PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA

Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City

Effectiveness of Kweletra in Developing the Phonics and Word Recognition of

Kindergarten Pupils in Maysan Elementary School

Angeles, Ace

Cantillon, Paula May Xyrel

Dizon, Elieza Marie

Lim, Kim Divine

Navarette, Sheila May

Salvador, Sarah

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

The ability to be a good reader is a long-term skill. Almost all of our daily

activities as humans involve reading, however learning to read is a very complex

thing to do but with the right and effective techniques, it can be easier. Reading

involves a lot of processes, from learning alphabetic systems to letter-sound

correspondences, spelling patterns, and linking words to their meanings. When a

child at an early age manages to develop this ability to read and is equipped with

the necessary skills involved in reading, then it will also lead to developing other

essential skills like comprehension, communication, and analytical abilities that

they will soon encounter within their later years. The love for reading is

something that should be established with young children and the pedagogies

and techniques that are to be used to teach them the basic linguistic skills must

be carefully and thoroughly studied and proven effective.

Phoneme awareness is one of the most difficult tasks for children. Around

25% to 40 % of children have difficulty noticing speech sounds in spoken words

(Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, & Beerler, 1998). Phonemic awareness skills is a

difficult skills for children to develop, master, apply for many several reasons

(Adams, 1990; Snow, C.E., Burns, M.S., Griffin, P. 1998). According to Chall,

1983; Gillon, 2004; Ranweiler, 2004; Stahl & Murray, 1994, because individual

sounds are not uttered separately in the speech stream in spoken language, but

are blended together into larger sound unit. Second, alphabet in which letters are

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

assigned to represent sounds that the child need to remember, that makes

phoneme awareness even more difficult to develop (Nevills & Wolfe, 2009; Snow et al.,

1998). As a result, in order to differentiate the relationship between letter-related sounds,

toddlers must be able to detect specific sounds in a word. However, there is no true one-to-one

correspondences between Phoneme and graphemes which make phonemic skills more difficult

skills for children to develop (Adams, 1990; Ranweiler, 2004; Perez, 2008).

(INSERT PA MORE REASON HERE)

In addition, most whole language advocates believe that phonics, as well as phonemic

awareness, do not need to be taught as formal lessons but rather children can develop phonics

awareness in reading and writing experience. As a results, In terms of reading levels, the

Philippines is falling behind. According to the 2018 result of the Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA), among the 79 participating countries,

the Philippines got the lowest score. In addition, Southeast Asia Primary

Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) data, 27 % of Grade 5 students in the Philippines

had a reading proficiency level equivalent to children ages 6-7 years old.

Many would ask what difficulty is arising in this situation. For a child to

develop good early linguistic skills like reading and writing, the child must first

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

learn to identify and recognize each of the sounds in spoken words. The child

must identify and represent each letter with its corresponding phoneme or sound

and blend those individual sounds to make a whole word which is their starting

point to early literacy or reading. Phonics and Word Recognition are stepping

stones in establishing good linguistic skills and if children do not acquire this skill,

it will become a hindrance or a stumbling block to being linguistically efficient.

Research, through the use of brain imaging and various clever experiments, has

shown how the brain must “teach itself” to accommodate this alphabet by

creating a pathway between multiple areas (Dehaene, 2009).

The DepEd itself is still trying to deal with the gap that has existed then

until now when it comes to reading skills. Learners' reading skills are one of their

stepping stages to develop their different skills, particularly recognition of words

and phonics. Learners will be able to engage and introduce themselves to new

sounds and new words. To solve this difficulty, DepEd encouraged teachers,

parents, and other reading specialists to use the Reading Progress Tool to

stimulate the process of reading or the reading skills of learners which revolves

around basic words and sounds that will help them to start to improve and

develop their phonics and word recognition. But until now, learners are still

having difficulty and low percentage of interest in reading, and by that, they are

unable to develop their linguistic skills.

