THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AUDIO-VIDEO PRESENTATION AS REINFORCEMENT TO THE

PUPILS’ LETTER-NAME RECOGNITION AND LETTER-SOUND ACQUISITION

I. Introduction to Research
Teaching beginning reading to our children is one of the most difficult tasks that our

teachers face today. For so long, it has been a problem in our educational system of our

country. That is why at such a young age, children are already exposed to different reading

materials in their homes and schools in order for them to love reading. However, the main

hindrance for children to love reading is the lack of their reading skills. And all educators know

that reading starts with the mastery of their letter-sound acquisition in which our young learners

lack. Thus, educators seek any means and anchor different strategies to address this problem

including the use of technology. In order to cope with the latest trend of teaching beginning

reading to the children, teachers employ technology specifically the use of audio-video

presentation to catch the attention and interest of their learners especially the younger ones.

However, not all schools are fortunate enough to employ technology in their teaching.
Thus, teachers impart knowledge through traditional methods in some schools but these

are not enough to help pupils acquire the basic knowledge in reading which the letter-sound

acquisition is. That is why the Department of Education is already on the move in helping the

community to cope with the global changes through their computerization program. Now every

educator knows that to be able for a child to start his journey in reading is he must first master

his letter-sound acquisition. In fact, before an individual starts to read words, phrases, and

sentences, one must learn his ABCs and associate them to their respective sounds. This is

because mastering the basics is the very foundation of the different skills one must possess to

be a productive graduate someday. But if a child has poor background in his letter-sound

acquisition, he will have difficulty in mastering the other skills needed for his holistic

development. However, the researcher believes that in using audio-video presentations in

teaching the letter-sound knowledge to our learners greatly helps in teaching beginning reading.
 In addition, the essential skills of being able to recognize and pronounce letters need to

be developed at a young age and should be targeted if a child is not developing at a positive

rate. Students that do not acquire letter-sound recognition could struggle later in life with

spelling, reading and writing. Thus, letter-sound acquisition is a valuable aspect to the rest of

the literacy, it is important to find strategies that teachers should employ in order to improve their

skills for all the students in the classroom (Reeb, 2011)

With this in mind, the researcher is motivated to conduct a study that can help improve

the letter-name recognition and letter-sound acquisition among our struggling Grade 1 pupils

who have difficulty in identifying letters and associating it with their sounds through the use of an

audio-video presentation and find out its effectiveness to the letter-name recognition and letter-

sound acquisition of each pupil. In order to achieve the result, the researcher will conduct the

study in the second semester of school year 2018-2019.

II. Literature Review
This study began with phonology and phonetics. Phonetics and phonology are two

subfields of linguistics which studies the sounds in language. Since both these fields are related

to the production of sound, many people do not understand the difference between phonetics

and phonology. The main difference between phonetics and phonology is that phonetics is the

study of speech sounds whereas phonology is the study of sounds, especially different patterns

of sounds in different languages.

Thus, phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds. It is concerned with the

physical properties of speech sounds, including their physiological production, acoustic

properties, and auditory perception. Basically, phonetics studies how sounds are produced,

transmitted and received. Based on these three primary functions, phonetics can be classified

into three subcategories: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics.

Articulatory phonetics studies the production of speech sounds by the articulatory and vocal

tract of the speaker. Acoustic phonetics studies the physical transmission of speech sounds

from the speaker to the listener whereas auditory phoneticsstudies the reception and perception

of speech sounds by the listener.

 While, phonology is the system of contrastive relationships among the speech sounds

that constitute the fundamental components of a language. In simple words, phonology is the

study of sounds, especially different patterns of sounds in different languages. It studies how

sounds are combined together to form words and how sounds alternate in different languages.

