FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY

Teacher Education Program

Butuan City

IMPROVING THE BASIC COMPOSITION WRITING SKILLS OF GRADE 5 PUPILS

THROUGH THE FOUR-SQUARE WRITING TECHNIQUE

An Action Research Presented to the Faculty of

Teacher Education Program

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Elementary Education

by

Madrid, Angelin B.
Otaza, Mary Cres D.
Pareja, Kathy C.
Pelenio, Joel Rei A.
Perejoles, Angelou N.
 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City

Context and Rationale

Writing is a complicated skill. According to Harris (2019),

writing is a process that occurs over a period of time,
particularly if we take into account that sometimes extended
periods of thinking that precede creating an initial draft. It is
an ongoing process that needs time and energy to think. It also
involves all language aspects that have been mastered. Besides,
the influence from mother tongue and culture affects the
students’ comprehension. Therefore, writing skill seems to be
difficult to master for the Elementary students.

Since writing is one of the most powerful tools for

communicating what a person knows, and because lack of such
efficient skills can cause barriers in education, employment, and
other pursuits in daily life, students who do not develop
effective writing revision skills may enter classes, and
eventually the workplace, with a distinct disadvantage (Gillespie
& Graham, 2020). Students continually write through texting,
blogging, chatting, notes, and social networking since they
fulfill a purpose and are easy to manage, but each can affect
great writing skills. (Dredger et al., 2020),

Research, though, supports interest, relevance, and purpose

as key elements in elementary school student academic writing
success (Frey & Fisher, 2020). Therefore, classroom teachers must
find ways to help students understand that basic composition
writing skills is both meaningful and purposeful, and to stretch
students beyond their current knowledge and comfort level while
using strategies.
 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City

One such way is through the use of the four-square graphic

organizer. The use of a graphic organizer when planning,
organizing, and drafting a piece of writing may provide students
with an effective, visual approach to facilitate basic
composition writing skills. ((Lorentz, Green & Brown, 2019).

The use of a graphic organizer throughout the planning,

organizing, and writing process has provided writers with an
opportunity to see what they were thinking. As they plan their
composition through the use of a graphic organizer, students may
see the need for greater depth as a more natural composition
process (Li, 2019)).

This process enables young writers to apply higher level

thinking skills while allowing for organizational thoughts and
linkages in a systematic manner (Dredger et al., 2020). It also
provides an opportunity to see where information needs to be
added, deleted, or reorganized (revised), which provides more
clarity in the composition stage of the actual writing process.
Since graphic organizers are open-ended, students are given the
freedom to think through the writing process and revise in small,
manageable segments and make the changes they deem necessary
throughout the entire piece of writing.

Research has also shown that even when particular strategies

prove effective in some classes, because of the uniqueness of
each class and teacher, those strategies may not be as successful
in all classes (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhara, & Harris, 2019).
Through the years, however, graphic organizers have found their
way into the writing classroom since they provide students with
visual representations of their writing as they experience
prewriting, writing rough copies, revising, and editing.
 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City

Since writing can appear overwhelming to students, graphic

organizers and illustrations in the planning and organization
processes allow students the opportunity to break a large piece
of writing into smaller, more manageable sections. This approach
makes it easier for students to focus on one section of writing
at a time and makes the need for revision more obvious from the
first stage of the writing process to the end, instead of waiting
to revise an entire piece upon completion of the rough draft
(Norton, 2021)

From the strengths of four square writing method and the

problems of students’ basic composition writing skill, this
research aims to find out whether and to what extent the use of
four square writing method improve the students’ writing skill
and to identify the students’ motivation when four square writing
method is implemented in the class.

Action Research Questions

To work productively with struggling or resistant writers,

teachers must understand the writing process, the importance of
well-planned instruction, and the creation of an environment
conducive to the struggles and risk-taking of the writing
classroom. The qualitative action research study addressed the
following research questions:

1. What is the level of basic composition writing skill of the

Grade Five pupils in terms of Organization of Thoughts?
 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City
2. Is there any improvements of the fifth-grade students in
writing basic composition in terms of Organization of
Thoughts through the use of Four-square Graphic Organizer ?
3. What are the perceptions of the students towards the
implementation of Four-square Graphic Organizer?

Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy

In order to find the students’ problem of basic composition

writing, the researchers will be conducting a preliminary
research at fifth-grade students of FSUU Basic Education- Morelos
Campus. The preliminary research will begin with conducting a
pre-assessment to gather the information about the students’
competence in writing.

