Classroom Research on Spellings

 

 

     Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound into writing. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element.  

   But my class students have been struggling to learn, remember and recall the spellings.So I would like to find out the problem and the solutions.

Research topic:

  "Many of Class V children are not able to recall spellings."

Basic questions:

1. Where am I failing?Which strategy should I adopt to get the better results?(to self)

2.What makes you hard to remember spellings?(to children )

3.Do your children also facing the same problem?(to fellow teachers)

4.Does your child do work at the home?( to parents)

5.How can I use technology to overcome this problem?(to self)

  keeping all the above questions in my mind, I introspected my teaching style. I created some Google Forms with sub questions and sent them to the students, parents and fellow teachers to collect the required data.

These are the Google Forms which I used for the data collection;

1.For students;

https://forms.gle/ETjXPpisVbfNwPX56

2.For parents;

https://forms.gle/Dg63NCTBA4VVdPEi6

3.For fellow teachers;

https://forms.gle/WWbmQnbShsC1b3PM9

Analysis of data collected from children:

.

       I talked with many students during this survey. By this survey its clear that more than 70% of the children face problem in remembering the spellings. They feel difficult to remember the spellings so they forget. So the children have less vocabulary. Only 40% of the children do their homework regularly. This might be one of the reason for the problem.

Analysis of data collected from the parents:

  I talked with many parents. I came to know that many parents are not aware of their child's spelling mistakes, only 60% of the patents encourage their children to do homework and study at home at least for half an hour. Only 40% of the parents guide their children for their studies. This is one of the reasons for the problem.

Analysis of data collected from the fellow teachers:

 

  I interacted with 24 teachers. I learnt that they also face the same problem, many of their students make spelling mistakes. The teachers try to correct their mistakes. They tried and shared some innovative techniques to teach the spellings. Some of them are listed below;

Teach with picture card &explanation clearly

Giving more practice to them orally and also teaching them using phonemes .Exposing them to more words part from the text

1.Oral correction after the dictation test 2.Peer correction by interchanging notebooks 3.Regular dictation in basic structural words from 1letter, 2letters, 3letters, and so on. 4. Self-correction in composition before writing it in the composition notebook. 5.Regular Phonic drill

Make them to read when they are writing. If they use phonetic sounds to read that will be better to teach spellings.

Through Game, Activities.

Daily practice in handwriting and homework.

Mostly word scramble game would be better... Reading the words alphabet wise by the students would help them... Then I feel, let the students express whatever they feel, no matter mistakes... because that they will learn later.. Practice, exercise can improve their spellings

SPELLING GAME, WORD SEARCH, ETC...

Usage of proper pronunciation ,encourage children to participate in spell test

key words practice ,missing letters ,crossword puzzles ..etc.

Drilling of the same sounded words, Homophones etc.

Have to produce the proper sound

Practice is the best technique to teach in primary level

Same beginning sound words, same ending sound words ( rhyming words) like cat, cap, can, care,  cage...etc

Take care when letters are repeated.

Reading the words with syllables, joining two words, adding prefixes and suffixes etc.

1.repeated the words again and again 2. Picture reading with spelling 3. Missing letter exercise 4. Everyday dictation 5. Chart reading

Teaching one letter, two letter, three letter etc, words. Then conducting continuous dictations and also teaching basic phonetics.

Give more practice according to their mistakes

Clear pronunciation.. (not phonetic style) Writing practice..(Ex:doubt) Usage of more times.... Assigning symbols....

Good Use of Black Board Flash Cards Puzzles

List out the words which make mistakes by students regularly. ,after that take chart write down all the words and paste it in front of kids. Tell them read all the words and write it in a copy book do home work each word 5times....And the next day u take dictation. I'm regularly usage this technique.....

I use syllabication method

Dictate the words Language games etc

8 Fun Ways to Teach Spelling

• Create rhymes and raps using spelling. Part of teaching students new spelling words is to engage them beyond the classroom. ...
• Create a spelling wall in the classroom. ...
• Make a fun crossword. ...
• Jumble word. ...
• Use arts and crafts to encourage spelling. ...
• Create a game of word bingo. ...
• Word heads. ...
• Build a word train.

By all these survey and the discussion I decided to teach our children spellings in different approach. My plan of action given below;

Plan of Action: 

Weak-1

I will teach and make them practice  the right way of writing English alphabet.

Weak-2

Practice with 2,3 and 4 letter words and sight words.

Weak-3

I will try above mentioned *8 ways to teach spellings.

Weak-4

I will teach them how to use dictionary, how to maintain word's book, I will conduct the dictation regularly.

Conclusion:

         By this exploratory research I found the problem and the solution, learnt many new things about the children and teaching learning process. By this I learnt many ways to teach spellings. I will work with the new techniques to get the results and continue the research.