UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, GHANA

USING SYNTHETIC PHONICS TO IMPROVE THE SOUND

DISCRIMINATION AND READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF

BASIC SIX PUPILS AT SANKANA E/A PRIMARY SCHOOL

KUUBURO AGNES
 2023

UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, GHANA

USING SYNTHETIC PHONICS TO IMPROVE THE SOUND

DISCRIMINATION AND READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF

BASIC SIX PUPILS AT SANKANA E/A PRIMARY ‘B’ SCHOOL

BY

KUUBURO AGNES

ID. 22029547

A PROJECT WORK SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, FACULTY OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY

FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF POST DIPLOMA DEGREE

NOVEMBER, 2023

DECLARATION
Candidates’ declaration

I hereby declare that this project work is the result of my own original Research

and that no part of it has been presented for another Degree in this College or

elsewhere.

Name:………………………………………….......................

Signature:…………………………………………………….

Date:…………………………………………………………

Supervisor’s Declaration

I hereby declare that the preparation and presentation of this project work was

supervised in accordance with the guidelines on Supervision of project work laid

down by University for Development Studies.

Name:…………………………………………......................

Signature:…………………………………………………….

Date:…………………………………………………………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Almighty God for His protection and

guidance. My sincere appreciation goes to Mr. Domanko Dassah James, my

supervisor, for his encouragement and for taking time out of his busy schedule to

go through my work and offer suggestions, correct my mistakes, and ensure its

quality.

It is my wish to show my appreciation also to the head teacher, assistant head

teacher, staff, pupils of Sankana E/A Primary School, and the respondents for their

unwavering support and cooperation. I again wish to appreciate the authors of the

various books I duly consulted in my study to make my work scholarly. May

Almighty God bless you all.

DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my parents

ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine the causes of the inability of Basic Six

pupils’ to discriminate between the sounds of the letters of the English alphabet and

answer reading comprehension questions correctly. The purposive sampling

technique was used to sample the twenty pupils for the study. The researcher used a

combination of observation and teacher-made tests as instruments for the data

collection exercise. The data gathered were analyzed using frequencies,

percentages, means, and ranges. The findings revealed that the use of synthetic

phonics is an effective intervention to aid the pupils in discriminating between the

sounds of the letters of the English alphabet and answering reading comprehension

questions correctly. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that

the head teacher of the school organize school-based in-service training for the

teachers on the use of the synthetic phonics approach to enable the teachers of

English to become conversant with the skills of using the approach to teach

effectively.

Keywords: synthetic phonics, sound discrimination, reading comprehension,

CHAPTER ONE
 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Overview

This chapter concentrates on background of the study, pre-intervention,

statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research

questions, and significance of the study, delimitations, limitations and organization

of the study.

1.1 Background of the Study

The learning of reading starts with the mastery of the letters of the alphabet of the

language as well as the skills required for learning reading. Reading is a process of

thinking actively in order to unlock or understand the idea an author portrays

(Shihab, 2011). It involves connecting an author’s idea to what one already knows

and appropriately coordinating all the ideas for usage. Interpreting, connecting, and

organizing both the author's and reader’s ideas requires skills and ability on the part

of the reader. Reading, therefore, could be defined as a receptive skill that involves

the ability to interpret or decode printed symbols.

According to Akubuilo, Okorie, Onwuka, and Uloh-Bethels (2015), reading is the

active thinking process of understanding an author’s ideas, connecting those ideas

to what the reader already knows, and organizing all the ideas so that the reader can

remember and use them. Studies in reading indicated that reading was an efficient

way for language learners to become good readers develop better writing styles

and improve vocabulary and grammar mastery, which is also the only way to

become good spellers (Cho & Krashen, 2019). Thus, teaching reading is essential

and needs to be directly taught in the classroom. For Ghanaian primary school
pupils, who are mostly beginners, learning how to read English texts accurately

will help them learn good pronunciation and develop vocabulary. These two basic

language skills will help their later stages of learning, as prior studies have claimed

that young learners need to be explicitly taught rules about how words are written

and spelled before working on text comprehension (Torgerson, Brooks, & Hall,

2006, 2018).

From a psycholinguistic point of view, reading is not primarily a visual process.

There are two kinds of information involved in reading. First is the visual

information, that is, the one that comes from the printed page. The second is non-

visual information, that is, information that comes from the brain of the reader

(Ngabut, 2015). Visual information can be seen in a text or any form of writing,

while non-verbal information is what the reader already knows about reading, about

language, and about the world in general (Smith, as cited by Ngabut, 2015). This

means that being able to see sentences in front of your eyes is not enough. One

must know something about the language in which the material is written, about its

subject matter, and about reading itself.

According to UNICEF (2012), reading readiness is the process of preparing a child

for reading, encouraging the child to read, and engaging that child in reading.

Reading readiness is a state of development that prepares the child mentally,

physically, socially, and emotionally for reading experiences. Notwithstanding the

chronological age of the child, the point at which the child’s growth and

development commences from that particular time when a child transforms from

being a non-reader to a reader. This can be a tough transition but is very rewarding
because not only are children very proud of themselves as they learn to read, but

children who learn to read well are better learners throughout their school years

(Akubuilo et al., 2015).

Reading readiness is influenced by a group of interrelated factors that are broadly

classified as physical, mental, and social-emotional readiness. According to the

National Open University of Nigeria [NOUN] (2013), physical readiness entails

that the child possesses functional speech organs, is able to hear and see, and

demonstrates evidence of word recognition and perception. Mental readiness has to

do with the child’s intellectual ability for word recognition, pronunciation of

sounds, and accurate pronunciation of words. Also, reading connotes the child’s

ability to demonstrate oral capabilities (listening and speaking), auditory and visual

discrimination, speaking in complete sentences, recitation of rhymes and short

poems, listening to and telling short stories, as well as using a variety of vocabulary

items in oral communication and engaging in simple dialogues or conversations,

amongst others. Socio-emotional readiness requires that the child be emotionally

stable and psychologically balanced to accommodate the tasks of reading. Apart

from showing good emotional adjustment, there must be traces of the child

demonstrating keen interest and desire to read, as well as satisfactory

demonstrations of socialization traits. These factors can only be feasible with a

child whose mind is healthy and sound for learning.

The researchers have observed over a period of time that Basic Six pupils at

Sankana E/A Primary School demonstrate poor reading and comprehension skills

during English lessons. The pupils appear not to be emotionally stable and
psychologically balanced to accommodate reading tasks and thus shy away from

reading simple passages in their English readers. A cursory glance through the

pupils’ class exercise books showed that the pupils scored very low marks in

English reading comprehension exercises.

