TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND LITERATURE REVIEW

Background of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………3
Literature Review ………………………………………………………………………………………7
Theoretical Framework …………………………………………………………………………..…12
Conceptual Framework …………………………………………………………………………..…18
Research Problem and Hypotheses ……………………………………………………………19
Scope and Limitations ……………………………………………………………………………....20
Definition of Terms ………………………………………………………………………………...…20

CHAPTER 2: METHODS
Research Design ………………………………………………………………………………………..24
Sampling and Participants………………………………………………………………………….24
Instruments ………………………………………………………………………………………………25
Data Gathering Procedure ………………………………………………………………………..25
Data Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………………….25
Potential Ethical Issues ………………………………………………………………………………26

REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…27
APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..29
CURRICULUM VITAE ……………………..………………………………………………………………………..30

1
 LIST OF TABLE

Reading
Readiness

Phonics Claveria

Phonemic Phonological
Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension
Awareness Awareness

Figure 1: Research Paradigm on Effects of Phonics to the Reading Readiness of

the Kindergarten Pupils

2
 Chapter I

The Problem and Literature Review

Background of the Study

Making use of letter-sound relationships to read unknown words is the basic

process for developing word-specific knowledge, including knowledge of irregularly

spelled words (Ehri, 2005, 2014; Snow & Juel, 2005; Tunmer & Nicholson, 2011). Using

the systematic mappings between the sub-parts of written and spoken words facilitates

for beginning readers the identification of unknown words. In turn, this contributes to

the formation of word-specific sublexical connections (see Ehri, 2005, 2014) between

the specific letter sequences of written words and their corresponding sound sequences

(phonological representations) in lexical memory (Tunmer et al., 2015). This process

provides the basis for developing sight word knowledge (Ehri, 2005, 2014), which is

essential for releasing cognitive resources to focus on sentence comprehension and text

integration.

Understanding the alphabetic principle requires the development of phonemic

awareness, which is the ability to reflect on and use the phonemic units of spoken

language (Shankweiler & Fowler, 2004). Instruction in phonemic awareness

(understanding and hearing/manipulating the sounds in spoken words) prior to or at the

very least, concurrently with phonics instruction, is crucial for children to obtain the

most benefit from phonics instruction. In other words, phonics instruction in and of

3
itself is not used to promote phonemic awareness; rather, phonemic awareness training

is used to help children develop alphabetic coding skills from phonics instruction

(Tunmer & Hoover, 2015).

Given the widespread research on the importance of phonemic awareness and

knowledge of the alphabetic principle (including letter knowledge) (Hempenstall, 2016;

Tunmer et al., 2015), considerable attention has been given to identifying the most

effective teaching strategies for facilitating the development of alphabetic coding skill in

beginning readers. Traditional phonics programmes were intended to achieve this

objective. However, many such programmes have some major shortcomings, including

the assumption that children are only able to develop knowledge of letter-sound

patterns through direct instruction. The problem with this assumption is that there are

too many letter-sound relationships in English orthography for children to learn through

direct instruction. Gough and Hillinger (1980) estimated that there are around 300–400

such relationships (Tunmer et al., 2015).

Rather than attempting to teach explicitly all letter-sound relationships, one of

the main functions of phonics instruction should be to help activate the process by

which beginning readers learn untaught spelling-sound patterns through implicit

learning. In this sense, phonics instruction is a means to an end rather than an end in

itself (Tunmer et al., 2015; Venezky, 1999). Phonics, therefore, can be defined as “an

approach to, or type of, reading instruction that is intended to promote the discovery of

4
the alphabetic principle, the correspondences between phonemes and graphemes, and

phonological encoding” (Scarborough & Brady, 2002, p. 20).

Because of the large number of spelling-sound relationships in English, one of

the main functions of phonics instruction should be to give beginning readers a strategy

for generating close phonological representations of unfamiliar words that gets them

near enough to the correct phonological form that combined with context, they can

correctly figure out unknown words. These approximate letter-sound relationships help

beginning readers to go through some mispronunciations of an unfamiliar word until

they identify the correct pronunciation based on their word knowledge and the context

in which the word appears in text. Additional spelling-sound relationships, especially

those that are sensitive to specific contexts, can then be induced from the memory bank

of spelling representations of words that children already know. This process is referred

to as involving the “set for variability” (Greaney, 2015; Tunmer & Chapman, 2012).

The phonics approach tends to build up the solid foundation of the sound system

in English for beginner learners to internalize. By this method, children will develop

their own literacy abilities by applying it to construct meaningful literacy knowledge by

their own. This approach subsequently supports children to learn a language

systematically from the smallest part to the whole.

