USING MULTI-SENSORY APPROACH TO IMPROVE YEAR 2 PUPILS WORD

RECOGNITION

NURUL AKMAL AMIRAH SARUDIN 1

HARWATI HASYIM 2
SJK (C) SANG LEE, 27600 RAUB, PAHANG 1
UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA 2

Abstract
This study pinpoints the use of multi-sensory approach to improve young learners’ words
recognition in enhancing their reading skills. Current researches show that various types of
multi-sensory activities have helped pupils in their reading skills besides providing them with
more meaningful and enjoyable learning session. Thus, this paper aims to find out whether
multi-sensory approach can help the Year 2 primary pupils in a Chinese vernacular school
type (SJKC) which is located in Raub, Pahang. Data has been collected and analysed
descriptively through pre and post-test as well as formative assessments. The main findings
suggested that the participants involved made an excellent progress in their marks obtained
throughout the formative assessments conducted as well as during pre and post-test.
Therefore, it is proven that multi-sensory approach enables participants to improve their word
recognition which indirectly help to enhance their reading skills.

Introduction

Word recognition is one of the recurring problems that happened during teaching and
learning. This is because the pupils were not able to recognize words and they easily got
confused when it came to the printed word, which hindered them in reading at word level.
According to Ademola (2000) in her article of problem among students in primary school,
she claims that ‘word recognition become a problem due to the pupils’ lack of practice in
reading as well as lack of exposure to the form of the word in printed form’. Therefore, this
problem need to be refined in order to help the pupils to successfully achieve the learning
standard stated in Dokumen Standard Kurikulum Pembelajaran (DSKP) of Year 2, 2.2.1
where the ‘pupils should be able to read and apply word recognition by matching words with
spoken words’. Yunus (2013) stated that ‘in order to enable students to become a better
communicator, we should perhaps go beyond everything be it grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation and that teachers should leave behind the conventional method and make
changes’. This suggested that the educators need to help them to not only using the
conventional method which is chalk and talk but also to have a physical activities involving
their 5 senses in order to enhance their reading skill and recognize words as this would
eventually help them to have smooth and effective teaching and learning.
The significance of the research conducted into the word recognition problem was to
alleviate the problems in order for the pupils to achieve the learning standard highlighted in
the DSKP where the pupils should be able to read and apply word recognition. Apart from
that, it also helped to strengthen their proficiency where the pupils should have to recognize
words in order to make them able to read at word level. This fundamental basis could help the
pupils to experience other forms of reading. For instance, reading for meaning, reading
comprehension and reading storybooks for their enjoyment.
Based on that, a preliminary investigation has been conducted with the pupils of Year
2 in Chinese vernacular school type (SJKC) to discover the problem faced by them in
teaching reading skills. this investigation resulted to finding that the pupils were not able to
read at word level. This is problem is assumed due to pupils’ background where they do not
have sufficient resources to learn English where they only learn them in school. Besides, for
most of the pupils, English is their third language which hindered them from the early
exposure towards the targeted language. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to find out
whether multi-sensory approach can help to improve young learners’ word recognition in
enhancing their reading skill.

