Measuring Lexical Quality: The Role of Spelling Ability

Andrews, S; Veldre, A; Clarke, IE

Measuring Lexical Quality: The Role of Spelling Ability

Andrews, S Veldre, A Clarke, IE

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Publisher:: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Behavior Research Methods, 2020
Issue Date:: 2020-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Andrews, S
dc.contributor.author	Veldre, A
dc.contributor.author	Clarke, IE
dc.date.accessioned	2020-10-03T23:52:22Z
dc.date.available	2020-10-03T23:52:22Z
dc.date.issued	2020-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Behavior Research Methods, 2020
dc.identifier.issn	1554-351X
dc.identifier.issn	1554-3528
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/143061
dc.description.abstract	© 2020, The Psychonomic Society, Inc. The construct of ‘lexical quality’ (Perfetti Scientific Studies of Reading 11, 357–383, 2007) is widely invoked in literature on word recognition and reading to refer to a systematic dimension of individual differences that predicts performance in a range of word identification and reading tasks in both developing readers and skilled adult populations. Many different approaches have been used to assess lexical quality, but few have captured the orthographic precision that is central to the construct. This paper describes, evaluates, and disseminates spelling dictation and spelling recognition tests that were developed to provide sensitive measures of the precision component of lexical quality in skilled college student readers – the population that has provided most of the benchmark data for models of word recognition and reading. Analyses are reported for 785 students who completed the spelling tests in conjunction with standardized measures of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and reading speed, of whom 107 also completed author recognition and phonemic decoding tests. Internal consistency analyses showed that both spelling tests were relatively unidimensional and displayed good internal consistency, although the recognition test contained too many easy items. Item-level analyses are included to provide the basis for further refinement of these instruments. The spelling tests were moderately correlated with the other measures of written language proficiency, but factor analyses revealed that they consistently defined a separate component, demonstrating that they tap a dimension of variability that is partially independent of variance in reading comprehension, speed, and vocabulary. These components appear to align with the precision and coherence dimensions of lexical quality.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
dc.relation.ispartof	Behavior Research Methods
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3758/s13428-020-01387-3
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.subject	0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences
dc.subject.classification	Experimental Psychology
dc.title	Measuring Lexical Quality: The Role of Spelling Ability
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
utslib.for	1701 Psychology
utslib.for	1702 Cognitive Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2020-10-03T23:52:20Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

© 2020, The Psychonomic Society, Inc. The construct of ‘lexical quality’ (Perfetti Scientific Studies of Reading 11, 357–383, 2007) is widely invoked in literature on word recognition and reading to refer to a systematic dimension of individual differences that predicts performance in a range of word identification and reading tasks in both developing readers and skilled adult populations. Many different approaches have been used to assess lexical quality, but few have captured the orthographic precision that is central to the construct. This paper describes, evaluates, and disseminates spelling dictation and spelling recognition tests that were developed to provide sensitive measures of the precision component of lexical quality in skilled college student readers – the population that has provided most of the benchmark data for models of word recognition and reading. Analyses are reported for 785 students who completed the spelling tests in conjunction with standardized measures of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and reading speed, of whom 107 also completed author recognition and phonemic decoding tests. Internal consistency analyses showed that both spelling tests were relatively unidimensional and displayed good internal consistency, although the recognition test contained too many easy items. Item-level analyses are included to provide the basis for further refinement of these instruments. The spelling tests were moderately correlated with the other measures of written language proficiency, but factor analyses revealed that they consistently defined a separate component, demonstrating that they tap a dimension of variability that is partially independent of variance in reading comprehension, speed, and vocabulary. These components appear to align with the precision and coherence dimensions of lexical quality.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/143061