Spelling development throughout the elementary grades: The Dutch case

The purpose of the present study was to explore Dutch spelling development throughout the elementary grades. Two issues were considered (a) dimensional structure over time, and (b) rate of change. Whether the rate of change differs depending on gender, ethnicity, or word reading skill was examined in particular. A pseudolongitudinal dataset with the responses of more than 1300 children to five different sets of 120 spelling items was analyzed. Factor analyses showed that spelling ability can be conceived as a unidimensional ability for grades 2 through 6. This result was then confirmed by the results of analyses from the perspective of Item Response Theory although the children showed a tendency to master specific types of spelling problems during different – partially overlapping – periods in their development. Structural analyses further showed the children's spelling ability to systematically increase from the beginning of second grade through to the end of sixth grade. Whereas word reading skill level was an important predictor of spelling growth, gender and ethnicity did not have a significant influence.