Chapters

Chapter I

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Early literacy skills are highly individualistic. It is in the child interests to which

strategies he prefers and can easily decoding words. As beginners, a child needs to

develop his vocabulary to help him in the word recognition. On way of helping a child is

through exposure in different reading materials such as books, flashcards, and other

various forms of printed reading matters.

Teachers are challenged in teaching early literacy for the children. The teacher

must situate to be capable in choosing information to help the child in the reading

process. A child’s developmental level must be in appropriate activities and goals. Early

and enjoyable pre-reading experiences set the stage for a child’s desire to learn. As

teachers and parents, concerning about developmental level in selections of activities

must be suitable for the children needs. It could be fun and challenging but not

frustrating.

It is view of this that the researcher opted to conduct a study on the early literacy

skills of selected kindergarten particularly in letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency,

phoneme segmentation, nonsense word fluency and oral reading fluency.

1

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to describe the early literacy skills of the Grade 1 pupils in

selected public and private Elementary Schools in General Santos City, specifically in

these following areas: letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency, phoneme

segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency and oral reading fluency.

1. What percentage of the Grade 1 pupils are at risk, some risk and low risk on the

following early literacy skills:

a. Letter naming fluency;

b. Initial sound fluency;

c. Phoneme segmentation fluency;

d. Nonsense word fluency?

2. What percentage of the pupils are:

a. Non-readers;

b. Emerging readers;

c. Established readers?

3. Is there any significant difference in the basic early literacy skills of the pupils

in selected elementary pupils?

Scope and Delimitation

The study focused on the basic early literacy skills of Grade 1 pupils in selected

public schools; Upper Tambler-1 Elementary, West Elementary and South Elementary

2

and from private elementary schools; Sampaguita Educational Institute, Ramon

Magsaysay Memorial Colleges and Holy Trinity College located in General Santos City.

Basic Early Literacy Skills were limited to letter naming fluency, initial sound

fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading

fluency.

Significance of the Study

This research work was undertaken with the hope that it could be beneficial to the

following several stakeholders in education in their aspiration to enhance the basic early

literacy skills of pupils and knowledge of teachers in teaching their pupils particularly,

those teaching in the kindergarten and first grade.

The school administrator of the elementary schools particularly the instructional

leaders, the results may be in puts for a training focus for Grade 1 learners.

To the school Principals, the results of the study may reliably identify Grade 1

pupils who are at-risk for reading difficulties and provide grade level feedback toward

instructional objectives.

To the Grade 1 teachers, the study hopes to make them aware of their pupil’s

basic skills.

To the parents, this hopes to help you understand deeper and guide your children

in preparation for the basic early literacy and their skills.

To the other researchers, the results of this will great help to her profession.

Chapter II3

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents a review of related literature which gave significant insights

in the development of this present study.

Related Literature

Early literacy skills. Through the year your kindergartens is being introduced to

skills that will prepare him to read. He is working with the letters of the alphabet,

building his vocabulary and beginning to understand that reading is a way to derive

meaning from print he is immersed in a print –rich environment that will help him

develop an awareness and understanding of spoken and written language.

According to (http//.Lingua Links Library .com) early literacy skills help prepare

learners for the task of reading. Reading readiness skills need to be taught in context

which gives the expectation that reading if for meaning.

Reading specialist Thompson (2000) said that as children use language, they

reveal their working knowledge of the rules of language, how to use them, and put words

and parts of words together in meaningful ways.

In the past, the purpose of literacy tests was to determine when the child would be

mentally capable of benefiting from reading instruction. Ausebel (1959) suggested that

early literacy is the adequacy of existing capacity in relation to the demands of a given

learning tasks. In other words, he suggested that the “when” of reading instruction

depends on the child, the instruction, ad the specific components of what is being taught.4

Froebel (1852) founded the kindergarten school as children in the garden in which he

composed the children to unfolding plants that needs proper nurturing, making use of

plays, game and songs.

Froebel (1852) founded the kindergarten school as children in the garden in which

he composed the children to unfolding plants that needs proper nurturing, making use of

plays, game and songs.

Aquino and Razon (1993) emphasized that during preschool age, the child

extends his range of contacts with other children in play groups. They pointed out that

this interaction with other children through association with them in play marks the

beginning of a group activity a widening field of experiences, and the beginning of

cooperative behavior.

These skills indicate the early literacy skills of the child:

Understanding text: At his stage the child pretends to be a reader; holds books the

right way; turns pages at appropriate times; can discuss what is happening and

relate it to their own experiences; knows that the reader is focusing on the print

and tat it is conveying the message; makes inferences on both what is read and the

pictures; enjoys stories being re-read the story from memory and pictures cues.

Using the context of the story: The child can determine meaning from context by

saying things like “I like dogs too” and will bring their own experience as it

relates to what is being read. Relating their experiences to stories, television

shows, or even ads becomes a popular behavior when the child uses context to

make sense.

5

Word meanings: Although the child isn’t yet reading, they recognize their own

name, brands(McDonald’s ‘M’, stop signs etc.) recognizes the sounds of letters

and makes references like, “that ones starts the same as my name, or snakes start

with the same as my name, or snakes start with the same letter that Stop Sign do.

Reading and Print Attitudes: The child starts to demonstrate an interest in printing

and will pretend to print or write. They will ask more questions like “what does

that say?” they like to chime in when familiar stories are being read. They like to

take part in daily reading and never want to miss their bed time story or story

time. They show a greater interest in books and will enjoy looking at them more

frequently even though it may seem that they’re looking mainly at the pictures.

(http.//.www.Reading Rocket.com)

When a child displays the attitudes described above, they are most likely at the

stage where they are ready to learn how to read. The child will benefit from many

alphabet activities, exploring with the sounds that letter make and reading early stage

books. These children will also benefit from making books like “A is for Apple, B is for

Bugs.” Lots of praise at this stage will encourage the young reader to develop confidence

and will move forward in their ability to read.

Importance of Reading. Reading is the key that unlocks the door to the world of

enlightenment and enjoyment, the basic tool for learning in all subjects. It is a skills like

swimming, dancing, drawing, or playing (Villamin, 1984).

Reading is interaction with printed language to obtain meaning. It is a complex

behavior that involves the integration of several skills. When we read, we use what we

6

know about language, the word, and the specific relationships between print and speech

(Goodman & Goodman, 1977).

Concrete experiences, and many opportunities to talk an out them, will do much

to help children become good readers. In addition, experiences with storybook and print

in the environment can help children realize that thinking about what makes sense is

useful in predicting what words say.

According to Lansdown (1993) there are three main points fundamental to the

reading process which must be understood by anyone attempting to teach children:

1. The most important of these is that reading involves interpretation rather than just

recognition, letters, after all, has no meaning n themselves in the way that the

pictures have, and the essentially abstract nature of writing is possibly the main

reason why so many people find it difficult to cope with.

2. Reading is a skill. It has to be practiced, and anyone who has taught a no more

than average child will know just how much practice is needed.

3. The third point is that skill is organized in a hierarchy of sub skills with the very

simple, like recognition of patterns, coming first and he very subtle, for example,

skimming a page to gain a quick impression, coming last.

Reading is an important aspect of living in school and out. It serves many

different purposes, and it calls for a wide variety of skills, attitudes, and

misunderstandings. To teach children to meet the varied reading demands of today’s

world is at once a crucial task for education and an undertaking calling for a high level of

skill, insight, and resourcefulness on the part of the teacher (Perfetti,1977).

7

Zints(1975) emphasized that teaching reading should begin with the language is

the means of expressing whatever message he wishes to convey, and he needs to learn

phoneme grapheme relationships only after trying to interpret his own message as he sees

it in write form.

Big Ideas in Beginning Reading

1. Phonemic/ phonology Awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to

hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken words and the understanding that

spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds (Yopp,

1992). Since words are composed of sounds it has to be taught and mastered as

early as possible especially by the beginning readers, this it is the best and strong

predictor of readiness success (Adams,1991)

In addition, Lyon (1997) emphasized that the last predictor of reading

difficulty in kindergarten is the inability to segment words and syllables into

constituent sounds units. It is important that children can associate letter to its

sounds because there is a predictive and casual relationship between phonemic

awareness and reading success. Thus, phonemic awareness must be explicitly

taught and skillful implementations in meaningful contexts are important (Brady,

Fouller et al, 1994).

Moreover, Lyon (1997) discussed, to be able to learn to read English, the

child must figure out the relationship between the approximately 44 sounds of

spoken English (the phonemes), and the 26 letter of the alphabet. The reader must

understand that speech can be segmented or broken into small sounds (phoneme

8

awareness) and that segmented units of speech can be represented by printed

forms (phonics).

2. Alphabetic Principles. Chall (1976), suggested in learning to read, reading

programs must give emphasis on learning the alphabet and its phoneme-grapheme

relationships. A child should be equipped with letter knowledge or learning the

alphabet since letter share names and are different from each other, and that

specific letters.

Phonics emphasizes the alphabetic principles

(http//.phonicsstrategies.com), the idea that letters represent the sounds of speech,

and that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters

and spoken words, which are specific to the alphabetic writing system. Children

learn letter sounds (b=the first sound in “bat” and “ball”) first and them blend

them (bl=the first two sounds in “blue”) to form words.

3. Through phonics, the child learns rules for using alphabet letters.

Sounding- out letters can often be confusing because many words do not follow

the rules, the rules is inconsistent. However, the phonics approach is measurable

more effective (Learning fist Alliance 1998).

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). The

DIBELS are set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition

of early literacy skills from kindergarten through first grade. They are

designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly

monitor the development of early literacy reading skills. DIBELS were

developed to measure recognized empirically validated skills related to

9

reading outcomes. Each measure has been thoroughly researched and

demonstrated to be reliable and valid indicators of early development and

predictive of later reading proficiency to aid in the early identification of

pupils who are not progressing as expected. When used as recommended,

the results can be used to evaluate individual pupil’s development as well

as provide grade-level feedback toward validated instructional objectives.

