The relationship between spelling ability, motivation and self-efficacy

Abstract A wealth of research has established the importance of affective factors in understanding children’s reading and writing outcomes. However, little research has explored the role of affective factors in understanding children’s spelling ability. The present study explored the relationship between spelling ability, motivation and self-efficacy. A total of 194 children of primary school age (8–11 years old) completed measures of spelling ability, motivation and self-efficacy at one time point. The findings reported spelling ability to have a moderate positive correlation with spelling self-efficacy, intrinsic spelling motivation, and extrinsic spelling motivation. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a multidimensional structure in which the lower-order factors loaded onto three distinct higher-order intrinsic spelling motivation, extrinsic spelling motivation, and spelling self-efficacy higher-order constructs, providing evidence for the conceptual separation of these affective components. Multiple regression analyses showed spelling self-efficacy and intrinsic spelling motivation to be significant positive predictors of spelling ability; with a non-significant result found for extrinsic spelling motivation. By addressing an overlooked area of spelling research to date, this paper extends the existing literature and highlights several implications and avenues for further research. This paper also offers a promising scale for teachers and researchers to use.