Effects of Listening/Reading Comprehension and Morphological Awareness on First Graders’ Writing to Dictation: A Comparison of the Effect of Memorization

Naya  Choi; Jieun  Kiaer; Eunock  Jun; Taeyeon  Kim

doi:10.18488/journal.61.2020.82.278.288

Authors

Naya Choi Dept. of Child Development & Family Studies, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9189-9370
Jieun Kiaer Oriental Institute, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0195-8213
Eunock Jun Dept. of Child Development & Family Studies, The Catholic University of Korea, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4474-6299
Taeyeon Kim Policy Research Team, Gyeonggi Family and Women Research Institute, Gyeongsu-daero, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9721-6358

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.61.2020.82.278.288

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the cognitive abilities of listening and reading comprehension and morphological awareness affect children’s writing to dictation. Data were collected from 194 first-grade elementary schoolchildren in South Korea on the effects of repetitive practice and memorization by comparing impromptu and one semester’s regular dictation tests. The results first revealed that spelling, spacing, and punctuation were highly correlated with the three cognitive abilities in the impromptu writing to dictation, but far less in the regular dictation test. Second, it was found that children’s listening and reading comprehension and morphological awareness influenced their spelling, while reading comprehension and morphological awareness affected spacing and punctuation significantly in the impromptu dictation test. However, in the case of the regular dictation test, which involved memorization, the number of significant factors was small, and final explanatory power of those cognitive abilities was much smaller.