This may be what McGrath (1995) highlights in subscribing to readings as the

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

what you already know, and organizing all the ideas so you can remember and use

5
them. “The learning of reading starts from the mastery of the alphabet of the

language”(Okwilagwe, 1988) as well the mastery of the skills required for learning

reading. The skill should be effectively taught, as it is available asset to anyone who

desires to explore the universe for gainful living. Mastery of the letters of the alphabet

of a language and mastery of reading skills is an indication of a child’s reading readiness.

Reading readiness according to UNICEF (2012) is a process of preparing a child

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

reading readiness entails the maturation of all the mental, physical and psychological

factors involved in the reading process. In other words, it is a state of development

which prepares the child mentally, physically and psychologically for reading

experiences. Notwithstanding the chronological age of the child, the point at which the

child growth and development have brought about proper maturation of these factors

should be the point at which the reading process begins. Schifferdecker (2007) explains

that reading readiness actually begins from that particular time when a child transforms

from being a non-reader to a reader. According to him, this can be a tough transition

but is very rewarding. Not only the children are proud of themselves as they learn to

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

years. Collaborating Schifferdecker’s view, Wikipedia (2013) stresses that reading

readiness is that point at which a person is ready to learn to read and the time during

which a person transitions from being a non-reader into a reader.

6
 The state of readiness is crucial in the attainment of any task. In a complex task

such as reading, readiness must be attained before success can be assured. It is

necessary to ensure that children are mentally, physically and psychologically prepared

to face the task of reading before engaging them in reading. By so doing, they will be

ready, willing and capable of reading. Reading readiness is so important in learning that

no teacher should anxious to teach the child how to read, if he/she is not mentally,

physically and psychological ready for it. Reading is to be taught only when the child has

attained a mental maturity, adequate oral language (listening and speaking) capability,

interest and desire to read.

That is why the researcher chose to pursue the study in order to determine if

teaching phonics will be more effective when it comes to the reading readiness of the

kindergarten pupils.

The researcher wants to develop activities that can be used to teach the

kindergarten pupils to read through the use of phonics. These activities about phonics

will help the kindergarten pupils to be a reader.

Literature Review

This paper explores the use of phonics as an important aspect of beginning

reading instruction. In this paper, peer reviewed, journal articles were used to help
research and answer three focus questions. The term phonics will be defined to include

7
all of the five phonemic elements of the sounds of spoken words, phonics, phoneme
awareness, phonological awareness and phonology.

Reading Fluency

Fluency is an important reading skill for beginning readers. There are many
reasons why children struggle with reading. One reason is they do not have basic
phonics skills to help them to read. Children should be taught phonics, in a whole group
setting using story text, basal readers and during a scheduled, direct phonics instruction
time. According to Roberts and Meiring (2006), whole group settings help children
increase their use of comprehension strategies and motivation to read and vocabulary
knowledge. This does not help students who struggle with reading. Struggling readers
often have issues with phonics. Phonics is essential to being able to read. Direct phonics
instruction time is when students are taught specific mechanics of language. Students
need to know the mechanics of language if they are to put them to use when reading
(McCullough, 2000). When they are unable to “decode” words as they are reading, it
affects their fluency and ability to comprehend what they have read. They are too busy
worrying about how to say a word than being able to say it. Fluency and comprehension
happens because children analyze, think, deduce, and create as they move through a
text. Once decoding is automatic, the mind is “free” for full comprehension. There is no
possibility for full comprehension when the student struggles with the automatic
identity of each word (McCullough, 2000). Which is better, direct instruction of phonics
to help with reading fluency or using whole group reading instructional time? Should
there be a time set aside to teach phonics or is the regular reading instructional time
enough to improve a student’s fluency? According to Roberts and Meiring (2006) the
National Reading Panel concluded that although systematic phonics programs were
significantly better than non-phonics programs, there was no evidence of superiority of
any one type of phonics program or any one specific program. This report only noted
thirteen important variations on what is taught and how children are taught and only
examined three types of programs (Roberts & Meiring, 2006). Roberts and Meiring

8
2006, also state that children’s reading of literature can increase their use of
comprehension strategies and motivation to read. In a study by Thompson, McKay,
Fletcher-Flinn, Connelly, Kaa and Ewing, (2007) that cited the National Reading Panel
report, there is evidence that systematic teaching of phonics for beginning reader
increases gains in their accuracy of word reading, relative to gains in each of a range of
comparison programs, including those described as basal reader, whole word and whole
language programs. So which is the better instructional time for phonic, a whole group,
embedded reading program or a direct instructional time strictly focused on phonics?
This study will examine whether whole group instruction or a phonics based direct
instruction program is best in increasing reading fluency.

