Kim Hartley 20904573 EDUC5509 Interventions for Learning - SEM-2 (CRAWLEY), 2013 Research Project Proposal

TITLE The use of multisensory learning activities to improve the spelling abilities of year four students.

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE This research project will explore how effective multisensory spelling activities are at improving students spelling abilities.

At the moment the classroom spelling program consists of the spelling revision technique look, cover, write and check. This is an activity students complete daily. They the students write a sentence using their spelling word. When this is completed they go onto a word search which completes the weekly spelling program. This research project will explore how effective it would be to use more tactile learning tasks for students to review their spelling. These tasks will be simple, easy to set up and maintain and be contained within a small box for easy storage and mobility. The tasks will allow students to practice their spelling independently but also in an engaging and hand on manner.

LITERATURE REVIEW Multisensory learning The use of multisensory activities in the classroom to help students learn has been examined by Linda Hecker who used a variety of non-traditional learning activities to help her students write essays. In her article Wallking, Tinkertoys, and Legos: Using Movement and Manipulatives to Help Students Write she discusses the relationship between multisensory activities and multiple intelligence theory. She pays particular focus to kinaesthetic intelligence and spatial intelligence. The use of multisensory activities also features in Campbell, Helf and Cookes research article The effects of adding multisensory components to a supplementary r eading program on the decoding skills of treatment resisters. Their article discusses their research on primary school children who are considered to be at education risk and how using

Kim Hartley 20904573 multisensory activities can help these children learn decoding skills. The use of kinaesthetic learning tasks in the classroom is evaluated by Bruce Pirie in his article Meaning Through Motion: Kinaesthetic English. His article promotes the use of these activities in a meaningful way to support a literature program and not merely as an attention grabbing activity.

The benefits of multisensory learning and how this relates to brain function is examined in Shams and Sheitz article Benefits of Multisensory Learning. Their article examines how brain function, particularly the area of memory, favours multisensory learning.

Students Motivation The link between students success of failure in spelling and their motivation for academic learning is examined in an article by Alderman and Green Fostering Lifelong Spellers through Meaningful Experiences. In their article Alderman and Green discuss how improving student motivation to complete spelling also improves students spelling ability. To support their argument they demonstrate how this can be done through the implementation of Achievement Goal Theory focusing on mastery orientation. They also provide examples of how this theory can be put into practice into the classroom setting. Motivation in learning is also discussed in Educational Psychology by Woolfolk and Margetts. This book looks at what motivation is, the approaches to motivation and its application in the classroom. Spelling Development Apel and Masterson examine how spelling theory and development research can assist in the implication of spelling interventions in their article Theory-Guided Spelling Assessment and Intervention: A case study. They look at what contributes to spelling errors and how this knowledge can be used to identify the focus of the intervention needed. They then discuss a case study and the testing and interventions that were used. Peter Westwoods book, What Teachers Need to Know About Spelling 2008, provides a comprehensive look at the development of spelling, how spelling should be taught in schools, activities to assist with teaching spelling, spelling interventions and how to assess spelling. There are many other text books which look at spelling development including Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education by Fellows and Oakley, and Words Their Way by Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston. Ways in which teachers can help students who are struggling with their spelling are presented in Rebecca Sipes article Supporting Challenged Spellers. She suggests spelling should be embedded into a comprehensive English program and more generalized.

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RESEARCH QUESTION How effective are multisensory learning activities to improve the spelling abilities of three year 4 students?

PARTICIPANTS The year 4 class teacher. The class teacher has worked with these students since the beginning of the year. The three year 4 students. These students have not been diagnosed with any form of learning disability. The students complete the same level of work as the other students in year 4 at the school. However, these students constantly achieve the lowest scores in spelling, mathematics and other basic subjects at school. Selection Process Participants for this research project were selected due to the fact that the students and researcher already had a positive relationship due to completing a previous professional practice with the class. The students were selected because they showed signs of struggling to keep up with the spelling words given to the class.