According to Akubuilo et al. (2015), some of the major causes of reading

deficiency in children include the child’s socio-economic background, physical

abnormalities, mental and psychological imbalances, the child's interest, familiarity

with symbols, and teachers’ ability to help children learn. The child’s social-

economic background is a very important factor to be reckoned with in the learning

process. Hence, it is a factor to be considered in getting children ready for reading,

which is not just a matter of sounds but rather a matter of rapidly and accurately

getting the meaning of printed words on pages. One of the factors embedded in the

social-economic background of the child is an unhappy home condition. This is a

leading cause of reading readiness deficiencies among children. Unhappy home

conditions include the loss of one or both parents, maladjustment, or conflict in the

home. These have a series of adverse effects on children’s reading. For children to

make progress in reading, they require an atmosphere of affection and security. In

such a situation, teachers have to do something to help the children in the class. It

could be in the form of advice, talking to the parents, referring the child to the

school counselor, or giving the child extra attention.

1.1.2 Pre-Intervention for Discrimination of Sound

A pre-test was conducted to diagnose the level of the pupil’s ability to blend five

and six letters to form a word. The test was written on the board, and pupils were

asked to provide the answers on a sheet of paper. The letters of the alphabet were

written on the board in lower case, and pupils were instructed to pick any five or

six of the letters to form a word. The pupils were given thirty minutes to form any

ten (10) words. After writing the questions on the board for the pupils, they were

monitored to avoid copying. When the allocated time was due, the answer sheets

were collected from the pupils.

After marking it, it was realized that most of them performed below average, and

this revealed that the pupils were unable to blend five and six letters to form a

word.

Table 1 presents the performance of the Basic Six pupils of Nadowli R/C ‘B’

Primary School in sound discrimination activities before the intervention.

Table 1: Pupils’ Pre-Intervention Scores on Discrimination of Sound

 Marks Frequency Percentage

10 0 0

9 0 0

8 1 5

7 2 10

6 3 15

5 6 30

4 3 15

3 2 10

2 2 10

1 1 5

Total 20 100

Source: fieldwork 2023

From Table 1, one, representing five percent of the pupils, scored one mark in the

pre-test; two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored two marks in the pre-

test; two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored three marks; and three,

representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored four marks. Also, from Table 1,

six, representing thirty percent of the pupils, scored five marks; three, representing

fifteen percent of the pupils, scored six marks; two, representing seven percent of

the pupils, scored seven marks; and the remaining one, representing five percent of

the pupils, scored eight marks.

1.1.3 Pre-Intervention for Reading Comprehension

A pre-test was conducted to diagnose the level of the pupil’s ability in reading

comprehension. A short passage was selected from the pupils textbook, and the

teacher asked the pupils to read it aloud after the teacher had read it to the class two

times. This was done to test the pupils’ reading abilities. After the passage, there

were questions, which the pupils were allowed to answer. This was also done to see

if the pupils were able to comprehend the passage they read. After marking it, it

was realized that most of them performed below average, and this revealed that the

pupils were unable to answer the questions by writing simple words or sentences.

Table 2 presents the performance of the Basic Six pupils of Nadowli R/C ‘B’

Primary School for answering reading comprehension questions before the

intervention

Table 2: Pupils’ Pre-Intervention Scores on Reading Comprehension

Marks Frequency Percentage

10 0 0

9 0 0

8 0 0

7 1 5

6 3 15

5 2 10

4 6 30

3 3 15

2 2 10

1 3 15

Total 20 100

Source: fieldwork 2023

From Table 2, three, representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored one mark in

the pre-test; two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored two marks in the

pre-test; three, representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored three marks; and

six, representing thirty percent of the pupils, scored four marks. Also, from Table 2,

two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored five marks; three, representing

fifteen percent of the students, scored six marks; and the remaining one,

representing five percent of the students, scored seven marks. Thus, from Table 2,

the pupils’ pre-test scores on answering reading comprehension questions had a

mean score of 3.7 marks and a range of seven marks.

To avert this, it is crucial to determine the reading difficulty of the comprehension

passages we provide for our learners, especially at the primary school level. Hence

the urgent need for this study to help find immediate solutions to the reading

problems of the Basic Six pupils at Sankana E/A Primary Schools with different

backgrounds.

1.2 Description of the Study Area

The Sankana E/A Primary School is located in the central business district of

Nadowli town. The school shares the boundary with the Nadowli R/C ‘A’ and

Nadowli D/A JHS in the Nadowli Circuit of the Nadowli/Kaleo District of the

Upper West of Ghana. The school has a student population of 170, of which girls

are 100 and boys are 70. Though the school is a Catholic school, the Catholic pupil

population represents only 80% of the entire pupil population, according to the

school enrollment for the 2021–2022 academic year (2022). The Nadowli

community where the school study was carried out is made up of mainly Dagaabas.
The community is dominated by Christians. Nadowli is the capital town of the

Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region. The district is made up of

several communities like Kalsegra, Da, Dapuori, Dapopare, Dapuo, Ganvuo,

Kpangyaa, and Mowaari. The main occupation of the people is petty trading and

farming. About seventy-five percent (75%) of the people are literate. However, the

people have an interest in education; hence, almost all children of school-going age

are sent to school within the length and breadth of the district.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Despite the significance of reading as a cornerstone for success at school and

throughout life, pupils at Sankana E/A Primary School revealed through informal

interactions with the language teachers and through informal classroom

observations that they have difficulties in reading basic literacy; they lack the

ability to read and understand the meanings of texts; they have relative difficulty

with phoneme awareness and other phonological skills employed in reading. These

teachers believed that the problem of the pupils’ poor reading was prevalent in

many other subject areas. It was also observed that pupils found it difficult to

recognize and pronounce key words in simple passages in their English reading

books. In addition, they could not discriminate between the sounds of the English

alphabet. Hence, the majority of the pupils could not read fluently. The time

children use to read their books, learn, and do the assignments given to them in

school is spent in Internet cafes, watching TV and films, and playing video and

computer games, all to the detriment of recreational reading. Majid and Tan (2007)

they also have little support from their homes in terms of learning to speak and
write English. Based on this observation, the researchers decided to use synthetic

phonics as an intervention to help the Basic Six pupils of Sankana E/A Primary ‘B’

School discriminate between the sounds of the letters of the English alphabet and

answer reading comprehension questions correctly.

1.4 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the use of the

synthetic phonics method improves the reading skills of primary six pupils at

Sankana E/A Primary ‘B’ School.

Also to investigate the challenges related to the use of the synthetic phonics method

in teaching reading.

To determine the effect of using synthetic phonics on Basic Six pupils’ ability to

discriminate between the sounds of the letters of the English alphabet at Sankana

E/A Primary ‘B’ School.

Finally, to find out the effect of using synthetic phonics on Basic Six pupils’ ability

to answer reading comprehension questions correctly at Sankana E/A Primary "B"

School.

1.5 Research Questions

The study was guided by the following research questions:

1. What are the causes of pupils’ inability to discriminate between the sounds

of the letters of the English alphabet at Sankana E/A Primary "B" School?
 2. How could synthetic phonic strategies be used to improve pupils' ability to

discriminate between the sounds of the letters of the English alphabet and

their ability to answer reading comprehension questions correctly?