Reading and Spelling Ability

A child’s reading ability and spelling ability must be related. If a child can read
does this then mean they are also good spellers? In a report by Griffith and Klesius
(1990) it was found that children who became poor readers usually entered first grade
with little phonemic awareness, and would remain so at the end of fourth grade. Their
growth in spelling-sound knowledge was initially slow and they never reached the level
of the average and good readers (Griffith & Klesius, 1990). Usually slow readers are not
very good spellers (Roberts & Meiring, 2006). Roberts and Meiring (2006) cited recent
studies on the reciprocal nature of reading and spelling. They found that knowledge of
the orthography of language is essential in both decoding words while reading and
encoding word representations while spelling. Thompson et al. (2007) cite in their
article that the child who has low proficiency on phonological recoding is expected to
compensate by making more use of word identification cues from the context of the
text. Ehri (1987) thinks that it is important to understand how skill at reading words
develops. Ehri states that the mature readers are thought to use two sources of
information, lexical knowledge and orthographic knowledge. Lexical knowledge is a
result of experiences reading specific words repeatedly; information about spellings of
words is retained in memory and associated with their pronunciations and meanings.

9
These words are read by retrieving these associations from memory (Ehri 1987). Ehri
(1987) explains orthographic knowledge as how the spelling system works its rule and
regularities, how spellings map phonemes and morphemes in speech. The findings of
Ehri’s (1987) study suggested that phonetic cue reading is possible at the outset when
children first begin reading words out of context, and that visual cue reading
characterizes how pre-readers read words. Also, the study suggests that learning to spell
contributed to beginners’ ability to ready words, enabling children to process phonetic
cues in the words (Ehri, 1987).

In a Groff study (2001) he states that it is difficult to identify a cause of reading-

spelling disparities. Groff (2001) cites the 1995 Hildreth study which found that good
reader/poor spellers place greater reliance on context cues than do good readers/good
spellers. Groff (2001) continues to say that from a study as recently as 1991;
experimental evidence suggests that good readers who spell poorly “suffer a mild
phonological defect which impedes the development of encoding and decoding skills.”
(p. 296). It appears that many of these students rely on good visual memory and
general language abilities to compensate for weak decoding (Groff, 2001). Spelling does
have some influence on reading. To develop students’ phonics knowledge, reading
instruction authorities tend to support a combination, balance, or merging of speech-
sound-to-letter and letter-to-speech-sound approaches (Groff, 2001). Unfortunately,
Groff states that literacy instruction lacks a body of experimental research examining
the validity of combining these approaches into a single integrated approach. As cited
by Groff, Perfetti argued that spelling and reading are two sides of a coin because a
logical symmetry exists between them.

According to Brand (2004:18) phonics instruction is a way of teaching reading

that stresses the acquisition of letter sound correspondences and their use in reading
and spelling. The primary focus of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers
understand how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes) to form letter-sound
correspondences and spelling patterns and to help them learn how to apply this

10
knowledge in their reading. Phonics instruction may be provided systematically or
incidentally. Brand (2004:18) the hallmark of a systematic phonics approach or program
is that a sequential set of phonics elements is delineated and these elements are taught
along a dimension of explicitness depending on the type of phonics approach employed.
Conversely, with incidental phonics instruction, the teacher does not follow a planned
sequence of phonics elements to guide instruction but highlights particular elements
opportunistically when they appear in text (Gordon & Brown 2004:6).

Research indicates that phonological awareness can be taught and that

students who increased their awareness of phonemes facilitated their subsequent

reading acquisition. Teachers need to be aware of instructional activities that can help

their students become aware of phonemes before they receive formal reading

instruction, and they need to realize that phonemic awareness will become more

sophisticated as students' reading skills develop.

Spector,7 listed the following recommendations for instruction in

phonemic awareness: at the preschool level, engage children in activities that direct

their attention to the sounds in words, such as rhyming and alliteration games, teach

students to segment and blend, combine training in segmentation and blending with

instruction in letter-sound relationships, teach segmentation and blending as

complementary processes, systematically sequence examples when teaching

segmentation and blending and teach for transfer to novel tasks and contexts.