Dibels were developed based on measurement procedures for Curriculum-Based

Measurement (CBM), which created by Deno and Colleagues through the Institute for

Research and Learning Disability at the University Of Minnesota in the 1970s-80s.

DIBELS has documented the reliability and validity of the measures as well as their

sensitivity pupils’ change.

The DIBELS measures specifically in:

Measures of phonological awareness:

Initial Sounds Fluency (ISF) - assess a child’s skills at identifying and producing

the initial sound of a given word.

Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (PSF) - assess a child’s skills at producing the

individual sounds within a given word.

Measures of Alphabetic Principle and Phonics:

Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) - assess a child’s knowledge of letter – sound

correspondences as well their ability to blend letters together to form unfamiliar

“nonsense” words.

Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) - assess a child’s in their ability to recognize the

alphabet.

10

Measures of Accuracy and Fluency with text:

Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) - assess a child’s skills at reading connected with

text (http.//.dibels.uoregon.edu/).

Related Studies

A study made by De Leon (2008), Basic early Literacy Skills of Grade 1 pupils in

selected schools in General Santos City: An evaluation of their reading Status. She found

out that Grade 1 pupils in both selected private and public schools perform better in letter

naming fluency and nonsense word fluency. However, they perform poorer in initial

sound fluency and phoneme segmentation fluency. While most pupils in the selected

private schools are established readers, there are still a significant number of pupils in

selected public schools who are nonreaders. Pupils in selected private schools have status

in their basic early literacy skills than those in selected public schools which include

letter naming, initial sound, phoneme segmentation, nonsense word and oral reading

fluency. The study made by De Leon (2008) similar with this presents study specifically

both researcher used DIBELS as the indicator of their study.

Another study done by Laluna (2005) entitled performance level of the third year

and fourth high school students in Four Dimensions of Reading Comprehension as

influenced by their teachers’ preparedness in teaching reading. She investigated the level

of preparedness of teachers to teach reading as it tried to describe the level performance

of third and fourth year students in Malapatan National High School in four dimensions

of reading comprehension. She found out that teachers’ preparedness in teaching reading

indicated significant influence in the skill mastery of the students in both literal and

11

inferential dimensions of reading comprehension. On the critical and re-organizational

level of reading comprehension showed no significant relationships on the correlation test

of preparedness and performance of students. The present study is similar to the work of

Laluna since both study described reading profiles of students and preparedness.

However the present study focuses more on the reading readiness skills of the

kindergarten pupils.

Association (IRA) and the National Association for the Education of young

Children (NAEYC), have conducted study in St. Simons Island, Georgia in 1990. The

study entitled Literacy on young children whom they found out that the assessment and

instruction provided in these vital first years of formal education should focus on the

cognitive elements that research has shown to be crucial to the process of developing

decoding skills. These areas include cipher knowledge, lexical knowledge, and awareness

knowledge of phonemes, knowledge of the alphabetic principle, and knowledge of letters,

and understanding concepts about print. The concepts of the study similar with the

present study which finding also about the alphabetic principle, phonemes, and

knowledge of letters which also include in the reading readiness skills.

Hypothesis

There is no significant difference in the early literacy skills of both selected public

and private Grade 1 pupils.

The null hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Definition of Terms

12

For better understanding of the study, the following terms are conceptually and

operationally defined:

Basic Early Literacy Skills. In this study, it is the period of the children in their

reading process.

DIBELS. These are set of standardized, individually administered test of early

literacy (reading readiness) development which are designed to be short (one minute)

fluency measures used to monitor and evaluate the development of reading and early

reading skills such as Letter Naming Fluency, Initial Sound Fluency, Phoneme

Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency, and Oral Reading Fluency.

Letter Naming Fluency. This is a standardized subtest of DIBELS, individually

administered test that provides measures of risk. Pupils are presented with a page of

upper-and –lower case. Letters arranged in a random order and are asked to name as

many letters as they can within one minute.

Initial Sound Fluency. In this study this is a standardized, individually

administered measure of phonological awareness that assesses a child’s ability to

recognize and produce the initial sound in an orally presented word within one minute.

The examiner presents four pictures to the child, names each picture, and then

asks the child to identify (i.e. point to or say) the picture that begin with the sound

produced orally by the examiner.

Nonsense Word Fluency. In this study this is a standardized individually

administered test of the alphabetic principle- including letter-sound correspondence and

of the ability to blend letters into words in which letters represent their most common

13

sounds. The pupil is allowed to produce as many letter-sounds as he/she can, and the final

score is the number of letter-sounds produced correctly in one minute.

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency. In this study this is a standardized individually

administered test of phonological awareness which measure assesses a pupils’ ability to

segment three – and –four-phoneme words into their individual phoneme fluently. It

requires the pupil to produce verbally the individual phonemes for each given word

within one minute.

Oral Reading Fluency. In this study this is a standardized, individually

administered test of accuracy and fluency with connected text. The pupils’ performance

is measured by having the pupil read the passage aloud for one minute. The number of

correct words per minute from the passage is the oral reading fluency rate.

