To develop solid language skills is to equip oneself with the raw materials for complex thought and the essential tools for communication. Spelling is an important building block in developing solid language skills. Incorrect spelling is known to affect both our writing and reading capabilities. Lack of skills will make learners avoid uncommon words, resulting in prose that is void of advanced vocabulary and likely fails to please and impress. Academic performance and grades will be affected too, since individuals with low spelling confidence and skills not only write less and more plainly, but may simply not be empowered to adequately express their knowledge in various subject areas. In addition, the correlation between spelling and reading skills has been acknowledged by many researchers. Not only are strong readers better spellers, but low spelling skills measurably hinder a students' reading ability. A White Paper of Learning by Design, titled Spelling Performance Evaluation for Language & Literacy, states, "As spelling ability improves," an individual is likely to show gains in reading, decoding, and fluency and comprehension skills." Spelling and reading share the same underlying language knowledge.
Most Filipino public schools have left behind the days of rote, authoritarian learning: An approach that focused largely on memorization and discouraged students' questions, criticism, and other forms of independent thinking. Leaving behind this inflexible, often fear-inducing system has certainly had a positive impact on students' abilities to learn and to function in modern society. Over the last few decades, innovative spelling programs, from invented spelling to elaborate phonetics-based programs, have tried to improve traditional solutions. While these programs excel in getting children started on their path as writers, sooner or later they need to be complemented by memory-based spelling tutoring.
In the Philippine educational system, there is a little attention to teaching vocabulary by enhancing the spelling ability of the learners. The researcher, a public school teacher in English of grade four has encountered some challenges in teaching the subject. The role of the English teacher is crucial in creating activities that address vocabulary skills through spelling activities.
Hence the purpose of this paper is to enhance spelling abilities of learners through vocabulary learning activities situated in a public elementary school setting.
This study answered the following questions: 1) What are the common categories of misspelled words that can be made subject of vocabulary learning activities? 2) What is the performance of the pupil respondents before and after the implementation of vocabulary learning activities based on the pretest and posttest mean scores in terms of the following variables: context, number of syllables, play with words, dictionary habit, and spelling, 3) Is there a significant difference between the pre-test and posttest mean scores of the pupil respondents in vocabulary learning activities? 4) What are the comments and suggestions of the teachers on the developed vocabulary learning activities? And, 5) what prototype lesson plans may be developed based on the findings of the study?
This study employed a descriptive quantitative design. The quantitative research method was used to describe the performance of grade 4 pupils in employing vocabulary learning activities. The study was
conducted to the grade four pupils of Marcelo H. Del Pilar Elementary School for the school year 2016-2017.
There were varied research instruments used in the study. Part 1 was a checklist on the commonly misspelled words of the pupil respondents. Part 2 was a test for the learners to describe their performance before and after the implementation of vocabulary learning activities. Part 3 was a questionnaire checklist to describe the comments and suggestions of teachers on the developed learning activities. All the questionnaires and checklists were constructed by the researcher. These were pilot tested to other groups of respondents and validated by experts The researcher found out that there are different categories of words which are commonly misspelled. The mean scores in the pre-test and posttest of the pupil respondents in the vocabulary learning activities conducted by the researcher showed that the highest mean score is on number of syllables (12.8) followed by play with words with 10.7 mean. It was followed by context with a mean of 9.7, then followed by spelling with 8.4 and lastly, dictionary habit with a mean of 6.2. The average mean scores of the pupil respondents is 9.43.
In the posttest the highest mean score is on number of syllables with a mean of 18.32,, followed by play with words with 15.2 mean, next is context with 11.7, then spelling with a mean of 11.38 and lastly, dictionary habit with a mean of 10.02. The average mean score of the pupil respondents in the posttest is 13.32. Although the calculated z-test result of the activities differ from each other, all of them are lower than the z-critical value 1.96 at 0.05 level of significance. With regards to the standard deviation of each activity all the posttest scores are higher than the pretest standard deviation and they show bigger difference. Hence, a significant difference between the pretest and posttest was identified. Because of this, the null hypothesis that "There is no significant difference in the performance of the pupils in vocabulary learning activities was rejected. It implies that activities had helped the respondents develop their skills.
In the Philippine educational system, there is little attention to teaching vocabulary by enhancing the spelling ability of the learners. The researcher, a public school teacher in English of grade four has encountered some challenges in teaching the subject. The role of the English teacher is crucial in creating activities that address vocabulary skills through spelling activities.
According to studies, most children acquire vocabulary in their pre- school years. Therefore, the teacher's role is vital in developing a child's reading habit to gain relevant vocabulary words that he will need as he progresses in the academic track and in daily life as well.
Language and literacy are important functional skills in today's technologically advanced society. Adult language competencies depend in part on the learning and development occurring in childhood, yet, little is known about trajectories of language development and the extent to which children with early language problems go on to have persistent language difficulties in adult life. Receptive and expressive language problems tend to persist into early childhood, into adolescence and adult life (Schoon et al., 2009; Pediatrics Volume 125, Number 3, March 2010).
Compared with children with normal language ability, those with very limited or poor language skills were more likely to grow up in relatively disadvantaged circumstances, in terms of socioeconomic conditions as well as early literacy environment.
There were 86 pupil respondents coming from the last two sections of Grade 4. The study was done at Marcelo H. del Pilar Elementary School, Caloocan City during S.Y. 2016-2017. The statistical tools used to treat the data were frequency, percentage, mean, z-test and standard deviation.