Yopp,8 offers the following general recommendations for phonemic

awareness activities: keep a sense of playfulness and fun, avoid drill and rote

memorization, use group settings that encourage interaction among children,

11
encourage children's curiosity about language and their experimentation with it, allow

for and be prepared for individual differences, make sure the tone of the activity is not

evaluative but rather fun and informal.

Spending a few minutes daily engaging preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children

in oral activities that emphasize the sounds of language may go a long way in helping

them become successful readers and learners.

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework

In order to fully grasp the importance of what children need to become literate,

it is vital to understand the concept of emergent literacy. Wolfe and Nevills (2004, p. 8)

describe emergent literacy skills, or “early childhood readiness skills” as the skills that

children acquire early in childhood that prepare them for successful reading upon

entering school. Zygouris -Coe (2001, p. 6) defines emergent literacy as "a developing

range of understanding about print and nonconventional literacy behaviors that begins

before schooling and leads into conventional reading, speaking, viewing, and thinking".

One should be cautioned that although the concept of emergent literacy

primarily focuses on the years between birth and age five, there is also the belief that

emergent literacy is correlated to “a functional level of performance rather than to a

chronological age” (Tracey and Morrow, 2012 p. 99). Whereas some children may have

mastered the emergent literacy skills necessary to become proficient readers early on in

their schooling, others may remain at the emergent phase and need intensive

12
intervention in order to 11 acquire the ability to read and write at proficient levels.

These types of students are the ones that I see most often in my daily work as an

intervention teacher.

The Theory of Emergent Literacy (Tracey and Morrow, 2012) is based on the

concept that literacy skill development is interrelated and those children who

demonstrate proficiency in one or more areas of literacy will be more likely to also excel

in other areas. Likewise, children who struggle to develop literacy skills in a certain area

could also experience difficulty in mastering all areas of literacy development. Morrow

(2009) explains that as children go through the stage of emergent literacy, the

relationship between spoken and written language becomes more clearly defined for

them, which in turn increases the likelihood for early literacy success. Children who do

not have a solid grasp of the interrelationship between listening, speaking, reading and

writing will be more likely to struggle with literacy.

In order for young children to become literate, there are a number of crucial

skills that must be developed. The work of the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP, 2008)

helped set the framework for the importance of early literacy development in children

ages birth to five years old, by identifying foundational skills that should be in place by

the time children begin school. These skills are precursors to literacy success.

The first foundational skill area is related to the alphabet and letters. Children

must be able to recite the names of and recognize letters from the alphabet, According

to Wolfe and Nevills, (2004), the ability to quickly and accurately name letters is “a

13
predictive factor for learning to read”. In addition to naming and recognizing the letters,

children must understand the correlation between each letter and its’ corresponding

sound. This concept, named by Adams (1990) is called the alphabetic principle, and also

plays a significant role in a child’s ability to read.

A second key skill area that needs to be developed in order for children to be

ready to read is that of phonemic awareness, the idea that individual sounds or

phonemes can be combined to comprise words (Wolfe and Nevills, 2004).

Demonstrating phonemic awareness involves the segmenting and isolating of sounds

within words, as well as having the ability to hear rhyming within words. Phonemic

awareness is correlated to oral language, but is also a crucial skill to building the

foundation for reading success. In fact, according to the National Institute of Child

Health and Development report, the element of phonemic awareness is the single

strongest predictor for children’s success in learning to read (NICHD, 2000).

An additional developmental skill necessary for reading readiness is children’s

ability to quickly and automatically name objects and colors that are presented to them

in sets, as well as be able to rapidly name letters and numbers. This skill demonstrates

their ability to complete a task with fluency, a necessary component for reading ability

(NELP, 2008).

According to the NELP, children’s readiness for reading must also include the

ability to write not only their own name, but demonstrate the ability to write letters in

isolation. Understanding of letters and how they translate onto paper is an important

skill for literacy achievement. The final skill listed by the NELP is that of phonological

14
memory, children’s ability to store information into memory and retrieve it as needed in

order to practice reading comprehension. Children with deficient phonological memory

may have trouble comprehending longer, more complex sentences, especially if the

sentences contain vocabulary that is new to them.

In addition to the foundational skills that have just been described, the NELP (2008)

identified five other early literacy skills that also serve as predictors of reading success,

especially as children get closer to beginning their formal schooling experience. Those

skills are:

 concepts about print, including the idea that a book is read from left to right,

from front to back

 print knowledge, which involves knowledge of the alphabet, as well as early

decoding abilities

 reading readiness, that requires children to have phonemic awareness, strong

knowledge of the alphabet and good phonological memory

 oral language, which is the ability to produce or comprehend spoken language,

including vocabulary and grammar

 visual processing, where children are asked to match or discriminate visually

presented symbols

The development of the aforementioned foundational literacy skills are vital to

children’s success. Unfortunately, in some cases families lack the ability, confidence, or

knowledge to provide the experiences that children need in order to become literacy

proficient. Without the requisite foundational skill development, many children start

15
their formal schooling already behind their peers, and those same children tend to

remain behind in their reading development (Torgesen, 2005, as cited in Yeo, Ong and

Ng, 2014).