To support the implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program,

the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented the “Every Child a Reader

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Program” (ECARP), through DepEd Memorandum No. 402. s. 2004 and

Administrative Order No. 324. It aims to teach public elementary pupils with

planned training in reading and writing to make them independent young readers

and writers. Moreover, ECARP is also part of the ten-point education agenda of

President Simeon Benigno Aquino III to ensure that the country’s public schools

produce well-equipped graduates who could cope with the different challenges in

life. However, one of the overall results of the national assessment divulges that

there are "still many early learners struggling too much to meet the learning

standards in early language, literacy, and numeracy". Still deficient in literacy,

even more so in reading. To develop an effective design to support the gaps with

regards to the reading skills, assessment is done to find out the status of the

learners' reading proficiency and to define the source of the difficulties of the

learners in reading comprehension.

In the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines, particularly in

Samar National School (SNS), Catbalogan City, 250 of the enrollees in the

school year 2018-2019 for Grade Seven were identified as non-readers. As

observed after the diagnostic reading test upon enrolling, these students could

not recognize the letters and sounds of each word. They focused on improving

the students’ reading skills that were not thoroughly given attention before

entering the secondary level. However, the instructional materials they were

using were traditional, like the use of flashcards, charts, textbooks, worksheets,

etc. There are lots of tools to stimulate the linguistic skills of learners and there

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

are also lots of proposed ways how to develop this skill but until now, there is still

a gap, a difficulty in figuring out why and how learners tend to get difficulty on

linguistic skills.

Every child learns at different rates with different learning styles. So

teachers need to modify and create a unique way to connect with the learners

anytime and anywhere. The use of interactive learning tools and materials is one

of the probable effective strategies to keep up with the differences of the learners

whilst making the learning active and engaging. The goal of using this tool is to

let the learners manage and take ownership of their learning with instructors

acting as a facilitator. The researchers will utilize the use of "Kweletra" to help the

kindergarten pupils of Maysan Elementary School to develop phonics and word

recognition. Phonics and Word Recognition will help the children to future

reading success If the children at a young age can recognize printed words

accurately, then they can connect them with their meanings which later will be

very beneficial to reading fluency and comprehension. By using Kweletra a tool

in developing phonics and words recognition for children, learning will be much

more fun, engaging, easier, and student-centered ensuring a life-long effect on

the future endeavors of the students.

The researchers developed and created an interactive web tool called

“Kweletra” that shall be used for developing Phonics and Word Recognition

among the kindergarten students of Maysan Elementary School.

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

II. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual framework of the proposed study is depicted in Figure 1.

The independent variable (IV) is the use of “Kweletra”, an interactive web tool

that will be assisted by parents/guardians, and the dependent variable (DV) is the

kids' level of Phonics and Word Recognition, with the arrow indicating the

projected direct impact of the IV on the DV.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This action research aims to know the effectiveness of “Kweletra”, an

interactive reading web tool, in developing the Phonics and Word Recognition of

kindergarten pupils. The researcher also wants to know the number of

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

kindergarten pupils having a hard time developing Phonics and Word

Recognition.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the current reading practices used by kindergarten teachers at

Maysan Elementary School?

2. How does “Kweletra” enhance the development of Phonics and Word

Recognition as perceived by the kindergarten teachers?

3. Is there any significant difference between the mean scores of the pre-test

and post-test scores of the kindergarten pupils?

IV. HYPOTHESIS

Null Hypothesis. At 0.05 level of significance, the hypothesis will be

tested:

The assessment shows that there is no significant difference between the

mean scores of the pre-test and post-test of the kindergarten pupils and therefore

proves that “Kweletra” is an effective tool in developing Phonics and Word

Recognition.

V. PROPOSED INNOVATION, INTERVENTION, OR STRATEGY

The goal of the researchers is to develop the Phonics and Word

Recognition of the kindergarten pupils who demonstrate poor phonemic

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

awareness skills in Maysan Elementary School. Upon a review of some related

literature and other studies, the researchers found out that the hands-on

approach will be an effective method to develop the learners' phonics and word

recognition for it builds substantially stronger connections and is capable of

storing more necessary information when multiple learning modes are combined.

According to studies, children learn best when they have the opportunity

to employ various senses, such as sight, sound, and touch. This method of

instruction is especially useful for teaching early literacy. Technology, believe it or

not, maybe an excellent tool for enhancing multimodal learning and

supplementing literacy training.

