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• L2 learners decode complex graphemes as native readers do. • L2 learners interiorize English phonology early in development. • Native language orthography has influence on L2 orthographic learning. • Just before middle-childhood is a key stage for biliteracy acquisition. Phonemic correspondences for a particular grapheme are not always congruent across languages. Also, some complex graphemes can be found in some languages but not in others. The purpose of this study is to determine if the congruency and complexity of English graphemes influence letter detection in L2 learners. We further investigated whether age group (7-, 9- and 11-year-old children, and university undergraduates) determines the size of these effects. Participants completed two different letter detection tasks using the mouse-tracking paradigm. Results from Experiment 1 indicate that only younger children are slightly affected by incongruent graphemes. Results from Experiment 2 show that all readers perform worse with complex graphemes. L2 learners interiorize English phonology at early stages, being barely affected by their native Spanish language. Importantly, L2 learners decode complex graphemes similarly to native English readers. Interpretations based on the BIA-d model are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Handwriting speed does not develop at the same pace as graphic speed. • Handwriting speed is independent of graphic speed by the age of 12. • Lexicality and word length did not affect writing durations in children aged 8-12. • Spanish 8-12-year-olds use both lexical and sublexical information to spell. The present study addresses how handwriting speed increases with age among Spanish 8-, 10- and 12-year-old children (n = 60), and how this progression is related to spelling and more general graphic skills. Handwriting speed was measured in a spelling-to-dictation and a copying task, and graphic speed was measured in a trail tracing task. Results revealed that handwriting speed significantly increased from age 8 to 10 and remained stable up to 12 years of age, while graphic speed substantially increased only between 10 and 12 years of age. Thus, handwriting speed and graphic speed do not seem to follow the same pattern of development. Moreover, the relationship between linguistic processes and graphic skills with handwriting speed was not the same for all the groups. In the younger group, a different speed profile was obtained for each task, while in the groups of 10- and 12-year-olds, speed was similar in all the linguistic tasks. Graphic speed was positively correlated with speed in the spelling task only around the age of 10, and by age of 12 graphic speed correlated negatively when handwriting neatness was prioritized. Altogether, these results show that handwriting speed becomes consistent around the age of 10, when it is mostly affected by spelling ability and, in some circumstances, by graphic speed. By the age of 12, speed in linguistic tasks becomes decoupled from graphic speed and it is adapted depending on the relative importance of neatness and speed for the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]