The Use of Play Methods Such as Phonics Method, Whole-word Approach and Language Experience Method as Learning Strategy to Solve the Reading Difficulties of Primary One Pupil
Chapter One
Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is examining the use of play methods such as phonics method, whole-word approach and language experience method as learning strategy to solve the reading difficulties of primary one pupils. The specific purposes of the study are;
- To ascertain the effect of phonics method as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils
- To examine the effect of whole word approach as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils
- To ascertain the effect of language experience method as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps
Conceptual Framework
Concept of Reading
Reading is one of the communication skills. It is the third in the row among the four communication skills. Reading is a very imperative skill for effective education and communication. Knowledge is acquired through reading. Kane,( 2005:17) therefore defines reading as a meaning structure process in which the readers must actively construct meaning and work towards fitting new information into the knowledge they already have. Vacca and Vacca, (2002:28) also sees reading as an interactive process. It is seen as a conversation, a give and take exchange between the reader and the text.
Walker (1982) sees reading as an active problem solving process that involves guessing or predicting what the author and about story events. He claims that since reading involves recalling an individual’s life experiences and trying to understand what is written, it is more than just receiving meaning in a literal sense. Supporting the above view, Hill (1997) opines that reading is the most useful skill that students need to understand a text because it gives them immediate feedback about a text. Obanya (2002) sees reading, as interpreting written language and translating into words and sentences which conveys thoughts and ideas. Burke (1990) is of the idea that reading is the process of getting meaning from and the bringing of meaning into printed words in the text. The implication is that readers should bring their backgrounds, experiences as well as emotions into play, during reading. On his part, Rubin (1991) defined reading as a process in which information from the text and the knowledge possessed by the reader act together to produce meaning.
Stages and Components of Reading
Joel (1991) identifies three broad stages that young children move through as they learn to read, namely Emergent, Beginning and Fluent reading stages. At the emergent reading stage, they show great interest in reading, develop book handling skills, can Identify most of the letters of the alphabet, know some letter sounds, read 20 familiar high frequency words, can use predictable patterns in text to re-read familiar books and makes text to self connections. Children become emergent readers in the nursery and kindergarten but those whose parents have read to them daily and provide them a variety of literacy experience do learn how to read before coming to school (Temple, Nathan, Burns and Temple in Tompkins 2003:46).
At the beginning stage, the emphasis is on interactive and guided activities and accordingly Tompkins list the things a child can do at this stage as:
Identifying the letter names and sound, match spoken words to written words, recognize 20 – 100 high frequency words, applying the knowledge of the cueing systems to decode words, corrects self while reading. Reads orally and slowly word by word, points to words while reading, makes reasonable predictions and making text to self and text to word connections. Most children in primary one and two are beginning readers and with teachers instructions in reading strategies and skills and if given daily opportunities to read, they move through this stage to reach the fluent stage (Tompkins, 2003: 45) At the fluent reading stage, the child recognizes most words automatically, read with expression, read independently, uses a variety of strategies effectively, applies knowledge of strong structure and genre when reading and thinks inferentially, makes connections when reading (Matthews, Stewart and Walter 1999)
The Independent Review on the teaching of early reading (Rose Report, 2006) presents a simple view of reading and sees skilled reading as the development of a set of processes by which words in print are recognized and understood and the development of language comprehension processes by which text as well as spoken language are understood and interpreted. The report identifies two components of reading namely: Word Recognition and Language Comprehension and re-in states that both of them are essential for developing fluent and effective readers and this requires specific kinds of teaching. The report explains that children need to acquire and practice certain skills in the early stages of reading in order to develop fluent automatic word reading. It recommends that children should be taught the knowledge; skills and understanding that make up high quality phonics in the emergent stage of reading while comprehension is the ability to understand and appreciate written words should be taught alongside the skill of word recognition as the children develop as critical and fluent readers. It points out that at this later stage; the emphasis should be on engaging them to interact with a wide range of text for pleasure and purpose (Rose 2006:70)
Importance of Reading
The importance of reading cannot be overemphasized. The goal of reading according to Omojuwa (2005) especially at the primary school level, is that each child‟s should be functionally literate, being able to communicate effectively even when the child‟s academic pursuit terminates atb the primary school level. Just as the Pivotal Teacher Training Manual (2000) states, reading is one of the means by which a human person can widen his perspective and become more enlightened. Reading not only enhances the language use by children but also improves critical and analytical thinking. As Cullingham (1992: 5) points out, when we tell stories and encourage our students to tell and re-tell the one we have told them, we provide and solve problems.
Chapter Three
Research methodology
This chapter is concerned with the procedures which was adopted in this study. It was presented under the following sub-headings: Design of the study, Sample and sampling, Techniques, Instrument from data collection, Validation of the instrument, Reliability of the instrument, Method of data collection, Method of data analysis,
Design of the study
Descriptive research design was adopted in thus study. It is considered appropriately to this study because it is fact finding in nature, and it entails the systematic collection and presentation of data to identify the use of play methods such as phonics method, whole-word approach and language experience method as learning strategy to solve the reading difficulties of primary one pupils.
Area of study
The study was carried out in Kasoa in the Central Region, Ghana. Kasoa has territory in 1 of the 20 Metropolitan, Municipalities and Districts (MMADs) in the Central Region of Ghana: Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly (ASEMA). It is the largest and fastest growing town and municipality. The city is situated along the Accra-Cape Coast Road and, approximately 36 kilometres (22 mi), by road, west of Kotoka International Airport, the International Airport that serves Ghana’s capital city of Accra. approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi), by road, west of the central business district of the city of Accra. The coordinates of the town are:05 31 12N, 00 28 48W (Latitude:5.5200; Longitude:- 0.4800).
