ABSTRACT
In the last chapter, we saw that since the 1980s there has been widespread acceptance of the view that children’s spelling development falls into identifiable stages: that children move from pre-literate scribbles, to use of phonetic strategies, then through a transitional ‘stage’ where visual and structural aspects become more dominant before standard spelling is firmly established (Gentry, 1991; Read, 1986; Temple et al., 1988). However, it seems clear from our research and the research of others (Lennox and Siegal, 1994; Snowling, 1994; Ellis, 1994; Treiman, 1994) that while learning to spell can be seen as a developmental process in that children move towards standard spelling more or less rapidly, always depending on their experiences and teaching, the ‘stages’ within this process are far from being invariable or discrete.
