Overall, these findings are aligned with extant results on spelling development and support current voices claiming for fine-grained analyses of misspellings. Finally, spelling errors predicted text quality, particularly in younger children. Moreover, pupils produced more misspellings in dictation than composing tasks, and there was a progressive decrease in phonetically inaccurate and phonetically accurate misspellings across schooling, though stress mark errors were more frequent in Grade 4 than in other grades. Results showed correlations between the same type of misspellings across tasks for phonetically inaccurate errors in Grades 2 and 4, and phonetically accurate errors in Grade 2. Misspellings were categorized into phonetically inaccurate, phonetically accurate, and stress mark errors. For that, 933 Portuguese pupils in Grade 2 ( n = 297), Grade 4 ( n = 302), and Grade 6 ( n = 334) performed a spelling-to-dictation task and wrote an opinion essay. Specifically, we aimed to examine the association between misspellings in dictation and composing tasks compare misspellings across grade, type, and task and test the contribution of different misspellings produced in dictation and in composition to text quality. The present study is a first effort toward the analysis of misspellings produced by Portuguese children. However, misspellings also convey relevant information for researchers and educators. There is consensus among researchers that misspellings are something to avoid. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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Sofia Magalhães †, Ana Mesquita †, Marisa Filipe, Andreia Veloso, São Luís Castro and Teresa Limpo *