Changes in Fourth-Grade Students’ Communication Skills After Word Square Learning at SD Negeri Kayee Lee

Abstract

Elementary classrooms require students to communicate ideas, respond to peers, and participate in discussion, yet preliminary classroom observation at SD Negeri Kayee Lee indicated that instruction was largely one-way and that several fourth-grade students were reluctant to speak. This study examined changes in students’ communication skill scores after learning with the Word Square model. A pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design involved all 31 fourth-grade students at the school. Pretest and posttest scores were compared using a paired-samples t-test. The mean score increased from 65.32 before instruction to 82.45 afterward, a mean increase of 17.13 points. The difference was statistically significant, t(30) = −10.532, p < .001, with an estimated 95% confidence interval of 13.81–20.45 points and a large within-participant standardized change (d_z = 1.89). These findings show a substantial score change during the intervention period; however, the absence of a comparison group prevents the change from being attributed exclusively to Word Square learning. The findings should be interpreted in light of incomplete instrument documentation, limited intervention detail, and the exclusion of unverifiable observation scores.