Exploratory action research on facing difficulties in identifying English alphabet

An Exploratory research paper on children face difficulties in identifying  English alphabets

The study identifying the challenges and barriers that hinder the educational process. Those barriers including  the primary school children are facing difficulties in identifying English alphabets.

Topic:  some children studying in class -2 are facing difficulties in identifying  English alphabets in reading and writing.

Statement of the problem :

Alphabet knowledge is consistently recognized as the strongest, most durable predictor of later literacy achievement. Primary school teachers have to solve this problem by using innovative strategies and teach the essential skills of alphabet knowledge.

purpose of the study :

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the dimensionality and reliability of letter writing skills in primary school children with the aim of determining whether a sequence existed in how children learn to write the letters of the alphabet.

Research questions :

1.What are the main reasons that  make the students to confuse in identifying some alphabets in English language?

2.How many students are facing this problem?

3.Are the students facing the same problems in identifying their first language?

4.What techniques or strategies should I use to solve this problem?

Data collection procedures :

Conducting dictation of simple words to children studying class -2 and ask them to read those words to find out how many of them are facing difficulties in identifying English alphabets.

 I identified 15% of my class2 children are facing difficulties in identifying letters.Some children are confused while reading the alphabets in words,when they are copying the same alphabets they are writing properly. I identified they often muddle up similar-looking letters. The most common offenders are b and d, h and n, v and u, u and n, p and q, f and t.

After that I talked with the children to find out the reasons of their difficulties in identification.

The following questions are asked by the teacher

( To the students)

1.Didn’t you find any differences between those letters?

2. How many times you face difficulties in identifying those letters?

3.Did anyone among your friends writing mistakes like you?

( To the parents)

1.Did you find your child is facing difficulties in identifying English Alphabets?

2.Did you find any solution to overcome their difficulties in identifying English Alphabets?

(To the colleagues)

1.Did the children are facing the same problems in your subject?

2.what are the strategies you followed to overcome this problem?   

By asking the above questions I collected the data, from that I came to know few of the reasons for this problems.They are poor visual memory,lack of concentration while learning, poor handwriting.

In the second stage of my data collection I questioned myself to explore this problem

1.Am I writing clearly on the board?

2.what should I do to solve this problem?

3.should I use new methods to introduce those letters?

 After my little study I want to use the following  innovatieve methods to solve identification difficulties in my plan of action .

Method1: use tactile 

Method2: use air writing

Method3: use analogies

Method4: use flip book

Method5: use letter hunting

 Conclusion:

Letter recognition is a fundamental part of learning process.Letter reversal problem happens as a normal part of development and seen in many kids untill first or second grade. After getting information from functional and theoretical sources, I understood that the above mentioned methods and strategies will help to overcome the identification difficulties in English alphabets at primary level.