1

Action Research
How can the use of tactile strategies impact my instruction of small group reading intervention
with struggling readers?
Haley McDaniel
The University of Alabama, Spring 2015

2
Demographics
This semester I am placed at a public school in a southeastern state in which I will be
conducting my research. I am placed in a kindergarten classroom. Within the classroom there are
fifteen students, eight males and seven females. The ethnicity within the classroom is diverse.
There are fourteen Caucasian students and two Hispanic students. There are five tables in the
classroom and the students have assigned seating arrangements. There are also very diverse
characteristics within the students aside from ethnicity. Two of the students are repeating
kindergarten this year. One of the students has limited English and has an ESL tutor. Three of the
students get pulled for speech two or three times a week. Two of the students get pulled for
special needs three times a week. One of the students is deaf in one ear and possibly dyslexic and
another student is blind in one eye.
Statement of the Problem
Throughout my placement hours and teaching experiences in my placement classroom
thus far, the most identifiable problem that I have observed is that there are some students that
excel when reading but there are also students that are struggling readers. All of the reading
strategies that I have observed being implemented in the classroom include whole group reading
intervention and reading centers. The students are assigned a different reading center each day in
which various tasks are performed at each center. The students also have pre-decodable books in
their book box that they practice reading on their own. In order to get new books for their
book box the student must fluently read the book to the teacher so that it is recorded in the
reading log. Through my observations, the only tactile strategy that I have seen implemented
within the classroom was when the students each took a turn using the iPad to chop up a word,
which served as an informal assessment as well. Based on my observations, teaching, and

3
discussions with the students and teacher of my placement classroom it is easy to divide the
students into readers and struggling readers. Therefore, the problem that I would like to address
in my action research is if using tactile strategies will impact my instruction of small group
reading intervention with struggling readers.
Research Question
Due to the problem stated above, I have developed a research question to guide my
teaching towards what would be the most beneficial to struggling readers. Therefore, I am
focusing on the following question How can the use of tactile strategies impact my instruction
of small group reading intervention with struggling readers?
Review of Literature
Research dating back for several decades established that the role of phonemic awareness
is extremely critical in the development of beginning reading. The National Reading Panel found
that a key component in phonemic awareness research is that instruction that involves
segmenting and blending phonemes combined with a focus on the letters that represent those
phonemes contributes immensely to success in beginning reading and spelling (Manyak, 2008).
There are three types of learners; auditory, tactile/kinesthetic and visual. Each student best gains
knowledge when the information is presented in his or her learning style. Manyak (2008) states
having learned that students benefit greatly from a variety of activities that combine phoneme
blending and phoneme segmentation, after first receiving some basic phonemic awareness and
letter-sound relationship instruction (Manyak, 2008). Teaching students using a variety of
activities allows students to develop a vigorous ability to apply phonemic awareness to writing
and reading. Using diverse tasks also supports students who may struggle with this critical
process.

4
Tactile/Kinesthetic Learner
Tactile is an adjective that is defined as affecting the sense of touch. Tactile learners best
gain knowledge when they can be fully engaged with the learning activity. Hands-on tasks are
the most beneficial ways for tactile learners to retain information as they are able to touch, feel or
handle things related to the concept in which is being taught. Studies on interventions have
revealed that adolescents who struggle with any basic reading skill can improve when they are
provided with effective, explicit instruction (Giess, Rivers, Kennedy & Lombardino, 2012).
Orton Gillingham (OG) reading instruction programs have been used to assist both young
struggling readers as well as students in college that struggle with reading. OG approaches to
teaching reading are systematic, sequential, and multisensory and use analytic (breaking down
words into component parts) and synthetic (building up words from letters) strategies to teach
phonics (Giess et al., 2012). One key component of the OG approach to teaching reading is its
use of the visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic pathways in order to teach phonological
awareness and sound-symbol correspondence explicitly. Owles and Herman (2014) include
suggestions of tactile activities within their article, which consist of using cube letters, magnetic
letters or letter tiles to practice CVC words and sight words (Owles & Herman, 2014). The
article also suggests that once students have made the word that they practice writing them on a
dry-erase board. The tactile nature of this activity allows children to use and explore other
modality as they are learning words (Owles & Herman, 2014). According to Dawkins, Ritz and
Louden (2009), hands on experience in teaching early reading skills helps to develop the
expertise necessary to support literacy learning (Dawkins, Ritz & Louden, 2009). Today, there
are many beneficial textile and multi-sensory technologies, tools and resources that are available

