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Rigobon, V. M. (no date). Adult Bilinguals' Orthographic Representations: How Does Cognate Knowledge Contribute to Accurate English Word Spelling? Retrieved from https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/diginole/2020_Spring_Rigobon_fsu_0071N_15911
Spelling a complex English word is more difficult than reading it, suggesting that spelling requires a higher quality orthographic representation and a greater degree of word knowledge compared to reading. In the absence of a high-quality orthographic representation, spellers often rely on other information, such as phonological to orthographic encoding, to aid spelling. However, the quasi-regular nature of English orthography to phonology relations often render encoding strategies ineffective. This study examined whether alternative orthographic representations might facilitate the spelling of complex English words. Specifically, would English-Spanish bilingual university students benefit from orthographic similarities of English-Spanish cognates compared with non-cognate words when spelling complex words? Cognates are words that share similar spellings and meanings across languages and given the transparent nature of the Spanish orthography, they might help inform English spelling. Monolingual (n = 43) and bilingual students (n = 77) were asked to spell complex English words, half of which were Spanish cognates, with item-level spelling accuracy modeled using word-level (e.g., cognate status) and person-level (e.g., English monolingual vs. Spanish-English bilingual and prompting to consider Spanish spelling) predictors. Results indicate that bilinguals had a higher probability of spelling complex cognate words correctly compared to monolingual peers, and these results were not mediated by any significant prompting effects. Findings from this study expand an interdisciplinary framework of understanding bilinguals’ lexical access and strength of orthographic representations across languages.
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references.
Advisory Committee
Don Compton, Professor Directing Thesis; Laura Steacy, Committee Member; Mike Kaschak, Committee Member.
Publisher
Florida State University
Identifier
2020_Spring_Rigobon_fsu_0071N_15911
Rigobon, V. M. (no date). Adult Bilinguals' Orthographic Representations: How Does Cognate Knowledge Contribute to Accurate English Word Spelling? Retrieved from https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/diginole/2020_Spring_Rigobon_fsu_0071N_15911