Reading Skills Status. In this study, the term refers to the skills levels of selected

kindergarten-2 pupils whose performance is descreibed as at risk, at some risk, and at low

risk in letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, and

nonsense word fluency. Skill status in oral reading fluency is described as established,

emerging, and non-reader.

Pupil at risk for reading difficulty. These are the pupils who were found to be

potential for reading difficulty. They may either be pupils who are at risk, at some risk,

and low risk.

Pupil at risk. These are the pupils whose score in the letter naming fluency is 28

and below, in initial sound fluency is 9 and below, in phoneme segmentation fluency is 9

and below, and in nonsense word fluency is 29 and below.

14

Pupils at some risk. These are the pupils whose scores in the letter naming

fluency is between 29-39, in initial sound fluency is between 10 to 24, in phoneme

segmentation is between 10 to 34, in nonsense word fluency is between 30 to 49.

Pupils at low risk. These are the pupils whose scores in the letter naming fluency

is 40 and above, in initial sound fluency is 25 and above , initial phoneme segmentation is

35 and above, in nonsense word fluency is 50 and above.

Non-readers. These are the pupils whose scores in the oral reading fluency are 19

and below.

Emerging readers. These are the pupils whose scores in the oral reading fluency

are between 20 to 39.

Established readers. These are the pupils whose scores in the oral reading

fluency are 40 and above.

Grade 1. In this study these are the 50 Grade 1 pupils taken randomly from the

selected private and public elementary schools, S.Y. 2010-2011 in General Santos City

Division.

Selected Elementary Schools. These are the three public elementary schools:

Upper Tambler-1 Elementary Schools, West Elementary School and South Elementary

School and private elementary schools: Sampaguita Educational Institute, Ramon

Magsaysay Memorial Colleges Elementary Department and Holy Trinity College located

in General Santos City.

15

Chapter III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research design, respondents of the study,

instrumentation, data gathering procedure and the statistical treatment.

Research Design

This is a descriptive – correlative study the variables co-related and described in

the study are the selected private and public elementary school pupils in their basic early

literacy skills in 1.) Letter Naming Fluency; 2.) Initial Sound Fluency; 3.) Phoneme

Segmentation Fluency; 4.) Nonsense Word Fluency; and 5.) Oral Reading Fluency. The

first four skills were described as low risk, some risk, and at risk. The fifth skill was

described as established, emerging, and non-reader.

Research Respondents

The respondents were Grade 1 pupils in selected public schools: Upper Tambler

Elementary School, West Elementary School and South Elementary School; and private

elementary schools: Sampaguita Educational Institute, Holy Trinity Elementary School

and Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges Elementary Department located in General

Santos City. An arbitrary decided 10% quote, sample from each of the Section 1 in the

six schools were sources of data. The pupils from each school were taken proportionally

and randomly to the size of each section in the six elementary schools. Computer-

16

generated numbers was used in getting the sampling unit from each school. The 14%

arbitrary decided quote sample was patterned after the work of Casocot (2003) and Diaz

(2004) because of the tediousness involved in obtaining and evaluating results of the

individualized assessment done by the researcher. Table 1 below shows the population

and sample size from the six schools.

Table 1

Distribution Table

PUBLICPOPULATIO

NSAMPLE SIZE

1. Upper Tambler-1 Elementary School 75 11

2.West Elementary School 76 11

3. South Elementary School 75 11

TOTAL 207 33

PRIVATE

1. Sampaguita Educational Institute 40 6

2. Holy Trinity College 40 6

3. RMMC 35 5

TOTAL 140 17

Research Instrument

The instrument used in gathering the data was an adopted standardized

assessment testing tools called Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills

(DIBELS 1970). The indicators of DIBELS are: Letter Naming Fluency 111 items, Initial

17

Sound Fluency 16 items, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency 130 items, Nonsense Word

Fluency 88 items and Oral Reading Fluency.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researcher asked permission to the public and private elementary schools in

General Santos City. Then, she asked the number of population of the Grade 1 pupils

belong to the Section 1in the respective schools. Upon determining the respondents for

the study, the researcher met them and conducted the study. It takes for 3 months for the

researcher in conducting the study due to the individualized process. Since every pupil

takes 5 minutes process to answer the questions given and to conduct in their available

time. The said elementary schools are from public: Upper Tambler-1 Elementary School,

West Elementary School, and South Elementary School and from private elementary

school: Sampaguita Educational Institute, Holy Trinity Elementary School and Ramon

Magsaysay Memorial Colleges Elementary Department located in General Santos City.

Statistical Treatment

For this study, the data were analyzed and interpreted using the frequency count,

percentage, mean, T-test for independent samples, standard deviation and anova.

Frequency count and percentages were used to provide data to problems 1 and 2.

To see if there is a significant difference in the basic early literacy skills of the

Grade 1 pupils in selected public and private elementary schools, mean score for each

school was computed and this was tested at 0.05 significant level using T-test for

independent samples.

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Chapter IV

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents, analyzes and interprets the data gathered in this research

study. The various results are presented in the succeeding tables with corresponding

discussions and explanations. It also answers specific problems given in the previous

chapter.

