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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Problem Statement 4. Objectives and Research Questions 5. Literature Review 6. Method 7. Analysis of Results 8. Discussion 9. Conclusion 10.Limitations of Study 11.References

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Paper Title: Reading Aloud (How The Slow Learners Can Be Able To Learn About Phonics)
MOHD HAFIZ AZHAM BIN ELIAS @ JAAFAR (1028797) TESL PPG SECTION 51, IIUM, MALAYSIA EMAIL : apis8ty4@gmail.com ABSTRACT Phonics has not been emphasized in adult English as a Second Language (ESL) literacy instruction in the late twentieth century, yet the single most important theoretical problem underlying the practical problem of teaching initial English literacy is understanding how the writing system relates to the spoken language. There are compelling reasons for integrating phonics into the adult education ESL curriculum, as has been done in American primary school education. As English spelling is morphophonemic, understanding how phonemes are represented by single letters as well as spelling patterns can assist in the development of basic ESL literacy. The adult ESL student has the analytical capability to understand phonemegrapheme relationships and can be taught how to utilize any transferable L1 literacy skills in the acquisition of English spelling. Results of a teacher-research project incorporating phonics into adult education intermediate ESL instruction suggest that the question should no longer be whether to teach phonics as a part of adult ESL instruction, but how this might be done most effectively.

INTRODUCTION Simply speaking Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages and Phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior to knowledge of the language being spoken. For all English language learners it is imperative to understand and learn the use of English Phonics. Using Phonics in class is a convenient way for developing the new language learners listening skills, decode new written words, and articulate English Phonemes and comprehend the correlation between sounds and spellings.

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PROBLEM STATEMENTS

Is learning phonics important for learning English? Learning a new language can be tough for many people, especially if its not something voluntary. In Malaysia , people believe that English is the most important language outside of the native language. They believe that without the knowledge of English and/or mathematics, one would have difficulty promoting to higher positions with better pay (Sorensen, 1994). Pretty much, theyre saying without English, it would be very difficult to succeed in Malaysia. Therefore, every Malaysian pupil is required to start learning English at pre-school. As a native English teacher in my place, my main role is to help students in the communication aspect of English. We are there to help with pronunciation, intonation, and basically their overall confidence in speaking English to foreigners. Malaysian English teachers focus more on the grammatical aspect and vocabulary. However, Ive recently come across the fact that students do not start learning with the most basics of learning a language, which is phonics, the method of teaching people to read by correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters in an alphabetic writing system. They throw the students straight into words and sentences. With this study, I hope to find that learning phonics is an essential part of learning a language, especially English and to implement it into the Malaysians English curriculum.

OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS If students are provided a five day lecture on phonics, would the writing, reading, comprehension, and listening skills improve in the students who have difficulties learning English? With the findings in this action research, this research could help change the Korean English curriculum to meet the needs of all the students and improve the ability to learn the language. Another question of interest is when provided with a five day course on phonics, to what extent do the students find beneficial? With the answers from the student survey that can eat the end of the course, it can help teachers decide whether phonics should be included in their lessons.

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LITERATURE REVIEW Upon hours of searching and countless articles, it seems that the topic of phonics is not a new one when it comes to early education, especially in the reading and writing fields. There is abundant evidence that phonics instruction is crucial in developing beginning literacy competence (e.g., Adams, 1990; Ball & Blachman, 1988; Bradley & Bryant, 1983; Byrne & Fielding--Barnsley, 1989; Foorman, Francis, Novy, & Liberman, 1991; McGuiness, McGuiness, & Donahue, 1995; NICHHD, 2000; Torgeson et al., 1999; Tunmer, Herriman, & Nesdale, 1988). As a native English teacher working in Malaysia with students whose first language is not English nor is their language remotely close to English, I decided to see how affective phonics is when it comes to learning English with these students and whether phonics alone was enough to successfully improve levels in reading, writing, listening, and comprehension. From the readings and research I have read, I have found that phonics is undoubtedly an important aspect of learning the English language, especially in the focus of reading and writing. It helps lay down a foundation for their English to grow from. Children are encouraged to study phonics by the time they reach kindergarten, according to the National Reading Panel. However, phonics alone is not enough if one wishes to improve in more aspects of the English language. Whole language principles, phonological awareness, and explicit phonics instruction is encouraged to be combined together to produce the most affective teaching method. My research would help develop this idea of phonics when it comes to learning English. But more specifically, it would add more insight into the topic of phonics and ESL learners, especially Asian, an area that seems to be lacking in research.