3. What are the steps and aspects of the phonic method that are relevant for

teaching reading and comprehension skills?

1.6 Significance of the Study

The outcome of this study will go a long way toward helping solve the problem of

the Basic Six pupil’s difficulty in reading and comprehending their English text

book passages, and this will enable them to progress steadily in their academic

ladder.

The study would focus on the six basic pupils who had serious difficulties in

reading and comprehension. This would help enhance the pupils learning

capabilities in other subject areas like science, mathematics, social studies, and so

on. The result of this study will be useful in the school and other schools for

teachers, pupils, future researchers, non-governmental organizations, the Ghana

Education Office, and other workers in the field of education. In Ghana, this study

will contribute to the existing literature and enrich the field of academia.

1.7 Delimitations

The research study concentrated mainly on reading instead of any other aspect of

the English language. The research was undertaken in Sankana E/A Primary ‘B’

School Basic Six. It should have covered the entire basic six pupils, but it was
limited to some pupils in the class who lacked the ability to read under the subject

of English.

1.8 Limitation

Throughout the research, there were a lot of setbacks, which made the work of the

researcher difficult. One of the problems that limited this project was that the

researcher did not have much time to carry out a comprehensive study on the

problem since she had to combine teaching practice with the research work.

Secondly, some pupils were not regulars in school for the researcher to determine

the validity of the result. This made the work very difficult for the researcher.

Finally, the researcher faced the problem of financial constraints since she had to

visit the internet frequently to obtain information that would benefit her work.

1.9 Organization of the Study

The study is organized into five chapters as follows: chapter one includes the

introduction or overview of the chapter, background, pre-intervention, statement of

the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research question,

significance of the study, and organization of the study. The second chapter looks

at the review of relevant literature as follows: an introduction to the chapter, a

conceptual analysis of the synthetic phonic method of teaching reading and

comprehension skills, the schema reading theory, aspects of the problem under

investigation, factors that contribute to the difficulties pupils encounter in reading

and comprehension, effective use of the synthetic phonic method in teaching

reading and comprehension skills, and steps to follow when using the synthetic

phonic method in teaching reading and comprehension skills. Chapter three is

methodology, which starts with research design, population of the study, sample

and sampling techniques, data collection instruments, data collection procedures,

data analysis and presentation, data quality and ethical issues, intervention, post-

test results, pre-observation results, and post-observation results. Chapter four

includes an introduction, summary, conclusion, recommendation, and chapter

summary.
 CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.0 Overview

This chapter would cover the review includes the theoretical frame work

relevant literature to this study, aspect of the problem under investigation and this

would also deal with the research questions in detail. The literature was reviewed under

the following headings:

 Theoretical frame work

 Conceptual Framework

 causes of reading difficulties

 Synthetic phonic strategies to be used to improve discrimination between

the sounds of the letters of the English alphabet and the ability to read

correctly

 Steps and aspects of the phonic method that are relevant for teaching

reading and comprehension skills

2.1 Theoretical Framework

The backdrop for this study is provided by the Early English Language

Development (E-ELD) Standards, which were established in Early English

Language Development (E-ELD) supports Vygotsky's cognitive development and

language theory, which contends that children's growth can be influenced by

effectively mediated instruction and that language and cognitive development are

socially produced (Nalisa, Chataa, & Maemeka, 2019). Understanding the

historical, social, and cultural contexts in which Vygotsky's theory is used is the

key to understanding it. According to the paradigm for early second language
acquisition, children can only use their native tongue at the very beginning of

learning a second language. In reality, kids will use their native speech before they

can mentally translate what they hear into another language. It is crucial to keep in

mind that learning a second language relies heavily on having a command of the

first language (English). According to research, bilingual children continually

negotiate and construct meaning in their original tongue while they learn English

(Nalisa et al., 2019).

2.2 Conceptual Framework

Since reading plays an important role for basic school pupils, it is necessary for

them to have the ability to comprehend some kinds of reading texts. The pupils are

expected to be able to communicate with the texts as they are expected to gain

knowledge and grasp the information from the texts. However, the pupils of the

Basic Six of Nadowli R/C ‘B’ found it difficulties in comprehending texts. The

problem arose since the use of monotonous techniques in teaching and learning

reading in the classroom could not boost pupils’ ability to read comprehension.

‘The Synthetic Phonic of Reading’ was adopted by the government in 2007

and now underpins the English National Curriculum’s programs of study for

reading in schools. Even though reading, the ability to decode the word and extract

the correct meaning of the words, is a complex set of skills, ‘the Synthetic Phonic

of Reading’ conceptual framework (Stuart et al. 2008) reduces it down to two key

components:

 Word recognition is the ability to decode unknown words and recognize

printed words.
  Language comprehension is the ability to understand spoken words and use

this process to understand written text.

Reading comprehension = decoding x linguistic comprehension

So in theory, a child’s reading comprehension ability can be predicted by looking at

their decoding and linguistic (spoken language) comprehension abilities (Johnston &

Watson, 2007). When using ‘the Synthetic Phonic of Reading’ as the basis for teaching

reading, it becomes clearer as to why:

 A high-quality phonics scheme is required, which the Rose Report (2006)

explains "is not a "strategy" so much as a body of knowledge, skills, and

understanding that has to be learned." (page 20) This teaches children how

to decode.

 A language-rich environment to develop and encourage linguistic

comprehension is vital.

2.3 Synthetic phonics: What is it?

In the teaching strategy known as synthetic phonics, words are divided up into their

smallest constituent sounds (phonemes). Youngsters learn to build links between

the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written texts (graphemes, or letter

symbols). (Price-Mohr & Price, 2018)

Johnson and Watson (2005) defined synthetic phonics as

 Synthetic phonics involves teaching letter-sound correspondence quickly

and methodically. It also serves as a model for how the alphabetic code

works by teaching students to sound out and blend words throughout for

reading and segment individual sounds throughout for spelling. Letters are
 taught in all positions of the words, but the focus is on blending and

segmenting words throughout, starting with weak ones.

 Phonemic awareness and the accompanying letter forms are both developed

through synthetic phonics.

 Synthetic phonics starts by teaching phonics at the level of the individual

phoneme.

The transparent alphabet is taught in synthetic phonics before moving on to the

opaque alphabet. In other words, children learn simple, effective procedures before

learning the complexities and differences in pronunciation and spelling of the entire

alphabet.

 After a comprehensive introduction to the transparent alphabet code,

synthetic phonics presents irregular words and stickier terms gradually and

methodically.

 Synthetic phonics places a strong emphasis on hearing the sounds

throughout the entire word when spelling rather than looking, covering,

writing, or checking.

Although a phonics technique is usually emphasized in spelling generally, this

letter-visual form of spelling plays a larger part in odd spelling and spelling variety

(Johnson & Watson, 2005).