Phonology also studies the inventory of sounds and their features in a language and the

pragmatics rules which specify how sounds interact with each other. Phonology is also involved

in the history and theory of sound changes in a language or in two or more related languages.
Eventually, we learn to reproduce the sound patterns in our native language from the

birth itself. But some sounds in our language may not be available in other languages; likewise,

some sounds in other languages may not be available in our language. This is why many of us

face problems in pronouncing foreign words (Difference Between Phonetics and Phonology,

2016).
With the above mentioned, this also include with the sound-letter correspondences that

involves the relationships between sounds (or phonemes) and letters (or graphemes). This

starting point highlights the connections between the sounds in words and the letters that are

used to represent those sounds. Included are two other related concepts: the alphabetic

principle and letter recognition.

Knowledge of sound–letter relationships means knowing, for example, that the /t/ sound

is represented by the letter t. It also means knowing that the sound /s/ can be represented by

more than one letter, for example, s as in soft and c as in city. Many adults who are non-readers

have trouble with identifying these relationships between sounds and letters.
An awareness of the alphabetic principle means knowing that speech can be turned into

print, that print can be turned into speech, and that letters are used to represent sounds in the

language.
Letter recognition is the ability to recognize and name the letters of the alphabet. It

includes recognizing and recalling the shapes of letters, identifying lower and upper case letters,

and recognizing letters in isolation and within printed words even when they appear in different
fonts and sizes. Instruction that focuses on letter–sound relationships is known as phonics

(Sound-letter Relationships, 2013).

In addition, several research studies with adult learners have shown that adult beginning

readers have trouble applying sound–letter knowledge to work out words. 2 To decode (sound

out) words, learners need to have a level of phonemic awareness and to know the relationships

between the sounds of letters and their written forms.

We know that good readers can recognize words by identifying the component

letters,3 and that for fluent readers this is not a conscious process. The converse applies for

writing: to form words, writers need to be able to turn the sounds they wish to convey into

letters.
There are complex relationships among language, literacy, exposure to education and

the written systems of different languages.Not all writing systems represent language in the

same way. For example, in many scripts, the symbols represent meanings, not sounds; in

Egyptian, the symbol for “sun” resembles the sun. Because English uses a phonemic (sound-

based) script, the word sun has no relation to the actual sun other than its sound (Sound-letter

Relationships, 2013).

Furthermore, learners who have grasped the alphabetic principle understand that

spoken words consist of sounds and that sounds are represented in written text as letters. To

reach this understanding, a level of phonemic awareness is necessary. The alphabetic principle

is sometimes referred to as the ‘cornerstone’ on which decoding (sounding out words) is built.

To become a proficient reader, the learner must learn how to ‘crack the code’ (decode).

Learning to decode relies on the learner’s ability to match letters to sounds, so it is essential to

learn common letter–sound relationships.

For example, to decode the word bed, learners need to know that the written

letter b makes a /b/sound,e makes an /e/ sound and d makes a /d/ sound. For learners, knowing
letter–sound relationships is not always helpful; words such as cough, one,

come and have need to be learnt as sight words, or worked out by analogy (likening the new

word to one the learner knows already) if the learner knows other, similar words. As an example,

learners who know the word sight can use this knowledge when they come across the unknown

word bright.

A learner who is unable to recognise the different letters of the alphabet will have

difficulty in learning the sounds that the letters represent. 5 It is difficult for learners to understand

that words consist of a sequence of letters until learners know the names of letters.

To acquire this knowledge, learners need to be able to explain the differences between

letters, for example, to know and explain what makes the letter h and the letter b different, or

how b is different to p.

Learners have to be able to recognize letters in different forms, for example, in upper

and lower cases, in different fonts, sizes and spacing.

Learners who are literate in their mother tongue, and whose mother tongue uses a non-

phonemic (or logographic) script such as Chinese, will need instruction in letter recognition (the

alphabet) and in the sound–letter relationships of English (Sound-letter Relationships, 2013).

In line with this, to be able to teach the letter-sound relationships more effectively,

educators nowadays incorporate technology as one of their tools in enhancing the teaching-

learning process in the classroom specifically the use of audio-visual technology.

In fact, according to Gravoso (2004), students are more interested in the class when

presented using technologies like video. The use of technology lessens the burden of talking on
the part of the teachers. More importantly, it saves the times usually devoted for writing the

lesson on the board.