Literature Review

Word Recognition
In reading skill, word recognition is a fundamental skill that needs to be mastered in which it
is an important first steps that an individual takes to read. According to Hulmes and Snowling
(2015) ‘in the process of learning to read, recognizing words is a critical stage’. This
statement then is supported by Tuncay and Dedeoglu (2019) which they claimed that
‘without recognizing the words, the possibility to read might be low’. In the process of
teaching literacy, the skill of recognizing the written words is taught through special work
such as varying the teaching and learning strategies in the pedagogical practice. In relation to
that, Aarnoutse, et.al. (2016) suggested that ‘word recognition is part of literacy and it can be
defined as the process of converting a sequencing letters into sounds for the identification of
word’. Thus, ‘word recognition skill need to be taught in the early stages with preparatory
word recognition activities’ (Verhagen et al, 2009).
Multi-sensory Approach
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2004) defines multi-sensory as: ‘using
visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities, sometimes at the same time’. Based on this, in
relation to teaching and learning, it implies that multi-sensory approach is a various types of
activities which involved the pupils’ 5 senses in their learning sessions. This is supported by
Jubran (2012) which he claimed that ‘the idea of learning experienced through all the senses
is helpful and meaningful in reinforcing memory has a long history in pedagogy’. This proves
that this approach has long been used and helped the learners in improving their literacy skills
such reading, writing, listening and speaking. Apart from that, multi-sensory approach is also
believed to be effective for learners with learning disabilities for literacy skills. For example,
‘teachers who are working with dyslexic learners agreed that multi-sensory approaches
particularly valuable, as they help learners to make sense of information in a range of ways’
(Coffield et al, 2004). This implied that when teaching disabled learners it is important to
focus on developing all the senses as fully as possible, through multi-sensory environments as
one of the techniques where activities that utilized all the senses is an excellent way to get
them involved in the teaching and learning session. Thus, multi-sensory approach is believed
to be constructive as it helps learners to make a better improvement for their literacy skills.

Methodology
This study used a quantitative method where the researcher had collected the data using
quantitative approach. The selection of participants for this study was based on non-
probability judgmental sampling technique from a rural school in the district of Raub,
Pahang. The language proficiency is ranged in low level, however, has a positive reaction and
strong inclination towards learning English in the classroom.
The following sections explain the setting for the study, the participants involved, the
intervention used and data collection procedures.

3.1 Setting
This study will be focusing on word recognition based on the English language. This
skill is one the components that pupils need to be mastered before they graduated in Year 6.
This study is conducted in a Chinese vernacular type of school (SJKC) in the district of Raub,
Pahang. This study was conducted in 2 cycles, in which each cycle took about two to three
weeks to complete the whole session and took 5 hours of face to face interaction with the
participants where each session is conducted for an hour.
 3.2 Research Participant
The participants involved in this study consisted of 10 pupils from Year 2 class. The
details of the participants are shown below in Table 1 regarding their gender, level of
English proficiency, score in diagnostic test, level of performance as well as their socio-
economic status.

Table 1
Research Participants
Participants Gender Level of Score in Level of Unique aspects
proficiency diagnostic performan (socio economic
in English test ce in status)
(%) diagnostic
test
P1 Female Low 40 Low Low

P2 Female Low 38 Low Low

P3 Female Low 38 Low Low

P4 Male Low 31 Low Low

P5 Male Low 40 Low Low

P6 Male Low 28 Low Low
P7 Male Low 32 Low Low
P8 Male Low 26 Low Low
P9 Male Low 35 Low Low
P10 Male Low 17 Low Low

Based on the table, the details were crucial for the purpose of this study as it gave an insight
of the participants’ background where it may lead to their poor level of English
performances.
3.3 Research Procedures
This section will discuss on the implementation of intervention and will be
summarized as below :

Figure 1.Stephen Kemmis’ Model

Based on the table above, the implementation was planned according to the steps
suggested by Kemmis’ Model which are; planning, acting, observing and reflecting. During
the planning stage, after the problem had been identified a preliminary investigation was
carried out where the researcher run a diagnostic test, classroom observation as well as
unstructured interview to collect the preliminary data. Based on the result, a suitable
intervention was planned to solve the problem identified. In action stage, a pre-test was
administered to get their marks before the intervention is conducted. Then, the intervention
will be introduced where the researcher conducted various types of multi-sensory activities in
which one type in one session. Formative assessment will be given to the participants after
each session to monitor their progression. At the end of this stage participants will be given a
post-test to keep track of their improvement compared to the pre-test conducted at the
beginning of the stage. Observation stage is where the data collected from the participants’
marks were analysed and tabulated to see whether the intervention was effective for them. in
reflect stage, the weaknesses of the intervention will be improved and revised for cycle 2 and
the series of stages went accordingly as in cycle 1.
 3.4 Data Collection and Analysis Method
This section would describe the data collection and analysis methods used; which are pre and
post-test as well as formative assessment.

