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Context/Rationale

Learning to read is a basic literacy skill that every child should possess and the

immediate result of quality education. Reading is the most important skill an individual can

develop in a lifetime and it is a strong predictor of academic success as cited by Page and

Pullen (2015:86)

As a skill, reading can be trained and developed. People who want to be a good

and effective reader, they must master the reading skill and its strategies and techniques.

Each reading passage has its own strategies and techniques to read it. Soedarso (2004: 12)

in his book Membaca Cepat (Speed Reading), states that in the modern era people need to

read fast and effective because they have limited time. They need to select the appropriate

strategies and techniques in reading according to their purpose.

Teaching reading is the most difficult job in the roles and responsibilities of a

teacher. This has been the constant exodus of newly hired teachers every school year. It is

in this arena of work where teachers are very exhausted and tend to complain since there

are competencies that are left behind.

Moreover, the use of colors in teaching has proven to play an important part in

making pupils learn easily, as cited by Bo Chang, Renmeiu. Colors can capture learners

attention and motivate learners to learn.

Ozamiz Elementary School is one of the oldest school in Tudela District situated

in a coastal area with a school-aged population of 320. Having established such a good

reputation, very fine traditions and outstanding performance of the school to mention have

achieved numerous prizes won in competitions especially in Math Challenge and

Journalism. However, every year the teachers are burdened with the presence of nonreaders

and slow readers, quite a number of average readers and a few fast readers.
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The preceding discussions support that there is a need to provide an intervention to

address the reading problem among the Grade 1 pupils of Ozamiz Elementary School. Thus

Color Coded Vowel Sounds (CODEVS) was conducted.

Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy

CodeVS means Color Coded Vowel Sound; Co comes from the word Color, de

comes from coded V stands for vowel and S tells sound. This is a revised strategy from the

concept of Reading Key.com which is an English language way of reading words. This

innovation was named by the lead researcher who skillfully designed the strategy wherein

phonemic awareness is strengthened and mastered using only one key picture for easy

memorization of the letter sound and the vowels are color coded for easy identification.

The colors being used were the first five colors of the rainbow Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,

and Blue; /a/ sound is red, /i/ sound is orange, /u/ sound is yellow, /o/ sound is green and

/e/ sound is blue. The first vowel sound to be blended with the consonants is /a/ sound after

the pupils have mastered the blending of the 2 sounds together add another consonant sound

and making them read CVC words. When they are able to read CVC words decoding was

made easy to the rest of the added letters. After reading CVC with /a/ sound let them read

cvc with another vowel sound. Since teaching reading in Grade 1 is done using

sinugbuanong binisaya language the sequence of introducing the vowel sounds is /a/, /i/,

/u/, /o/ and lastly /e/. This is done this way because according to a language study in

sinugbuanong binisaya, most of the words in our language are using the vowels a,i and u

and rarely it is composing of /o/ and /e/ sound and in making word list only 5 words in a

page is shown so as not to cause frustration as too many words they see. The detailed and

concise steps are explained hereafter:

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Step 1 Teach and drill consonant sounds

Teach the consonant sound with key picture familiar to them. Starting with 1st

day m,t,y,s,k; 2nd day n,l,p,b,g; 3rd day h,w,r,ng.

Step 2 Teach the color-coded vowel sound in each word.

Each word has the same vowel sound which gives the repetition needed to

accelerate learning of the vowel sound. Vowel sounds are color coded for easy

identification.

Step 3 Stop at Vowel Sound.

In this step, the teacher will show to the pupils how to read up to the colored vowel

sound in each word.

Step 4 Read the words slowly.

The teacher will model in reading slowly and now that the pupils can read up to the

vowel sound we now want them to add the final consonant sound. Repeat the same process

in each word in the list left to right and from top to bottom. Left to right in reading is

emphasized so that the blending of sounds will be done faster and later on in reading of

words.

Step 5 Timed Reading.

