Orthographic profile of schoolchildren after returning to in-person classes in times of pandemic

ABSTRACT Purpose: to assess the orthographic profile of schoolchildren, after returning to in-person classes, during the pandemic. Methods: a cross-sectional, quali-quantitative study involving 50 children aged 9 and 10 years old, enrolled in the 4th grade of private schools. Participants were divided into two groups based on the teaching modality adopted in the second semester of 2021: a hybrid group (remote and in-person learning) and a fully in-person group. Data collection occurred through teacher referrals, who also completed a questionnaire on the students’ academic performance. The collective version of the Pró-Ortografia protocol was used, including dictation tasks (words, pseudowords, and pictures) and written production. Data were analyzed using the Student’s t-test with a 5% significance level. Results: the hybrid group showed a significantly higher average of phoneme-grapheme correspondence rule-based errors in the pseudoword dictation (6.1 ± 3.3) compared to the in-person group (4.4 ± 2.1; p = 0.001). Significant differences were also found in accentuation errors in both pseudowords (1.3 ± 0.7 vs. 0.7 ± 0.9) and words (9.9 ± 4.8 vs. 7.2 ± 4.5), both with p = 0.001. Conclusion: hybrid teaching was associated with a higher frequency of orthographic errors, suggesting negative impacts on orthographic learning.