MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A Thesis USING JOLLY PHONICS BLENDING PHONEME TO TEACH READING SKILLS FOR THE 5TH GRADERS AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN HANOI Sử d
INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Proficiency in reading is a fundamental aspect of language acquisition and is crucial to learning English In teaching and learning English, reading skill is one of four skills (along with grammar and vocabulary) We cannot read if we don't know about the sounds and phonemes It's pronunciation Stated differently, three language skills—speaking, writing, and listening—are impacted by a lack of reading knowledge Hence, the key elements in language transmission and acquisition are thought to be reading abilities
Reading skills needed a long process of practice, study, and accumulation In general, students are very "hesitant," "anxious, and "impatient" to read words, sentences, texts, stories, and paragraphs; their use of words is still limited They often speak and pronounce the wrong words with no ending sounds Most children have the habit of speaking with Vietnamese sounds Some children try to memorize the way they write Vietnamese letters, leading to fear and reluctance to read and speak English This happens frequently because students do not know how to and have not found a suitable reading skill learning method for themselves Some schools were used traditional phonics to teach reading skills, but it is too slow and old, the students need to spend much time for learning it Although they spent much time for learning traditional phonics to improve reading skills, they could not remember
Through the practice of teaching English at a primary school and English centers for many years, I have found that teachers have always made efforts to help students read well However, many students cannot read and speak the words, stories, texts Limited reading skill causes many obstacles for them in acquiring language knowledge as well as developing communication skills They need to learn how to read a word or blend sound by sound Jolly Phonics helped students identify the sound and link them, they can read well if they know the sounds
In order to draw students' attention and willingness to learn reading skills, it was necessary to use an effective and engaging method for teaching reading skills particularly to primary students Primary school English instruction should ideally follow a strategy that takes advantage of children's natural tendencies to learn by blending The reality demonstrates how prevalent the traditional phonics approach
Amidst traditional approaches in teaching English reading skills, Jolly Phonics emerged as an innovative method Unlike conventional phonics, Jolly Phonics incorporates sound-blending techniques to enhance students' reading ability and word recognition This departure from traditional methods has proven effective in addressing the limitations of previous approaches and optimizing student learning outcomes.
That is why I chose the JP blending phonemes in my research in order to figure out the efficiency of implementing this method when teaching reading skills to primary students.
Aims and objectives
The purpose of this research is to help students at a primay school in Hanoi city improve their reading aloud skills with the implementaton of Jolly Phonics blending phonemes In order to achieve this aim ,the study is expected to reach the following objectives:
1 To measure the effectiveness of Jolly Phonics blending phoneme method on students’ reading skills?
2 To determine how the Jolly Phonics blending phoneme method is perceived by students as a means of learning reading skills.
Research questions
1 How effectiveness is Jolly Phonics blending phonemes method on students’ reading skills?
2 What is the students’ attitudes on the implementation of Jolly Phonics blending phonemes method in learning reading skills?
Method of the study
In order to achieve the aim, research procedures are used in the study The data will be collected via survey questionnaires, interviews, and pre – tests, post tests
Scope of the study
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of Jolly Phonics blending phoneme method on improving students’ reading aloud skills and the attitudes of 50 5th graders in a primary school in Hanoi city in 3 months.
Significance of the study
The study's theoretical goals are to inform English language instructors and researchers about the Jolly Phonics phonemes-blending method and how to use it to teach primary school children how to read
Moreover, the study's conclusions may help English teachers in Vietnam generally and in Hanoi specifically improve their methods of instruction This could help students' reading skills and attitudes toward the subject matter of English study.
Structure of Thesis
The present thesis is structured into five distinct chapters
The introductory chapter lays the foundation for the study by outlining its justification, establishing its goals and objectives, and defining the research questions It also delineates the scope of the study and provides an overview of its structure, ensuring a clear understanding of the research aims and methodology.
The second chapter (“Literature Review”) provides a comprehensive review of literature related to the field of JP blending phonemes, including studies that examine terminologies and previous studies
The third chapter (“Research Methodology”) presents the proposed methodology for analysis The methods utilized in this study are drawn from previous research studies
The fourth chapter (“Findings and Discussion”) reports the results and subsequent discussion of the study's key findings
The final chapter serves as the conclusion, providing a comprehensive summary of the entire content Furthermore, this section provides an overview of the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background
Reading skills vary in interpretation among academics Despite the absence of a definitive starting point, reading remains a crucial skill for students, facilitating exposure to target languages and boosting linguistic competence (Erten & Razı, 2003) It is an integral component of our daily lives, encompassing diverse materials such as books and newspapers However, the inability to comprehend what is read diminishes the effectiveness of reading.
Interpretations of reading abound, and each one reflects the perspective of the writer on the act of reading Anderson (1999) 1) Provides a fairly clear explanation of this, saying that reading is an active, fluid process that engages both the reader and the reading material in order to construct meaning Reading is the process through which meaning is created by fusing the printed words with the reader's prior knowledge and experiences Meaning does not exist on the printed page
Reading is a mechanical process in which the "eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message," according to Harmer (1989: 153) Harmer concentrates on the two acts that are controlled by the eyes and the brain in his definition, in addition to the process's velocity According to the adage "a reading text moves at the speed of the reader," the reader choose how quickly to read the material
According to manner, there were 2 main types of reading : reading aloud and reading silent (Doff – 1988) a Reading aloud
According to Doff (p 70), reading aloud entails "looking the text, understanding it, and also saying it." He views this as a means of getting important information
5 over to someone else Very few people have to read aloud every day as part of their job Students are requested to read the passage aloud loud enough for others to hear Since "reading aloud is not an activity we engage in very often outside the classroom," as stated by Doff (1988: 67), reading aloud does not occur outside of the classroom b Reading silent
It's "the method we normally use with our native language and onthe whole quickest and most efficient" according to Lewis (1985: 110) Similar in concept, Doff (1988: 67) defined silent reading as "the process of looking at a sentence and comprehending the meaning it conveys, or in other words, deciphering written text t usually doesn't entail speaking the words we read out or even just thinking them silently." As a result, it is clear that silent reading is a useful ability for improving reading comprehension since it allows pupils to read at their own pace, skip terms they don't understand, and go back and read them again Students who read aloud not only quickly grasp the text's essential ideas but also fully comprehend its details and are able to respond to inquiries
In this study, reading aloud is chosen to apply JP blending phonemes method, students will learn reading in a new way.
