Action Research

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Initial Meeting with Teacher

Students Chosen
Student H: I met with my teacher on September 30, 2014 to discuss my action research
project. It was on that day that we decided that I would be working with student H in the area of
letter recognition. Student H was chosen as the only student to be a part of action research
because she struggles with correctly identifying letters when asked. Although student H struggles
with letter recognition, she is able to identify and even write the letters of her name without fail.
However, after I gave student H four initial assessments, my teacher suggested on
October 17 that I work with student A instead because student Hs attendance was not consistent.
Taking her advice, I decided to start my research over with student A.
Student A: This student was chosen for the same reasons that student H was chosen
initially. Student A struggles to correctly identify letters and their sounds when asked. This
student also struggles with comprehending information. His attention span during instructional
times is short and almost nonexistent. Mrs. Collins feels that student A would benefit from oneon-one attention, eliminating distractions and increasing the likelihood of student A retaining
information, specifically alphabetic symbols.

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The Question
After observing the students in my 3-year-old preschool classroom, my teacher and I decided that
for my action research, I would focus on one student. Student H struggles with correctly

Action Research

!2

recognizing uppercase letters when she sees them or is asked to identify them. This made me
wonder, what strategies would be best to improve student Hs letter recognition? I set out to
determine what strategies had been proven to be effective for teaching letter recognition. After
discovering what strategies had been proven to work best, I tailored them to fit student Hs needs
and personality.
However after working with student H for several weeks, my teacher suggested that I
change students because student Hs attendance was not consistent. I heeded her advice and
changed the student I would focus on for my action research to student A. My teacher still
wanted me to work with student A on letter recognition because, like student H, he struggles with
correctly recognizing letters when he sees them or is asked to identify them.

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Timeline
Date

Plan

September 23, 2014

Observe

September 30, 2014

Observe; Decide on student(s) for research

October 7, 2014

Observe; Decide on topic for research; Write

question and prepare timeline

October 15, 2014

First 2 assessments for student H (TROLL

Letter Choice)

October 16, 2014

Last 2 assessments (Interest Inventory and

Letter Puzzle)

Action Research
Date

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Plan

October 17, 2014

Start over with student A. Student H has

moved.
First 2 assessments (TROLL and Letter
Choice)

October 21, 2014

Last two assessments (Letter Matching Puzzle

and Interest Inventory)

October 22, 2014

Letter Recognition activity (Name Game: see

it, build it, write it)

October 23, 2014

Letter Recognition activity (Rice Writing)

October 28, 2014

Letter Recognition activity (Computer Game)

November 4, 2014

Midpoint Assessment (Letter Choice)

November 18, 2014

Letter Recognition activity (Letter Search)

December 2, 2014

Final assessment (Letter Choice)

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Initial Assessments
I gave student A four initial assessments on October 17 and 21, 2014. Student As struggle
with letter recognition was not as bad as I initially thought it would be. Student A score on the
main letter recognition assessment was much higher than I had anticipated and he also scored
higher than average on the TROLL assessment. I knew that student A had a lot of growing to do,
but I also knew that he had a solid base to jump off of. I did notice, however, that while I was
giving the initial assessments, student A had a very hard time paying attention. He would zone
out and almost seem like he was ignoring my questions. I noticed that because of his inability to
pay attention, he was not retaining any information. Because of the assessments and my

Action Research
observations, I decided that I needed to create engaging letter recognition activities that would
hold student As short-lived attention.

The TROLL Assessment

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Action Research
Interest Inventory Assessment

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Action Research

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Activity Log
Goal for student(s): Recognize all letters of the alphabet
Growth Targets: Increase letter recognition by 5 letters

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Date

Strategy/
Skill taught

Assessment Observations

10/17/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

Le(er Choice I had le(er ashcards and I need to begin crea1ng fun
(Ini1al
would put two down in games and ac1vi1es for A to
Assessment) front of A and have him prac1ce his le(er
point to the correct le(er. recogni1on. The games need
TROLL
If he iden1ed the le(er to keep his a(en1on, so they
correctly, I would move it must be high energy and
aside in the correct pile, very engaging. I have not yet
and vice versa. I no1ced decided how many le(ers at
that A had some
a 1me I will work with him
a(en1on problems and on, but considering his
would shiK his eyes when a(en1on and
asked about a le(er. He comprehension, I think I will
could iden1fy all the
group them into small
le(ers in his name, along groups.
with others. He correctly
iden1ed 15 out of the
26 le(ers in the alphabet.
He was coopera1ve and
willing to work. He also
struggles with listening.

