It is widely accepted that phonological awareness and letter knowledge positively influence reading and spelling results in grade 1. However, few studies have tested the contribution of invented spelling - the way children spell before formal reading and writing instruction, on reading and spelling performance. In this study, our aim was to examine the impact of invented spelling in kindergarten on reading and spelling at the end of grade 1 after accounting for the influence of phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge, in the context of Portuguese literacy acquisition. A total of 92 5-year-old Portuguese children were involved in the study. Their phonological awareness, letter knowledge and invented spelling were evaluated in kindergarten and were used to forecast word reading and spelling at the end of first grade. Correlation statistics, sequential regression analysis and path analysis models were used. Children’s general cognitive ability and parental educational level were used as control variables. The findings indicated that invented spelling predicted reading and spelling performance at the end of grade 1 even after accounting for phonological awareness and knowledge of the alphabet. Phonological awareness played a role in the development of invented spelling, had also a direct influence on spelling but its influence on reading was only through invented spelling. Letter knowledge also played a role in the development of invented spelling and had also a direct influence on reading and spelling results at the end of grade1. These results align with previous research in different linguistic contexts and highlight the importance of invented spelling in the early stages of literacy development.

Keywords: Early literacy, invented spelling, reading, spelling.