In fact, students who enter kindergarten lacking in foundational skills are less likely

to benefit from the literacy instruction they will get in school (Whitehurst and Lonigan,

1998). Additional research by Juel (1998) discovered that children who struggle with

reading in first grade have a very high likelihood of continuing to be a struggling reader

in fourth grade. As well, the presence of poor reading skills in students has often been

associated with the development of emotional and behavioral problems such as

aggressive and hyperactive behaviors, as well as issues with lack of effort, and deficits in

feelings of self-worth (Good, Simmons and Smith, 1998). The impact on children’s

reading success is certainly significant when looking at deficient early literacy skill

development. Of particular importance when discussing the foundational literacy skills

is the concept coined by Stanovich (1986) called the “Matthew Effect”. When looking at

variances in reading ability in children, the idea behind the Matthew effect is students

who experience challenges with phonological awareness are also at greater risk of

remaining behind their peers when it comes to all areas of reading achievement,

including decoding abilities and decreased exposure to vocabulary, which leads to lower

levels of reading motivation. Time spent reading is vital to building success as a reader,

and students who lack skill and motivation will continue to fall further behind in their

reading abilities, while their higher achieving peers continue to grow and succeed as

readers. The “Matthew effect” in reading addresses the idea that the rich get richer

16
(strong readers get stronger), while the poor get poorer (struggling readers continue to

struggle).

Phonics has been called one among many cues used in reading (e.g., Dahl,

Sharer, Lawson, & Grogran, 1999). It refers to instructional practices that emphasize

how spellings are related to speech sounds in systematic ways (Snow, Burns, & Griffin,

1998). By this definition, phonics instruction is found in many different types of reading

programs (Routman, 1998). Stahl (2001) defines phonics instruction as any approach in

which the teacher does/says something to help children learn how to decode words.

Claveria approach is teaching the children through pictures. Through picture the

learner will determine the letter that being describe by the picture.

Phonics is more effective than claveria approach, in phonics it begins with the

identification of letters of the alphabet then the sound of each letter followed by

showing pictures according to the letters of the alphabet. Unlike the claveria, through

pictures the learners will determine the letter being describes by the picture.

According to the National Reading Panel (2000), phonemes are the smallest units

constituting spoken language. English consists of about 41 phonemes. Phonemes

combine to form syllables and words.

As such, the phonological aspects of language include its prosodic dimensions—

intonation, stress, and timing—as well as its articulatory units, including words,

17
syllables, and phonemes. Phonological awareness is the ability to attend explicitly to the

phonological structure of spoken words, rather than just to their meanings and syntactic

roles.

Reading fluency refers to the reader’s ability to recognize words accurately and

quickly and to read aloud with appropriate expression. Fluency requires well-developed

word recognition skills, but such skills do not necessarily lead to fluency (National

Reading Panel 2000).

In this context, vocabulary refers to the words children know and use when

communicating with others.

Reading comprehension refers to the ability to assemble words into phrases and

sentences (RAND 2002). For comprehension to occur, students need to be able to:

recognize the words on a page, assign meaning to each word, assemble words into

sentences and then retain this information while reading subsequent sentences.

Reading
Readiness

Phonics Claveria

Phonemic Phonological
Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension
Awareness Awareness

Figure 1: Research Paradigm on Effects of Phonics to the Reading Readiness of

the Kindergarten Pupils

18
Research Question

The general purpose of this study is to determine the effects of phonics to the

reading readiness of kindergarten pupils.

The specific purpose is to seek the answer to the following questions:

1. What is the level of performance on the effects of phonics in the reading

readiness of the experimental and control groups during pre-assessment test

base on the following:

a. Phonemic Awareness

b. Phonological Awareness

c. Fluency

d. Vocabulary

e. Comprehension

2. Is there a significant difference in the performance on the effects of phonics in

the reading readiness of the experimental and control groups after the post-

assessment test base on the following:

a. Phonemic Awareness

b. Phonological Awareness

c. Fluency

d. Vocabulary

e. Comprehension

19
 3. What activities on phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, fluency,

vocabulary and reading comprehension may be proposed?