But the synthetic phonics approach is what has attracted the most interest. Learning

English language sounds is part of synthetic phonics. There are roughly forty-two

(42) primary sounds in the English language. Children are well on their way to

comprehending the nature of the English language once they learn to recognize
these sounds in words and represent them with letter symbols. By combining

sounds to form words, children are taught how to use their sound knowledge

(DiMauro & Musgrave, 2005).

It's vital to remember that synthetic phonics involves learning the English

language's letter sounds, not only the names of the alphabet's letters. For instance,

the word "rain" (/r-ei-n/) includes four letters but only three distinct sounds.

Children should focus on listening for the word's three sequential sounds when

reading and writing it. Reading and writing can happen relatively naturally once

kids understand how to hear the sounds in words and can express these sounds with

symbols. Teachers must think about sounds and educate kids to hear them in order

for phonics training to be effective. An excellent phonics program teaches kids

more than just the alphabet's twenty-six (26) letter sounds.

Di Mauro and Musgrave (2005) assert that an effective phonics program

demonstrates how words are constructed from a combination of the forty-two (42)

principal sounds. A good phonics curriculum also considers how these sounds can

be used to segment words in the order of their sounds to write words (b-a-g- for b-

g) and to read words by blending their sounds together (c-a-t for k-t). Instead of

asking kids to learn thousands of words by heart, the use of phonics in education

emphasizes word attack abilities. In the opinion of phonics-based teachers, learning

forty-two (42) sounds rather than thousands of words by sight is considerably

quicker and simpler.

2.4 Causes of Reading Difficulties

During reading, pupils continually process words to create meaning, and without a

strong vocabulary base, they will struggle to understand what they have read.

According to Akubuilo et al. (2015), some of the major causes of reading

deficiency in children include the child’s socio-economic background, physical

abnormalities, mental and psychological imbalances, the child's interest, familiarity

with symbols, and teachers’ ability to help children learn. The child’s social-

economic background is a very important factor to be reckoned with in the learning

process. Hence, it is a factor to be considered in getting children ready for reading,

which is not just a matter of sounds but rather a matter of rapidly and accurately

getting the meaning of printed words on pages. One of the factors embedded in the

social-economic background of the child is an unhappy home condition. This is a

leading cause of reading readiness deficiencies among children. Unhappy home

conditions include one or both parents’ maladjustment or conflict in the home.

These have a series of adverse effects on children’s reading. For children to make

progress in reading, they require an atmosphere of affection and security. In such a

situation, teachers have to do something to help the children in the class. It could be

in the form of advice, talking to the parents, referring the child to the school

counselor, and also giving the child extra attention.

2.4.1 School and teacher contributing factors

low reading abilities Adebayo (2008), Botha, Bizos, Gains, Moris, Place, and

Puwani (2008), and Lindner (2008) point out that many teachers have an

underdeveloped understanding of teaching literacy and also have a negative attitude

towards teaching pupils reading strategies. Botha et al. (2008) claim the

employment of unqualified language teachers has had a negative impact on the

quality of teaching and learning how to read. Njie (2013), Lucas (2011), and

Harrington (2001) also lament that most pupils have poor literacy skills as a result

of teachers incompetency and the poor teaching methodology they use to teach

reading in class. It has also been highlighted by Harrington (2001) that the most

significant factor in a student’s learning is the quality of the teacher. Some

researchers have made suggestions to help remedy the low reading abilities of

pupils; for example, Cekiso (2012) suggests that English language teachers should

provide pupils with reading strategy instruction that helps them become strategic

readers. While Adebayo (2008) claims that good methods of teaching employed by

teachers can enhance pupils reading abilities, Adebayo (2008), Aduwa-Ogiegbaen

(2006), and Iyamu (2006) explain that the teaching of reading competency is

bedeviled with many problems, such as inadequate periods of teaching and a lack

of adequate and useful resources in schools. Lucas (2011) and Rany (2013) also

note that pupils may have low reading abilities due to school heads not availing the

necessary course books for practice reading, a lack of an appropriate curriculum to

help improve pupils reading abilities, and classroom environments that are crowded

and noisy for an appropriate teaching pedagogy to be fulfilled.

2.4.2 Individual pupil factors contributing to low reading abilities

The challenges teachers may face in teaching reading strategies to pupils may

include pupils’ lack of foundation in reading (Lucas, 2011; Rany, 2013). Pupils’

inability to hear or produce a new sound in a second language has also been noted
by Robertson (2009) as one of the challenges that teachers may face in teaching

reading strategies in class. Sanford (2015) and Robertson (2009) highlight that one

key factor that impedes pupils’ reading ability is their inability to process the

individual sounds of letters which is needed for word recognition; while Rany

(2013) claims the limitations of pupils’ vocabulary proficiency impedes their

reading ability as well as a challenge to teachers when teaching reading strategies

to pupils. Sanford (2015) and Davenport (2002) point out that underdeveloped

Phonemic awareness and phonics skills do interfere with pupils’ ability to read

words fluently because reading is a technical process of reading letter by letter and

word by word. This is why Swanson et al. (2009) assert that weak phonological

retention processing results in poor reading abilities in pupils. Blending sounds

within words (retaining phonological information) is essential for learning to read

(Swanson et al., 2009). Joseph (2018) also adds that pupils who become poor

readers experience difficulties with accurately identifying and reading words at

lower grades. The National Reading Panel (2000) concludes that the number one

reason why pupils have low reading ability is their inability to master phonics (their

inability to blend sounds together, to decode words, and to break spoken words into

their basic sounds). Poor working memory is another factor that would contribute

to pupils’ low reading abilities. For instance, a larger number of scholars (Alloway

et al., 2009; Swanson et al., 2009; Sanford, 2015) all claim that working memory

allows a pupil to temporarily store information in short-term memory while being

engaged in cognitive tasks. Thus, working memory helps pupils activate prior

knowledge about a topic while reading or using context clues to determine the
meaning of a word (Alloway et al., 2009; Swanson et al., 2009). Alloway et al.

(2009) and Swanson et al. (2009) assert that pupils with disabilities are known to

have low working memory capacities. Njie (2013) and Rany (2013) also assert that

most pupils have low reading abilities as a result of a lack of effective learning

strategies and their unwillingness and lack of motivation to learn how to read.

McRae and Guthrie (2009) propose that the best type of motivation to stimulate

reading in pupils is internal motivation (intrinsic motivation), where pupils’ own

interest in reading is what makes them want to read. With intrinsic motivation,

pupils become competent and highly achieving readers (McRae and Guthrie, 2009).

A pupil with a reading problem shows difficulties in reading skills that are

unexpected according to age, cognitive ability, intervention, and the quality and

quantity of instruction. The problem is not a result of developmental delay or

sensory impairment. It may be described by difficulties in single word reading,

sounding out words or letters, reading sight words, comprehension, or inadequate

phonological processing. For instance, they cannot understand that sentences

consist of words; words are comprised of syllables, which are also made up of

single sounds or phonemes. The processing problem can also be seen in spelling

and writing, which are usually common with reading problems. For pupils with this

problem, the difficulty will exist despite being combated. However, these pupils'

reading ability may improve, though it continues to be characterized by a slower

reading rate (Isaacs, 2012).

