Spelling performance of public and private school students: A comparative study

To characterize and compare the spelling performance of private and public students. Three hundred 1st-5th graders from public and private schools in the city of Marília, São Paulo, Brazil, were evaluated, totalizing 30 students from each grade, respectively. Collective and individual versions of the Pró-Ortografia test (a renowned Brazilian spelling test) were administered. There were significant inter-group differences indicating that private school students achieved higher performance. The mean values of correct answers of higher grade level students were statistically greater than those of the lower grade level students. The results indicated that the mean values of correct answers of all versions of the spelling test administered increased across grades for both private and public school students. However, the data evaluated showed that private school students attained higher spelling performance than public school students from the 2nd grade onwards.

Keywords:
Evaluation; Handwriting; Learning; Teaching

Authorship

Maria Nobre SAMPAIO

Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação. Av. Hygino Muzzi Filho, 737, Mirante, 17525-000, Marília, SP, Brasil. Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”BrazilMarília, SP, BrazilUniversidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação. Av. Hygino Muzzi Filho, 737, Mirante, 17525-000, Marília, SP, Brasil.

Natália FUSCO

Ana Carla Leite ROMERO

Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Fonoaudiologia. Marília, SP, Brasil.Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”BrazilMarília, SP, BrazilUniversidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Fonoaudiologia. Marília, SP, Brasil.

Amanda Corrêa do AMARAL

Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Departamento de Fonoaudiologia. Marília, SP, Brasil.Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”BrazilMarília, SP, BrazilUniversidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Departamento de Fonoaudiologia. Marília, SP, Brasil.

Simone Aparecida CAPELLINI

Correspondência para/Correspondence to: M.N. SAMPAIO. E-mail: <marianobre.unesp@gmail.com>.

Contributors

All authors contributed to the conception and design of the study, data analysis and final editing.

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Tables

Tables (5)

Thumbnail

Table
1 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GI and GVI and the groups GII and GVII in the spelling assessment test

Thumbnail

Table
2 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GIII and GVIII; and GIV and GIX in the spelling assessment test

Thumbnail

Table
3 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GV and GX in the spelling assessment test

Thumbnail

Table
4 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GIII and GVIII; and GIV and GIX in the spelling assessment test

Thumbnail

Table
5 Correlations among pairs of variables, Spearman correlation coefficient, and level of significance p for the performance of public school students in the spelling assessment test

Table 1 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GI and GVI and the groups GII and GVII in the spelling assessment test

Variable	Group	Mean	SD	Significance (p)	Group	Mean	SD	Significance (p)
ELA	I	16.03	10.50	0.210	II	18.97	9.39	0.032*
ELA	VI	13.90	10.06	0.210	VII	11.77	9.55	0.032*
DRLA	I	24.24	5.06	0.165	II	25.10	1.09	0.015*
DRLA	VI	22.50	2.44	0.165	VII	23.07	4.67	0.015*
DP	I	9.34	9.41	0.437	II	23.27	8.45	< 0.001*
DP	VI	7.50	10.27	0.437	VII	11.53	13.16	< 0.001*
DPP	I	3.83	6.22	0.431	II	8.70	3.62	< 0.001*
DPP	VI	4.63	3.07	0.431	VII	2.57	2.86	< 0.001*
DF	I	11.79	8.48	0.102	II	23.50	6.88	< 0.001*
DF	VI	8.67	8.06	0.102	VII	12.07	9.56	< 0.001*
DRF	I	13.14	11.43	0.112	II	37.70	13.40	< 0.001*
DRF	VI	7.50	14.93	0.112	VII	17.37	18.55	< 0.001*
EP	I	0.00	0.00	> 0.999	II	0.97	2.08	< 0.001*
EP	VI	0.00	0.00	> 0.999	VII	0.00	0.00	< 0.001*
DS	I	13.79	7.31	0.011*	II	18.50	5.04	0.001*
DS	VI	8.77	6.32	0.011*	VII	12.83	6.79	0.001*
MLO	I	6.52	5.09	0.951	II	14.87	4.66	< 0.001*
MLO	VI	6.30	5.37	VII	7.93	7.45		< 0.001*

Note: Numbers with an asterisk: statistically significant results.
ELA: Alphabet Letter Writing (Escrita de Letras do Alfabeto); DRLA: Randomized Dictation of Alphabet Letters (Ditado Randomizado de Letras do Alfabeto); DP: Word Ditaction (Ditado de Palavras); DPP: Pseudoword Ditaction (Ditado de Pseudopalavras); DF: Ditaction With Picture Cards (Ditado com Figuras); DFR: Sentence Ditaction (Ditado de Frases); EP: Deliberate Misspelling (Escrita por Erro Proposital); DS: Spelled Ditaction (Ditado Soletrado); MLO: Lexical Orthographic Retrieval (Escrita de Palavras por Memória Lexical Ortográfica); SD: Standard Deviation; GI: 1st graders from private school; GII: 2nd graders from private school; GVI: 1st graders from public school; GVII: 2nd graders from public school; Statistical Analysis: Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 2 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GIII and GVIII; and GIV and GIX in the spelling assessment test