As for TROLL, he scored a

56 on the assessment,
which is slightly above
average for his age.

Next Steps (instruction/

focus for next lesson)

Action Research
10/21/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

10/22/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

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Le(er Puzzle There is a puzzle in our A was very distracted today. I

classroom that has
think that if he was in a room
individual le(ers that you by himself with me, we
can take out and then
would have been more
match their shape and
successful at iden1ca1on. I
put them back. I had A
need to gure out an ac1vity
work on his le(er
that will catch his a(en1on
recogni1on by asking him and keep it. As of right now,
to iden1fy the le(er that we are working with all
he was taking out and
le(ers, however I may need
then when he went to
to narrow it down to ve at a
put them back, I had him 1me due to his short
iden1fy it then as well.
a(en1on span.
He was able to correctly
iden1fy 13 out of 26
le(ers.
Name Game I had As name typed out I no1ced that with this
(See it, build on a sheet of paper and ac1vity, A seemed to be
it write it)
had him iden1fy the
much more alert. I am not
le(ers in his name, which sure if it had something to
he can do with no
do with the fact that he
problem. Then I had him knew the le(ers of his name,
take magne1c le(ers and but he was condent and
build his name with the engaged. Now that I know he
le(ers. AKer be built his can iden1fy the le(ers of his
name, I had him write his name without fail, we can
name on a sheet of
focus on other le(ers.
paper. He s1ll struggles
with wri1ng his le(ers
correctly. However, I am
solely paying a(en1on to
his ability to recognize
le(ers, not write them.
He was able to iden1fy all
the le(ers of his wri(en
name and was also able
to pick out all the le(ers
of his name from the pile
of magne1c le(ers.

Action Research
10/23/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

Rice Wri1ng

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There is a container full A liked this ac1vity, but s1ll

of rice in our classroom was not fully engaged. He
that my teacher will use would shrug his shoulders
to have students prac1ce when he did not know a
drawing their le(ers. I
le(er and would some1mes
decided to give this a try ignore me when I would
with A. I would hold up a repeatedly ask him what a
le(er card (which have le(er was. I would then tell
sandpaper like le(ers)
him, and he would repeat it
and have him iden1fy the back to me and we would
le(er. I would have him say it several 1mes. So far, I
trace the le(er with his have no1ced that A responds
pointer nger (hand over best to ac1vi1es that include
hand so we would know manipula1ves. I am going to
the correct way to write try the see it, build it, write it
the le(er), and then we method next 1me, (except
would write it in the rice with dierent words other
to solidify it in his head. than his name) and see how
We would do this several he responds to that.
1mes with each le(er to
reinforce. We got through
about 6 le(ers before
center 1me was over.

Action Research
10/28/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

11/4/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

Computer
Game

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The computer game I

The computer game did
used allowed A to pick
engage A be(er than I
what le(er he wanted to thought it would, however I
work on. At rst, A would think it also brought too
just point to the le(er,
much a(en1on to us
however I would make
because before I knew it, all
him say the le(er in order of the children in the room
to assess whether he
were over there with us.
knew what it was or not. Because of this, A was not
A majority of the 1me, he able to tell me what le(er
did not know what the
we were working with
le(er was. The computer because his peers would
game gives several
answer before him and he
examples of words that would copy what they said. I
start with the le(er.AKer would ask him separately
the words that begin with and he would not be able to
the le(er, there was a
tell me. So, from now on I
game where A could
think I will s1ck with
separate the big le(er
manipual1ves and see if he
from the li(le le(er and improves from there.
put them in piles. He did
fairly well with
dieren1a1ng between
the big and li(le le(ers,
but he s1ll had a hard
1me telling me what the
le(er was.
Le(er Choice I chose to use the le(er I am kind of disappointed
(Midpoint
choice assessment as my because of As regression.
Assessment) assessment to use at the Next 1me, I will use
beginning, middle, and manipula1ves seeing that
end of my 1me with A. In those worked best in regards
the rst assessment, A
to As engagement. Although
was able to iden1fy 15
there is not much 1me leK, I
out of 26 le(ers when
am going to work hard with
given the choice between A in order to hopefully show
two le(ers. This 1me, A improvement in the nal
was able to iden1fy 13
assessment.
out of the 26 le(ers.
Unlike the rst 1me, he
was able to wait for me
to tell him what le(er to
iden1fy, however he s1ll
seemed to be guessing.