2.5 Teaching reading using the synthetic phonics method

The synthetic phonics teaching approach is incredibly effective overall because it

not only teaches kids how to pronounce words but also how to pronounce new

words as well. This method helps children associate sounds with specific letters and

letter combinations. So, children who have learned how to read by using the

phonics teaching method will know how to pronounce words they have never

learned before. This is because they know how to pronounce the combinations of

letters that are present within new words. This learning method is much more

effective than other learning methods that are available to teach children because it

is a very simple and straight-forward method in the eyes of a child. Due to the

effectiveness of this method, many government organizations around the world are

recommending the use of phonics in their schools. There have been many scientific

publications and studies that openly promote the use of the phonics learning

method. The recommendations have been issued after many scientific studies

presented evidence that children learn how to read much more efficiently when

using phonics methods (Reutzel & Cooter, 2005).

The goal of synthetic phonics instruction is to teach children each individual letter

sound and have them attempt to pronounce each letter or group of letters (such as th

and sh) individually before attempting to combine those attempts back into word

pronunciations. (Clark, 2015). Teachers must comprehend the techniques used by

proficient readers in order to determine the most effective strategy to teach young

students to read. Earlier research described the use of phonological recoding to

create meaning in the recognition and pronunciation of written words by proficient

readers. This procedure needs to be the cornerstone of teaching young pupils how

to read and how to build their reading abilities (Stuart, 2006).

A substantial amount of research has also shown that every pupil who is learning to

read must receive great training in phonological awareness, phonemic awareness,

vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency (Ehri, 2005b; Rose, 2006; Ehri, 2020). As

a result, the teaching of reading to learners using the phonics.

The principle is regarded as the first stage in teaching reading. Pupils learn the

alphabet code directly, methodically, and discretely through the use of synthetic

phonics.

The synthetic phonics teaching method is also touted as one of the best teaching

methods available to parents and teachers who are teaching children how to read.

This is because it teaches children the meaning of words and the correct

pronunciation of words. As kids learn how to pronounce specific letters and letter

combinations as well as whole words, they also learn how to associate those letter

combinations with corresponding objects that exist in the real world. While using

this learning method, many teachers also rely on it because it helps readers of all

ages. Whether one is teaching a child how to read, for the first time or attempting to

teach, a child how to pronounce and read difficult words, found in advanced

reading levels, the phonics teaching method can assist children during the learning

process (Reutzel & Cooter, 2005). Since there are a few techniques that can help

kids learn how to read as quickly as the synthetic phonics teaching method, one

should certainly be using this method to teach children. As soon as one begins
using this teaching method, the children will also begin to associate words with

their corresponding meanings.

The link between the phonemes (the smallest audible sounds in spoken words) and

the graphemes, known as the alphabet code, is reversible (spellings). Hence, the

introduction of the 26 alphabet letter names and sounds marks the beginning of

synthetic phonics (letter-sound association). The next step is teaching students how

to sound out words by connecting a spoken sound with a letter or pair of letters

(McGuinness, 2004). Children continuously blend and sound out words using a

method known as decodable words, which needs to be explicitly taught (Ehri,

2020).

Pupils benefit from practicing fundamental phonetic rules in small groups to

accurately pronounce words. Certain words, meanwhile, must be learned because

they don't follow the standard phonics rules. These words are known as tricky ones

in systematic phonics, and tricky ones are read using the whole-word method (Ehri,

2005a). Most English words cannot be spoken using the phonics methods that are

frequently taught. As a result, phonics (letter-sound relationships) and word reading

(sight words) are used simultaneously when teaching reading based on codes, and

this approach is known as systematic phonics instruction or synthetic phonics (Ehri,

2020).

Phonics proponents assert that children will comprehend the meaning after

successfully decoding the text in relation to making sense of the text

(comprehension). Pupils who adhere to the letter and decoding instructions will

understand that most words can be figured out and that there are codes to reading
(Fletcher-Flinn & Thompson, 2010; Torgerson et al., 2018). Another study

suggested that effective phonics instruction speeds up pupils' phonological

awareness and encourages their lexical rearrangement abilities, allowing them to

concentrate on text comprehension (Wang, 2019). The final step in reading comes

after systematic phonics instruction and the studies mentioned above. The next step

in reading teaching should involve connecting letter-sound connections and word

reading to the greater scale of reading written data in broader contexts after

systematic phonics instruction and the studies mentioned above. As was done in

this experimental study, this reading task can be completed by reading a book.

2.6 Steps and aspects of the synthetic phonic method that are relevant for

teaching reading and comprehension skills

As a teacher reads a storybook to the class, they can engage with the pupils and

help them focus on the text, the illustrations, and the plot. When phonics is used in

conjunction with interesting and meaningful reading, it is thought to be more

effective. Because decoding was integrated into the context in which the abilities

were continuously employed, storybook-based phonics instruction was created to

support phonic knowledge during reading. This encouraged the generalization of

learned knowledge.

The goal of incorporating phonics into narrative reading was to improve pupils'

comprehension by fostering their ability to read words in related literature (Brady,

2011). Pupils require numerous opportunities to independently practice and apply

methods in high-success reading environments in order to become competent

readers (Allington & Baker, 2007).

The best picture books for children under the age of twelve are those that cover

interesting subjects for young readers while taking into account their developmental

requirements. Storybooks that depict moral ideas like friendship, bravery, loyalty,

happiness, grief, exclusion, and courage, for instance, may encourage young

readers to draw links between those ideas and their own lives. The Oxford phonics

reading series, which met the aforementioned requirement, was used in this study.

It was thought that using literature written in native English would help students

learn about English ethics and culture.

To improve their comprehension, pupils may compare what they study to people in

their environment. In order to teach synthetic phonics, teachers must create lesson

plans and materials that address explicit and small-group instructions, followed by

lengthy knowledge and skill drills. Following a thorough explanation of the skill

being taught, teachers should demonstrate the activity they want pupils to imitate.

Until they are proficient, pupils should practice the skill under the teacher’s

guidance. Pupils can gradually practice the skill in groups or alone as their mastery

advances (Ehri, 2020). The teacher should encourage automatic performance from

the pupils in a longer text or book reading to gauge the extent to which they can use

their existing phonics skills in their reading (Fletcher-Flinn & Thompson, 2010).

Although pupils are still learning how to read words and pronounce the letters, they

can start reading books. As a result, even as they are still learning to read, the

pupils can practically start exploring books.

