Evaluating Japanese University Students' Spelling Test Performance: Focusing on Spelling Test Formats

Abstract

Spelling tests have been used to diagnose learners' spelling acquisition in English speaking countries (Ll). Previous studies have fbcused mainly on (a) spelling acquisition and (b) the relationships among spelling tests and other types of test (e.g., writing tests, proficiency tests, or cognitive function tests). Therefbre, the spelling test formats or the reason fbr using those spelling tests were varied. On the other hand, only a small number of studies fbcused on L2 learners or EFL learners spelling acquisition. In other words, studies on spelling acquisition have not received much attention in L2 or EFL. The purpose of this study was to diagnose Japanese university students' spelling knowledge (which is closely related to depth of vocabulary knowledge) with recall (production) tests (i.e., story form, timed dictation, list form, L2 to Ll translation task) and recogriition tests (i,e., multiple-choice, matching task). In order to identify learners' weaknesses in spelling knowledge, several tasks had to be developed. After quantitatively analyzing scores en spelling tests, the same data were qualitatively analyzed using implicational scaling (Hatch & Lazaraton, 1991) to ciarify acquisition order ofEnglish spelling ainong Japanese university students.