Za vrijeme osnovnoškolskog obrazovanja, učenici često nailaze na poteškoće, tj. rade pogreške pri pismenom izražavanju ne poštujući pravopisna pravila. Iako se, prema Nastavnome planu i programu za osnovnu školu (2006), može reći da će učenici po završetku 4. razreda imati određena pravopisna znanja, to nije uvijek tako. Stoga je provedeno istraživanje kojim se željelo utvrditi kolika je usvojenost pravopisne norme kod učenika 3. i 4. razreda s posebnim naglaskom na pisanje velikog početnog slova, razlikovanje glasova i glasovnih skupova č i ć te ije/je/e/i i upotrebu interpunkcijskih znakova (razgodaka). Istraživanje je provedeno u dvije osnovne škole (OŠ Stanovi u Zadru i OŠ Ivana Kozarca u Županji) na temelju diktata, a polazilo se od hipoteza da će učenici 4. razreda pokazati bolju usvojenost od učenika 3. razreda te da će učenici iz Županje imati bolje rezultate od učenika iz Zadra s obzirom da Županja pripada Slavoniji gdje je jezik svakodnevne komunikacije bliži standardnom (književnom) jeziku, dok je u Zadru prisutan ikavski izgovor. Prema rezultatima ovog istraživanja, učenici 4. razreda pokazali su bolju usvojenost, ali u dvije (č i ć te ije/je/e/i), od četiri provjeravane kategorije pravopisne norme, a područje življenja se nije ispostavilo kao presudno u tome tko će biti bolji ili lošiji kada je u pitanju pravopis. S obzirom da je istraživanje provedeno na manjem broju ispitanika (77), ove rezultate treba uzeti s oprezom jer bi istraživanje na reprezentativnom uzorku, odnosno dovoljno velikom broju ispitanika, moglo pokazati drugačije stanje.

During the years in the primary education, students often encounter difficulties, i.e. they make mistakes in written expression without respecting the rules of spelling. Although, according to the Teaching plan and program for elementary school (2006), it can be said that the students will have a ceratin orthographic knowledge by the end of the 4th grade, this is not always so. Therefore, the study was conducted, which aim was to determine how much the acquisition of orthographic norms of students 3rd and 4th class with an emphasis on writing capital letters, distinguish sounds and sound sets of č and ć as well as /ije/je/e/i and the use of punctuations. The study had a dictation as its basis and was conducted in two primary schools (Primary school Stanovi in Zadar and Primary school Ivan Kozarac in Županja). The study started with the assupmtion that the 4th grade students will show better attainment than those of 3rd grade and that the students from Županja will have better results than students from Zadar, because Županja is situated in Slavonia, where the language of everyday communication is closer to the standard (literary) Croatian language, whereas in Zadar there is an Ikavian dialect. According to the results of this research, 4th grade students showed better attainment, but only in two (č and ć and ije/je/e/ i) out of the four spelling norms categories that were tested and the residential area emerged as an insignificant factor of the primary hypothesis when it comes to spelling. Since the research was conducted on a smaller number of examinees (77), this performance should be taken with caution because the study on a representative sample, that is to say, on a large enough number of respondents, could show a different situation.