Acquisition of orthographic

competence through a
proposal of classroom and
social networks learning
activities for high school
Ojeda Rodrguez Lpez - Serna

Before the problem, the

subjects:
A group of second
semester (later,
third) of Preparatoria
Xochicalco
Mexicali, Baja
California
The group: 20
women and 11 men
All from 15 to 16
years.

Before the problem, the

subjects:
High average
socioeconomic status
Access to technology
100% of students have
a computer with
internet access at
home,
93.5% have a mobile
phone
48.3% of students
have a smartphone.
All the students have
an active account on
Facebook.

Diagnosis of the problem

There was
applied a test
that measured
the number of
spelling errors of
students for
every 93 words
(dictation
exercise).
The diagnostic
test was applied
to 31 students ,
resulting:

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Column2

Diagnosis of the problem

There were no students

without errors
The overall group has
an intermediate level
of orthographic
competence.
51.61%: 20 - 30
spelling errors,
22.57%: 30 - 40
spelling errors,
25.80%: 2 10 spelling
errors,
Average: Group had
15.09 misspelled per
93 words
An essay of three
pages: they would
get about 180

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Column2

24 students
students
77.41%

Diagnosis of the problem

Kinds of mistakes by percentage in the group

0% 3% 0% 3% 7%
0% 5%
6%
7%
13%

43%

3%
1%
8%

Use of b
Use of g
Use of ll
Others
Use of v
Uso of c
Use of capital
letters
Use of r
Accentuation
Use of s
Use of j
Use of h
Use of z
Use of x
Use of k
Use of q
Use of y
Use of mp

Orthographic Accentuation

Te amo, bebe: (I love you, _____)

Beb: Baby
Bebe: Drink it!

Orthographic accentuation
According to the National
Institute of Educational
Evaluation (INEE, 2008),
near of 98% of Secundaria
s third grade Mexican
students, commit at least,
one accentuation error.
What is the reason why
many Mexican students
and Mexican people, in
general, do not write
correctly?

Orthographic accentuation
Orthographic or
spelling competence:
the mastery of the
rules governing the
writing of a language"
(Morales, n/d).
Error: demonstration
of lack of mastering
of any of these
idiomatic rules.

Research Question
Is that possible to develop the
orthographic competence in our
students without stopping the
curricular content?
How can we plan activities for these
purposes without class time?

Objectives of educational
intervention
General: Develop activities and
learning strategies to promote the
acquisition orthographic competence of
the students, minimizing the number of
errors per every hundred words.
Specifics:
Promote learning of spelling rules
through a program to support their
studies:
weekly session of one hour

Design, through the ITC, and the

recreational learning objects, which
students can practice with:
Facebook group activities

Solution: Educational
intervention
Orthography Workshop (Taller
de Ortografa): extracurricular
activities every 15 days:
Friday, 9:00 a.m.
Sessions specifically related
to the accentuation content.
Autonomous and self-directed
activity
Team activities.
A brief self- test to assess
their own performance, in
each session
7 sessions in total.

Solution: Educational
intervention
A non-classroom learning

activity once a week at

home: Facebook group
"Taller de Ortografa
Xochicalco 301".
Take advantage of all Web
2.0 properties
Spelling and accentuation
materials
o Videos,
o links to interactive
exercises
o Photo exercises and
contests

Facebook activities

In this photo one of the students related her

photograph with the word "sobrinos" (nieces and
nephews) and its classification by syllable.

Facebook activities

In this photo one of the students found a spelling

error (lack of accent) in an advertisement located in
the city.

Facebook activities

Facebook exercises

Results (Ortography
Workshop)
Each session
assessment proves the
following:
Students were
competent to apply
the knowledge they
achieved in that class
(Describe what they
learned, explain
concepts and ideas,
divide syllables and
classified it according
their stressed syllable).

Achievment in exercises
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
83.33%
73.68%
65.71%
30.00% 56.25%
52.94%
20.00%
40.00%

10.00%
0.00%

Porcentage of
students that are
competent in the
session excerise

Results (Facebook activities)

The group participate
actively with
contributions and
feeding back their
classmates.
They were motivated to
do what they usually do
on their social networks.
There was the necessary
respect to have an
optimum learning
atmosphere, although
there was necessary to
censure some photos
because their content

Results
Finally, after seven sessions: A new
test that assessed the accentuation
of fifteen words of high difficulty.
Final spelling test
20
15
Column2

10
5
0
Competent 15-15

84%

Basic 5-10 hits

16%

Diagnosis of the problem

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Column2

24 students
students

77.41%

Conclussions
1. The activities proposed in
this intervention worked
to achieve the objectives.
2. Is it possible to
develop the
orthographic
competence in our
students without
stopping the
curricular content?
A: Yes, it is. Using the means
we have at our disposal

Conclusions
3. While school is willing
to pay attention, not
only to the level of their
education, but in the
real development of the
skills necessary for life,
you can deal with
Learning problems in a
simple way without
compromising
curricular structure and
referred to that level.

Conclusions
Next steps:
Continue implementing the
orthography workshop in
Preparatoria Xochicalco, with
other grades of high school.
Share this workshop in the
local community, so that
more high school students
have the opportunity to
improve their orthographic
competence.

Conclusions
The proposal can be
applied in different
educational
environments
anywhere in the
world.
Applicable not only in
Spanish Language and
Literature learning
There is no exclusive
method

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

rodolfo.ojeda@uabc.edu.mx
rodo_220@hotmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/rodojeda2
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