The average elevation of Kasoa is 75 m above sea level.
Population of study
The population for the study consists of all teachers of all selected primary schools and pupils in Kasoa in the Central Region, Ghana. The pupils will be selected from five primary schools in Kasoa central Region, Ghana. The study used five hundred and seventy-seven 577.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND RESULT OF DATA
This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of data collected in the course of the study. Statistical means was adopted to analyze the data collected
Mean ∑
Any item that has its means equal to or greater than 2.5 will be reported to be accepted, while any item which has its mean below 2.5 will be rejected
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS, IMPLICATION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Discussion of findings:
Research question one: What is the effect of phonics method as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils. In answer to the above research question, four questionnaire items were developed by the researcher to generate opinion of respondents, and presented on table 4.1 it was discovered from the respondent’s opinion that phonics method as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils.
These revealed that 3.1, 3.1, are accepted mean with strongly agreed respectively phonics method as a learning strategy help in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils while 1.9, 2.1 are rejected mean.
The finding revealed that Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language. Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. The study also suggests that the best way to teach phonics is systematically. This means moving children through a planned sequence of skills rather than teaching particular aspects of phonics as they are encountered in texts.
The finding in line with the view of Mama kelello(2006:26) that there is significance of sounding words, reading should be taught by using the phonic method, and if children know how to pronounce words in phonics, they will read with ease.
Research question two: What is the effect of whole word approach as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils?
In answer to the above research question, the researcher developed five questionnaire items.
These revealed that 3.4, 3.2. 3.3 are accepted mean which strongly agreed respectively that whole word approach is the learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils, it was observed that they are used to make the lesson clearer to a very great extent. They arouse the interest of pupils and help to solve reading difficulties of primary one pupil objectives. The study observes that the Whole-word Approach teaches pupils to read by sight and relies upon memorization via repeat exposure to the written form of a word paired with an image and an audio. The goal of the Language Experience Method is to teach children to read words that are meaningful to them.
Kenneth S. Goodman (1980) asserted that Whole language is an approach to reading that emphasizes functional, real purposes for writing and reading. It is a belief system that children learn language when it is interesting, and relevant. Whole language incorporates reading, writing, listening, and speaking in a blended format into the curriculum.
Research question 3: What is the effect of language experience method as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils?
Finding obtained from the problem associated with language experience method as a learning strategy in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupils revealed that the language experience approach (LEA) promotes reading and writing through the use of personal experiences and oral language. It can be used in tutorial or classroom settings with homogeneous or heterogeneous groups of learners.
Good language learners know that is used to communicate Good language learners pay attention to meaning. They have good techniques to practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They push themselves to speak and try to become fluent.
This finding agrees with (Christie, 2013). Hill (2012) who said that What is written can now be read. As the language experience texts are relevant to the students, the opportunity to read them aloud creates a positive experience and reinforces the reciprocity between reading and writing. Texts that the students have produced based on their experiences, using familiar language make good early reading material which can be read chorally or individually
Educational Implication of the Findings
From the findings of this study the following implications have emerged for Kasoa Rentral Region, Ghana, teachers, lecturers, administrators and the curriculum planners. Since phonics, whole word method approach and language experience approach are strategies in solving reading difficulties of primary one pupil. Teachers have to adopt the use of phonics, whole word method approach and language experience approach are strategies in classroom in the teaching of reading in the primary one in Kasoa Central Region in Ghana. Teachers will also take it as their personal responsibilities to search for more knowledge on the best way to use in reading strategy for teaching. The implications of the findings of this study to curriculum developers is that they will incorporate the use of phonics, whole word method approach and language experience approach in reading strategy into the curriculum of English language for primary schools since it is found very effective in teaching reading to pupils.
The implication of these findings for the pupils is that they will learn better and develop more interest in their learning when phonics, whole word method approach and language experience approach strategies reading are used for teaching reading by the teachers. The adoption of the phonics, whole word method approach and language experience approach strategies in reading for teaching of reading requires qualified English teachers who are knowledgeable in using these strategies in reading. teachers should be adequately trained on the use of phonics, whole word method approach and language experience approach are strategies because they are the teachers mostly used in teaching the lower basic level of education. This implies that school administrators and the government need to employ qualified teachers of English language and primary education specialist to teach in primary schools in Kasoa in Central Region, Ghana
Conclusions
Based on the finding of this study, the following conclusions were made: Students learn faster and master skills better when appropriate teaching methods are used for instruction. The adoption of the phonics, whole word method and language experience reading strategies in conjunction with other teaching methods will greatly improve academic achievement of pupils in reading. Thus pupils taught reading using phonics, whole word method and language experience reading strategies achieved significantly higher than those who were not taught using them. Also, using these strategies favored pupils in reading in the class
Recommendation
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made:
- Primary school teachers in Kasoa Central Region should adopt the use of the phonics, whole word and language experience reading strategies to teach reading.
- Qualified teachers of English language should be employed by government to teach reading to pupils in primary school
- Curriculum developers should recommend the use of phonics, whole word and language experience reading strategies to teach reading for teaching reading to pupils in primary schools.
- Workshops and seminars should be organized by Ministries of Education and related government agencies to train primary school teachers on the best ways to use phonics, whole word and language experience reading strategies to teach reading for teaching their pupils
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