Table 2

Basic Early Literacy Skills of Selected Grade 1 Pupils from the Selected

Elementary in General Santos City

19

As shown in the Table 2, 75.8% pupils in public elementary schools are at low

risk on letter naming fluency compared to private elementary schools, 70.6%. This means

that pupils from public elementary schools were able to named 40 and above in letter

naming fluency in a minute. This is followed by 23.5%, pupils at some risk, the result

from private elementary schools. The result means that these pupils can name letter

naming fluency 29-39 in a minute. The lowest percentage is 5.9, pupils at risk whose

scores is 28 and below.

Razon (1993) emphasized that during early grades, child knows that he is

focusing on the print and makes inferences between the letters. As what Chall (1976)

suggested in learning to read, reading programs must give emphasis on learning the

alphabet and its phoneme-grapheme relationships. A child should be equipped with letter

knowledge or learning the alphabet since letter share names and are different from each

other, and that specific letter.

In initial sound fluency, 100% pupils at some risk is the highest result in the table.

This means that pupils in private elementary schools were able to pronounce the initial

sound 10 to 24 in a minute and followed by 87.9% from the public schools.

Initial sound fluency measure of phonological awareness that assesses a child’s

ability to recognize and produce the initial sound in an orally presented word within one

minute (http://www.dibels.org).

Learning first Alliance (1998) through phonics, children learn letter sound first

and then blend them. The idea that letters represent sounds of speech and that there are

systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken words.

20

http://www.dibels.org/

As shown in the phoneme segmentation fluency, the most highlighted score was

in 81.8% are pupils at low risk in public elementary schools. Meaning, these pupils were

able to score 35 and above in phoneme segmentation. In private elementary pupils, there

were 64.7%.

In phoneme segmentation, the test is in phonological awareness which measure

assesses a pupil’s ability to segment three-and-four-phoneme word into their individual

phoneme fluently (http://www.dibels.org).

Phonics emphasizes the alphabetic principles, the idea that letter represents

sounds of speech (http://www.phonicsstrategies.com).

Similar results in pupils at some risk, 35.3% fall on to the private elementary

schools compared to the public elementary schools, 15.2%. The difference of the two

percentages is almost a half.

The last literacy skill is the nonsense word fluency. The result has shown that

pupils at risk are most in private elementary schools with the percentage of 35.3%.

Compared to public elementary schools have percentage only 18.2%. In at risk results,

pupils from private schools have score in nonsense word fluency is 29 and below. Next

are the pupils at some risk are mostly from public elementary schools with the percentage

of 45.5%. As shown on the table, there is big difference when compared to the result

from the pupils at private elementary schools, 5.9%. This means that, pupils from public

schools scores between 30-49. There is only a little difference when it comes to pupils at

low risk from private elementary schools, 58.8% and public pupils got 36%. Meaning,

pupils from private elementary schools score 50 and above in nonsense word fluency.

Reading is the key that unlocks the door to the world of enlightenment and enjoyment,

21

http://www.phonicsstrategies.com/


the basic tool for learning in all subjects (Villamin, 1984). The nonsense word fluency

assess a child’s knowledge of letter-sound correspondences as well as their ability to

blend letters together to form unfamiliar “nonsense” words (http://www.dibels.org).

Table 3

Distribution of Pupils According to Oral Reading Fluency in terms of Type of School

DescriptionOral Reading Fluency

Public School Private School Totalf % f % f %

Established Reader 12 36.4 6 35.3 18 36Emerging Reader 5 15.2 6 35.3 11 22Non- Reader 16 48.5 5 29.4 21 42

TOTAL 33 100 17 100 50 100

Table 3 shows the literacy skills of selected elementary pupils from selected

elementary schools on General Santos City in terms of oral reading fluency across type of

school. Majority or 48.5% of the pupils from public schools are non-readers compared to

private schools.

One factor that affects public schools is due to the class population as compared

to the private schools. The difference between the two elementary schools is 29.4 or

almost a half. The non-readers are the pupils whose scores in the oral reading fluency is

19 and below.

For the results in established reader, as shown in the table, there is only a little

difference in the result. This means that both schools have scores in the oral reading

fluency is 40 and above. However, 35.3% of the pupils from the private schools are

emerging readers compared to the public elementary schools, only 15.2%.

22


According to Goodman and Goodman (1977), reading is interaction with printed

language to obtain meaning. Concrete experiences and many opportunities to talk an out

them, will do much to help children become good readers.

Table 4

Difference between Literacy Skill and Type of School

Description

Type of School

t- computed

p- valuet-

criticalRemark Decision

Public School

Private School

_X

_X

Letter Naming Fluency

52.27 60.00 0.282 0.779 1.645Not

SignificantAccept H0

Initial Sound Fluency

13.39 14.82 -1.500 0.140 1.645Not


Phoneme Segmentation

Fluency61.76 64.76 0.968 0.338 1.645

Not Significant

Accept H0

Nonsense Word

Fluency50.09 58.88 -0.219 0.827 1.645

Not Significant

Accept H0

Oral Reading Fluency

35.18 36.65 -0.674 0.504 1.645Not


Table 4 presents the difference between the literacy skills and type of school of

the selected pupils from the selected public and private elementary schools in General

Santos City. The most highlighted result on the table is the phoneme segmentation

fluency, 64.76% from the private schools compared to the public schools percentage

which is 61.76%. This means that the pupils from the private schools got scores higher in

the phoneme segmentation fluency test. The t-computed is 0.968, p-value is 0.338.

