The Influence of Three Emergent Literacy Skills on the Invented Spellings of 4-Year-Olds

This study of 40 4-year-olds investigated whether tests of phonological sensitivity, print awareness, or word awareness accounted for a significant amount of variability in preschool children’s invented spellings. Subtest results from the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening—PreKindergarten and two measures of individual word awareness were correlated with single word spelling. Results indicated that word awareness accounted for the greatest amount of variance. Print awareness also contributed to a significant amount of variance; however, phonological sensitivity did not. The majority of the children wrote at least one correct single letter or one phonemically similar letter, performing at the literate or prephonetic level. Although continued research is needed, attention to word awareness in emergent writing and spelling is important for sufficient understanding of preschool children’s literacy development.