Teaching Reading in Ghanaian Schools and Phonics Education The English

curriculum in Ghana's educational system focuses on four language skills, with

reading being one of them. As a result, reading is a constant component of English

classroom training (Alwasilah, 2013). The two primary streams in the sense of

reading's approaches to teaching reading in English are the code-emphasis

approach, which emphasizes deciphering the alphabetic code, and the meaning-

emphasis approach, which emphasizes meaningful units (Weaver, 2009; William et

al., 2009). Reading instruction in Ghana's EFL classroom places more of an

emphasis on developing comprehension abilities than on teaching pupils to

correctly sound out English words (Cahyono, 2006; Muhassin et al., 2021).

Additional exercises targeting vocabulary mastery and comprehension skills were

created (Nurkamto et al., 2021).

Teaching phonics and reading in Ghanaian schools Instruction Prospective

and useful techniques, such as the fix-up technique (Muhassin et al., 2021), and

useful tools include the think-aloud method (Pradana, 2017), the fix-up strategy

(Muhassin et al., 2021), and frequently used techniques for evaluating, organizing,

visualizing, and summarizing (Kissau & Hiller, 2013). Yet, those evidence-based

strategies, such as teaching pronunciation in reading instructions, had not yet been

taken into account.

Even though they technically practice word reading, the reading aloud techniques

recommended by earlier studies (Pradana, 2017; Ledger & Merga, 2018)

nonetheless emphasized comprehension abilities (reading aloud). This approach

may be appropriate for older pupils or individuals who have mastered L1 reading

and have worked to improve their reading comprehension. Yet, reading aloud can

be linked to the opportunity to learn appropriate pronunciation, which would be

advantageous for pupils given that young learners tend to pick up on foreign sounds

and words more quickly than adult learners (Kuhl, 2004, 2010, 2011). As a result,

by adopting and adapting the current practices of English teaching reading, this

study attempted to address the needs of those young pupils to enhance their reading

skills, focusing on both pronunciation and comprehension skills.

Additionally, readers can comprehend texts when they use sophisticated abilities

related to vocabulary knowledge, word awareness, and fluency (Brady, 2011),

which practically incorporate both approaches that place emphasis on codes and

those that place emphasis on meaning. In developing, precise pronunciation when

learning a new language is essential for effective communication techniques.

However, a previous study indicated that pronunciation is thought to be the most

difficult aspect of teaching English in Indonesia (Moedjito, 2016). The report went

on to say that the absence of suitable teaching and classroom time that should be set

aside specifically for pronunciation instruction was the main cause of difficulty.

The study’s participants then stated that it is crucial to teach pronunciation,

beginning with ways for deciphering codes, in order to learn appropriate English

speaking. By integrating phonics education at the primary school level, where the

pupils are just beginning to learn to read, this study has attempted to fill this

demand. The participating school was a bilingual establishment where Dagaare was

taught alongside English as a second language.

 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0 Overview

The chapter contains research design, population and sample, sampling technique,

data collection instrument, data collection procedures, and methods of data

analysis. A descriptive survey design was used to gather the data for the study.

3.1 Research Design

The research design employed for this study was action research. A research design

outlines how the research study will be carried out (Jayanta and Priyanka, 2015).

Action research deals with immediate solutions to classroom problems. This action

research involves the participation of both the researcher and the pupils in order to

find a solution to the pupils' inability to use sound discrimination skills and answer

reading comprehension questions correctly. Action research also serves as a tool for

weighing pupil performance. The design was employed specifically to help the

Basic Eight students of Nadowli R/C ‘B’ Primary School improve upon their sound

discrimination skills and answer reading comprehension questions correctly.

3.2 Population of the Study

The population of this study includes all pupils in Basic Six of Nadowli R/C ‘B’

Primary. The number of pupils used for the research was thirty-two (32) and they

are between the ages of 10 and 15 years. Out of these twenty-three (32) pupils,

eight are (16) boys, and the rest are (12) girls. According to Beins and McCarthy

(2012), the population of a study is the entire set of people or data that are of
interest to a researcher. A population is defined as a group of individuals or items

that share similar features from which data can be gathered and analyzed (Investor

Words, 2017).

3.4 Sampling Techniques

If the population is 50 and below, the entire population is used according to Henry

(1990). The sampling procedure used was a purposeful sampling technique aimed

at selecting the sample size of the study. The purposive sampling technique was

used to sample the twenty (20) pupils of the Basic Six class for the study. Kusi

(2012) explains that purposive sampling is used when the researcher identifies

characteristics of the population of interest and selects elements or subjects with

those characteristics. Thus, the sample is chosen arbitrarily on the basis of some

characteristics possessed by the subject and deemed important for the research.

3.5 Data Collection Instruments

Research instruments are the tools or techniques used in gathering information. In

this research study, tests and observation were used to collect the data for the

research study questioners. Tests and observation are more appropriate for young

pupils in a research study.

3.5.1Test

A test is a set of activities used to assess or measure one’s skills, ability, or

knowledge in a particular subject area. It is an instrument used to measure the

strengths and weaknesses of a person by assigning numerical values to the

performance score. The researcher therefore considered a test to be the most

appropriate instrument to find out the extent to which pupils' inability to read
simple sentences in English The test was chosen as an instrument because it helps

one properly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the pupils. The test was also

used in order to determine the pupil's performance on the problem of the study. The

test was again used to serve as a yardstick for comparing the effectiveness of the

method used in the lesson delivery. On the other hand, the use of the test as an

instrument for carrying out the research does not cater for individual differences.

Since all pupils start and stop at the same time. The test method is not also a proper

mode of assessing the abilities of pupils since it does not take place continuously

but just once at a sitting.

3.5.2Observation

Observation is one of the instruments used in the collection of the data.

Observational research is a research technique where you observe participants and

phenomena in their most natural settings. This enables researchers to see their

subjects make choices and react to situations in their natural setting, as opposed to

structured settings like research labs or focus groups. (Schensul & LeCompte,

2013). The pupils' attitudes towards the study of English language reading were

observed during lessons. Therefore, an observation checklist was used to collect the

data.

3.6 Data Collection Procedure

Data collection was undertaken after the researcher had asked for permission from

the head teacher, other teachers of the schools, and the pupils who were the

participants. The research work covered three weeks, and two days within each

week were used to conduct the research work to the end. In all, there are twelve
working days, i.e., every Monday and Thursday in the week. The first two weeks

were used for pre-intervention, second two weeks for the intervention and the last

two weeks for the post-intervention.

3.6.1. Intervention

An intervention is a planned, often unannounced, meeting with a person

with a serious personal problem, in order to persuade the person to seek treatment.

This process consists of a set of concrete measures put in place to help solve a

problem. In an attempt to solve this problem, various activities were planned in a

table form to help solve the problem.

3.6.2 Implementation of the Intervention

All the plans of the actions were carried out one after the other. Five weeks

were used to carry out the whole intervention and, in each week, there were two

meetings. The following are the account for each week.

a) Week one: Objectives

1) Pupils will be able to recognize the alphabet and their sounds

2) Pupils will be able to combine letters to form simple words.

