title: Spelling Acquisition in English and Italian: A Cross-Linguistic Study.
abstract: We examined the spelling acquisition in children up to late primary school of a consistent orthography (Italian) and an inconsistent orthography (English). The effects of frequency, lexicality, length, and regularity in modulating spelling performance of the two groups were examined. English and Italian children were matched for both chronological age and number of years of schooling. Two-hundred and seven Italian children and 79 English children took part in the study. We found greater accuracy in spelling in Italian than English children: Italian children were very accurate after only 2 years of schooling, while in English children the spelling performance was still poor after 5 years of schooling. Cross-linguistic differences in spelling accuracy proved to be more persistent than the corresponding ones in reading accuracy. Orthographic consistency produced not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences, with larger frequency and regularity effects in English than in Italian children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Rome La Sapienza Rome, Italy ; Neuropsychological Research Centre, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Marinelli
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Health Science, Aston University Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romani
authors.affiliation: ISTC Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Rome, Italy ; Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burani
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Rome La Sapienza Rome, Italy ; Neuropsychological Research Centre, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zoccolotti
keywords: children; cross-linguistic comparison; lexical effects; orthographic consistency; spelling acquisition