METHODS The participants of this research consisted of 18 students, at the beginning of the class, nine Year 3 pupils and nine Year 4 pupils . However, after the first class, four Year 4 pupils never attended the class again, leaving us with 14 students. These students were selected by their grades received on their English part of their midterm exam. Their grades were the lowest in

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their classes. The school where I carried out the research is known for low economic status families where most parents are not around for their children due to long hours at their jobs to support the family. Because of this reason many of the students are home alone to fend for themselves, and compared to other normal or higher economic status students, these students education suffers due to less attention from their parents. Also, most students in Malaysia attend private academies to enforce extra practice in all subjects ranging from mathematics and science to language classes including English. Most of the students in this school do not have the monetary funding to attend private academies, which in return puts a disadvantage compared to the many who do attend.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS With the help of a colleague and her students, we gathered a group of 18 students of which most had no prior teachings of English Phonics and who were the lowest in English comprehension amongst their peers. These students ranged from 8 to 19 years old. A pre-test was administered at the beginning of the 5 day course to see where they stood with their level of English in reading, listening, and writing. The course consisted of five 40 minutes phonics classes. In these sessions, they learned to identify the entire English alphabet through phonics. After learning phonics, they were again given the same pre-test as their post-test to evaluate any improvements from the students. The goal was to see an increase of overall English comprehension by just teaching basic phonics and to emphasize the importance of teaching phonics. There was no likelihood that the students did better from the pre to post due to memorization of questions from the pre-test for they are very young and also the questions were in a foreign language, which makes memorization more difficult.

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DISCUSSION I had collected data for this project through a five day course on phonics, a pre and posttest, and a student survey. We sent out a total of 40 permission slips to the students chosen to take the course, but only received 18 back signed by their guardians. I assume that the others that I did not receive were due to student neglect, their disinterest, or their guardians choice not to enrol them. To answer the question of how a five day course on phonics would affect students writing, listening, reading, and comprehension, overall findings suggest that a five day course in phonics is not enough to really improve grades and English skill levels. It seemed that this was not enough time for the students to actually obtain the proper knowledge to understand and fully use the phonics skills.

LIMITATIONS Even though the study is reliable, there were some limitations. The students are very young, and at that age, its very difficult to participate fully with 100 percent participation. There were lots of distractions from peer students and just class behaviour caused disturbances in class. Some students did not attend class after one or two classes, and one was taken out of class on the last day due to other matters. Also, a few of the students did not take the survey very seriously, causing an issue with a few of the questions, affecting the average data.

CONCLUSION The purpose of this research was to see whether the study of phonics would benefit students with learning English, especially ESL students in Malaysia. From the data collected, the research shows that the effects of phonics were positive for the students. On paper, the data shows that the phonics course really didnt have an effect on the students. They started out with F grades and ended with F grades. However, if you read between the lines, you can see that

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the phonics course actually had a beneficial affect on the student. Their attitude towards English, their confidence, and their efforts all increased. With more time, there might have been change in their written grades as well. Perhaps in the future, there will be more research in this field to help change the curriculums in Malaysia to include phonics in elementary school English.

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REFERENCES

Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Carbo, M. (1996). Whole language vs Phonics: The Great Debate. Principal (Reston, Va.) v75 p36-8. Waldo, K. (n.d.). Teaching Young Children How to Read: Phonics vs. Whole Language. Ball, E., & Blachman, B. (1988) Phonological segmentation training: Effects on reading readiness. Annals of Dyslexia, 38. Liaw, M. L. (2003). Integrating Phonics Instruction and Whole Language Principles in an Elementary School EFL Classroom. English Teaching & Learning, 27.3,