The Impact of Teacher-Mediated Cooperative Invented Spelling on Emergent Literacy in Preschool
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22044947 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Liliana Salvador (0000-0002-3878-7094, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, corresponding author), Margarida Alves Martins (0000-0002-2773-1634, ISPA - Instituto Universitário) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 520 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-27 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/educsci16040520 |
| OpenAlex | W7141096698 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Learning to write begins before formal schooling through everyday interactions where children construct ideas about print. Informed by socioconstructivist theory, this quasi-experimental study evaluated the impact of naturalistic, teacher-mediated cooperative invented spelling activities in Portuguese preschools. The participants were 88 five-year-olds from six classes in three schools. Classrooms were randomly assigned within schools to an intervention group (n = 43) or a comparison group (n = 45). For two months, the intervention group engaged in weekly spelling discussions integrated into regular activities, while the comparison group followed the standard curriculum. Pre- and post-intervention spelling assessments and classroom observations were conducted. The results showed a strong positive intervention effect. The intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvement in representing sounds in their spelling than the comparison group. Observations revealed that when teachers scaffolded discussions with open questions, and children, with varying knowledge levels, helped each other by explaining their thinking. This transformed spelling into a shared problem-solving task. The study confirmed invented spelling as a valuable classroom activity that advances alphabetic understanding. It was demonstrated that early literacy can be effectively nurtured through structured dialogue and collaboration within the regular preschool day. These findings provided a practical, theory-aligned model for supporting literacy development through social interaction
Emergent literacy · Literacy · Portuguese · Primary education · Spelling · Teaching method · Digital Communication and Language · Reading and Literacy Development · Writing and Handwriting Education
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Is there a causal link from phonological awareness to success in learning to read?
Phonological awareness and early reading
Scaffolding in Teacher–Student Interaction
The impact of a naturalistic intervention on preschool children’s morphological awareness development
Examining early childhood teachers’ writing practices
Promoting high-leverage writing instruction through an early childhood classroom daily routine (WPI)
The development of young children's awareness of the word as a unit of spoken language
Phonemic Awareness Instruction Helps Children Learn to Read
Promoting Early Literacy via Practicing Invented Spelling
Invented spelling in kindergarten as a predictor of reading and spelling in Grade 1
| Highly cited | No |
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