Activities

Objective 1: The letters of the alphabet were written on the board. Pupils were

instructed to listen attentively whiles a passage was read. After reading, pupils were

told to read after the teacher. This was done twice and the pupils were allowed to

read as a whole before individual reading

Objective 2: The letters of the alphabet were written on seven-by-seven manila

cards. The cards were displayed on a table and pupils were shown how the

combination of letters to form words will be done. Pupils were put into groups and

each group was asked to combine letters to form words.

b) Week two and three: Objectives

Pupils will be able to:

-Associate letters with their sounds.

- Identify the vowels and consonants from the alphabet.

-Recognize and pronounce at least eight sight words.

Activities

Pupils were taken through a revision of the alphabet before we proceeded to

the next activity. This was done by asking the pupils them to recite the alphabet one

after the other.

For the association of words with their sounds, pictures drawn were pasted on the

board and a set of cards on which initial consonants which goes with the picture

were displayed on a table. The teacher named a fruit and a pupil came and found

the consonant that went with the picture. Example: Mango<..M, Orange<0 etc. The

next activity was identification of the vowels and consonant, here the letters of the

alphabet were written on the board, it was explained to the pupil that, there are five

(5) vowels (letters) in the alphabet and the rest that is, twenty-one (21) are

consonant sounds. The vowel sounds (letters) are: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ and the
remaining ones are the consonant. The pupils were taken through some sight words

like; night, right, sight, word, etc these words were written on the board, the teacher

pronounce the words and the pupils repeated after her.

e) Week three: Objectives

Pupils will be able to;

-blend sounds to form meaning words

- recognize and pronounce at least eight sight words.

Activities

There was a revision on association of words and sight words and vowels

and consonant. The letters of the alphabet were written on the board and the pupils

were asked to write all the vowel sound from it. The next activity was blending of

the sound to form meaningful words. Here, the teachers use the phonic slide and

phonic wheel to reinforce the blending of the sound. A short description was given

on both the phonic slide and phonic wheel. Afterwards, a manila card on which the

phonic wheel and the phonic slide are drawn on was pasted on the board for pupil

to observe it for some time. The letters or the sound in each cell was blend to form

meaning words. Examples; /g/+/+/o/+/v/+/e/ =glove, /m/+/o/+/b/+/i/+/l/+/e/ -

mobile, /b/+/r/+/o/+/o/+/m/-broom, etc, the diagram for the phonic slide used for

this activity can found in appendix B. pupils were taking through some sight words;

what, went, two, whose, those, etc, after a successful lesson taught, an assignment

was given on phonic wheel to blend cach letter (sound) to form a meaningful word.
d) Week four: Objectives

Pupils will be able to:

-Sing a short rhyme.

- Identify the words that rhyme in the poem.

-Identify and pronounce at least five sight words.

Activities

A revision was carried out on the phonic wheel and phonic slide. After the

assignment given on the phonic wheel was collected and marked, there was a clear

indication that pupils excelled tremendously. The next activity was written on a

manila card, and it was pasted on the board for the pupils to have a look at. The

rhyme was recited for the pupils line by line with correct pronunciation. It was

done three times at their hearing. After that, the pupils were permitted to read after

the teacher. It took almost thirty (30) minutes for them to capture the words.

On our next meeting, thus, on the identification of the rhyming words, pupils were

taken through a phonemic awareness activity to identify rhyming words from the

passage. Here, words written on the Manila cards were held out, and pupils were

asked to tell the sound that begins the name of those words. Pupils’ attention was

drawn to onset and rime in phonograms, e.g., hand, sand, band, land, etc.

Sound identification was the next activity. The teacher performed three

examples by clapping to the number of sounds (words) in his name. Afterwards,

pupils were given the chance to do so. But for them, their names were written on

the board to know the number of the sound (words).

The rhyming words were written on the manila cards; thus, a list of words with the

same ending was dropped in one strange one for pupils to pick out. Examples: hat,

mat, fat, ham/sun, nun, bun, put, etc. Pupils were given the opportunity to put their

thumbs up when words rhymed. Sometimes, it was short, and pupils were asked to

finish.

On the next meeting, pupils were taken to the rhyme passage again after the

phonemic awareness, and they were asked to identify the rhyming words from the

passage. The rhyme used for this activity can be found in Appendix C. Pupils were

taken through some sight words, e.g., the, next, five, shoe, down, etc. These words

were written on the board; the teacher pronounced them, and the pupils pronounced

them after the teacher.

1. e) Week five

There was only one meeting, which lasted 60 minutes. This week was used for the

posttest.

3.6.3 Post-intervention

The teacher selected a short passage from the pupils textbook and asked the pupils

to read it aloud after the teacher had read it to the class two times. This was done to

test whether there had been an improvement in the pupils’ reading ability. After the

passage, there were questions, which the pupils were allowed to answer. This was

also done to see if the pupils were able to comprehend the passage they read. The

passage used for the post-test can be found in Appendix D.

3.6.4 Analysis and Discussion of Post-Intervention Data

Table 3 presents the performance of the Basic Six pupils of Nadowli R/C ‘B’

Primary School in sound discrimination after the intervention was administered.

Table 3: Pupils’ Post-test Scores on Sound Discrimination

Marks Frequency Percentage

10 5 25

9 7 35

8 3 15

7 2 10

6 3 15

5 0 0

4 0 0

3 0 0

2 0 0

1 0 0

Total 20 100

Source: fieldwork 2023

From Table 3, three, representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored six marks in

the post-test; two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored seven marks; three,

representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored eight marks; seven, representing

thirty-five percent of the pupils, scored nine marks; and the remaining five,

representing twenty-five percent of the pupils, scored ten marks in the post-test.

Thus, from Table 3, the pupils’ post-test scores on sound discrimination had a mean

score of 7.7 marks and a range of four marks.

Table 4 presents the performance of the Basic Six pupils of Nadowli R/C ‘B’

Primary School on answering reading comprehension questions after the

intervention was administered.

Table 4: Pupils’ Post-test Scores in Reading Comprehension

Marks Frequency Percentage

10 5 25

9 4 20

8 3 15

7 3 15

6 2 10

5 2 10

4 1 5

3 0 0

2 0 0

1 0 0

Total 20 100

Source: fieldwork 2023

From Table 4, four, representing five percent of the pupils, scored four marks in the

post-test; two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored five marks in the post-

test; two, representing ten percent of the pupils, scored six marks; and three,

representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored seven marks. Again, from Table 4,

three, representing fifteen percent of the pupils, scored eight marks; four,

representing twenty percent of the pupils, scored nine marks; and the remaining

five, representing twenty-five percent of the pupils, scored ten marks in the post-
test. Thus, from Table 4, the pupils’ post-test scores on answering reading

comprehension questions had a mean score of 6.8 marks and a range of six marks.

