A Multi-Sensory Approach to Teaching Sight Word Recognition

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between two approaches to sight word acquisition: audio-visual versus multi-sensory among second graders reading below grade level. The subjects consisted of sixteen second grade students who were reading below grade level in a suburban school district. The subjects were given a pretest to determine twenty unknown sight words among sixteen students. During week 1, eight students were taught the sight words using an audio-visual method (flash cards). The remaining eight students were taught the same sight words using a multi-sensory approach that contains audio, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic modes (mobility boards). The procedure was reversed during week two with the next set of ten sight words. At the end of each week students were tested on their retainment of these sight words. The mean scores of the sight vocabulary tests were tallied, and a t-test was used to determine the more successful approach to teaching sight words. The null hypothesis was rejected. Results showed the multi-sensory presentation was more successful than the audio-visual presentation in both the isolation and context tests.