Can yu rid guat ay rot? A developmental investigation of cross-linguistic spelling errors among Spanish-English bilingual students.

This study contributes to the literature on cross-linguistic literacy relationships for English language learners, and in particular, the Spanish-influenced spelling patterns of Spanish-English bilinguals. English spelling, reading and vocabulary assessments were administered to 220 students in four TWI programs over a three-year period, from 2nd grade to 4th grade. Data analysis consisted of t-tests and multiple regression. The incidence of cross-linguistic spelling errors was found to be low at all grade levels and to virtually disappear by 4th grade, indicating that this is a developmental issue that is common among bilingual students and that resolves itself without remediation.