The researchers will exercise the hands-on approach, by using an

interactive or self-directed web tool where the kindergarten pupils will be assisted

by their parents/guardians at home.

The proposed intervention materials are not just a simple interactive web

tool. It is different from other web tools for it can be accessed for free with no

need for a subscription or monthly payment. With the addition of the materials is

all originally made by the researchers and validated by the experts. It consist of

activities that are fun and engaging such (1) Letter sounds songs (2) Phonics

songs (3) Interactive phonetic chart (4)Phoneme blending (5) Phoneme

substitution (6) Phoneme manipulation (7) Phoneme segregation. As a further

matter, since it is a interactive and game based activities and will publish per

phases the students will enjoy a fun and stress-free learning activities

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Kweletra will consist of 23 validated interactive activities by the experts that

will be published per week for a total of four phases to help the kindergarten

pupils to develop their Phonics and word recognition. The first phase will publish

one letter sounds song, one Phonics song, one Interactive phonetic chart, and

Five phoneme blending. Second phase, five phonemes substitution activities.

The third phase is five phonemes manipulation. In the fourth phase, five

phonemes segregation activities it will take four weeks to complete the task.

Since the learners' parents or guardians would be aiding them at home,

the researchers will provide administrative guidelines on how to use Kweletra.

Similarly, the researchers and kindergarten teachers will conduct follow-ups and

provide guidance to the parent as needed.

VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are thought to benefit from the proposed research:

To the Learners. The findings of this study can be utilized as a guide to

help pupils develop their phonics and word recognition at a young age to help

them at their reading achievement in the later academic years.

To the Parents. These research findings can be used by the parents as a

guide in monitoring their children's readings progress. Serve as an encouraging

tool to support their children's journey throughout their learning reading progress.

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

To the Teachers. This research can be used by the teachers as a tool to

caterings the reading gaps of the learners and/or as phonics and word

recognition-related materials.

To the Schools. This research will be beneficial to schools in the

development of policies and programs for supporting the learners' journey to be

good readers.

To the future researchers. To serve as additional information and guide

to continue for further research to the related field.

VII. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

This action research aims to know the effectiveness of “Kweletra” in

developing Phonics and Word Recognition. The data will be collected from the

kindergarten teachers and pupils of Maysan Elementary School during the

school year 2022 to 2023. The scope of the study will be limited to kindergarten

pupils who obtain a low test scores in the pre test and have gadgets at home.

VIII. DEFINITION OF TERMS

For a better understanding of the terms used in the study, the following items are

defined operationally:

Alphabetic systems. The writing system for a language in which there is a

symbol for each consonant and vowel.

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Analytical abilities. This refers to the ability to collect and analyze information,

problem-solve, and make decisions

Comprehension. This refers to the process of gaining meaning

from written language, pictures, and symbols.

Early literacy. The foundation for reading, writing, communicating, and

socializing.

“Every Child a Reader Program” (ECARP). It is a national program that

addresses the thrust of DepEd to make every Filipino child a reader at his/her

level. It is designed to equip elementary pupils with strategic reading and writing

skills to make them independent young readers and writers.

Linguistic skill. The capacity of individuals to understand and express

themselves, both in written and oral form.

Phonemes. An individual speech sounds that differentiate one word from

another.

Reading Progress Tool. A tool encourage by the DepEd for teachers, parents,

and other reading specialists to use to improve and develop phonics and word

recognition.

Kweletra Reading Web tool. Name of the web page made by the researchers

as an instrument to develop phonics and word recognition.

Word recognition. Ability to identify words and word parts, that serves as a

foundation of good linguistic skills.

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

References:

Baticulon, R. E., Sy, J. J., Alberto, N. R. I., Baron, M. B. C., Mabulay, R. E. C.,

Rizada, L. G. T., et al. (2021). Barriers to online learning in the time of

COVID-19: A national survey of medical students in the Philippines.

