English Spelling Achievement of Grade Six Students

Abstract

This research entitled "English Spelling Achievement of Grade Six Students" attempts to find out the achievement in English spelling of grade six students and factors influencing the achievement of English spelling. In order to do so I collected data from the students studying in grade six in government- aided schools of Kathmandu valley and teachers teaching in grade six. Four government schools were purposively selected. Only eighty sampling units (students) were selected. Twenty students from each school were selected through random sampling procedure. Teachers were purposively selected from the selected schools. Test items were developed from the English textbooks of grade one, two, three, four and five. Words were selected utilizing different criteria: spelling of the past forms, spelling of the plural, words having 'y' ending base, doubling of consonants before –ing and –ed, deletion and addition of final –'e' while adding suffix and spelling of short forms. Then, the test items were administered and raw score of the students was analyzed and interpreted using the statistical tools. On the basis of the performance of the students, a questionnaire was prepared for the English teachers of selected schools. This study found out that English spelling achievement of grade six students was above the average. Students' spelling achievement in plural forms and dictation test was unsatisfactory but their spelling achievement in words having 'y' ending base, past forms, doubling of consonants before –ing and –ed, deletion and addition of final –'e' while adding suffix and spelling of the short form was satisfactory. Irregularities in rules, no correlation between sounds and letters and lack of practice were found as the factors influencing the achievement of English spelling. This thesis comprises four chapters. Chapter one deals with the introduction. It consists of general background, English spelling system, spelling rules, primary level English curriculum, importance of teaching spelling, literature review, objectives of the study and significant of the study. Chapter two deals with the methodology adopted for the study. It consists of the sources of data, sampling procedure, tools of data collection, process of data collection and limitations of the study. Chapter three consists of analysis and interpretation of the data. The collected data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive approach and simple statistical tools. Chapter four presents the findings and recommendations. Some recommendations are made on the basis of findings.