Pre-school children's understandings of the significance of letter order and word size
| dc.contributor.author | Davies, Patricia Anne | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-13T20:15:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-13T20:15:52Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 1983 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 1983 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Communication and Social Foundations | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Curriculum and Instruction | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts M.A. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | This study examines the manner in which children develop understanding about the letter order and word size (number of letters) of written words. It also examines the relationships between the understandings children develop while learning the written form of their own names and those developed while learning other words. Twelve children, aged three, four, and five, were selected. The study involved the presentation of three tasks to the children. The first task was designed to provide information regarding the children's current expertise with letters, numbers and the written form of their own names. The second task was designed to ascertain how children read their names, the relative values they assign to the various parts of their names and to determine under which conditions the children would no longer accept a given string of letters as their names. The third task examined how the children read words, the relative value they assign to parts of words and to determine under which conditions the children would no longer accept a given string of letters as the same words. The following is a summary of the major findings of this study: 1. The younger of the 12 subjects (mean age 3 years and 9 months) were least able to write their names in standard form and in general, the older children (mean age 5 years and 1 month) tended to have more expertise with letters and numbers than the younger children. 2. Most children appeared to generally apply their understandings about letter order and word size (unique to each child) to all the presented words. The number of incorrect responses with regards to letter order and word size did not differ substantially between manipulations performed on the children's names and those performed on the other words. 3. Of the eight children who did not insist on a particular letter order for their names, seven did not insist on a particular letter order for the other words. 4. All of the four children insisting upon a specific letter order and word size for their names also insisted upon a specific letter order and word size for the other words. 5. The four children insisting upon a specific letter order and word size for their names and for the other words, were able to write their names in standard form. 6. The percentage of incorrect responses did not vary substantially between letter order and word size. Children aged three to five years can hold definite understandings about written words. Their understandings appear to reflect relatively sophisticated levels of knowledge about words. Further, they indicate general expertise regarding our written language system. | |
| dc.format.extent | 120 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/17610 | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.title | Pre-school children's understandings of the significance of letter order and word size | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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