Comparing the effectiveness of visual and auditory training procedures in the remediation of spelling errors among phonic spellers
Date
1981
Authors
Boyd, Linda Laverne
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine which mode of instruction, auditory or visual, is more effective in remediating phonically correct misspellings among third grade students who are not skilled spellers.
Local norms for the spelling section of the Wide Range Achievement Test were developed for the third grade level. These norms were used to identify 96 students who were not skilled spellers. These individuals were given a group pretest of a 100-word spelling list. The errors made on this test were classified in terms of phonic plausibility. Individuals for whom 80% or more of the errors were found to be phonically plausible were designated "phonic spellers". These phonic spellers formed a pool of subjects to be randomly assigned to three groups, stratified by school attended, spelling ability, sex, and teacher.
The first group was designated "Control" and received no instruction. Group II was designated "Visual Training". Subjects were given five twenty-minute sessions of individual instruction, each teaching ten words from the errors made on the pretest. Instructional sessions were followed by tests of immediate and delayed recall. Group III was designated "Auditory Training". Subjects in this group received instruction and testing parallel to that provided Group II, but in this case the instruction was in the auditory mode. Following the final delayed recall tests, a group post-test of the 100-word list was administered.
The final sample consisted of 9 subjects in Group I and 10 in each of Groups II and III. Analysis of Covariance, with pretest scores serving as the co-variate, and the Scheffe procedure were used to assess the significance of the differences in post-test scores.
Post-test scores of the Visual Training Group were found to be significantly higher than those of both the Control and Auditory Training Groups. Post-test scores of the Auditory Training Group were not found to be significantly better than those of the Control Group.