Is spelling related to written composition? A longitudinal study in French

This research aims at exploring in an irregular orthographic system like French, if spelling is related to written composition. French particularly interesting because it includes phonographic irregularities (i.e., inconsistencies), lexical difficulties and numerous morphological silent marks (e.g., plural noun, adjective, verb agreement). In a longitudinal study from the beginning of Grade 3 end 4, pupils (N = 173) were asked twice every grade compose narrative texts strips. Text length, text completeness three categories errors coded analyzed through multilevel growth curve models. Results show (1) growing relationship between production performance, (2) that this varied according whether length or completeness, (3) its strength evolution depended on type (phonographic, lexical, morphological).