Action Research
11/18/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

12/2/14

Le(er
Recogni1on

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Le(er Search To complete this ac1vity, I This ac1vity seemed to work

gathered a tupperware great with student A. He was
container full of rice and engaged and not as easily
some magne1c
distrac1ble as he has been. I
refrigerator le(ers. I then think it also helped that his
hid a few le(ers in the
peers were not gathered
rice close to the surface, around us as we were
usually with a side
working through the ac1vity.
s1cking out so student A No one was interrup1ng,
could easily nd them. I thus it was leK to A to
would say to him, Find complete the task. I feel
the le(er B and he
condent going in to the
would search through the nal assessment that student
rice un1l he found the
A will be able to iden1fy a
le(er B. There were many few more le(ers than he was
1mes where he correctly able to iden1fy back in
iden1ed the le(er he
October.
was searching for. He s1ll
struggled a bit with
wan1ng to give up aKer
he could not nd the
le(er aKer a couple of
tries.
Le(er Choice I once again had the
Just when I thought that
(Final
le(er ashcards for
what I was doing was not
Assessment) student A to work
very eec1ve, A surprised
through. In the rst
me and showed
assessment, A was able improvement in the nal
to iden1fy 15 out of 26 assessment! I believe he is
le(ers. He regressed in on the right track for being
the midterm assessment, able to iden1fy the en1re
only iden1fying 13 out of alphabet. He just requires
26 le(ers. I was nervous extremely engaging ac1vi1es
as I gave the nal
and I would even suggest
assessment to student A, one on one ac1vi1es.
but I was pleasantly
surprised with the
results. In the end, A
increased the amount of
le(ers he was able to
recognize by two le(ers,
correctly iden1fying 17
out of 26 le(ers of the
alphabet.

Action Research

!11

Date

Baseline Data: Date

Assessments
and Results
(list all)

Midpoint
Data:
Assessments
and Results
(list all)

10/17/14

Le(er Choice: A 11/5/14

was able to
choose 15 out of
the 26 le(ers
correctly when
given the choice
between two
le(ers

Le(er Choice: A 12/2/14

was able to
iden1fy 13 out of
the 26 le(ers
correctly when
given the choice
between two
le(ers.

10/21/14

Date

Final Data:
Assessments
and Results
(list all)
Le(er Choice: A
was able to
iden1fy 17 out of
the 26 le(ers
correctly when
given the choice
between two
le(ers.

TROLL: A scored
a 56 on the
TROLL, which
slightly above
average for his
age
Le(er Puzzle: A
was able to
match 20 out of
26 le(ers from
the le(er puzzle

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Midpoint Data Observations
Successful Strategies: I have found that A learns best when he can manipulate things. If there is
a hands on activity that perks his interest, he will retain some of the information.
Strengths: A is able to identify all the letters of his name without fail. He is very confident about
this ability and I feel that if he is able to apply this confidence to all letters, he will succeed
greatly.
Concerns: I am very concerned with As ability to pay attention and listen. I often find him
zoning out and staring at me with a blank stare. He will sometimes sit and listen to a song about
a specific letter and sing along with the song, but when he is asked what letter the video was
about he cannot tell me. He also tends to shut down when he does not want to work or, in this
case, when he cannot identify a letter.

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Action Research

!12

Final Data Observations

Successful Strategies: Every strategy that took advantage of manipulatives was what student A
really responded to. He is most definitely a kinesthetic learner!
Strengths: A is able to identify all the letters of his name without fail. He is very confident about
this ability and I feel that if he is able to apply this confidence to all letters, he will succeed
greatly.
Concerns: As is expected with children his age, As attention span does not last very long. It is
hard to gain his attention and it almost is immediately diverted once it is gained. I feel that A has
great potential, he just has to be extremely engaged while learning.