Pre and post-test

These tests are used to monitor the improvement of the participants before and after
the session have been conducted. In both tests, the words used will be taken from the KSSR
word list for Year 2 primary schoolers. The same worksheet will be given in the pre and post-
test so that the researcher will be able to record on the improvement as well as to be fair to
the participants in making sure that those items have been learned throughout the three
sessions conducted. The percentage of the participants’ improvement then will be counted
using a formula as shown below before comparing the differences in marks between post-test
and pre-test.

(post test score – pre test score ) x 100 (percentages) = final mark

total number of word recognition (questions)

Figure 2. Scoring formula in test

Final marks of the results are used to classified further progression of the participants into
excellent, good and moderate range as follow :

Table 2
Score range
Level of Progression Range
Excellent progress 70% - 100 %
Good progress 40% - 69%
Moderate progress 5% - 39%

Formative assessment
Formative assessment will be given at the end of each session after implementing the
intervention. This aimed to observe the progression of the participants after going through the
session. The words use in this assessment will be taken from the KSSR word list for Year 2
which in the range of their vocabulary. Set of words in each session are different based on the
multi-sensory activities conducted in the particular session. Some words were repeated so
that participants will recognize it better to help them to familiarize with the words in
preparing them to sit for the post-test at the end of the sessions later.

Findings and Discussion

This section presents substantial discussion of the findings based on the data
interpreted from pre and post-test as well as formative assessments. The results will be
discussed in the subsequent paragraph.

Pre and post-test

Table 3

Result of the formative assessments for both cycles.

Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Differences

Pre-test (a) Post-test (b) Post-test (c) (b-a) (c-a)

No. Participants Marks Marks Marks Marks Marks

(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

1 P1 20 80 100 60 80

2 P2 40 60 100 20 60

3 P3 20 80 100 60 80

4 P4 40 80 100 40 60

5 P5 40 80 100 40 60

6 P6 20 100 100 80 80

7 P7 20 80 80 60 60

8 P8 20 60 80 40 60

9 P9 40 60 100 20 60
 10 P10 20 80 80 60 60

Based on the table, it can be seen that all the participants got low marks in their pre-test as no
one gained above the 40 marks. However, they had shown improvement during the post-test
in both cycles where they ended the test with 80% to 100%. The percentage of differences in
marks had also increased between the post-test in cycle 1 and the post-test in cycle 2. While
for the range of level of progression based on the difference in marks, 7 participants had
shown good progress which ranged from 40% to 60% while the remaining participants who
had shown 80% of progression are ranged in the excellent progress throughout the tests.

Formative assessment
Table 4

Result of the formative assessments for both cycles.

Cycle 1 Cycle 2

No. Participants S1 S2 S3 S1 S2

% % % % %

1 P1 60 60 80 80 80

2 P2 40 20 60 80 100

3 P3 60 20 60 80 80

4 P4 40 60 60 80 80

5 P5 40 60 80 80 100

6 P6 80 80 100 100 100

7 P7 80 40 100 100 100

8 P8 80 60 80 80 100

9 P9 40 60 80 60 60

10 P10 60 80 100 80 100

The table shows the overall marks obtained by the participants in formative assessment
throughout the whole sessions in both cycles. It can be seen that there were increase and
decrease in marks during the sessions. However, most of the participants were able to
maintain and get higher marks at the end of the session in cycle 2, which then showed their
improvement in the final post-test.