23

This followed the letter naming fluency, 60% for the private school as compared

to the public schools only got 52.27%. There is almost 8% percent difference of the two

schools. In this case, pupils in private schools are better in the test of letter naming

fluency.

The last highest highlighted result in the table is in the nonsense word fluency,

58.88% from the private school and 50.09 from public school.

From the table, in initial sound fluency, the results have only a small difference,

14.82% in private and 13.39% in public school. Both schools have performed better.

24

Chapter V

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of the study, conclusions and some suggestions.

Summary

This study was conducted to 50 Grade 1 elementary pupils from the selected

elementary schools in General Santos City. There were 33 pupils from the public schools

and 17 from the private schools. This study aimed to evaluate and describe the basic

early literacy skills of these elementary pupils.

Specifically, it sought answers to the following:

1. What percentage of the Grade 1 pupils are at risk, some risk and low risk on the

following early literacy skills:

a. Letter naming fluency;

b. Initial sound fluency;

c. Phoneme segmentation fluency;

d. Nonsense word fluency?

2. What percentage of the pupils are:

a. Non-readers;

b. Emerging readers;

c. Established readers?

25

3. Is there any significant difference in the basic early literacy skills of the pupils

in selected elementary pupils?

Findings

This study revealed the following:

1. There are 75.8% of the pupils from public schools and 70.6% of the pupils

were at low risk in letter naming fluency; 100% from private schools and 87.9%

of the pupils are at some risk in initial sound fluency; 81.8% of the pupils are at

low risk in the phoneme segmentation fluency while 64.7% from the private

schools; and only 36.4% of the pupils from public schools are at low risk in

nonsense word fluency as compared to 58.8% from the private schools.

2. There are 48.5% from the public schools who are non-readers. Almost the

percentage for established readers: 36.5% from public schools and 35.3% from

the private schools.

3. The t-computed for the mean score, resulted that there is no significant

difference in public and private elementary schools. The null hypothesis is also

accepted.

26

Conclusions

Based on the findings in this study, the following conclusions were made:

1. The pupils in the public schools had the same performance in the different

aspects of the literacy skills such as letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency,

phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency and oral reading fluency

with those in the private schools.

2. Majority of the pupils in public are non-readers.

3. The literacy skills of Grade 1 pupils from both public and private were not

significantly different.

Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following

recommendations were made:

1. Grade 1 pupils in both selected private schools should beexplicitly

taught and trained more in developing their initial sound fluency and phoneme

segmentation.

2. The schools administrators and teachers should provide special

programs or intervention to pupils who are at risk especially the non-readers.

27

3. The use of DIBELS to assesses or measure the status of basic early

literacy skills of Grade 1 pupils and to identify the specific skills that will

explicitly taught in interventions. The results of which will inform the school

special reading programs or intervention reading activities.

4. A similar study may be done among the Grade 1 in the public and

private elementary schools as respondents.

28

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A BOOKS

Aquino and Razon. 1993. Young Children and Reading. London: Pitman Company.

Challand Jeanne S. 1967. Learningto read: The Great Debate. New York. Mc Grwa-Hill.

Dechant,Emeralds. 1964. Imprtoving the teaching of reading. New Delhi. Prentice Hall of India.

Diane Lapp and James Flood. 1990. Towards Reading. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Froebel. 1990. First Step towards Reading. Metro Manila: Philippine Publishing House.

Lyon. 1997. Kindergarten and Reading. Great Britain: World Publishing Company.

Perfetti and Zints. 1983. Reading Process. New Jersey, USA: Prentice –Hall, Inc.

B DICTIONARY/ENCYCLOPEDIA

Webster’s Universal College Dictionary, 1997. New York: Random HousePublisher, Inc.

C UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS

IRA AND NAEYC.1990. “Literacy on Young Children’s. Simons Island, Georgia: Bull Publishing House.

Racquel De Leon.2008. “Basic Early Literacy Skills of Grade 1 Pupils in Selected Schools: An Evaluation of their reading status. Master’s Thesis. Mindanao State University, Undergraduate.

29

Yvonne Laluna.2005. “Performance of the Third year and Fourth year High School Students in Four Dimension in Reading Comprehension as influenced by their teachers’ preparedness in Teaching Reading”. Master’s Thesis. Mindanao State University, Undergraduate.

D ONLINE RESOURCES

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/home/theory.html/

www.wested.org.(stralit/ideas/reading/process.html)

www.readingrockets.org

www.dibels.uoregon.edu

30

http://www.dibels.uoregon.edu/

http://www.readingrockets.org/

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/home/theory.html/

APPENDIX A

Letter of Permission to the School Prinicpals

Mindanao State UniversityCOLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Fatima, General Santos City

July 23.2010

LILIBETH ROAPrincipalHoly Trinity DepartmentDaproza Avenue General Santos City

Dear Madam:

Greetings!

