Fostering Early Literacy through Systematic Instruction in German Spelling

Findings from a First-Grade Intervention Study

Abstract

The German writing system is characterized by a high degree of internal consistency. Various didactic models and empirical studies have demonstrated how this systematic nature can be leveraged in reading and spelling instruction. The present study builds on two intervention studies conducted in secondary education that provided empirical evidence for the effectiveness of instruction focusing on written word structure in fostering reading and spelling development. In this paper, we examine whether an approach centered on the structure of written words can support students in developing a coherent understanding of the writing system during early literacy instruction. The results for word reading and spelling show that children in the intervention group developed their spelling abilities at least as well as those in the control group. In some subdomains, significant intervention effects were found; for word reading, students in the intervention group showed slightly greater average gains, although these differences were not statistically significant.