Considering the problems appearing in the classroom, four

square writing method will be promoted. It is a method of
teaching basic writing skill that is applicable across grade
levels and curriculum areas. It can be applied when writing
narrative, descriptive, expository or persuasive forms of writing
(Gould and Gould, 2007). As a teaching writing method, four
square writing method have advantages. Gould and Burke (2020)
state stat four square writing method will help the writers
organize and brainstorm in a hurry. It allows the writers to have
time and attention in giving detail on writing. Besides, it
boosts students’ confidence when writing and makes them excited.
Thus, it will improve the basic composition skills of the
students.

Four square writing method consists of several stages. The

first stage of four-square writing method is categorizing each
square with the main idea. The second stage is labeling with
 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City
summary sentence in the last square. The next stage is placing a
topic sentence in the center of four square, then writing a
sentence in each square based on the main idea that has been
written before.

After that, the students write each sentence on the square

into a short paragraph. It is called an outline. The next step is
adding more detail like writing one sentence more in each square
so that there are two sentences in it. Then, the sixth stage is
adding supporting detail. Here, the students make a list of
related vocabulary in each square to explore the content of each
square. The next stage is expanding the introduction with some
detail information.

The last stage is writing a complete wrap-up sentence and

completing each square with the sentences using the vocabulary
listed before. The students will just re-write the sentences they
made into paragraph from the squares in the right mechanics.

After the implementation of the four-square writing

technique, a survey questionnaire will be distributed to assess
the student’s perceptions towards the said intervention.

Pre-assessment and Post-assessment Rubric

Table 1. Organization of Thoughts

 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City
Satisfactory Needs
Excellent (85-94%) Improvement Unsatisfactory
Criteria (95%-up) (75-84%) (65-74%)
Clearly presents a
strong and focused Presents a clear topic
topic sentence that sentence that
introduces the main introduces the main The topic sentence is No discernible
Topic Sentence idea idea unclear or weak topic sentence

Provides relevant and

well-developed Provides mostly Supporting details
supporting details that relevant supporting are limited or not
Supporting effectively enhance the details that support well-connected to No clear
Details main idea the main idea the main idea supporting details

Well-structured with a Mostly well-organized The organization is

logical flow of ideas, with a logical flow of weak, making it
each paragraph ideas, but minor challenging to follow Poor organization,
Organization contributing to the inconsistencies may be the sequence of and ideas are
of Paragraphs overall coherence present ideas disjointed

Demonstrates a high
level of unity and Shows good unity and
coherence; ideas are coherence, with some Lacks unity and
Unity and interconnected connections between coherence; ideas are No apparent unity
Coherence seamlessly ideas disjointed or coherence

Utilizes a variety of Mostly uses varied Sentence structures

sentence structures sentence structures, are repetitive, Poor sentence
Sentence effectively to convey with occasional hindering overall structures impact
Structure ideas repetition clarity clarity

Action Research Methods

a. Participants and/or other Sources of Data and Information

 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City
This research focuses on improving the basic
composition writing skills of the randomly selected Grade 5-
Generosity pupils through the implementation of the Four-
Square Writing Technique.

The participants for this action research are the Grade

5- Generosity students from Father Saturnino Urios
University- Morelos Campus. The respondents are randomly
selected depending on their availability during the
conduction of the resaerch. The primary objective is to
investigate the effectiveness of the Four-Square Writing
Technique in improving the composition writing skills of
Grade 5 pupils. Data will be collected through survey, pre-
assessment and post-assessment rubrics.

b. Data Gathering Methods

There are two kinds of data to be gathered, namely
qualitative data and quantitative data. Qualitative data
will be found from observation, questionnaire, and
interview. Thus, they are analyzed by series of process such
as assembling the data, coding the data, comparing the data,
building interpretation, and reporting the outcome.

Meanwhile, quantitative data are taken from the tests.

They are analyzed by comparing the mean test of pre-
assessment and post-assessment. By doing the process of
analyzing, the improvement of the students’ basic
composition writing skill can be monitored.

c. Data Analysis Utilized

The following steps will be conducted in a step-by-step
manner:
 FATHER SATURNINO URIOS UNIVERSITY
Teacher Education Program
Butuan City
(1) Problem identification which was done through four
techniques including pre-test, questionnaire,
observation, and interview; (2) planning the action which
included the step of making instructional materials,
media, and anything needed for the research; (3)
implementing the action in which the researcher
implemented Four Square Writing Technique to improve
basic composition writing skill; (4) observing the action
where the researcher observed the student’s behavior and
anything that happens. During the implementation of FSWT:
(5) reflecting the action which the researcher reflected
the research findings in order to get both strengths and
weaknesses of implementation of FSWT.