Hypothesis

There is no significant difference in the performance on the effects of phonics in the

reading readiness of the experimental and control groups after the post-assessment test base

on the following:

a. Phonemic Awareness

b. Phonological Awareness

c. Fluency

d. Vocabulary

e. Comprehension

Scope and Limitations

This study would be using one subject matter only, reading readiness and would

be exploring it using the phonics. Due to time constraints, it would be emphasizing only

to the kindergarten pupils.

Definition of Terms

Phonics

Phonics has been called one among many cues used in reading (e.g., Dahl,
Sharer, Lawson, & Grogran, 1999). It refers to instructional practices that emphasize

20
how spellings are related to speech sounds in systematic ways (Snow, Burns, & Griffin,
1998). By this definition, phonics instruction is found in many different types of reading
programs (Routman, 1998). Stahl (2001) defines phonics instruction as any approach in
which the teacher does/says something to help children learn how to decode words.
This may involve teaching sound-symbol correspondences directly, having children
manipulate sounds in written words through spelling tasks, pointing out patterns in
similarly spelled words, or anything else which helps children learn about orthographic
patterns in written language. Common forms of phonics instruction in the 1960s
included synthetic phonics instruction, analytic instruction, and “linguistic” readers
(Aukerman, 1981). By the 1990s, there were new approaches to phonics instruction,
based on constructivist principles. These approaches—spellingbased approaches such as
Making Words (Cunningham & Cunningham , 1998) or Word Study (Bear, Templeton,
Invernizzi, & Johnston, 1996), embedded phonics approaches (Hiebert, Colt, Catto, &
Gary, 1992), and compare/contrast or analogy-based approaches—all involved children
in active construction of knowledge about orthographic patterns.

Phonemes/ Phonemic Awareness

According to the National Reading Panel (2000), phonemes are the smallest units
constituting spoken language. English consists of about 41 phonemes. Phonemes
combine to form syllables and words. A few words have only one phoneme, such as a or
oh. Most words consist of a blend of phonemes, such as go with two phonemes, or
check with three phonemes, or stop with four phonemes. Phonemes are different from
graphemes, which are units of written language and which represent phonemes in the
spellings of words. Graphemes may consist of one letter, for example, P, T, K, A, N, or
multiple letters, CH, SH, -CK, EA, -IGH, each symbolizing one phoneme. Snow, Burns, and
Griffin (1998) define phonemes as the speech phonological units that make a difference
to meaning. Thus, the spoken word rope is comprised of three phonemes: /r/, /o/, and
/p/. It differs by only one phoneme from each of the spoken words, soap, rode, and rip.
Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to focus on and manipulate phonemes in

21
spoken words. Phonemic awareness is the insight that every spoken word can be
conceived as a sequence of phonemes. Because phonemes are the units of sound that
are represented by the letters of an alphabet, an awareness of phonemes is key to
understanding the logic of the alphabetic principle and thus to the learnability of
phonics and spelling (Snow, Burns, & Griffin,1998).

Phonology/ Phonological Awareness

Snow, Burns, and Griffin (1998) define the terms phonology and phonological
awareness as follows: The term phonology or phonological refers to the sound structure
of speech and, in particular, to the perception, representation, and production of
speech sounds. As such, the phonological aspects of language include its prosodic
dimensions— intonation, stress, and timing—as well as its articulatory units, including
words, syllables, and phonemes. Phonological awareness is the ability to attend
explicitly to the phonological structure of spoken words, rather than just to their
meanings and syntactic roles. This metalinguistic skill involves treating language as the
object of thought, rather than merely using language for communication. Phonological
awareness is a more inclusive term than phonemic awareness and refers to the general
ability to attend to the sounds of language as distinct from its meaning.

Fluency

Reading fluency refers to the reader’s ability to recognise words accurately and
quickly and to read aloud with appropriate expression. Fluency requires well-developed
word recognition skills, but such skills do not necessarily lead to fluency (National
Reading Panel 2000). It is thought reading fluency has three dimensions (Kuhn et al.
2006; Rasinski 2004; Kuhn & Stahl 2003). The first, accuracy in word decoding, refers to
the ability of the reader to sound out words with minimal errors. The second, automatic
processing (automaticity), requires readers to expend as little mental effort as possible
in the decoding aspect of reading so they can instead focus on making meaning. The

22
third, prosodic reading (prosody), refers to the way in which readers use appropriate
expression, emphasis and pauses while reading.

