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Effects of the Presence of Flashcards with Jumbled Letters to the Word Formulation of Grade 3 Pupils in Sta. Cruz Elementary School, Sto. Tomas, Batangas

Joyce Trissia B. Mendoza Aliza Joana D. Cuenca PSY 106, BS Psychology 321 Mrs. Marjorie S. Villa

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Abstract This experiment looked at the Effects of the Presence of Flashcards with Jumbled Letters to the Word Formulation. The participants has a total population of 48 Grade 3 pupils at Sta. Cruz Elementary School in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. The population is divided into two groups by randomization: 24 pupils in the control group and 24 pupils in the experimental group since the researchers used the between subjects design. The control group received the normal way of giving spelling activity, the oral dictation of words. The experimental group received also the oral dictation of words but they are also shown flashcards with jumbled letters of the words that are being spelled. The computed value of t was – 1.7 and is less than the tabular value, 2.021 with df of 46 and the α of .05. This means that the presence of flashcards with jumbled letters has no significant effect on the word formulation of Grade 3 pupils.

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Methodology This experiment was conducted at Sta. Cruz Elementary School in Sta. Cruz, Sto. Tomas, Batangas. The subjects of the experiment were taken from the total population of 48 pupils of Grade 3. They were randomly divided into two groups: 24 pupils for the control group and 24 pupils for the experimental group. The experimenters used the normal way of giving spelling or the oral recitation of words to the pupils on the control group. Materials such as flashcards were used by the experimenters to show the jumbled letters for word formulation. The experimental research of the experimenters started on March 13, 2014 at Sta. Cruz Elementary School in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. The first activity conducted was giving the spelling activity orally. A closed room was used as the venue for the activity. Fortunately, other rooms near the venue were empty because there are no classes. Extraneous variables were lessen because of that matter. The experimenters dictated the twelve (12) words to the 24 pupils who are members of the control group. The subjects of the research were informed to write every word that the experimenter’s say based on their understanding. At the same day, the experiment for experimental group was also conducted. Aside from dictating the words to be spelled by the pupils, the researchers provided flashcards with jumbled letters that are the words that are being dictated at the same time. The words that were delivered on the control group is the same as the words that were delivered on the experimental group. The extraneous variable that arose on the control and experimental group was the noise coming from the pupils as they perform the spelling activity. The experimenters informed the students to be quiet as they were answering the activity for them to answer correctly.

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Hypothesis There is no significant effect of the presence of flashcards with jumbled letters to the word formulation of Grade 3 pupils.

A Comparison of Spelling Abilities for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grades Spelling is such a vital part of education that children begin it right away. One of the first things most parents do when their children are old enough is to teach them how their names are spelled. Then they teach their kids to write their names. No child wants to be the only student who cannot spell their name on the first day of school. Even at a young age, children themselves know the importance of spelling. In the first and second grades, students focus on phonetics. They begin to explore vowel and consonant sounds and learn how these sounds come together to make words. This prepares the students to become better readers by increasing their decoding skills. As the years progress, the students increase their spelling skills and expand their vocabularies for application in other classes and in the real world. Third graders are assumed to have developed stronger spelling skills. As a result, they will find themselves adding on more complicated elements to what they have learned in the first and second grades. In the third grade, students must show their ability to spell and a thorough recognition of the alphabet by placing words in alphabetical order. Third graders will also learn about the correct way to write contractions and compound words. Spelling worksheets and games are used

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to review the distinction between sound and spelling. Students also learn about homophones, homographs, affixes and other word variations in their third academic years. Each week, third grade students may focus on one spelling convention such as when to add “s” or “es” when making plural forms. They also concentrate on dividing words into syllables so that the words can be read more fluently and pronounced accurately. From the 1st to 3rd grades, students are expected to learn a great deal about spelling, in addition to all the other rigorous subjects they must learn. Many students struggle during these years to master the skills they need to succeed in the higher grades. It is not that the students are incapable; it is merely that one can only do so much in one school day that is split up to cover so many areas. Unfortunately, teachers rarely have the time to wait for the struggling students to catch up. These students end up falling behind. This is a terrible thing to occur in any class, but when it happens in spelling, it is even worse, almost tragic. Students who do not pick up the necessary spelling skills in the early grades find it almost impossible to advance to higher levels of education. Surely, this must sound awful to you, a parent who is going through a situation like this with your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grader. It is okay. Your child can acquire the spelling help that he or she needs to be successful. Even if spelling is his greatest weakness, using the right spelling resource, he can make it his greatest strength. Children learning to spell at school will find the difficulty-level in words being taught increase from year to year as they progress through the school grading system. If you are not sure what these words might be, here are a few examples to help you become familiar. In Grade 1 children will be introduced to the most basic words, and vowel sounds such as am, an,

