Philippine E-Journals

Preschoolers’ Verbal Interaction and Letter Identification Skill: Television Cartoon Characters as Visual Aids

Gennievie R. Ada

Discipline: Early Childhood Education, Media

 

Abstract:

This study investigated the effects of using pictures of television cartoon characters and traditional pictures on students’ verbal interaction and letter identification skill. Participants were 3- to 4-year-old students from Miriam Child Study Center.

 

A quasi-experimental design was employed using two groups with 15 students each. The Mann Whitney U test, t-test for change/gain, t-test for two independent means, and Spearman Rank Correlation were applied at .05 alpha level. The t value of 3.28 for the cartoon group and 2.27 for the traditional group show that both methods were effective in improving letter identification skill of students. The t-value of .95, however, did not show any significant difference between the two groups.

 

Students who were shown pictures of television cartoon characters verbally interacted more than those who were shown traditional pictures, as seen in the obtained U of 67. Also, the correlation coefficient of .76 indicates that students who verbally interacted in class exhibited better letter identification ability. The findings present a possible approach for encouraging verbal interaction and improving letter identification skill of preschoolers.