Vocabulary

In this context, vocabulary refers to the words children know and use when
communicating with others. There are four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking,
reading and writing. Listening and speaking vocabularies are sometimes referred to
collectively as oral vocabulary.

Comprehension

Reading comprehension refers to the ability to assemble words into phrases and
sentences (RAND 2002). For comprehension to occur, students need to be able to:
recognise the words on a page, assign meaning to each word, assemble words into
sentences and then retain this information while reading subsequent sentences. They
also need to be able to use their more general knowledge to supply further context to
the text (Pardo 2004). This requires general cognitive abilities, such as attention and
memory, as well as specific skills, such as decoding and vocabulary (RAND 2002; Pressley
2001).

23
 Chapter II

Methods

Research Design

The study will make use of the experimental research. Here, the researcher will

determine the effects of phonics to the reading readiness of the kindergarten pupils through a

research-made test. The researcher will consider this method suitable to the present research

because experimental research, according to Del Siegle, researcher not only manipulate the

independent variable, the researcher also randomly assigned individuals to various treatment

categories.

Sampling and Participants

The population is composed of one hundred eighty (180) kindergarten pupils in

Tuktukan Elementary School of Tuktukan, Guiguinto, Bulacan, who gone through pre-

assessment and post-assessment test. Sixty (60) kindergarten pupils were randomly selected

from the pre-assessment test. The participants were divided into two groups, the control and

experimental groups. The control group composed of thirty (30) kindergarten pupils and the

experimental group composed of thirty (30) kindergarten pupils.

24
Instruments

A 28-pre and post assessment test was used. It has twenty-eight letters of the Filipino

alphabet that will sound by the kindergarten pupils and it will be graded through very good,

good, poor and non-reader. The copy of the instrument can be seen on the Appendices

part.

Data Gathering Procedure

In order to gather all the information and data needed for this study, the

researchers researched related literatures, then conducted the pre-assessment test that

determine control and experimental group. After determining the two groups the

researcher conducted a remedial class for the two groups. Where in the researcher

teach the kindergarten pupils the letter of the alphabets and the sounds of each letter.

After finishing the remedial class, the researcher will conduct the post-assessment test

that will determine the effects of phonics to the reading readiness of the kindergarten

pupils.

Data Analysis

To determine the effects of phonics to the reading readiness of the kindergarten

pupils the researcher will use a pre and post assessment test. After conducting the test,

the researcher will compare the result of the pre and post assessment test.

25
Potential Ethical Issues

The researcher has an obligation to respect the rights, needs, values and desires
of the participants (Marshall and Rossman, 1989, Merriam, 1988; Spradley, 1980).

The following safeguards will be employed to protect the participants rights:

 The researcher will make a written permission to the administration of the

Deped Guiguinto in Guiguinto, Bulacan for gathering data to the selected pupils
of the Tuktukan Elementary School.
 The researcher will make a written permission to principal and head teacher of
the kindergarten pupils for the total population. Then, get the 10% of the
kindergarten pupils total population.
 After determining the number of participants, the researcher will make a written
permission to the selected pupils.
 From the given permission of the researcher, age, gender and birthday were
determined and will serve as an important data of the researcher.
 The selected schools and participants understand the importance of their answer
to data gathering of the researcher.

26
References

Alipasa, Clark Dominic L. Reyes, Clariza A., Assessing the Level of Phonemic Awareness

of ESL Preparatory Pupils at Angelicum Primarosa Montessori School (APMS) through

the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Test, April 16, 2016, De La Salle

University, January 26, 2019, www.academia.edu

Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training, Teaching

Reading Literature Review, December 2005, Pages: 16-29, January 23, 2019,

www.research.ucer.edu.au

Chall Jeanne S. and Indrisano Roselmina, Literacy Development, Journal of Education,

Vol. 177, November 1, 1995, Pages 63-75, Philippine Normal University

Effective Reading Instruction in the Early Years of School, Pages: 6-11, Centre for
education Statics and Evaluation, January 23, 2019, www.CESE,NSW.GOV.AU

Greenstein Teri, How Does the Development of Early Literacy Skills and the Partnership
Between a Child’s Home and School Promote Literacy Success, December 2016, Pages:
10-12, Hamline University, January 23, 2019, Hamline University,
tgreenstein01@hamline.edu

Henry Tarra B., A Review of the Research on Effective Phonics Instruction: How Evan-
Moor’s Daily Phonics Supports Sequential Skill Development in Decoding, Pages: 2-4,
Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, January 23, 2019, www.londonbookfair.co.uk

