Comparing Good and Poor Spellers of Equal Reading and Verbal Abilities

Abstract

Good and poor spellers at the university level were matched for equivalent reading ability; mean WAIS Verbal IQs for the two groups were also equivalent. The good and and poor spellers described similar reading and study habits, however, the good spellers more accurately spelled a list of unknown, difficult words (e.g., pseudogeusia), reflecting two possible strengths compared to poor spellers: (1) superior ability to dissect a word into component sounds and (2) superior knowledge of common letter patterns in the English language (e.g., pseudo).