Variable	Group	Mean	SD	Significance (p)	Group	Mean	SD	Significance (p)
ELA	III	24.17	4.01	0.133	IV	25.47	01.80	0.032*
ELA	VIII	20.50	9.27	0.133	IX	18.13	09.18	0.032*
DRLA	III	23.90	4.37	0.649	IV	25.80	00.55	0.015*
DRLA	VIII	22.50	6.40	0.649	IX	23.40	05.21	0.015*
DP	III	46.77	14.92	< 0.001*	IV	54.67	13.53	< 0.001*
DP	VIII	31.67	13.62	< 0.001*	IX	31.30	16.99	< 0.001*
DPP	III	14.37	4.34	< 0.001*	IV	17.50	04.37	< 0.001*
DPP	VIII	6.37	3.87	< 0.001*	IX	06.77	03.61	< 0.001*
DF	III	28.07	5.55	< 0.001*	IV	30.00	04.33	< 0.001*
DF	VIII	21.20	7.55	< 0.001*	IX	18.80	07.06	< 0.001*
DRF	III	52.13	10.84	0.033*	IV	55.23	09.54	< 0.001*
DRF	VIII	41.13	19.84	0.033*	IX	38.37	18.30	< 0.001*
EP	III	00.47	00.68	0.001*	IV	02.60	03.04	< 0.001*
EP	VIII	00.03	00.18	0.001*	IX	00.10	00.31	< 0.001*
DS	III	21.60	5.78	0.003*	IV	24.20	03.57	0.001*
DS	VIII	17.03	6.55	0.003*	IX	13.47	05.49	0.001*
MLO	III	17.97	4.57	0.230	IV	21.27	04.53	< 0.001*
MLO	VIII	15.97	6.28	IX	13.17	05.95		< 0.001*

Note: Numbers with an asterisk: statistically significant results.
ELA: Alphabet Letter Writing (Escrita de Letras do Alfabeto); DRLA: Randomized Dictation of Alphabet Letters (Ditado Randomizado de Letras do Alfabeto); DP: Word Ditaction (Ditado de Palavras); DPP: Pseudoword Ditaction (Ditado de Pseudopalavras); DF: Ditaction With Picture Cards (Ditado com Figuras); DFR: Sentence Ditaction (Ditado de Frases); EP: Deliberate Misspelling (Escrita por Erro Proposital); DS: Spelled Ditaction (Ditado Soletrado); MLO: Lexical Orthographic Retrieval (Escrita de Palavras por Memória Lexical Ortográfica); SD: Standard Deviation; GI: 1st graders from private school; GII: 2nd graders from private school; GVI: 1st graders from public school; GVII: 2nd graders from public school; Statistical Analysis: Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 3 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GV and GX in the spelling assessment test

Variable	Group	Mean	SD	Significance (p)
ELA	V	25.30	2.63	0.051
ELA	X	21.90	8.27	0.051
DRLA	V	25.33	1.06	0.245
DRLA	X	24.30	3.79	0.245
DP	V	66.13	12.62	< 0.001*
DP	X	37.50	14.09	< 0.001*
DPP	V	17.73	5.76	< 0.001*
DPP	X	10.13	5.39	< 0.001*
DF	V	32.73	3.89	< 0.001*
DF	X	23.50	5.23	< 0.001*
DFR	V	59.03	7.23	< 0.001*
DFR	X	46.27	14.28	< 0.001*
EP	V	1.90	2.07	< 0.001*
EP	X	0.07	0.25	< 0.001*
DS	V	25.47	3.76	< 0.001*
DS	X	17.57	6.45	< 0.001*
MLO	V	24.33	3.75	< 0.001*
MLO	X	17.27	4,87	< 0.001*

Note: Numbers with an asterisk: statistically significant results. ELA: Alphabet Letter Writing (Escrita de Letras do Alfabeto); DRLA: Randomized Dictation of Alphabet Letters (Ditado Randomizado de Letras do Alfabeto); DP: Word Ditaction (Ditado de Palavras); DPP: Pseudoword Ditaction (Ditado de Pseudopalavras); DF: Ditaction With Picture Cards (Ditado com Figuras); DFR: Sentence Ditaction (Ditado de Frases); DS: Spelled Ditaction (Ditado Soletrado); MLO: Lexical Orthographic Retrieval (Escrita de Palavras por Memória Lexical Ortográfica); SD: Standard Deviation; GV: 5th Graders From Private School; GX: 5th Graders From Public School; Statistical Analysis: Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 4 Mean, standard deviation, and p-value of the performance of groups GIII and GVIII; and GIV and GIX in the spelling assessment test