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Strategies Used
1. Giving letters in random order
2. Writing letters
3. Matching letters
4. Searching for letters

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Lessons/ Assessments
1. TROLL assessment
2. Interest Inventory
3. Letter Choice Assessment
4. Letter Matching Puzzle
5. Name Game: See it, Build it, Write it Activity
6. Rice Writing Activity
7. Computer Alphabet Game
8. Letter Search Activity

Action Research

!13

Necessary Instruction Changes

Because I knew student As personality, I wanted to start off with activities that would
allow him to use manipulatives and would be very engaging. I found those activities to work
very well for student A, so at our second meeting, I did a different hands-on activity with him. I
knew that those hands on activities worked, however I wanted to see if any other ways of
learning, such as visual or oral, would also be effective with student A. To test out a visual
strategy, I used an interactive alphabet computer game. Student A was engaged by this activity,
until every student in the class came over and wanted to play with us. His attention was diverted
and I was not able to bring him back. It was then that I decided that I would not be doing the
computer game again, and that next time I would go back to a hands-on activity. I also gave him
his midpoint assessment the week after we did the computer game, and he was not able to
recognize as many letters as he was when I gave him the initial assessment. This reaffirmed my
decision to go back to the hands-on activities and continue instruction that way.

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Final Assessment Reflection
After eight one-on-one meetings with student A, I have seen progress in his ability to
identify many letters of the alphabet correctly. For the final assessment, I used the same Letter
Choice assessment that I gave him at the beginning and middle of our time together. The first
time, he was able to correctly identify 15 out of 26 letters correctly. He dropped down to
identifying 13 letters at the midpoint assessment, but correctly identified 17 out of 26 letters on

Action Research

!14

the final assessment. Overall, I very please with his outcome. I feel that given student As
attention difficulties and his trouble at the midpoint, he did very well and increased his letter
recognition by two letters. After looking back at what strategies I used most and which strategies
student A responded best to, it is clear that he learned the most information from the hands-on
multi-sensory activities, rather than the one visual activity we tried. I have learned that when
introducing students to letters, it is important to be consistent and engaging. Students respond
and learn best when they are actively a part of a lesson or activity. They also learn more when the
instruction is consistent throughout the week or school year, rather than random and sporadic.

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Data Progress Chart

26

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19.5

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13

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6.5
0

Initial

Midpoint

Final

Action Research

!15

Student As Self Progress Monitoring Chart

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Additional Reflection
Throughout the process of action research, I was able to personally experience effective
and non-effective strategies in the area of letter recognition. There were certain things I feel that I
did well throughout my experience with my research. I feel that I tailored instruction and

Action Research

!16

activities to fit my students needs and I was able to assess his progression and regression. I also
feel that I applied the strategies and activities that research had proven were effective. I knew
that if I wanted student A to succeed or grow, I needed to use the strategies that worked when it
came to teaching letter recognition. Although I did not see it in the midst of my work with
student A, I believe that he did learn a few letters and grow in his ability to correctly identify
certain letters of the alphabet.
However, there are things I would have done differently had time permitted. Firstly, I
would have met with student A more in order to provide him with an even greater opportunity for
success. I was not able to meet my goal of increasing student As letter recognition by five letters.
However, I feel that if I had more time with student A, then we would have definitely been able
to reach that goal. I would have also picked five letters of the alphabet to focus on, instead of
trying to use all 26 letters. I feel that if we had just focused on a handful of letters throughout our
time together, student A would have shown more growth and would have been able to digest
instruction more easily. I would have also applied more effective strategies for increasing
engagement. I applied strategies that were best practices for teaching letter recognition and,
although I found my activities to be engaging, the response from student A told me that
sometimes he did not find them as engaging as I did. I noticed that student A was very easily
distracted, which is why if I could go back and teach him again, I would make sure that all of my
activities were tailored to his needs and interests in order for him to be fully engaged. I would
also remove him from the room with all of his peers and take him to a quieter room, where there
would be no distractions. I believe doing this would have made it easier for him to focus on
activities and would thus increase his learning. I feel that given more one-on-one instruction and

Action Research

!17

attention, student A would be able to identify all of the letters of the alphabet without fail. He
was making steady progress and I believe that he would have continued to progress had we had
more time together.

Running Head: Effective Alphabetic Instruction

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Effective Alphabetic Instruction
Taylor Nix
Samford University
19 November 2014

Effective Alphabetic Instruction

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Abstract

Alphabetics is a critical component in laying the founding for early literacy. There are
many different ways to teach alphabetics to children, but research has shown that the most
effective way to teach letter recognition is to provide many opportunities for children to identify
letters in a random order. Instead of having children practice and identify letters in sequence,
teachers should have their students practice the letters out of order to encourage them to learn
and comprehend the characteristics of the letters and not the sequence. This can be done through
a variety of different strategies, however there is an emphasis on matching, searching, and
writing games.