27
Lucañas Rechelle, REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES, Bicol University,

Pages: 11-18, January 26, 2019, www.academia.edu

Opeyemi Shoaga, PhD, Olugbenga Adeyunju Akintola, Christiana Isiwat OKPOR,

Nurturing Reading Proficiency of Pupils through Phonics: Enterprneurial Opportunities
for Early Childhood Educators in Nigeria, Journal of education and Practice, Vol.8 No.11,
ISSN 2222-1735, 2017, Pages 103-108, January 21, 2019, www.iiste.org

Phajane Masello Helen, Introducing Beginning Reading Using Phonics Approach,

Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy, Vol.5 No.10
ISSN 2039-9340, June 2014, Pages 477-483, January 21, 2019, www.mcser.org

Pressley Michael, Effective Beginning Reading Instruction: A Paper Commissioned by the

National Reading Conference, 2001, Pages: 17-27, University of Notre Dame,
www.literacyresearchassociation.org

Sitthitikul Pragasit, Theoretical Review of Phonics Instruction for Struggling/Beginning

Readers of English, PASAA Journal of Language Teaching and Learning in Thailand,
Vol.48, July-December 2014, Pages 114-123, January 21, 2019, www.eric.ed.gov

Tucker Moore Elizabeth Kelli, The Differences in Reading Readiness Among

Kindergartens Who Attended State and Federally Funded Pre-K in Alabama, December
2011, Pages: 1-9, Liberty University, January 21, 2019, www.core.ac.uk

28
 Appendices

Please check ( ̸ ) the descriptions (Very Good, Good, Poor or Non-Reader) in each letter.

Recogize and
Sound the VERY GOOD GOOD POOR NON-READER
following letters
Aa
Bb
Cc
Dd
Ee
Ff
Gg
Hh
Ii
Jj
Kk
Ll
Mm
Nn
Ññ
NG ng
Oo
Pp
Qq
Rr
Ss
Tt
Uu
Vv
Ww
Xx
Yy
Zz
TOTAL

29
Curriculum Vitae

CAREER OBJECTIVE

To be a part of a highly motivated, very prominent and well progressive institution that

has the ability to provide an effective experience, challenging employment and

opportunity required in seeking for a more professional advancement and practice of

my basic skills needed in my future career.

EDUCATIONAL PROFILE

TERTIARY Bulacan State University

Bachelor in Elementary Education

Major in Mathematics

City of Malolos, Bulacan

2002 – 2006

SECONDARY Hagonoy Institute

Hagonoy, Bulacan

1992 – 2002

30
EXAMINATION TAKEN

 Successfully passed the Philippine Teachers Licensure Examination last August

27, 2006, Tacloban City

ORGANIZATION INVOLVED

 A Member of the National Organization of Professional Teachers, Inc.,

November 2006

SKILLS AND INTEREST

 Computer Literate

 Proficient in both Filipino and English

 Possesses good interpersonal and communication skills and manages multi-

tasking effectively

 Eager to learn and willing to be train

 Flexibility in working with various people

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Date of Birth : September 21, 1985

Place of Birth : Tripoli Libya, Libya

Citizenship : Filipino

Height : 5'

Weight : 97 lbs.

31
 Religion : Roman Catholic

WORK EXPERIENCE

ELEMENTARY TEACHER

School of Wisdom for Ideal Children

San Agustin, Hagonoy, Bulacan

June 2007 – March 2012

International Montessori Center

Sta. Isabel, City of Malolos, Bulacan

August 2012 – March 2013

TUTOR

House to house tutoring

Hagonoy, Bulacan

June 2007 – March 2013

ELEMENTARY TEACHER

Don Bosco Technical Institute

Makati

June 2013 – April 2014

SEMINAR / TRAINING ATTENDED

Developing Teaching Learning Competencies

In Today’s World

32
Bulacan State University

City of Malolos, Bulacan

June 7 – 9, 2005

Symposium on the 12 Success Principles

Bulacan State University

City of Malolos, Bulacan

November 25, 2005

Critical Thinking

Bulacan State University

City of Malolos, Bulacan

January 7, 2006

Testing Teachers’ Testing Skills

Holy Spirit Academy

City of Malolos, Bulacan

January 30, 2010

33
CHARACTER REFERENCES

DON BUENSUCESO

Area Head of Mathematics Department

Don Bosco Technical Institute

Makati City, Makati

MARIQUIT PABICO

Elementary Teacher

Don Bosco Technical Institute

Makati City, Makati

I hereby certify that all information collated herein is true and factual to the best of my

knowledge and ability.

___________________________

Erika Belle C. Garcelis

Applicant

34