Effects of synthetic phonics approach on ESL preschool children’s reading ability
The importance in acquiring the ability to read in English at an early age among non-native speakers of English has led to the use of different approaches such as the synthetic phonics approach. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of the synthetic phonics approach and tr...
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Main Author: | |
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2020
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/99563/1/FBMK%202021%2036%20UPMIR.pdf |
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Summary: | The importance in acquiring the ability to read in English at an early age among
non-native speakers of English has led to the use of different approaches such
as the synthetic phonics approach. The objectives of this study were to
determine the effects of the synthetic phonics approach and traditional reading
approach on six-year-old English as a second language (ESL) preschool
children’s reading ability, to compare the effects between the synthetic phonics
approach and traditional reading approach on the ESL preschool children’s
reading ability, to determine the effects of the synthetic phonics approach
across gender, to determine the relationships between alphabetic principle,
reading fluency and reading comprehension, and to identify how synthetic
phonics approach improves the ESL preschool children’s reading.
This study utilised a quasi-experimental design and a mixed method for data
collection and analysis. Two intact groups, which comprised 49 subjects from
two preschool classes, constituted the experimental and control groups of this
study. The experimental group underwent the treatment using the synthetic
phonics approach, and the control group, used the traditional reading approach
for 12 weeks. As for data of the study, the quantitative data were elicited via
the pre-test and post-test measures of overall reading ability, alphabetic
principle, reading fluency and reading comprehension. The qualitative data
were gathered from the audio recordings of the subjects’ performance during
the pre- and post-tests. The qualitative data were used to support the
quantitative data gathered from the pre- and post-tests. The findings from the quasi-experimental study revealed that the experimental
group outperformed the control group in alphabetic principle, reading fluency
and reading comprehension. The findings indicated that there were no
significant difference across gender within the experimental group after the
group underwent the treatment of synthetic phonics approach. The findings of
this study also revealed that alphabetic principle, reading fluency and reading
comprehension were significantly associated with one another. The qualitative
findings in this study supported the quantitative findings that the children in the
experimental group had more positive response patterns compared to children
in the control group. Based on the findings of this study, reading abilities which
are the basic reading abilities from decoding to blending would contribute to the
mastery of a later ability which is reading fluency. |
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