Moreover, our learners have always been visual learners, thus, the design and use of

visuals in instruction is an important consideration because so much learning involves visual

imagery. Students must be able to visualize ideas, often technology in the process. Most of the

media widely used by the teachers are computer courseware, multimedia, video programs and

digital images have visual component. Although teaching is saturated with images, these visuals

are underused in instruction and often relegated to the motivational or decorative aspects of

learning. Many students learn more readily through visual imagery, and even verbal learners

need visual supports to grasp certain concepts (Lowther, Smaldino, & Russell, 2012)
Furthermore, visuals can serve a multitude of purposes in the classroom, to provide

meaningful references for ideas, make abstract ideas more concrete, motivate your students,

help direct attention to important concepts, repeat learning with different modalities, provide

assistance in recalling prior learning, and most importantly reduce the effort required to learn

(Lowther, Smaldino, & Russell, 2012).

However, being a visual learner is not enough in inculcating the lessons learned inside

the classroom especially in acquiring the basic part of reading which is the letter-sound

knowledge. Younger students also learn more when teachers use audio media in the classroom

instruction. Typical elementary and secondary students spend about 50% of their school time

just listening. The importance of audio experiences in the classroom should not be

underestimated.
In addition, we have what we called audio literacy which is the merging of hearing and

listening. Putting together messages that prove to be meaningful to students when they hear

them is important to learning. Learning to listen is a task that requires students to practice and

develop good skills so that listening becomes an effective means of learning.

Consequently, hearing and listening are both communication and learning processes. As

with visual communication and learning, a message is effectively composed by a sender and
deciphered by a receiver to develop meaning. The quality of the prepared message is affected

by the ability of the sender to articulate the message clearly and logically and in a way,

addresses diverse audiences. Appropriate preparation of the message depends on the sender’s

skills in organizing and presenting it. The hearing and listening process is recognized as a 21 st

century skill to ensure that communication informs, instructs, and motivate learners (Lowther,

Smaldino, & Russell, 2012).

On the other hand, today’s K-12 students are experiencing an explosion of enhanced

learning through viewing and creating videos. At the click of the mouse, teachers can select

from a vast array of online videos to support and enrich instructional experiences. Many

teachers use video to introduce a topic, to review content, to provide remediation, or to promote

enrichment. Video is suitable in all instructional environments and works with whole classes,

small groups, and individual students. They can take the learner almost anywhere and extend

students’ interests beyond the walls of the classroom (Lowther, Smaldino, & Russell, 2012).
In addition, video literacy is critical for success in the 21st century. Furthermore, any

electronic media format that employs “motion pictures” to present a message can be referred to

as video. Video literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills needed to consume or

meaningfully view video as well as to produce video. Five core concepts are fundamental to

understanding video literacy: (1) an author constructs the message; (2) the format is unique for

each message; (3) each viewer interprets the message differently; (4) points of view and values

are part of each message; and (5) most messages are organized to promote a specific purpose

(Lowther, Smaldino, & Russell, 2012).

In the Philippine educational system with the legal mandate of promoting the right of all

citizens to take appropriate steps in making education accessible to all, the Department of

Education (DepEd) is geared towards the transformation of education through the DepEd

Computerization Program (DCP).DCP aims to provide public schools with appropriate

technologies that would enhance the teaching-learning process and meet the challenges of the

21st century. This program shall respond to the computer backlog of public schools by providing
them hardware and software, and training on simple trouble shooting (Department of Education

Order No. 78 s. 2010). The government launched this kind of program in order to help the

teachers in their quest of bringing quality education to our next generation.

As a result, this program greatly helps those Grade 1 frustration level pupils who have

difficulty in letter-names recognition and letter-sound acquisition that is to say mastering the

letter-sound relationships, which are very vital in their reading ability. Through this program,

teachers were able to present an audio-video presentation that can aid the children in learning

the said skills above.

Reeb (2011) presented in her study that people encounter several different environments

throughout life such as school, work, shopping centers, group activities, and many more which

require the ability to read, write, and speak to become an active participant. While students

develop their ability to speak, read, and write to engage in the primary discourse of school and

of the working world they must be able to draw on their letter and sound acquisition knowledge.