Group	Statistical analysis	ELA x DRLA	ELA x DS	DRLA x DS	DP x DPP	DP x DFR	DPP x DFR	DF x MLO	DFR x MLO	ELA x MLO
I	Correl. Coef.	0.189	0.672	0.198	0.664	0.643	0.647	0.709	0.650	0.702
I	Sig.	0.318	< 0.001*	0.294	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*
II	Correl. Coef.	0.182	-0.155	0.093	0.558	0.742	0.717	0.537	0.584	0.189
II	Sig.	0.335	0.412	0.625	0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.002*	0.001*	0.317
III	Correl. Coef.	0.454	0.196	0.164	0.529	0.778	0.479	0.552	0.499	0.192
III	Sig.	0.012*	0.300	0.386	0.003*	< 0.001*	0.007*	0.002*	0.005*	0.309
IV	Correl. Coef.	0.184	0.433	0.219	0.610	0.796	0.615	0.659	0.528	0.095
IV	Sig.	0.331	0.017*	0.245	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.003*	0.619
V	Correl. Coef.	0.155	0.311	0.087	0.664	0.805	0.657	0.349	0.608	0.391
V	Sig.	0.413	0.095	0.649	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.059	< 0.001*	0.033*

Note: Numbers with an asterisk: statistically significant results.
ELA: Alphabet Letter Writing (Escrita de Letras do Alfabeto); DRLA: Randomized Dictation of Alphabet Letters (Ditado Randomizado de Letras do Alfabeto); DP: Word Ditaction (Ditado de Palavras); DPP: Pseudoword Ditaction (Ditado de Pseudopalavras); DF: Ditaction With Picture Cards (Ditado com Figuras); DRF: Sentence Ditaction (Ditado de Frases); DS: Spelled Ditaction (Ditado Soletrado); MLO: Lexical Orthographic Retrieval (Escrita de Palavras por Memória Lexical Ortográfica); GI: 1st graders from private school; GII: 2nd graders from private school; GIII: 3rd graders from private school; GIV: 4th graders from private school; GV: 5th graders from private school; Statistical Analysis: Spearman correlation test. Correl. Coef: Correlation coeficiente; Sig.: Significance.

Table 5 Correlations among pairs of variables, Spearman correlation coefficient, and level of significance p for the performance of public school students in the spelling assessment test

Group	Statistical analysis	ELA x DRLA	ELA x DS	DRLA x DS	DP x DPP	DP x DFR	DPP x DFR	DF x MLO	DFR x MLO	ELA x MLO
VI	Correl. Coef.	0.122	-0.138	0.258	0.806	0.785	0.543	0.775	0.760	0.092
VI	Sig.	0.527	0.474	0.177	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.002*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.635
VII	Correl. Coef.	0.356	0.520	0.498	0.914	0.926	0.873	0.852	0.861	0.507
VII	Sig.	0.054	0.003*	0.005*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.004*
VIII	Correl. Coef.	0.039	0.429	0.149	0.673	0.841	0.646	0.697	0.799	0.552
VIII	Sig.	0.837	0.018*	0.432	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.002*
IX	Correl. Coef.	0.352	0.134	0.389	0.605	0.954	0.565	0.742	0.870	0.246
IX	Sig.	0.057	0.480	0.034*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.191
X	Correl. Coef.	0.260	0.259	0.622	0.662	0.838	0.707	0.536	0.643	0.200
X	Sig.	0.165	0.168	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	< 0.001*	0.002*	< 0.001*	0.289

Note: Numbers with an asterisk: statistically significant results.
ELA: Alphabet Letter Writing (Escrita de Letras do Alfabeto); DRLA: Randomized Dictation of Alphabet Letters (Ditado Randomizado de Letras do Alfabeto); DP: Word Ditaction (Ditado de Palavras); DPP: Pseudoword Ditaction (Ditado de Pseudopalavras); DF: Ditaction With Picture Cards (Ditado com Figuras); DRF: Sentence Ditaction (Ditado de Frases); DS: Spelled Ditaction (Ditado Soletrado); MLO: Lexical Orthographic Retrieval (Escrita de Palavras por Memória Lexical Ortográfica); GI: 1st graders from private school; GII: 2nd graders from private school; GIII: 3rd graders from private school; GIV: 4th graders from private school; GV: 5th graders from private school; Statistical Analysis: Spearman correlation test. Correl. Coef: Correlation coeficiente; Sig.: Significance.

How to cite

copy

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas Núcleo de Editoração SBI - Campus II, Av. John Boyd Dunlop, s/n. Prédio de Odontologia, 13060-900 Campinas - São Paulo Brasil, Tel./Fax: +55 19 3343-7223 - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: psychologicalstudies@puc-campinas.edu.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

Versão para download de PDF

PDF

Inglês

Versões e tradução automática

Versão original do texto

English

Tradução automática

Google Translator
Microsoft Translator

Como citar

RIS

BIBTEX

Outros formatos de citação e exportação:

SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online
Rua Dr. Diogo de Faria, 1087 – 9º andar – Vila Clementino 04037-003 São Paulo/SP - Brasil
E-mail: scielo@scielo.org

Leia a Declaração de Acesso Aberto

Métricas

Spelling performance of public and private school students: A comparative study

PlumX

Mensagem

[1] Correspondência para/Correspondence to: M.N. SAMPAIO. E-mail: <marianobre.unesp@gmail.com>.