French Pupils’ Lexical and Grammatical Spelling from Sixth to Ninth Grade: A Longitudinal Study

TLDR

The study aims to track the development of lexical and grammatical spelling skills in French middle‑school pupils and to identify persisting orthographic difficulties at the end of compulsory education. The authors followed 496 French pupils from sixth to ninth grade, administering identical text dictations at both points and conducting a qualitative error analysis to pinpoint resistance points in orthographic acquisition. Results indicate that lexical and grammatical spelling performance improved between sixth and ninth grade and that the two skills interact.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a longitudinal spelling study conducted among 496 school children, from sixth grade (the first year of middle school in France) to ninth grade (the fourth and final year of middle school in France). Its first objective is to examine the evolution of both lexical and grammatical spelling skills in a deep orthography and to present new findings on the advanced mastery of spelling skills. Its second aim is to provide insight into pupils’ orthographic knowledge and remaining difficulties at the end of French compulsory schooling. Pupils were assessed using the same text dictation when they were sixth graders and when they were ninth graders. The data show that both lexical and grammatical performance increased from the sixth to ninth grade and that these interact with each other. The qualitative analysis of errors allows points of resistance in the acquisition of French orthography to be highlighted.