Action research

Topic- 

                    Spelling mistakes in writing sentences.

Introduction :

    Children may face difficulties in many aspects. I noticed some of my children experiencing difficulty in writing with correct spelling. It is important to understand that knowing and analyzing spelling errors is one of the crucial techniques to improve spelling proficiency that will contribute to writing. The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the kind of spelling errors made by the students of 3rd and 4th classes.

Here are the questions that need to be answered

1)Am  I following the correct methods? (my self)

2)why are you unable to write with correct spelling? (to students)

3)Do you enjoy English class? (students)

4)Am I writing legibly?

3)How are the children in your subjects writing? (to colleagues)

4)Do your children spending enough time reading? (to parents)

5)Do your children read aloud while writing? (parents)

6)Do you sit with your children while doing homework? (parents)

7)What should I do to help my children overcome the problem?

Data collection :

    

    After the research questions, I tried to collect the data. Data collection was one of the most crucial steps of the research. I have conducted a pre-test to test their writing abilities.

I scrutinized the class dynamics and patterns of writing that students followed.

Data collection from Colleagues :

I have arranged a meet at my school and asked some questions to my colleagues to get an idea regarding my research topic.

below pics are in the stage of data collection from Teachers and Parents

Here are the responses from my dear colleagues :

Analyzing the data collected from collegues 

I  have analyzed the data collected from my colleagues. Here are the conclusions derived from the data collected from my colleagues.

1)Children feel difficulty in remembering the spellings as there is no 1:1 correspondence of sounds to letters like other languages which poses a problem for learners as spelling is not intuitive.

2)They are unable to remember the spellings as they were not doing the exercises at home 

3)Some children were not paying attention due to a lack of interest.

4)Most of the children doesn't have dictionaries 

5)As English is a nonsensical language sometimes children getting confused with different sounds of the same letters like u sound input and cut.

6) Monotonous way of teaching spoils their interest in learning.

7)Most of the children getting confused with silent letters.

8)Some times teachers may not correct their mistakes 

9)Sufficient practice was not given to children

10)They should practice reading before writing

11)Children feel difficulty with lengthy words.

After analyzing the responses from my colleagues I got a clear idea of what methods should I follow to overcome the problem.

Enquiring the parents :

I have visited some of my children's parents and also spoke to some parents on phone. They told that

1)Their children are not spending much time on writing.

2)While writing they get distracted by the tv programs

3)Most of the children don't have dictionaries

4)Parents are not sitting with their children while writing.

5) Children are writing fast only to complete the homework but not to learn what they have written.

Action phase :

Counselling the parents

After listening to the parents I instructed them on some ideas. Here are instructions given to parents:

Sit with your children while they were writing

Do not switch on the tv while doing homework.

Encourage the children to read aloud while writing.

After the homework is done ask them some questions related to their homework.

My planning 

To help my children overcome the problem of committing errors while writing I have planned some strategies which I'm going to implement in our classroom 

 1)  Make a list of words they have trouble spelling. Give more practice

2)Teach the words relating to the pictures

3)Help them with lengthy words by chunking, which will help them in remembering.

4)Sometimes children get confused with similar words. I tell them to sound them out letter by letter which will help them spell and improve pronunciation

5)Using pictures is a great way to remember the spelling. I plan to turn the words that are difficult to spell into pictures

Ex: Balloon

Keeping the two balloons in the place of "oo"

6)Changing difficult word into a picture

7)Including some fun word games to test spelling skills.

 

I'm going to implement all the above-said methods to make my children write without errors. I'll keep the individual differences of my children in mind I'll go on changing my methods of teaching. A thirst for interesting and innovative methods of teaching has started in me after attending CELT. I use the knowledge which I gain in RIE to get fruitful results in my classroom.

Thank you