5
to provide students with added support and strategies in which they need to be successful
(Johnston, 2008).
Focusing on Students Needs
In the article, Recommendations for Principals, Carbo (2003) informs the readers that not
only do tactile/kinesthetic need to touch in order to learn easily but also struggling readers
generally prefer to work in groups. Struggling readers learn most easily with small amounts of
direct instruction combined with larger amounts of modeling and such hands-on, experiential
activities as games and role-playing (Carbo, 2003). According to Duke and Block (2012),
researchers found one of the successful approaches identified by a What Works Clearinghouse
panel on interventions that help struggling primary-grade readers is when instruction is provided
in small groups, intensive and systematic instruction in foundational reading skills, such as
phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension (Duke & Block, 2012).
Assessing
Using assessments to monitor students progress can be a valid and evident way to guide
the decision making process for determining whether an intervention is improving a students
reading skills (Connor, Alberto, Compton & OConnor, 2014). Progress monitoring is one type
of assessment that allows teachers to track students progress. Students progress monitoring
results are used when decisions are being made to move students between less and more
intensive levels of intervention. Student responses to interventions are also measured to
determine whether the student has made adequate progress and either (1) no longer need the
intervention, (2) continue to need some intervention, or (3) need even more intensive
intervention (Gersten, Compton, Connor, Dimino, Santoro, Linan-Thompson & Tilly, 2009).
According to Gersten et al., decision rules should allow students showing adequate response to

6
transition back into lower tiers to be provided the support they need for continued success
(Gersten et. Al., 2009). Classroom teachers can also use the assessment data that has been
gathered to determine which students require additional scaffolding instruction in a specific
reading concept area.
In conclusion, I believe that it is very important to consider that all students learn best in
various ways. As a teacher it is vital that all content lessons are taught to reach all learners
despite the diversity within the classroom. It is critical that each student is presented the material
in his or her learning style. It is also significant that students are taught the same concept
throughout a variety of activities and strategies, which allows students to select their preferred
method or strategy to solve specific problems.
Plan of Action
For this action research, I implemented various tactile strategies that focused on
segmenting and blending CVC words during small group reading intervention with struggling
readers. Each of these students struggles with either, or both, segmenting and blending CVC
words. I began my research by collecting data from each of the four students in a one-on-one
setting. I placed a list of words in front of the student and him/her and asked each student to chop
up (sound out) the word and then say it all together. Next, I had each student fill in the missing
short vowel sound for selected CVC words. Each student filled in short vowels for the beginning,
middle, and ending sounds. The following day I had the students read CVC word list #2 and did
not time them. I also collected the students DIBELS scores from their classroom teacher. After
collecting data, I began implementing tactile strategies during small group reading intervention
with struggling students. The tactile strategies that I implemented during my action research
include a word flip with CVC words, a CVC word slide, Roll-A-Word, clothespin vowel clip,

7
and dry erase elkonin boxes. The same assessments were given mid-way and after implementing
all of the tactile strategies during small group reading intervention
CVC Word Slide

Roll-A-Word

8
Anticipated Timeline
Day 1 Collect data (CVC list #1 timed for 1 minute & fill in the missing short vowel sound in
CVC words sheet)
Day 2 Collect data (DIBELS scores)
Day 3 CVC word flip: Students will take turns to flip over CVC word cards one at a time then
segment and blend the word that is on the card they flipped.
Day 4 CVC word slide: Each student will be given a card slider made of cardstock and CVC
cards. Students will use their word slider to slide the CVC words through it to segment each
letter separately then blend all of the letters together.
Day 5 Roll-A-Word: Students will roll three die at a time (one green, one yellow, one red). The
students will then place the rolled die onto the color-coded mat. Once the student places all three
die in the correct spot, he or she will segment and blend the rolled word.
Day 6 Collect data (CVC list #1 for 1 minute & missing short vowel worksheet)
Day 7 Clothespin vowel clip: Each student will have a laminated card that has the vowels
typed on it. The students will listen verbally to each CVC word that is read. The student will
determine and demonstrate which vowel sound they hear in the word by pinning their clothespin
onto that vowel.
Day 8 Elkonin dry erase: Each student will have their own Elkonin box that is laminated. The
students will listen verbally to each CVC word that is read. The students will use dry erase
markers to write the sounds they hear in the beginning, middle and end of the word.
Day 9 Collect data (CVC list #1 timed for 1 minute & fill in the missing short vowel sound in
CVC words sheet)
Day 10 Collect data (DIBELS scores)