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as, at, rat, sat, cat, bad, mad, pad in lesson 1, right through to words such as heat, bang, fang, gang, tank, rank, sank, and dime by the end of the year. Grade 2 words become progressively more difficult as they explore the various sounds vowels can make when forming certain words. Words covered range from lime, fine, tell, yell, belt, rave, gave in lesson 1, to clover, over, solar, homely, poem by the end of the year, with a more thorough examination of the vowels a, e, and i, when used in more complex situations, and longer words such as blaze, steep, sequence, fritter, and pattern. In Grade 3 students are taught about the vowels o, and u, and how words are formed using these such as doctor, morning, moose, lunar, rudder, and gruel, and then go on to be introduced to the concept of syllables, and words that feature different vowels within the one word. That may all sound very simple, and easy, but beware it won’t be. Hark back to your days at school, and when you first started to learn how to spell. Yes, it was tricky wasn’t it when you came up against words where it sounded like a “e” should be there but in fact it was a “u”? Well, now your child is going to be in exactly the same position with the same pressures. By the end of Grade 3, your child may well be a little perplexed by all the different “rules,” and “regulations” they need to learn in the complicated English language, and will no doubt require assistance through these first three years of school. Alphabet knowledge is a significant predictor of future reading success. Students at the earliest stages of reading require instruction in letter names and formation among other critical pieces of early literacy instruction (i.e., phonological awareness and phonics instruction, concept of word development using connected text, vocabulary and comprehension development

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through read aloud, writing opportunities to practice their developing knowledge of letters and sounds).

These activities can be as simple as tracking the alphabet while singing "The ABC Song". Students can use special pointers while tracking as a motivator. These pointers can be used to locate particular letters as you call them out. Children who are learning the alphabet need practice discriminating among letters and making connections between upper case letters and their lower case counterparts. Upper and lower case connections can initially be discussed through the child's name. You can have a student's name in all upper case letters and in all lower case letters for the student to match. Using names is extremely motivating. Once students can identify the letters in their first names, you can move on to their last names. Students can also learn the letters in the names of other children in their group or the letters of a family member. You should continue to teach letter recognition, naming, and formation until your children can accurately and rapidly identify all upper and lower case letters, as well as write them.

Picture and Word Sorts

After children have learned several letters of the alphabet, they will begin learning the sounds that letters make in words. One way to help children distinguish among sounds is by sorting objects or pictures by initial sounds. The goal of sorting is to emphasize similarities and differences among target features to help students conceptualize the categories. Two to four categories are generally sufficient. A picture sort is a categorization task in which pictures are sorted into categories of similarities and differences. Pictures may be sorted by sound and position (e.g., the /m/ sound at

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the beginning of mouse versus the /s/ sound at the beginning of sun). Picture sorts are cued by headers placed at the top of each category. Once children know most letter-sound correspondences and are representing beginning and ending sounds in their spellings, they may begin to sort words as well as pictures. A word sort is a categorization task in which words are sorted into categories. Word sorting involves comparing and contrasting within and across categories. Words are sorted by sound, pattern, and position (e.g., the /ag/ sound at the end of bag that is spelled -ag). Word sorts are cued by headers placed at the top of each category.

Picture and word sorts can easily be done in group settings using pocket charts. First, explicitly introduce the sort by discussing headers and placing them in the pocket chart. The sound, pattern, and position of the target feature should be emphasized. Explicit talk should include declarative knowledge (i.e., the what), procedural knowledge (i.e., the how), and conditional knowledge (i.e., the when and why). When introducing the familiar rime ip, the teacher might say, "When you see the letters i-p, you know that these two letters together say /ip/ as in lip. So, when you see the word hip, you can take what you know h and ip and put them together to make hip." After the sort is introduced to the group, children should have opportunities throughout the week to practice their own sorts, both with teacher guidance and independently. As children sort pictures and words, errors should not be corrected initially unless you feel that it is necessary. After the sort is completed, the students check their sorts, and you should address any errors by discussing why a decision to change the category for a particular picture or word was made. As each column is read, you should review the headers and what each word in the

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category has in common noting again the sound, pattern, and position. For example, after reading the words sat, hat, mat, pat, rat in the category -at as in cat, the teacher and children would discuss that each of these words ends with /at/ and has the spelling pattern -at at the end. After sorting the pictures mail, man, moon, mop, mitten in the category m- as in mouse, you should discuss that each of the pictures begins with the sound /m/ and the letter "m".