After learning to decode the 3 letter pseudowords/invented words, let them read the

each word in the word list at 3 seconds to ignite them to decode faster.

Action Research Questions

This action research aimed to improve the reading level of 23 Grade 1 pupils of

Ozamiz Elementary School (OES) during the school year 2018 – 2019 by using Color-

Coded Vowel Sound (CODEVS). The study answered the following specific questions:

1. What is the test score of pupils before and after the use of CODEVS?
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2. What are the pupils perceptions on the use of CODEVS?

3. What are the teachers perceptions on the use of CODEVS?

IV. Action Research Methods

Research Design. This study is action research by design. Action researches are

initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem

solving (Chamundeswari, 2013). As a method of organizational development and

improvement, action research is often used in educational settings with significant special

needs (Sandoval-Lucero, Maes & Pappas, 2013). In this innovation, automaticity in reading

among Grade 1 pupils is addressed through Color Coded Vowel Sound.

Site. The study was conducted at the Ozamiz Elementary School (OES), located at

Cabol-anonan, Tudela, Misamis Occidental during the school year 2018 – 2019. OES is a

complete elementary school with a total school population of 320 pupils.

Subjects. A total of 19 non readers in Grade 1 in Ozamiz Elementary School during

the School Year 2018-2019 were the participants of the study. These pupils were identified

as “Nonreader” (n=19) , “Frustration” (n=0), “Instructional” and Independent (n=0) as

reflected in the baseline District Reading Assessment and EGRA report with a mean of

18.46 in all areas of EGRA as to school result.

Data Gathering Methods/Instruments. Seeing that this is an intervention activity,

permission from the school head was sought after by the researchers prior to the conduct

of the study. Parents and pupils were also informed for these two months activity to refrain

pupils from making absences.

After the administration of the pretest, the results were analyzed to determine the

pupils' performance in reading using an Oral Passage which is a component of EGRA then
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CODEVS was used by the researchers. Every day from Monday to Friday from 8:00 – 9:00

am in the morning and 2:30-3:30 in the afternoon the researchers conducted the

intervention. In a 1-month duration, word lists presented were pseudowords or invented 3

letter word after that those able decoders were given another word list to read and that time

word list with sense or meaning were presented with the corresponding picture. Those who

were not able to perform decoding practice were given remedial sessions and those who

were still not able to do it pseudowords presented again but that instance one word at a time

was given. Ample exercises were given to the participants done after lunch time and at

times brought at home for practice those who were not able to perform. After the teaching

period, post-test was given which was the same passage during the pretest was administered

and this time CodeVS was no longer used. The results were tabulated and analyzed using

mean and average weighted mean . Based on the results conducted, an interview was

conducted to the pupils and Focus Group Discussion to validate the results. The responses

of the pupils were translated into English to suit the language used in this action research.

The study employed the following tools in gathering the data:

A. Oral Passage in Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) (Appendix B). This

Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) is an oral student assessment designed to

measure the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in the early grades:

orientation, letter name recognition, letter sound recognition, initial sound identification,

familiar word reading, invented words recognition, oral passage reading, reading

comprehension, listening comprehension and dictation. Since this is a Standardized

instrument, it does not require validation. However only the Oral Passage reading skill was

administered for the purpose of the study which employed this revised mechanics in a 60-

word Oral Passage, the participants were to read in 60 seconds. The result of the Oral

Passage Reading was interpreted using the scale below:

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Score Interpretation

41 – 60 Fast

20 – 40 Average

1 – 19 Slow

The MPS result in the pretest and posttest used the following scale and verbal

description for analysis based on the K-12 grading system as stipulated in the DepEd Order

No. s 2015 using the scale below:

89% and above Outstanding

79% – 60% Very Satisfactory

40% – 59% Satisfactory

20% – 39% Fairly Satisfactory

0 – 19% Did not meet Expectations

B. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of Teachers. The researchers used these questions to

teachers who were part of the conduct of the study as stated below:

1. What is your observation towards the reading ability of your pupils?

2. How did CODEVS help improve the reading ability of the pupils?

3. What are the difficulties you encountered in using CODEVS?

Ethical Considerations. In this particular study, the issues on authority to conduct

research, safety and well-being of the participants who were all minors, research integrity

and originality and data confidentiality was resolved. Pupils’ participation in this research

project is voluntary. Parents’ and pupils’ consent were sought and thery were all made to

sign the consent forms. Consent forms specified the nature of the pupils’ participation and

that they can discontinue their participation on the project at any rate.
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Confidentiality and anonymity were also observed in the study by not mentionaing

the school and participant identity in any part of the paper. Copyright issues was resolved

by citing the works of the original authors in the final report. Finally, the final report is

subjected to plagiarism test prior to submission and publication of the output. The

researchers considered 90 percent originality level of the paper before publication.

Data Analysis

Mean was computed to determine the composite average weights of the pupils

before and after the intervention. Counts and percents were also computed to categorize the

pupils according to reading level. The researchers employed thematic analysis to report the

common themes from the interview transcripts and observation notes.

V. Discussion of Results and Reflection/Implication/Conclusion

Comparative Reports of the Pretest and Posttest

Quantitative Results towards the use of the CodeVS

The summarry of the pretest and posttest results is reported in Table 1a. The finding

implies that the intervention program had caused each pupil to decode fast within the

intervention period. Of the 19 pupils, 13 of them are average and another 6 pupils are slow

reading level. However, it is sad to note that 2 pupils were still slow and 1 nonreader.

This result affirms the study of Bo Chang, Renmei Xu & Tiffany Richell Watt that

colors have an impact on learning. The use of colors in instructional materials has an

important role in capturing learners attention. The author further cited the study of Dzulkifli

& Mustafar, 2013 which said colors help learners increase their attention levels in certain

information, which helps such information to be transferred to short-term and long-term

memories thus increasing their chance of memorizing such information.

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This indicates further that pupils need to learn to blend sounds effortlessly and

automatically to become fluent decoders. Jenkins and O’Connor, 2001 strongly agree that

reading difficulties for pupils are most often rooted in problems of phonological processing

and decoding and understanding of the alphabetic principle and that letters and sounds work

in systematic ways to form words are essential for skills decoding. (Adams, 1990).

Cardenas (2009) strongly supports, the use of pseudowords in CODEVS is one of

the many keys that helps very much in reading with automaticity .Her results indicated that

pupils who received phonics instruction with pseudowords/invented words demonstrated

greater improvement in decoding than pupils who received phonics instruction using only

real words. In addition, the pseudowords group demonstrated a higher rate of change than

the real words group even after returning to real-word phonics instruction.

Table 1a

Summary of Pupil’s Reading Level on Pre and Post Intervention

No. of pupils No. of Pupils Difference

Reading Level Pre Post Pre and Post

Non-reader 19 0 19

Slow 0 6 6

Average 0 13 13

Fast 0 0 0

Table 1b discusses the test scores of the pupils with the corresponding reading level

in pretest and posttest. The test was composed of 60 words to be read in 1 minute and it

revealed that there is a big increase of the mean in the pretest compared to the post test.

Then, it supports that CODEVS has great impact in the reading skill of pupils because

decoding skills are practiced. Since a number of researchers agreed that prior to attain

reading performance decoding skills has to be enhanced. This had been supported by the
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study of Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton & Johnston, (2011) unanimously said that the focus

on letters and sounds provides explicit practice with the decoding process. Instruction in

decoding should emphasize common letter patterns.

Table 1b

Comparative Results of Pre and Post Intervention (60 words in 60 seconds / 1 minute)

Pre Post Percentage

Pupil of Increase
in the Scores
Score Reading Score Reading
Level Level

1 0 NR 40 Average 40%
2 0 NR 39 Average 39%
3 0 NR 19 Slow 19%
4 0 NR 40 Average 40%
5 0 NR 40 Average 40%
6 0 NR 39 Average 39%
7 0 NR 30 Average 30%
8 0 NR 18 Slow 18%
9 0 NR 19 Slow 19%
10 0 NR 40 Average 40%
11 0 NR 40 Average 40%
12 0 NR 40 Average 40%
13 0 NR 40 Average 40%
14 0 NR 40 Average 40%
15 0 NR 19 Slow 19%
16 0 NR 40 Average 40%
17 0 NR 10 Slow 10%
18 0 NR 19 Slow 19%
19 0 NR 28 Average 28%

Total 0 Did not 600 Fairly

Meet Satisfactory 31.58%
Mean 0 Expectation 31.58
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Table 1b discloses that CodeVS help learners at all levels and the most benefited

one are those struggling readers. This is also supported in the study of Keller and Grimm,

2005 that color can help learners improve their learning efficiency since learners can

process color automatically without requiring a conscious process. Keller and Grimm

further state that color as a graphical device can reduce visual search time and might support

learners quickly access information. Kumi, Conway, Limayen, and Goyal (2013) comes

out strongly that color can enhance the organization and presentation of information,

decrease search times and enable the identification and organization. The authors further

stated in their study that color is a clue which helps learners retrieve information and this

is further supported by Keller and Grimm (2005) that color-coded information

visualizations can better support knowledge acquisition.

Qualitative Results towards the use of CODEVS for the Pupil and Teacher Focus
Group Discussion

Shown in Table 2 are the pupils perception towards the use of CodeVS. It reflects

that all areas of making reading easy have generated strongly agree while the second

statement which is “I enjoy blending sounds” generated only 8 strongly agree out from 19

participants. The underlying reason of this result is blending words is very hard in a reading

process but with CODEVS the process had been made easier. This analysis is supported by

the study of Lane and Pullen, 2015 that blending and segmenting are the most sophisticated

skills and the most important for application to decoding. Given this conclusion, there has

to be a way to make it easier and that with the aide of the color coded vowel sound.
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Transcripts of the Results of the Pupils Perception

Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly Total

Statement Disagree Agree No. of
Pupils

1. CODEVS can help me 0 0 9 10 19

remember the vowel
sounds easily.

2. I enjoy blending sounds 0 0 11 8 19

using CODEVS.

3. I can blend sounds easily 0 0 6 13 19

using CODEVS.

4. CODEVS can help me 0 0 9 10 19

read words with ease.

5. I had fun blending 0 2 8 11 19

sounds with CODEVS.

6. I can blend sounds fast 0 0 3 16 19

with CODEVS

In the next table after this page is Table 3. This discloses the teachers' responses

during the Focus Group Discussion. It is clearly observed that most of the responses have

a positive effect on the teacher. However, there are negative common responses like “has

too many to prepare on the part of the teacher”, “writing in proper lines are not practice”,

and “mastery of the letter names is not evident”. In the issue of too many to prepare on the

part of the teacher; the preparation of the materials is a one-time event and it will last for a

long time if laminated. In the second issue, writing in proper lines are not practice, in this

context the materials to be prepared can be edited with lines for writing practices and finally
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mastery of the letter names is not practice can be resolved by doing it after the decoding

skills are already achieved.

Table 3

Teachers Responses about the use of CODEVS

Theme Emerging from Common Positive Common Negative

Questions Reponses Reponses

Pupils Enjoyment Pupils are enjoying None

blending of sounds because
of the colors

Amount of Time Once the concept of Too many materials to

blending is practiced, prepare on the part of the
reading only consumes a teacher
little amount of time

Consistency of Use Use during remedial None

Connections to Reading Proper strokes of letters Writing to proper lines is

and Writing may be corrected. not practice
A good start to practice
reading

Interest and Engagement Increased pupils interest None

through colors and pictures.
Majority of pupils are
encouraged to engage in
reading.
Pupils are not everloaded
with words since it has only
5 words in a page

Training Effectiveness Recommended to use in Mastery of the letter names

Kinder and all grades who is not evident
are non-readers, struggling
to read and children who
have special needs.
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Conclusion

In reference on the result of the study, the researchers concluded that the use of

CODEVS towards automaticity in reading has increased the pupils reading level and this

is an effective initial phase in making learners read quickly. CODEVS promotes decoding

practice and decoding practice significantly improves pupils reading proficiency and is

particularly beneficial for those who have or who are at risk for reading difficulties

according to Tunmer & Arrow, 2013). Finding effective ways to provide decoding practice

for struggling readers can be a challenge for teachers. Still, this goal is essential for

developing reading proficiency. As cited by Adams in his study, he explained that the goal

of helping children learn to recognize words quickly and easily ensure that word

recognition will feed rather than compete with comprehension (p.78). CODEVS is a simple

but powerful and engaging tool for providing the decoding practice that so many struggling

readers need. This will help become more fluent in their word reading and therefore in their

reading of connected text. In fact, recent research has linked phonemic awareness skills to

improve oral reading fluency and CODEVS is in full package in attaining that.

Professional Reflection/Recommendation

Acquiring literacy in reading is one of the bases of quality education and according

to McKinsey, quality education does not exceed the quality of teachers. It means that

quality education depends upon the teachers. Thus, the need for looking the easiest way to

teach and making learners approach reading as fun and easy is still in pursuit.

Being able an instrument of this endeavor, the researchers are so fulfilled having

come up with this innovation. Since teaching reading had been very challenging in this

arena of work and having no skill in reading is the root of all cause in pursuing quality

education since reading is a basic skill. With the use of CODEVS, our learners can quickly
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read with the aid of the color-coded vowel sound. Furthermore, the use of pseudowords in

CODEVS in instruction plays a big role in reading quickly the words before letting them

read real words because this will really help in decoding practice.

Action Plan

The next steps are: First use CODEVS during remedial with a minimum of 30

minutes and a maximum of 2 hours: 30 minutes/1 hour in the morning before academic

subjects and another 30 minutes / 1 hour in the afternoon after all academic subjects at the

start of the school year. Second: Mentor all teachers during SLAC sessions regardless of

grade level taught because CODEVS is for all who cannot read, slow, average and fast in

reading. Third findings of the study will be disseminated during School Learning Action

Cell and District Action Cell. The paper will be also presented in the national and

international conferences if the topic is relevant and quality of the paper is acceptable by

the organizer.
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References

Chamundeswari, S. (2013). Job Satisfaction and Performance of school teachers.

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 3(5),
420-428. Retrieved on November 8, 2018 from
http:www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/1859.pdf

Chang, Bo; Xu, Renmei; and Watt, Tiffany (2018). “The Impact of Colors on Learning,”
Adult Education Research Conference.
http://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2018/papers/30

Lane Holly and Pullen Paige (2015). “ Blending Wheels:Tools for Decoding Practice,”
Council for Exceptional Children.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283851211

Keller, T., & Grimm, M. (2005). The impact of dimensionality and color coding
information visualizations on knowledge acquisition. Knowledge and Information
Visualization; Searching for Synergies, 3426, 167-182.

Reutzel, D Ray; Fawson, Parker C; Smith John A, Reading Research Instruction; Winter
2006;45; Proquest Library.http://search.proquest.com/docview.
 Page 16 of 20

Component 6a: Oral Passage Reading

Maayong buntag. Ako si Mina. 10

Unom ka tuig akong edad.
Aduna akoy manghod nga lalaki. 19
Miko ang iyang ngalan.
Aduna usab akoy igsuon nga babaye. 29
Mara ang iyang ngalan.
Among kalingawan ang pagbasa og 40
libro
matag hapon human sa klase.
Mag-uuma akong Papa. 50
Mamaligya og prutas akong Mama sa
merkado.
Magdungan kami sa pagsimba matag 60
Dominggo sa buntag. Malipayon
kami.
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Maayong buntag. Ako si Mina.

Unom ka tuig akong edad.
Aduna akoy manghod nga
lalaki.
Miko ang iyang ngalan.
Aduna usab akoy igsuon nga
babaye.
Mara ang iyang ngalan.
Among kalingawan ang
pagbasa og libro
matag hapon human sa klase.
Mag-uuma akong Papa.
Mamaligya og prutas akong
Mama sa merkado.
Magdungan kami sa pagsimba
matag Dominggo sa buntag.
Malipayon kami.
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Action Plan

Activities Date and Human Financial Material and Indicators

or Duration Resources Resources Other Resources of Success
Projects Needed Needed Needed

Teach & June 25, 2018 School Head None Metacards Mastered
Drill 8:00 – 9:00 AM Teachers m, t, y, s, k consonants
Consonant 2:30 – 3:30 PM letter
Sound sound
June 26, 2018 School Head None Metacards Mastered
8:00 – 9:00 AM Teachers n, l, p ,b, g consonants
2:30 – 3:30 PM letter
sound
June 27, 2018 School Head None Metacards Mastered
8:00 – 9:00 AM Teachers d, h, w ,r, ng consonant
2:30 – 3:30 PM letter
sounds
Teach the June 28, 2018 School Head None Metacards Mastered
Blending of 8:00 – 9:00 AM Teachers a, i ,u, o, e Vowel
Consonant 2:30 – 3:30 PM letters
and Vowel sound
Sound
June 29, 2018 School Head None CodeVS sheets Mastered 2
Stop at the 8:00 – 9:00 AM Teachers letters
vowel 2:30 – 3:30 PM blending
Sound
Read the July – August School Head None CodeVS sheets Mastered
words 2018 Teachers CVC and
slowly CVCV

Remedial September – None CodeVS sheets Less

Sessions December 2018 Teachers number of
non-
readers
January 2019 School Head None None Reflection
Giving of SLACS Teachers of teachers
Feedbacks and school
head

BUDGET PROPOSAL
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Project/Intervention : Venue Tentative Level

Date
CODEVS: Towards Automaticity in Reading Ozamiz
Elementary June 2018 Division
School to May 2019
Specific Activity : ACTION RESEARCH
Delivery Mode :
Functional Division : Misamis Occidental Division
Sources of Funds : PERSONAL FUND
Special Education Fund Research Assistance
#
REQUIRED
Cost per Total # of Amount
ITEM OF EXPENDITURE unit/hour days
Activity 1 Reading Materials used
during intervention
* Flash Cards- Consonant 15 pcs 3.00 3 45.00
Letters
* Flash Cards- Vowel 5 pcs 3.00 1 15.00
Letters
* Word Lists 165pcs 5.00 40 825.00

Administrative Cost 185 pcs 11.00 44 days 885.00

GRAND TOTAL 885.00

Prepared by

LARME GRACE N. BALONGKIT

Researcher

Recommending Approval:

FELCOR T. BLANCO
Chief, SGOD

Approved:

AGUSTINES E. CEPE, Ph.D., CESO VI

Schools Division Superintendent

Pupils Perception
 Page 20 of 20

Weighted Verbal
Statement
Mean Description

1. CODEVS can help me remember the vowel sounds easily. 3.64 Strongly
Agree

2. I enjoy blending sounds using CODEVS. 3.45 Agree

3. I can blend sounds easily using CODEVS. 3.76 Strongly

Agree

4. CODEVS can help me read words with ease. 3.64 Strongly

Agree

5. I had fun blending sounds with CODEVS. 3.64 Strongly

Agree

6. I can blend sounds fast with CODEVS 3.79 Strongly

Agree