Medical science educator, 31(2), 615–626.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-021-01231-z

Buildyourfuture. (2019, February 12). Is hands-on learning better? Retrieved from

Build Your Future website: https://byf.org/is-hands-on-learning-better/

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Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

DepEd chief issues directives to address the challenge of quality in basic ed.

(n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Gov.ph website:

https://www.deped.gov.ph/2019/12/05/deped-chief-issues-directives-to-

address-the-challenge-of-quality-in-basic-ed/

DepEd encourages teachers, parents to use Reading Progress Tool to assess

learners’ reading skills. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Gov. ph

website: https://www.deped.gov.ph/2021/12/06/deped-encourages-

teachers-parents-to-use-reading-progress-tool-to-assess-learners-

reading-skills/?

utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=deped-encourages-

teachers-parents-to-use-reading-progress-tool-to-assess-learners-

reading-skills

DepEd Memorandum No.402. s.2004. 2004 National Educators Congress.

Department of Education Official Gazette. https://www.ijams-bbp.net/wp-

content/uploads/2021/12/IJAMS-December-25-researches-1-9.pdf?

msclkid=00a11303a91711ec9a78bf56ecf0d604

Gabejan, A. M., Eñego B. Tejas, Jr., & Lacanaria, K. H. G. (2021). Mobile-based

Interactive Media in Remedial Reading Instruction. International Journal of

Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 4(5), 99–106.

https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2021.4.5.9

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Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Guidelines for examining phonics & word recognition. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21,

2022, from Texas.gov website:

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/redbk3.pdf

Montemayor, M. T. (2020). Education goes on amid Covid-19 thru DepEd’s

continuity plan. Www.pna.gov.ph. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1126058?

msclkid=6e8ac136a91811ec969efa9669460e50

Mulvahill, E. (2017, February 27). 8 engaging early literacy activities that use

technology. Retrieved from We Are Teachers website:

https://www.weareteachers.com/early-literacy-activities-technology/

Murray, M. S. (2016). 3. Word recognition skills: One of two essential

components of reading comprehension. In Steps to Success: Crossing the

Bridge Between Literacy Research and Practice. Open Suny Textbooks.

Philippine Informal Reading Inventory. (Phil-IRI) Oral Reading Tool to Measure

Reading Level of Students in English and Filipino. Retrieved from

http://www.philinformal.reading.

REMEDIAL CLASSES ENABLES THE CHILD TO GAIN POSITIVE IMPACT BY

FILLING HIS COGNITIVE GAPS!!!! (n.d.). Www.linkedin.com. Retrieved

March 21, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/remedial-classes-

enables-child-gain-positive-impact-fillingsudhakar?

msclkid=6dabe189a91911ecbd8221309c482500

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Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Remedial Instruction in Reading | PDF | Phonics | Syllable. (n.d.). Scribd.

Retrieved March 21, 2022, from

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Reading-PPT?msclkid=a1fdb8dfa91911ecac148b5f70bb285c

(N.d.-a). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Bworldonline.com website:

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writing-levels-in-southeast-asia/

(N.d.-b). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Google.com website:

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74002/philippines-lowest-reading-comprehension-among-79-countries/

amp/

(N.d.-c). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from Gov.ph website:

https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/DM_s2019_173.p

df

Job well done! Keep grinding

You may now proceed to:

IX. ACTION RESEARCH METHODS

A. Research Design

B. Participants and other Sources of Data and Information

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 PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG VALENZUELA
Tongco St, Maysan, Valenzuela City
DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

The participants of the study were the kindergarten students of Maysan Elementary

School. The students were divided into fourteen sections in the kindergarten level. In

order to answer the research questions of the study, the sources of data were the

transcription of the key informant survey from seven kindergarten teachers who

evaluated the current phonological skills and word recognition practices they use for

their students. The survey result will based on the 7 teachers of Maysan Elementary

School live experience, and the data of their journal or diary. The student’s pre-test and

post test will be another source of data wherein it will be based on the student’s learning

before using the KWELETRA: online webtool and after using the said webtool.

D. Instrumentation

E. Data Gathering Methods

F. Data Analysis Plan

X. WORK PLAN

XI. COST ESTIMATE

XII. PLAN FOR DISSEMINATION

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