Picture and word sorts can be complemented with games. For example, a Bingo game is a perfect way to review and practice target features. The game board can be interspersed with pictures and letters for students learning initial sounds or pictures and words for students learning short vowel word families.

Writing Sorts

A writing sort often follows a word sort. Headers are placed on paper, and word cards are jumbled up. The words can either be seen by the students to assist them in writing their words in the appropriate columns, or they can be called out by a teacher or another student. Writing sorts can be done with teacher support, in student pairs, or as independent work. Begin by picking a word from the word cards of the sort and modeling the steps described next. First, read the word aloud and determine the appropriate category thinking about the sound, pattern, and position. Think aloud by saying: "This is the wordrap. Rap - cat OR rap cap. Rap sounds like cap at the end. They both say /ap/, and they rhyme. So, I know that rap needs to go in the cap category because they both say /ap/ at the end. I can use what I know about cap to write the word rap. I know that the /ap/ at the end of cap is spelled a-p, so I can spell rap with a-p at the end. So, I should write r first since rap begins with the /r/ sound and

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then I should write a-p like in the word cap." After determining the appropriate category, model writing the word in the correct column as the students write the word in their own writing sorts. The students can use their word card to check their spelling of the word. After modeling 2 to 3 words, have the students think through the process with your support. When they have written all of the words from their sort, they should read each column and verbalize what is the same about each category: sound, pattern, position. For example, after reading the words tap, rap, lap, map, nap in the category -ap as in cap, you would discuss that each of these words ends with /ap/ and has the spelling pattern -ap at the end.

Blending and Segmenting Activities The goal of manipulation is to segment and blend words at the level of the phoneme (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/ - cat). If it is difficult in the beginning, then segment and blend at the level of the onset and rime (e.g., /c/ /at/ - cat). Elkonin-type boxes can be used to keep the rime together either for additional support or for emphasizing the rime. For example, c at

You should explicitly talk about the sounds in words emphasizing each sound. The number of sounds in words can be discussed. This discussion is especially beneficial when segmenting words with digraphs and blends. For example, when segmenting the word chip, you should note that chip has four letters but only three sounds. Words should be blended back together after segmentation. Elkonin boxes can be used here to further emphasize the digraph. For example, Ch i p

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You should begin the manipulation activity by saying the word aloud for the children. Verbalize each sound in the word while supporting the children in finding the letter tiles needed for each sound. Next, segment each sound in the word chorally with the students while pushing the corresponding letter tile. Blend the sounds together chorally to make the whole word. You should talk explicitly about how many sounds the word has and the corresponding letters for each sound. The word's connection to the target features of phonics/spelling instruction can also be explicitly discussed. For example, after pushing and saying chip, discuss the category chas in the word chin. Continue with the next word following the same procedure.

Conclusion

The presence of flashcards with jumbled letters has no significant effect on the word formulation of the Grade 3 pupils of Sta. Cruz Elementary School.

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Frequency Distribution Table of the Scores of Grade 3 Pupils in the Control and Experimental Group Table 1

Student No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

X 0 5 0 0 4 3 5 0 6 2 8 4 5 1 6 9 7 8 2 2 7 11 5 7 ΣX1=107

Y 1 9 5 0 3 8 7 0 8 3 11 4 8 0 7 12 9 9 4 5 9 10 5 10 ΣY=147

X2 0 25 0 0 16 9 25 0 36 4 64 16 25 1 36 81 49 64 4 4 49 121 25 49 ΣX2=703

Y2 1 81 25 0 9 64 49 0 64 9 121 16 64 0 49 144 81 81 16 25 81 100 25 100 ΣY2=1205

X= scores of pupils in control group Y= scores of pupils in experimental group

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References

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/a-comparison-of-spelling-abilities-for-1st-2nd-and-3rd-grades-2/ http://www.readingfirst.virginia.edu/prof_dev/phonics/iadpss.html