Ortographic difficulties in writing at a basic grade level

This study aimed to identify the performance in children’s writing at a basic grade level. A written test was applied to 546 grade 2 or 3 boys and girls (aged 7 to 13) in public and private schools from the State of São Paulo. The results showed that the grade 3 participants presented a better performance than the grade 2 participants even though both groups have achieved the same maximum and minimum scores. It was confirmed that participants had more difficulty with words containing compound syllables, while words with aggregated consonants and digraphs were associated with the highest rate of correct answers. Furthermore, students from private school revealed more competence in orthographic writing than those coming from public schools. As to gender differences, there were no significant differences in performance for compound and complex syllables items though for other words, girls had better scores. Keywords: writing; academic achievement; evaluation.