Correlates of English achievement in grade four and an evaluation of two approaches in teaching communication arts English to grade four pupils in two Canossa schools

This study evaluates the relative effectiveness of two approaches in teaching communication arts English in grade four in two Canossa Schools: the Traditional Approach and the Levelling Approach. It likewise determines the significant correlates and predictors of English achievement in grade four in the two respondents schools. The quasi-experimental design was used in this study to compare the relative effectiveness of the two approaches in teaching Communication Arts English. It also made use of the descriptive-correlational method of research to determine the relationship between Achievement in Communication Arts English 4 and the following variables: mental ability, socio-economic status, class size, educational attainment of teachers, teaching experience of teachers, grade in communication arts English 3, grade in communication arts English 4, and sex. The testing instrument used in this study was prepared by the researcher. The test items were based on the English 4 basic competency skills. The manner of presentation was adopted from that of the Stanford achievement test. The communication arts English 4 achievement test was composed of six areas: speed and accuracy, vocabulary, reading comprehension, word building, spelling and language. The subjects of the study were the 120 grade four pupils of two Canossa Schools (60 pupils of Canossa-Calamba: traditional approach and 60 pupils of Canossa-Lipa: levelling approach). Treatment of the data included simple correlations and multiple regression analyzes to determine the significant correlates and predictors of communication arts English 4. To test the presence of a significant difference between the means of the Levelling Approach on the dependent variable (Achievement Test in CAE 4), one-way analysis of covariance was employed with mental ability as the covariate. Based of the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The Levelling Approach is more effective than the Traditional Approach in teaching Communication Arts English 4. 2. There is a significant relationship between Communication Arts English 4 and class size, I.Q. and grade in English 4. and 3. Intelligence Quotient and class size are significant predictors of achievement in Communication Arts English 4