Campus Location
Abilene Campus
Date of Award
5-7-2021
Document Type
Manuscript
Department
Teacher Education
Degree Name
Master of Education in Teaching and Learning
First Advisor
Andrew Huddleston
Abstract
Spelling instruction is often overlooked by many teachers during reading and language arts. The purpose of this study was to implement a manageable differentiated word study instruction program, drawn from the Words Their Way (WTW) program, to determine how it affected students’ spelling accuracy and how the participants perceived its effect on students’ daily journal writing time in a fourth-grade self-contained classroom. Students were placed into small groups based on their spelling pre-test scores. Data was collected through field notes, student and teacher interviews, a pre- and post-test, and a survey. Qualitative data was analyzed using the constant comparative method, and quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Four major themes emerged including benefits and drawbacks of the WTW program, WTW program’s perceived impact on students’ journal writing, and WTW program helping improve students’ spelling accuracy. The researcher also found that most of the participants showed growth on the post-assessment.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Broughton, Sara, "Differentiated Spelling: Using Small Group Instruction" (2021). Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning. 40.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/metl/40
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons