The environment in which we live and grow up has a big impact on our lives. To function effectively in a society, it is important to have a well-developed communicative competence, which is carried out in a planned and systematic way at school. The purpose of teaching language during Slovene lessons is to develop communicative competence in the Slovene (literary) language, namely within the framework of all communication skills: listening, speaking, conversing, reading, writing and correspondence. To write, correspond and read, well-developed spelling skills are also important and include spelling rules, together with the correct spelling of the so-called words with critical sounds. By mastering the goals of spelling skills, students develop their language skills. In the Slovene language not every sound has its own letter, which is why writing some words correctly may be problematic. In the initial period of schooling, students' literacy is carried out. Students enter the fourth grade with differently adopted spelling ability goals and should already be able to correctly spell some words with critical sounds. The writing of such words is then consolidated in the second educational period when some new writings are learned and adopted. It is important for students to be as actively engaged as possible in the lessons. This means that they learn independently, collaboratively, critically, while teachers guide, direct, advise and set an example for them.
In my master's thesis, I investigated how successful the fourth-grade students are in writing words with critical sounds and how gender, a final grade in Slovene, and the frequency of reading affect their writing.
In the theoretical part, I defined communication and spelling skills, their development and the place of both skills in the Slovene language curriculum. I presented phonetics, the relationship between a sound and a letter, and the writing of words with critical sounds.
The empirical part presents a study that I carried out in the 2022/23 school year, which included 21 fourth grade students in a selected elementary school. In the first part of the study, I collected data about the frequency of reading using the results of a questionnaire, and in the second part, students took tests in three different time periods (pre-test, test, post-test), with which I checked the writing of words with critical sounds.
The results of the questionnaire showed that girls are more eager to read than boys. As part of their school obligations, students prefer to read texts for their reading badge. In their free time, they choose to read stories and comics. Family members or library staff help them with choosing reading material and they most often get it from libraries. Most students only read a few times a week.
The results of the tests showed that the students achieve worst results in the tasks of words with the lj, nj combination and words without the lj, nj combination. In the pre-test, the best results were achieved in the task that checked the writing of words with a voiceless consonant at the end of the word. Immediately after the study of the learning material, the test results showed that students had progressed in all tasks, and their knowledge was at its best at the time. The greatest progress was in the dictation task. The results of the post-test, which was carried out one month after the study, showed that students achieved worse results than on the test, but not in all tasks. In addition to maintaining their knowledge from the test to the post-test, they also made progress in the task with the lj, nj combination. I found out that the success of solving the tasks can also be influenced by gender, a final grade in Slovene, and the frequency of reading. The results showed that female students are slightly more successful in solving the tasks, but the differences in performance are not statistically significant. The obtained results indicate that a final grade in Slovene language does not affect performance in all tasks. A final grade has the greatest impact on the dictation task in all three testing periods. The frequency of students' reading did not prove to be an important factor in the success of solving tasks. Students who read more often achieved better results, but not in all tasks. The results showed that even less successful students achieve good results.
Based on the theoretical starting points and research findings, I created guidelines for teachers to prepare and plan the teaching of writing words with critical sounds, so that students would be as successful as possible in writing.
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