In addition, when students are able to participate in letter and sound acquisition through life

experiences that are made available, they will be practicing the use letters and the sounds to

gain mastery.
In like manner, there are diverse types of phonics strategies that could be used to

improve the letter and sound knowledge of students. When finding the proper support to give

the students, it is important to discover which strategies will benefit the students the most.

Finding the proper support needs to be done through looking at several different strategies as

well as assessing the strategy while it is in use. It is important to know what the purpose of why

you are using the strategy so that the wanted outcome is achieved (Reeb, 2011).
That is why educators seek various techniques and strategies in order to teach the

letter-sound knowledge of the children to master our second language which is English.
According to the study of Al Mamun (2014), in the modern era of language teaching,

different innovations are brought in the field of ELT to come out from the traditional teaching

approaches. Nowadays, trend is more toward communicative language teaching than traditional

grammar teaching. Whereas, in the previous time, learning a new language meant learning to
read the literature of that language, now the necessity of learning a new language has become

a communicative need. People learn another language after their mother tongue for maintaining

communication with the people of other community speaking a different language. As a result,

language is learnt as a means of communication, not as a subject. That is why with the changed

necessity of learning language, the teaching methods and approaches have also been adapted.

Language teachers are trying to bring new innovations in their teaching to make their language

teaching effective. Teaching language is not an easy task and it needs to be interesting enough

to remove the anxiety of the learners. For this reason, language teachers tend to adapt different

techniques to teach language more effectively and more interestingly. With the rapid growth and

availability of technology, language teachers are incorporating different additional aids along

with the text books to teach language. Different electronic boards, overhead transparency,

multimedia projector, computer, audio and video equipment are making the language teachers’

task easier and dynamic.

According to the study of Ayllon and Galiza (2005) pure lecture is the most common

technique that teachers utilize from the time education starts to evolve. Then, gradually it uses

various kinds of instructional media, from charts to diagrams, from diagrams to picture, from

picture to real specimen and many more. Among the instructional media used by educators, the

most sophisticated medium of instruction is the computer. Teachers use computers to introduce

new materials, by using graphical illustrations, words and sounds to hold students’ attention.
Another study by Ongtico and Sison(2005) stated the use of video has motivated

students to equate learning with fun. What they see sticks more easily to their mind rather than

the traditional teaching approach. Today, almost all topics in any field of study are now available

on video. In the same way, video provides for: (a) the capture of uncommon and hard-to-

duplicate material phenomena; (b) the ability to easily present static and moving material; (c) the

alteration of visual, auditory and temporal characteristics of materials and phenomena; and (d)

the option to incorporate animation for added clarity. In like manner, classrooms today had

teaching aids like TV, CD player, slide projectors, microfilm and computers. These devices are
considered media in teaching. It helps the teacher to facilitate learning; students are easily

motivated which provide fast and effective learning. Through these devices, there are visual

presentation, audio playing, film showing and others, which easily catch the students’ attention.
Furthermore, the use of video in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL)

classroom has become a common practice for the ELT practitioners. Nowadays, internet

facilities and availability of different technology have made the task of the language teachers

easier. Teachers can download different videos appropriate for the learners from internet. As

there are thousands of readymade videos designed for language teaching, teachers can easily

choose according to their needs (Ozkan, 2002). Videos can facilitate language teaching in

diverse ways. It makes the classroom interesting removing the monotony of the learners.

Moreover, it helps the learners to generate ideas for discussion. It makes the class more

interactive and effective. Çakir (2006) reported that use of video in language teaching ensures

authentic language input to the learners. Moreover, using content related videos helps the

learners to conceptualize the ideas and get in depth thought on that topic. Besides, learners can

concentrate on the use of contextual language in the videos along with non-verbal features of

language that helps them to have better understanding of the target language use. Cunning

(2001) discussed the usefulness of using videos in language teaching stating that video

provides stimuli to the learners which facilitates an opportunity to the learners to get a

background schema of the subject. Also, the use of videos helps the learners to have an idea of

the stress and rhythm pattern of the target language. Moreover, it allows the learners to predict,

infer and analyze information of the subject matter (as cited in Koksal, 2004) Moreover,

watching a video, learners have the opportunities of experiencing dynamics of language

communication. As Secules, Herron, &Tomasello (1992) stated, “Video offers language learners

opportunities to see the dynamics of communication, and because such materials are widely

available, it may offer a better and feasible option for listening comprehension (as cited in Long

& Doughty, 2009).