I am a fourth BSEd English student of Mindanao Satae University, who is recently undertaking a research entitled “BASIC EARLY LITERACY SKILLS OF THE GRADE-1 PUPILS IN SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN GENERAL SANTOS CITY,” in partial fulfillment of the course requirements in Educ 199 (Thesis Writing).

In this connection, I am asking for your permission to allow me to conduct my study in your school. May I also request 14% population of the first section of the grade pupils from your school to serve as a sample from your school.

Thank you very much for your action in this regard. Your contribution to the success of this endeavor will be highly appreciated.

Respectfully yours,

AMFRECHINE V. NAMUAG Researcher

Noted by:

PROF. MELY P. SUBIERE Adviser

31



July 23. 2010

ALEXANDER O. MARIPrincipalSampaguita Children’s Learning Center,#33 Sampaguita street,General Santos City.

Dear Sir:

Greetings!




Respectfully yours,


Noted by:


32



July 23. 2010

ZENAIDA A. GULLEPrincipalDadiangas West Central Elementary,General Santos City.

Dear Madam:

Greetings!




Respectfully yours,


Noted by:


33



July 14. 2010

LEONORITA P. PINEDAPrincipal IIDadiangas South I Elementary,General Santos City.

Dear Madam:

Greetings!




Respectfully yours,


Noted by:


34



July 14. 2010

BETTY BANTULOPrincipal 1RMMC – Elementary Department,Beatilles Street,General Santos City.

Dear Madam:

Greetings!




Respectfully yours,


Noted by:


35



July 23. 2010

DANTE P. CUADRADOPrincipalUpper Tambler Elementary-1fatima,General Santos City.

Dear Sir:

Greetings!




Respectfully yours,


Noted by:


36

APPENDIX B

Questionnaire

Letter Naming Fluency

V l h g S y Z W L N________

I K T D K T q d z w________

h w z m U r j G X u________

g R B Q l f I Z s r________

S n C B p Y F c a E________

y s Q P M v o t n P_______

Z A e x f F h u A t________

W G H b s I g m I i________

L L o o X N E Y p x________

N K c D d Y b j R v______

V M W q V I h g S y________

37


This is eggs, dog, spider, lion (point to pictures). SCORE

1. Which picture begins with / l /? 01

2. Which picture begins with / d /? 01

3. Which picture begins with / e /? 01

4. What sound does “spider’ begins with? 01

This is hen, banana, cat, snake (point to picture).

1. Which picture begins with / h /? 01

2. Which picture begins with / b /? 01

3. Which picture begins with / s /? 01

4. What sound does “cat “begin with? 01

This is scissors, bell, cake, milk (point to pictures).

1. Which picture begins with / k /? 01

2. Which picture begins with / m /? 01

3. Which picture begins with / s /? 0

38

4. What sound does “bell” begin with? 01

This is horse, tree, robot, cup (point to pictures).

1. Which picture begins with / k /? 0 1

2. Which picture begins with / h /? 0 1

3. Which picture begins with / r /? 0 1

4. What sound does “tree” begin with? 01

TIME:_______ seconds TOTAL CORRECT:________

39

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency

trick /t/ /r/ /i/ /k/ cat /k/ /a/ /t/ ___/7

dog /d/ /o/ /g/ pick /p/ /i/ /k/ ___/6

mine /m/ ie/ /n/ noise /n/ /oi/ /z/

___/6

coat /k/ /oa/ /t/ spin /s/ /p/ /i/ /n/ ___/7

meet /m/ /ea/ /t/ ran /r/ /a/ /n/ ___/6

wild /w/ /ie/ /d/ dawn /d/ /o/ /n/ ___/7

woke /w/ /oa/ /k/ sign /s/ /ie/ /n/ ___/6

fat /f/ /a/ /t/ wait /w/ /ai/ /t/ ___/6

side /s/ /ie/ /d/ yell /y/ /e/ /l/ ___/6

jet /j/ /e/ /t/ of /o/ /f/ ___/5

land /l/ /a/ /n/ /d/ wheel /w/ /ea/ /l/ ___/7

beach /b/ /ea/ /ch/ globe /g/ /l/ /oa/ /b/ ___/7

TOTAL:_____/13

40

Nonsense Word Fluency

boj sim uk bod naf ____/14

mik lut bil fer zel ____/15

dap nek kog pim ret ____/15

jom fom neb vum gim ____/15

et zik dij fek pol ____/14

kej rit jul bee waz ____/15

TOTAL CORRECT SOUNDS (CLS):______

41


ICE CREAM

When it is too hot outside, cold ice cream cools me off. I like 14

Strawberry the best, but rocky road is good, too. My brother likes 26

bubble gum and vanilla. 30

The ice cream man comes down our street in the summer. 41

When he gets close he rings his bell. All the kids hear the bell. 55

They get some money and go outside and wait. They sit on the 68

Sidewalk until he comes. All of the kids want to buy some cold 81

ice cream to eat. 85

The ice cream man has drum sticks, ice cream bars, and 95

bonbons. His ice cream tastes good. I like bonbons best. 105

My mother makes the very best ice cream of all. She uses our 118

old ice cream freezer. She puts milk, sugar, and eggs inside. She 130

puts lots of ice inside, too. 136

I get to turn the handle. My hand gets cold and it takes a long 151

time. My arm gets very tired turning the handle. Finally the ice 163

cream is ready to eat. My mom lets me lick the ice cream paddle 177

I think the very first taste is the best. 186

Yum! That tastes great!

