Effects of Semantic-Mapping and Scrabble-Game Strategies on English Spellings and Pronunciations among Secondary School Students in Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria

Students’ failure in external examinations has been attributed to their poor vocabulary base, exacerbated by teachers’ poor instructional strategies. This study therefore, examined a comparative effect of semantic-mapping, scrabble-game and the combination of both semantic-mapping and scrabble-game on vocabulary achievement of secondary school students in Okene, Nigeria. The objectives were to find out: (i) the general achievement of secondary school students in English spelling and pronunciation in Okene, Nigeria; (ii) the effect of scrabble-game, semantic-mapping and combination of both on the achievement in spelling; (iii) the effect of scrabble-game, semantic-mapping and combination of both on the achievement in pronunciation in Okene, Nigeria. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design of pre-test, post-test and control group using four by two by two factorial design involving three experimental groups and one control group. Four public secondary schools and all the students in JSS II intact classes served as the sample for this study using stratified random sampling technique. An achievement test on vocabulary was adapted from the National Examinations Council and state examinations past questions as instrument for this study. Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) were used to answer and test the research questions and hypotheses respectively. The findings of the study indicated the general achievements in vocabulary of the students to be low before the treatment (pre-test) but increased averagely after treatment (post-test). Significant effects existed among scrabble-game, semantic-mapping and combination of scrabble and semantic-mapping on students’ achievement in spelling, but not favoring semantic mapping as a single technique; Scrabble-game, semantic-mapping and combination of both had effect on secondary school students’ achievement in pronunciation, The study therefore, recommended that teachers should make use of the combination of Semantic-mapping and Scrabble-game strategy to facilitate effective English vocabulary learning.