Abstract

CURVELO, Cristina Soraia de Souza; MEIRELES, Elisabet de Sousa  and  CORREA, Jane. Children’s orthographic knowledge through hangman game. Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 1998, vol.11, n.3, pp. 467-480. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79721998000300007.

The present study investigated children’s orthographic knowledge in the context of a game. Sixty children (2^nd to 4^th grade) were asked to play hangman with the researchers in individual sessions. The unit of analysis was the number of trials required to finish the game. The results suggested that children’s answers varied significantly according to the type of word presented rather than schooling. Most children were able to make an appropriate use of their orthographic knowledge although they found difficulties in explaining their reasoning.

Keywords : orthographic knowledge; written language; children.