Discussion
The main findings suggested that the various types of multi-sensory activities conducted
makes word recognition skill possible among the Year 2 primary pupils as most of the
participants constantly showed improvement in their learning through the result of formative
tasks as well as the pre and post-test. During the final post-test in cycle 2 all of them were
able to score above 80% after had been given the treatment in each session which then
followed by the formative assessment. The scores in the final post-test are validated by the
scores throughout the session of formative assessment. However, it could be seen that four
participants got lower scores in session 2 during cycle 1 which are P2, P3, P7 and P8. Two of
them decreased by 20% while the other two were decreased by 40%. This might be due to the
lack of guidance or any eternal factors that contribute to that. As for P9, the participant had
gradually improved throughout the session in cycle 1. However, the marks decreased to 60%
in cycle 2. Fortunately, the participant was able to get full marks during the final post-test in
cycle 2 which shows that the sessions worked on the participant. Therefore, the improvement
concludes that multi-sensory activities does help to improve Year 2 pupils’ word recognition
to enhance their reading skill. In relation to that, it is believed that the multisensory activities
conducted throughout the sessions suit the learning styles of the participants as they are
correlated. When the correct approach is used it helps to spark enjoyment for them during the
learning sessions which makes them want to make an improvement for themselves. This is
supported by Moustafa (1999) who claimed that ‘each of the learning style needs to be used
equally in instruction to be more effective’. Besides, ‘learning through five senses where
pupils use part of their body is more effective rather than they just sit and listen as they are
able to learn better by remembering the letters if they are allowed to see, pronounce, and
write the letters’ (Dunlosky, 2013). It also has been agreed by Philip and Feng (2012)
which they proposed that ‘the pupils also need to have abstract ideals taken into a concrete
form through the implementation multi-sensory approach’. Therefore, it is proven that this
approach has affected the participants positively.
Conclusion
As for the conclusion, it is proven that multi-sensory approach is able to help in
improving primary pupils’ word recognition in order to enhance their reading skills. Teachers
need to make an effort to vary their pedagogical practice so that pupils will have the chance
to experience learning in a more meaningful and enjoyable way. Apart from that, teacher
need to give more attention to each pupil in order to cater their individual needs. This will
help them to plan more suitable activities for the pupils so that it is fair to everyone to have a
learning session that suits with their preferred learning styles. Teachers need to be more
creative in conducting the learning session so that the pupils will be attracted to learn and
lessen the threatening environment as it may demotivate them to learn more.
Throughout this study, it has helped the participants to add more words to their
vocabulary. Not only that, they also has learned how to blend the sounds after recognizing the
words which can help to exceed their reading skill. However, it is hope that this study has
opened more doors to other research and findings that will benefit students and teachers.
References

Ademola. (2000). SCHOOL QUALITY FACTORS AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’

ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS IN SOUTH-WESTERN AND NORTHCENTRAL
NIGERIA. The African Symposium: An online journal of the African Educational
Research Network, 91-100.
Melor Md Yunus, N. S. (2013). Pros and cons of using ICT in teaching ESL reading and
writing. International education studies,, 119.
Moustafa. (1999). Multisensory Approaches and Learning Styles Theory in the Elementary
School: Summary of Reference Papers. ERIC, 4-12.
Dedeoglu, T. a. (2019). Word recognition levels of first grade students: An application of
word recognition inventory. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 237-
267.
Feng, P. a. (2012). Methods for Sight Word Recognition in Kindergarten: Traditional
Flashcard Method vs. Multisensory Approach. ERIC, 37.
Jubran, S. (2012). USING MULTI SENSORY APPROACH FOR TEACHING ENGLISH SKILLS AND
ITS EFFECT ON STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENT AT JORDANIAN SCHOOLS. European
Scientific Journal , 50-61.
Coffield, M. H. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. A systematic and
critical review. London.
Aarnoutse, T. L. (2016). Prediction of word recognition in the first half of grade 1. European
Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 229-238.
Verhagen. (2009). Predicting Early Word Recognition and Spelling.
Snowling, H. a. (2015). Learning to Read: What We Know and What We Need to Understand
Better. US National Library of Medicine.
Skills, D. f. (2004, February). A framework for understandingdyslexia. Retrieved from
http://aka.education.gov.uk/readwriteplus/understandingdyslexia%20accessed
%20February%202007
Dunlosky. (2013). Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques:
Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological
Science in the Public Interest.