The effect of a syntactic training on multilingual fifth graders' spelling patterns of noun capitalization in German

Silent orthographic syntactic markers, such as capitalisation of nouns in
German are prone to error throughout schooling. The present study
explores the spelling patterns related to capitalisation in multilingual
pupils with German as a second language and investigates the
efficiency of a syntax-based teaching approach of capitalisation for
pupils’ spelling performance (n = 246). The results show, firstly, that
pupils with German as a second language show similar capitalisation
patterns influenced by lexico-semantic and positional factors as
pupils with German as a first language. Secondly, the results suggest
that a syntax-based teaching approach to capitalisation of nouns is
highly effective especially for nominalizations. The study supports the
assumption that stimulating pupils’ attention to syntactic structures is
beneficial for spelling when these features are represented clearly
and regularly in the writing system, but not in phonology.