Abstract:
The objectives of this work are to describe and compare the orthographic and perceptual performance
of obstruent consonants in Portuguese of Mozambican students who have Emakhuwa as L1 and those
who have Portuguese as L1, as well as verify the existence of possible correlations between
orthographic and perceptual performance in both groups. As hypotheses, with regard to descriptive
data, we expect that participants from both groups obtain a greater number of hits than errors in the
classes studied and that, within the classes, the feature cue [voice] is the least robust for the
experimental group and the most robust for the trace group. As for the comparative data, we expect
that the experimental group presents lower orthographic and perceptual performance compared to the
participants of the control group. As far as correlation data are concerned, we expect that between
spelling and perception there are correlations. The collection of perception data was done using the
phonological contrasts identification test (Rauber et al., 2012) and the collection of orthographic data
was based on the dictation of images. As main results, at the level of descriptive data, we observed a
greater number of hits than errors in the two classes studied at the perceptual and orthographic level.
We also observed that, within the two classes studied, the experimental group had lower performance
in the trace cue [voice]. With regard to comparative data, we found out that participants in the
experimental group with Portuguese as L2, present lower orthographic and perceptual performance
compared to participants in the control group with Portuguese as L1. Another result showed that, in
general, there are no correlations between spelling and perception at the level of the participants of the
studied groups, in the two phonological classes. The study concluded that the poor performance
observed in the spelling of Portuguese stops by the experimental group is perhaps related to the lack of
voiced consonants in the Emakhuwa linguistic system. Regarding the balanced performance verified in
the spelling of fricatives, the study concluded that this was probably due to the fact that participants in
the experimental group had developed skills similar to those of the experimental group, as a result of
their literacy experience throughout schooling. Regarding the lack of correlations observed in the class
of obstruents in both groups, in general, the study concluded that, eventually, in the advanced phase of
schooling, regardless of the L1 or L2 context, when the correlation is measured between perceptual
and spellings the same tends not to exist.