9
Data
CVC List 1 minute

Beginning
Midway
Ending

Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds

Beginning
Midway
Ending

10

DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency

Beginning
Ending

0-34: Intensive
35-38: Strategic
39 and above: Core
Data Analysis
After looking at the data collected by each of the four students in three various formats,
each student showed great growth in blending and segmenting CVC words. Each student
demonstrated his/her growth during at least one of the three assessments. Student A and Student
D showed gradual improvement each time, from the beginning, midway, and ending assessment
of reading words from the CVC list provided for them. Student B and Student C showed gradual
improvement each time, from the beginning, midway, and ending assessment of completing
CVC words by filling in the blank with the correct vowel. Student A, Student B, and Student C
showed tremendous improvement within their DIBELS scores when comparing the beginning
score with the ending score.

11
Conclusion
After comparing the data results from the beginning and the ending of my action
research, I believe that the use of tactile strategies had a positive impact on my instruction of
small group reading intervention with struggling readers. Each of the four students showed
improvements in their ability to read and create CVC words. One student demonstrated an
improvement of 36%, from beginning to end, when completing one of the assessments. Another
important aspect noted while completing this action research is that not only did the students
improve in the particular concept area but they also enjoyed learning while using various tactile
strategies each day. I believe that this is also important because it promoted student engagement.
Learning with tactile strategies even had other students within the class that I was not working
with ask each day if they could come play the games with me. I directed these learning strategies
as games because that is what my cooperating teacher does and suggested that I continue doing
the same as she had been doing throughout the year.
This particular method did not create the results that I was expecting. Instead, it created
results of improvement much higher than I was expecting. I was quite surprised by the results of
implementing this method during small group reading intervention with struggling readers. The
students loved that the activities were different each day even though they were all focused on
the same concept. The students often encounter problems when blending and segmenting CVC
words during class discussions about the lessons every day. It is satisfactory to say that using
tactile strategies supported struggling readers when blending and segmenting CVC words.
Therefore, I will surely be using tactile strategies as much as possible in my classroom,
especially within the subject area of reading. I strongly recommend the implantation of tactile

12
strategies into any classroom, especially classrooms that contain struggling students or English
Language Learners.
Plan for Future Action
In order to fully understand the impact of using tactile strategies during small group
reading intervention with struggling readers, I strongly recommend implementing this same
methodology. However, I believe that implementation over a longer period of time will result in
greater student percentages of improvement when comparing their beginning assessments with
their ending assessments. I am also interested to see if using tactile strategies during whole group
instruction also increases student achievement. Finally, I would also be interested in using tactile
strategies in other content areas other than reading, such as math. I would like to see if using
tactile strategies works better when implemented during small group or whole group. I would
also like to see if using tactile strategies works better in one core content area than another.
References
Connor, C., Alberto, P., Compton, D. & OConnor, R. (February 2014). Improving Reading
Outcomes for Students with or at Risk for Reading Disabilities: A Synthesis of the
Contributions from the Institute of Education Sciences Research Centers. Institute of
Education Sciences. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
Dawkins, S., Ritz, M. & Louden, W. (2009). Learning by doing: preservice teachers as reading
tutors. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 34(2). Retrieved from
http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol34/iss2/4
Duke, N. & Block, M. (Fall 2012). Improving Reading in the Primary Grades. The Future of
Children, volume 22. Retrieved from
http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/22_02_04.pdf

13
Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C., Dimino, J., Santoro, L. Thompson, S. & Tilly, W.
(February 2009). Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention
and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades. Institute of Education Sciences.
Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
Giess,S.,Rivers,K.,Kennedy,K.&Lombardino,L.(2012).EffectsofMultisensoryPhonics
BasedTrainingontheWordRecognitionandSpellingSkillsofAdolescentswith
ReadingDisabilities.InternationalJournalofSpecialEducation,27(1).Retrievedfrom
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ979713
Poole, A. (Winter/Spring 2014). The Strategy Use of Struggling Readers in the First-Year
Composition Classroom: What We Know and How We Can Help Them. The CEA
Forum. Retrieved from www.cea-web.org
Stricklin, K. (May 2011). Hands-On Reciprocal Teaching: A Comprehension Technique. The
Reading Teacher, 64(8), pp. 620-625. DOI: 10.1598/RT.64.8.8

14