Abstract English spelling is widely investigated, but little is known about spelling in English as an additional language (EAL), especially in the context of text production. This study examined the contribution of language-specific Italian and EAL spelling knowledge, and inhibition skills to EAL spelling in Italian adolescents’ essays. Fifty students, attending two language-focused high schools in Italy, completed standardized spelling tests in Italian and English, a Flanker task to assess inhibition skills, and two, persuasive texts in English. Texts were scored for spelling errors, fluency (words/minute), lexical diversity (type token ratio, TTR), and productivity (total words). Spelling errors in EAL writing were 3%. An exploratory factor analysis identified two factors accounting for EAL spelling in writing: a general EAL spelling/writing (including spelling ability, writing fluency, TTR and total words) factor, and a cognitive factor, corresponding to response inhibition skills. Italian spelling skills did not predict EAL-in-text spelling. The only significant predictors of spelling in EAL writing were EAL spelling/writing and inhibition skills. Inhibition skills contributed to explain morphological and code-switch errors, but not phonological and orthographic errors in English texts. These findings align with the contrastive typological framework and phonological and orthographic proximity hypothesis of language transfer.

中文翻译：

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第一语言拼写和反应抑制技能对英语作为附加语言拼写的影响

摘要 英语拼写得到了广泛的研究，但对作为附加语言 (EAL) 的英语拼写知之甚少，尤其是在文本制作的上下文中。本研究检验了特定语言的意大利语和 EAL 拼写知识以及抑制技能对意大利青少年论文中 EAL 拼写的贡献。50 名学生在意大利的两所以语言为重点的高中就读，完成了意大利语和英语的标准化拼写测试、评估抑制技能的 Flanker 任务以及两篇有说服力的英语文本。文本根据拼写错误、流畅度（字数/分钟）、词汇多样性（类型标记比率，TTR）和生产力（总字数）进行评分。EAL 写作中的拼写错误为 3%。探索性因素分析确定了影响 EAL 写作拼写的两个因素：一个一般的EAL拼写/写作（包括拼写能力、写作流畅度、TTR和总字数）因素，以及一个认知因素，对应于反应抑制技能。意大利语拼写技巧无法预测 EAL 文本拼写。EAL 写作中唯一重要的拼写预测因素是 EAL 拼写/写作和抑制技能。抑制技能有助于解释英语文本中的形态和代码转换错误，但不能解释语音和拼写错误。这些发现与语言迁移的对比类型学框架和语音和拼写接近假设一致。EAL 写作中唯一重要的拼写预测因素是 EAL 拼写/写作和抑制技能。抑制技能有助于解释英语文本中的形态和代码转换错误，但不能解释语音和拼写错误。这些发现与语言迁移的对比类型学框架和语音和拼写接近假设一致。EAL 写作中唯一重要的拼写预测因素是 EAL 拼写/写作和抑制技能。抑制技能有助于解释英语文本中的形态和代码转换错误，但不能解释语音和拼写错误。这些发现与语言迁移的对比类型学框架和语音和拼写接近假设一致。