The Factors Contributing to Teacher Predictions of Spelling Ability, and the Accuracy of Their Assessments

• Main Authors: Kendall Kolne, Laura Gonnerman, Alexandra Marquis, Phaedra Royle, Susan Rvachew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada 2016-04-01
• Series: Language and Literacy: A Canadian Educational e-journal
• Subjects: spelling; emergent literacy; oral language
• Online Access: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/langandlit/index.php/langandlit/article/view/22994

In this study, teachers of kindergarten and Grade 1 French-speaking students indicated the likelihood their students would develop later writing difficulties. Results showed that language measures, language background, the education levels of parents, and home literacy practices predicted whether children would be identified as at-risk. Moreover children’s oral language skills accounted for even more of the variance in teacher ratings than other variables. Spelling performance assessed 1-year later from a subset of children indicated that the teacher predictions were accurate. Thus, teachers appear to be an effective source for predicting children’s future literacy performance.