Effective Alphabetic Instruction

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Early reading instruction has always been an area of debate in the world of education.
Should teachers instruct their children based on their readiness to read or their ability to speak?
Reutzel and Cooter (2015) claim that these ideas, otherwise known as reading readiness and
emergent reading, are outdated and ineffective. In 2000, the National Reading Panel created five
essential components of reading instruction that would aid teachers and students alike in learning
how to read. The first component is phonemic awareness, followed by alphabetics, fluency,
vocabulary, and comprehension. After creating the five foundations of reading instruction,
educators and researchers began to wonder what practices would work best to teach their
students how to read and push them towards success.
Alphabetics, one of the five foundational components of reading instruction, has been of
particular interest for teachers of young students. Children must understand printed letters and
their sounds before they can put letters together to make a word. This concept, known as
alphabetic knowledge, plays a small, but crucial role in early reading instruction. A childs ability
to recognize letters and identify their corresponding sounds can be predictive of their later
success in reading. Due to the fact that alphabetics plays such a huge role in reading in later
grades, teachers must use best practices in order to effectively teach their students in early
grades.
The most effective strategy for alphabetic, or letter-name, instruction is giving students
random opportunities to identify the letters of the alphabet. Reuztel and Cooter (2015) explain
that relying on an alphabet frieze on a classroom wall to teach the alphabet does not give
students a chance to recognize letters out of their sequential order. Instead, teachers should give
their students random chances to practice identifying letters to encourage them to rely on the

Effective Alphabetic Instruction

!21

physical characteristics of the letter rather than its place in the alphabet to identify it (Reutzel
and Cooter, 2015). Teachers can practice this through matching games, which gives letters to
students in random order and encourages them to match the letters based on their characteristics.
Through doing this, teachers are training their students to be able to recognize letters out of the
order of an alphabet frieze and preparing them for later reading instruction. Huang and Invernizzi
(2012) also point out that this strategy aids in preventing letter confusion.
Another effective way to teach alphabetics is through playing searching games, such as I
Spy (Reutzel and Cooter, 2015). This strategy, similar to matching games, give students a
chance to identify letters in random order instead of in sequence. Teachers can place letters
around the classroom and have students take turns identifying letters. One student will pick a
letter and the other students will search for that letter. Teachers can also give students a paper full
of letters, then say the name of the letter and have students circle as many of those letters as they
can see on the page. This strategy can be done with both early learners as well as students who
have already mastered their letters. Because it can be used with both levels of learners, it is a
fantastic activity to use for differentiation. For example, the higher level students will choose the
letter of identification and the lower level students must search for that letter and identify it.
Whether used for differentiation or for regular class practice, searching for letters allows students
to practice letter-name recognition in random order.
A third effective practice strategy for letter recognition is so plain and simple that most
teachers overlook it. Writing letters can be just as effective as any other letter recognition
strategy. Writing ensures that students can identify uppercase and lowercase letters quickly and
accurately (Graham and Harris, 2013; NELP, 2008). Writing letters can be done in a variety of

Effective Alphabetic Instruction

!22

ways, all of which are effective. One way to have students practice writing their letters is through
a strategy known as Read, Build, Write. Students will first read the letter from a flashcard or
off of a sheet of paper, then build the letter with a manipulative, and lastly they will write the
letter. Many teachers normally use the students names with this strategy. To ensure students can
identify the letters of their name, teachers will ask students to read their name, build their name,
then write their name.
There are many different strategies that can be used when teaching alphabetics. It is
important to remember how important the role of alphabetics is in a students reading career. A
student who struggles to identify and recognize letters early on in his or her academic career will
likely struggle with more complex skills, such as comprehension, writing, and spelling, in later
grades.

Action Research

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References
Graham, S. and Harris, K. (2013). How do you write? Writing for young children. In D.R.
Reutzel (ed.), The handbook of research-based practice in early education (pp. 380-394).
New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Huang, F. L. and Invernizzi, M. A. (2012). The association of kindergarten entry age with early
literacy outcomes. The Journal of Educational Research, 105, 431-441.
National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National
Early Literacy Panel. Jessup, MD: National Institute for Literacy.
Reutzel, D. R. and Cooter, R. B. (2015). Strategies for reading assessment and instruction:
Helping every child succeed (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

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