3.6 Comparison Analysis

3.61 Comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention result and

interpretation

From the data gathered and analyzed for the study, it was reported in Table 1 that

the pupils’ pre-test scores for sound discrimination had a mean score of 4.4 marks

and a range of seven marks. However, after students had been taken through the

intervention lessons, their post-test scores for sound discrimination (Table 3) had a

mean score of 7.7 marks and a range of four marks, signaling an improvement in

the Basic Six pupils’ ability to effectively discriminate between the sounds of the

letters of the English alphabet. This finding was in line with the belief of Di Mauro

and Musgrave (2005) that a good phonics program looks at the forty-two (42)

principal sounds and shows that words are made up of a sequence of sounds, thus

re-echoing the point that in order for phonics instruction to be effective, teachers

need to consider sounds and train children to hear these sounds.

Also, from the data gathered and analyzed for the study, it was reported in Table 2

that pupils’ pre-test scores on answering reading comprehension questions had a

mean score of 3.7 marks and a range of seven marks.

However, after the pupils were taken through the intervention lessons, their post-

test scores on answering reading comprehension questions (Table 4) had a mean

score of 6.8 marks and a range of six marks. Again, the results from Table 2 and

Table 4 showed an improvement in the Basic Six pupils’ ability to correctly answer
questions on reading comprehension. This finding supports the opinion of Reutzel

and Cooter (2005) that many scientific studies have presented evidence to

demonstrate that children learn how to read and answer reading comprehension

questions much more efficiently when using phonics methods.

CHAPTER FOUR
 FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

4.0 Overview

This chapter presents the findings, discussions and recommendations of the study

in relation to the literature review. The result is presented according to the research

questions.

4.1 Finding of the Study

From the data gathered and analyzed for the study, it was reported in Table 1 that

the pupils’ pre-test scores for sound discrimination had a mean score of 4.4 marks

and a range of seven marks. However, after students had been taken through the

intervention lessons, their post-test scores for sound discrimination (Table 3) had a

mean score of 7.7 marks and a range of four marks, signaling an improvement in

the Basic Six pupils’ ability to effectively discriminate between the sounds of the

letters of the English alphabet. This finding was in line with the belief of Di Mauro

and Musgrave (2005) that a good phonics program looks at the forty-two (42)

principal sounds and shows that words are made up of a sequence of sounds thus,

re-echoing the point that in order for phonics instruction to be effective, teachers

need to consider sounds and train children to hear these sounds.

Also, from the data gathered and analyzed for the study, it was reported

from Table 2 that pupils’ pre-test scores on answering reading comprehension

questions had a mean score of 3.7 marks and a range of seven marks.

However, after the pupils were taken through the intervention lessons, their

post test scores on answering reading comprehension questions (Table 4) had a

mean score of 6.8 marks and a range of six marks. Again, the results from Table 2
and Table 4 showed an improvement in the Basic Six pupils’ ability to correctly

answer questions on reading comprehension. This finding supports the opinion by

Reutzel and Cooter (2005) that many scientific studies presented evidence to

demonstrate that children learn how to read and answer reading comprehension

questions much more efficiently when using phonics methods.

4.2 Conclusion

The study, which sought to teach blending five and six letters to form a word

(phonic method), was conducted at Nadowli R/C ‘B’ Primary School in the

Nadowli/Kaleo District. The study tried to intervene by instituting strategies to

enhance it through various activities organized to arrive at this point. The

researcher is of the firm conviction that the study was worth the time spent and

timely too.

The study concluded that the use of synthetic phonics had a positive effect on the

ability of the Basic Six pupils of Nadowli R/C ‘B’ Primary School to discriminate

between the sounds of the letters of the English alphabet and, hence, answer

reading comprehension questions correctly. Synthetic phonics and, hence, good

sound discrimination facilitate or enhance good reading. Proper reading, which is

also facilitated by proper sound discrimination, enhances the comprehension skills

of learners at all levels of basic education in Ghana.

The research looked at teaching reading in basic six using the synthetic phonics

method. It involved twenty pupils in Basic Six from Nadowli R/C ‘B’ Primary

School in the Nadowli/Kaleo District in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The

twenty-five pupils were taken through a series of activities involving the teaching
of blending five and six letters to form a word. A pre-test on blending five and six

letters was done. The pupils were given exercises based on which they were scored.

Then came the intervention after the marking of the pre-test. It took about four

weeks. This was done individually and then in groups.

4.3 Recommendation

Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations have been

made:

The study recommended that the head teachers of the school organize school-based

in-service training for the teachers on the use of the synthetic phonics approach to

enable the teachers of English to become conversant with the skills of using the

approach to teach effectively. The study recommends that the District Education

Directorate provide more English teaching and learning materials to the schools in

the district. The study also recommends to parents that they have their children in

school to encourage them to learn to read, as this would enhance their

understanding of other subjects at school and life in general.

The study also recommends to the headteacher and teachers of the school that they

enforce English language speaking in schools and always encourage pupils to

develop good reading habits. Finally, the study recommends that teachers of basic

reading must receive training on methods of conducting diagnostic assessments in

reading so that they are able to identify those learners with special needs, such as

reading difficulties, since these teachers may come across such learners.

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 APPENDIX A

SANKANA E/A PRIMARY ‘B’

BASIC SIX (6)

PRE-TEST QUESTIONS

1. Underline vowels in the following; a,u,b,f,z,d,p,e,w,s.

2. State one difference between vowels and consonants.

3. Underline the consonants in the following; s,w,e,p,d,z,f,b,u,a.

Answer questions 4 -10 by indicating whether the vowels in the sentences are

long or short vowels

4. (_) a—(be pronounced as a “short” vowel/“long” vowel) examples; cat, dad, gas,

rat, at, as, ad

5. (_) ae—(be pronounced as a “long” vowel/“short” vowel) examples; date, case,

late, sake, page, ate, age

6. (_)ai—(be pronounced as a “long” vowel/“short” vowel) examples; wait, rain,

jail, paid fail, aid, aim, said

7. (_) ay (_) —(be pronounced as a “long” vowel/“short” vowel) examples; say,

day,

pay, way, days, pays, gays, says

8. (_) al_—(be pronounced as “long” vowel/“short” vowel) examples; all, call, salt,

tall, mall, ball, wall

9. (_) u— (be pronounced as a “short” vowel/“long” vowel) examples; cup, cut,

bug, hut, but, luck, hug

10. (_) o—(be pronounced as a long vowel/“short” vowel) examples; so, no, go, Jo,
 FINDINGS

This research discovered that majority of teachers in the primary school system do

not know

the sounds of the English language. As revealed in the focus group discussion data,

they neither knew the sounds nor were well guided in how to teach pupils reading

skills.

Word reading as well as spelling skills of pupils can be improved by the use of

synthetic phonics method in a participatory classroom environment.

Pupils’ age had no influence on the improvement in reading skills. Older pupils did

not have any better performance than the younger ones or vice versa. This shows

that pupils of all ages will likewise benefit from the synthetic phonics method.

Indeed, teachers at the focus group discussion suggested that all classes should be

taught synthetic phonics as this will improve the reading skills of pupils who are

already in the higher classes.