42

TOTAL WORDS:_____- ERRORS:_____=WORDS CORRECT:__ORF TOTAL:____

APPENDICES C

Percentage of Mean Score of Public and Private Elementary Schools

school * psf2 Crosstabulation

1 5 27 33

3.0% 15.2% 81.8% 100.0%

0 6 11 17

.0% 35.3% 64.7% 100.0%

1 11 38 50

2.0% 22.0% 76.0% 100.0%

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Public

Private

school

Total

9 and below 10-34 35 and above

psf2

Total

43

school * isf2 Crosstabulation

4 29 33

12.1% 87.9% 100.0%

0 17 17

.0% 100.0% 100.0%

4 46 50

8.0% 92.0% 100.0%

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Public

Private

school

Total

9 and below 10-24

isf2

Total

Schools ‘Initial Sound Fluency

Schools’ Phoneme Segmentation

school * nwf2 Crosstabulation

6 15 12 33

18.2% 45.5% 36.4% 100.0%

6 1 10 17

35.3% 5.9% 58.8% 100.0%

12 16 22 50

24.0% 32.0% 44.0% 100.0%

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Public

Private

school

Total

29 and below 30-49 50 and above

nwf2

Total

school * orf2 Crosstabulation

16 5 12 33

48.5% 15.2% 36.4% 100.0%

5 6 6 17

29.4% 35.3% 35.3% 100.0%

21 11 18 50

42.0% 22.0% 36.0% 100.0%

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Count

% within school

Public

Private

school

Total

non-readersemergingreaders

establishedreaders

orf2

Total

Frequency Distribution of FluencyLetter Naming Fluency

ISF1

44

Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative

Percent

Valid 15-39 15 30.0 30.0 30.0

40-70 30 60.0 60.0 90.0

71-85 4 8.0 8.0 98.0

86-100 1 2.0 2.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

Schools’ Nonsense Word Fluency

School’s Oral Reading Fluency


Percent

Valid 15-39 1 2.0 2.0 2.0

40-70 8 16.0 16.0 18.0

71-85 6 12.0 12.0 30.0

86-100 35 70.0 70.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

NWF1


Percent

Valid 0-14 4 8.0 8.0 8.0

15-39 11 22.0 22.0 30.0

40-70 16 32.0 32.0 62.0

71-85 1 2.0 2.0 64.0

86-100 18 36.0 36.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

45


Nonsense Word Sound Fluency


Percent

Valid 0-14 7 14.0 14.0 14.0

15-39 15 30.0 30.0 44.0

40-70 21 42.0 42.0 86.0

86-100 7 14.0 14.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

ORF1


Percent

Valid 0-14 13 26.0 26.0 26.0

15-39 16 32.0 32.0 58.0

40-70 8 16.0 16.0 74.0

71-85 4 8.0 8.0 82.0

86-100 9 18.0 18.0 100.0

Total 50 100.0 100.0

46

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency


Descriptive Statistics of Fluency

ANOVA

sum of square df Mean Square F Sig.

LNF Between Groups 669.955 1 669.955 1.929 .171

Within Groups 16670.545 48 347.303

Total 17340.500 49

ISF Between Groups 22.931 1 22.931 3.089 .085

Within Groups 356.349 48 7.424

Total 379.280 49

NWF Between Groups 867.188 1 867.188 1.048 .311

Within Groups 39726.492 48 827.635

Total 40593.680 49

PSF Between Groups 101.461 1 101.461 .078 .782

Within Groups 62787.119 48 1308.065

Total 62888.580 49

ORF Between Groups 24.089 1 24.089 .029 .865

Within Groups 39446.791 48 821.808

Total 39470.880 49

47

CURRICULUM VITAE

PERSONAL PROFILE

Name : Amfrechine Villadar Namuag

Date of Birth : August 30, 1988

Place of Birth : Zone 1 Blk. 9, Brgy. Fatima, General Santos City

Age : 22 years old

Status : Single

Citizenship : Filipino

Address : Zone 1 Blk. 9, Brgy. Fatima, General Santos City

Father : Arnulfo Salim Namuag

Mother : Marina Villadar Namuag

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Elementary : SEK. KEB JEROCO, Sabah, Malaysia

Secondary : Fatima National High School

Tertiary : Mindanao State University - General Santos City

Degree : Bachelor of Secondary Education

Area of Specialization: English

Thesis Title: “Basic Early Literacy Skills of the Grade 1 Pupils in Selected Public

and Private Elementary Schools in General Santos City”

48

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