The Roles of Phonological and Syntactic Awareness in the Use of Plural Morphemes Among Children in French Immersion

Abstract

English-speaking children in French immersion were tested to compare the spelling of the plural in English and French and to explore the factors involved in this development. Spelling of plural morphemes in French was more difficult than in English, suggesting that articulated features of a word are easier to spell than unarticulated ones. Very few French immersion children spelled correctly any of the French irregular plural form -aux. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that auditory analysis, but not syntactic awareness, shared significant portions of variance with measures of spelling. Overall, these findings suggest that phonological factors affect the spelling of morphemes and that skills in phonological awareness are uniquely associated with the development of the spelling of plural morphemes.