III. Research Questions
 This study aimed to determine the use of using audio-video presentation in teaching the

letter-name recognition and letter-sound acquisition.

Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the pretest scores of the respondents in terms of:

A. Letter Names Recognition

B. Letter-Sound Acquisition?

2. What is the posttest scores of the respondents using the audio-video presentation in terms of:

A. Letter Names Recognition

B. Letter-Sound Aqcuisition?

3. Is there a significant relationship between the pretest scores and the posttest scores of the

respondents using the audio-video presentation in terms of:

A. Letter Names Recognition

B. Letter-Sound Acquisition?

Hypothesis
Hypothesis in null form is formulated and tested empirically at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho: There is no significant relationship between the pretest scores and the posttest

scores of the respondents in terms of their letter names recognition and letter-sound

recognition.
IV. Scope and Limitation
This study will be focusing on the Grade 1 frustration level pupils of Kiwalan Elementary

School within the school year 2018-2019. The said school belongs to North II District of the

Division of Iligan City.

Moreover, for the accessibility, familiarity, and security aspects of the researcher were

the reasons why she chooses the school mentioned above.

V. Research Methodology
Sampling
 This study will be using quantitative method which aimed to determine the effectiveness

of audio-video presentation in the respondents’ letter-sound knowledge after the conduct of the

posttest which will be given to them. The respondents of the study will be the Grade 1 pupils of

Kiwalan Elementary School who belong to frustration level. The school has five (5)

heterogeneous sections with a total of 194 pupils. The male population has 104 pupils while the

female population has 90 pupils. The researcher will conduct a pretest on the five (5) sections

then the result will determine those pupils who are struggling in their letter names recognition

and letter-sound acquisition. The researcher will take all the pupils who belong to the frustration

level as her respondents.

Data Collection
The main tool that the researcher will be using is a standardized test from the Early

Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) Toolkit but the only part that will be used from this toolkit is

only the letter names recognition test and the letter sound recognition test since this study

focuses only on the letter-sound recognition of the respondents. This will be given during the

pretest and the same test will be given also during the posttest.
After the pretest, the pupils who are identified in the frustration level will undergo letter-

name recognition and letter-sound acquisition lesson using the audio-video presentation in a

separate room during their remediation period.

Then, there will be a weekly monitoring on their letter sound acquisition and letter-names

recognition and then after one (1) month of exposure a posttest will be conducted to determine

the effect of audio-video presentation to the acquiring of letter-names and letter-sound

knowledge of the respondents.

Ethical Issues
All the information gathered during the study will be confidential and subject to the

approval of the respondents.

VI. Time Table

Time/Day Allotment Activity

November 5-9, 2018 Conducting of Pretest to all the grade 1 pupils

and identifying the struggling grade1 pupils

November 12-December 7, 2018 Exposure of the struggling grade 1 pupils to

the audio video presentation

December 10- 14, 2018 Conduct of posttest
CHRISTMAS BREAK
January 7-11, 2018 Organization of results and outcomes

VII. Cost Estimate

The following is the cost estimate for the study.

Materials Cost Estimate

Bondpaper P1,000.00
Ink P5,000.00
Folder P1,000.00
Questionnaire P5,000.00
Total P12,000.00

VIII. Plans for Dissemination

After the data will be analyzed and interpreted, a planned LAC session will be conducted

for the teachers in order for them to realize the importance of using audio-video presentations in

their classes which can benefit them especially in catching the attention of their learners thus

improving the retention span of those struggling pupils.

IX. References

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Ongtico, M. E., &Sison, S. N. (2005). Instructional effectiveness between documentary

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