INTERVENTION The intervention will follow a similar structure to what is already in place for the classroom spelling program to maintain consistency for the students and limit interruption for the classroom teacher. The intervention will occur for 45 minutes every day for a two week duration. This time will be used to provide the students with 15 minutes of a shared interactive spelling activity. The remaining half hour will be spent with the students independently completing ten minute rotations with three spelling stations each using a different multisensory spelling activity. One hour for ten days. These activities will vary but will include using playdough, pipe cleaners, paint, flour, wool and other objects to spell words. They will also involve the use of ipad apps and activites to promote kinesthetic learning.

Kim Hartley 20904573 Students will be using the same words as those given to the other students for this intervention to maintain learning consistency. This will be a list of ten words given to the students after they complete their spelling pretest.

DATA COLLECTION Interview An interview will be used before research begins and at the end of the research period. Interviews will be taken with the classroom teacher. The interview will aim to provide background information as to the students learning abilities and any improvements noticed by the teachers at the end of the intervention. Work samples These work samples will be taken from students spelling journals, where they complete their weekly spelling program, as well as their work during the intervention. Observations and Journal During the intervention I will be observing the students while they interact with the introduced activities. I will keep an observation journal to keep track of students attitudes, motivation and engagement with the tasks they perform and to record any key comments students make during the intervention. Pre and Post spelling test The students will be given a spelling test prior to the intervention using the same words as the rest of the class as per their usual class spelling program. A test will be given at the beginning of the first week and these will be retested at the end of the week. The same will occur for the second week. Spelling Attitude Survey This will be a modified survey based on the Reading Attitude Survey designed by Dennis J. Kear from Wichita State University.

DATA ANALYSIS Interview, Observations and Journal The results from this data will be analysed together in an overview to summarize any change in student ability and engagement with spelling tasks as seen by the teacher. Work samples Students previous weekly spelling test results will be examined and the percentages of these tests will be graphed using a bar graph. Pre and Post spelling test The results from these spelling tests will be turned into percentages and then graphed onto a bar graph.

Kim Hartley 20904573 Spelling Attitude Survey The answers to these surveys will be compared and evaluated for any changes.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS The main ethical considerations involve maintaining the students identity remains anonymous, maintaining an equal relationship between researcher and participant and keeping all those involved informed about the process of the research and the use of the information gathered. All participants, principal, teacher, Education Assistant, students and parents, will be provided with information sheets about the intents and purposes of the research before any research begins. Permission slips will also be used to gain consent from the students and their parents. There will be no photos or video taken of the students, pseudonyms for the students will be used and the name of the school will not be mentioned. Permission will also be obtained before any work samples are used and analysed for the purposes of this research task. Efforts will also be made to equalize the relationship between students and researcher.

REFERENCES Alderman. G., & Green. S. (2011) Fostering lifelong spellers through meaningful experiences. The Reading Teacher, 68(8), 599-605. Retrieved from Jstor. Apel. K., & Masterson. J. (2001) Theory-guided spelling assessment and intervention: a case study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 32, 182-195. Retrieved from Ebsco. Bear. D., Invernizzi. M., Templeton. S., & Johnston. F. (2008) Words their way. New Jersey:Pearson Education. Campbell. M., Helf. S., & Cooke. N. (2008) Effects of adding multisensory components to a supplemental reading program on the decoding skills of treatment resisters. Education and Treatment of Children. 31(3). Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals. Fellows. J., & Oakley. G. (2010). Language, literacy and early childhood education. Australia: Oxford University Press. Hecker. L. (1997) Walking, tinkertoys, and legos: using movement and manipulatives to help students write. The English Journal, 86(6), 46-52. Retrieved from Jstor.

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Kear. D., & McKenna. M. (1990) Measuring attitude towards reading; a new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43(9). Retrieved from www.professorgarfield.org/parents_teachers/printables/pdfs/reading/readingsurvey.pdf Pirie. B. (1995) Meaning through motion: kinaesthetic English. The English Journal, 84(8), 46-51. Retrieved from Ebsco. Shams. L., & Sheitz. A. (2008) Benefits of multisensory learning. Trends in Cognitive Science, 12(11). 412-417. Retrieved from Jstor. Sipe. R. (2002). Supporting challenged spellers. Voices from the Middle, 9(3), 23-32. Retrieved from Proquest. Westwood. P. (2008) What teachers need to know about spelling. Camberwell, Victoria: ACER press.

Woolfolk. A., & Margetts. K. (2010). Educational psychology. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.