Phonics
Phonics, a crucial reading cue, involves teaching strategies emphasizing the relationship between spelling and pronunciation Numerous reading programs incorporate phonics training Stahl defines phonics instruction as any method where teachers guide students in deciphering words by demonstrating patterns, modifying sounds, or teaching sound-symbol correspondences In the 1960s, popular phonics teaching methods included "linguistic" readers, analytical instruction, and synthetic phonics instruction.
New methods of teaching phonics emerged during the 1990s Phonics is a system for understanding spoken and written sounds and letters Instead of teaching kids to recognize entire words, this method of teaching them to read encourages them to decode words by sounds Bald (2007:10) Synthetic phonics, in which words are divided into their smallest units of sound (phonemes), is the main focus of early childhood education Youngsters are taught how to blend these phonemes into words as well as the letters (graphemes) that represent them In its most basic form, teaching kids to read words like e-m-a (stand) and combine the letters to pronounce ema is all that is required However, phonemes can naturally be represented by one, two, three, or four letters For instance, basic words can be formed by combining the letters e-me (standing), ra-ga (kick), fo-ro-ko (fork), and so on Approximately forty phonic sounds and the letter combinations that correspond to each sound are methodically taught to children
Bald (2007:10) Children require phonically written books with regular words that are engaging to them in order to learn the phonics approach To reach the highest level of achievement, the youngster needs to sound out each word You should make it brief and engaging for young children because they can find learning the sounds and their mixtures boring Children find words uninteresting because they are frequently too preoccupied with focused on how the words sound and mix together to understand the meaning of the term
Allington & Cunningham (2007:133) To maintain attention and a passion for learning, make sure you define terms or provide further context for them One letter a day works pretty well and doesn't get monotonous, but one letter a week tends to drag out and the youngster frequently loses the plot halfway through You can introduce one letter a day or one letter a week You will consequently feel like a failure and become stuck as a result It's normal for pupils to take two, three, or even seven days to grasp a single letter, but don't give up; with time, their developing minds will find a way to stop Youngsters are eager to please you and are natural learners, so they will learn well from you Chall (1999:34) In three to six months, most kids can read simple words and sentences using the phonics method It gives the pupil resources to increase the size of their vocabulary It's critical to understand that the main objectives of phonics training are to give kids essential knowledge and abilities and to make sure they can use those skills in their writing and reading Put differently, teaching phonics is a means to an aim (Goouch
& Lambirth, 2007:23) For children to effectively utilize letter-sound information, they must possess phonemic awareness
As an illustration, you are aware that b produces the /b/ sound and c the /k/ sound The sounds that the letters make can be associated with them
This study based on Phonics is "a method of teaching children to read, in which children are taught to recognize the relationship between letters and sounds," according to Richards and Schmidth (2002) definition
An educational strategy called phonics is used, especially with younger students, to help them develop their reading and writing abilities in alphabetic languages like English It has been discovered that youngsters benefit from developing phonemic awareness, which is the capacity to sense, identify, and work with different phonetic units that distinguish words in the English language The Department of Education is responsible for establishing the fundamental specifications needed to create a systematic and effective program for synthetic phonics education It is generally acknowledged that phonics education must be included in the curriculum in order to educate kids how to read There are, nevertheless, numerous methods for teaching phonics Let's dissect them now
• When teaching phonics to students in order to help them learn to read, there are four main approaches that are used They include embedded phonics, analytic phonics, synthetic phonics, and analogy phonics To find out more about each of these various instructional structures, continue reading
• Synthetic phonics: Words are divided into their smallest phonemes in a teaching approach known as synthetic phonics Phonemes, the smallest units of sound, are used to break words down in this synthetic phonics teaching method This approach to teaching helps kids recognize all of the phonemes in a word, match them to a letter, and correctly spell the word
• Analytical phonics: In this context, educators concentrate on training students to analyze letter-sound relationships in words that they have already learned to avoid pronouncing sounds alone
• Analogy phonics: This method teaches students to decode words they don't know by using the pieces of words they have already learnt to read This phonics approach helps kids develop new information by making connections with their current knowledge
• Embedded phonics: Using embedding phonics education approaches to teach students phonics skills requires a far more hands-on approach to reading An impliciter method that depends on accidental learning exists
A educational approach called phonics is used to help young pupils as they build their literacy skills in alphabetic languages like English The acquisition of phonemic awareness, which includes the ability to recognize, sense, and manipulate individual phonemes that denote words in the English language, has been shown to benefit babies The Department of Education bears the responsibility of formulating the essential standards for efficient and methodical synthetic phonics education programs It is well accepted that one of the most important ways to effectively teach children to read is to include phonics instruction in the curriculum However, there are other approaches to teaching phonics
The utilization of the phonics strategy in South Africa's reading problem necessitates the extensive deployment of resources to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds are exposed to phonics
The National Reading Panel (2000) states that a phoneme is the smallest unit of spoken language There are approximately 41 phonemes in English Syllables and words are formed by combining phonemes Some words, like a and oh, have just one phoneme The majority of words are combinations of phonemes; for example, go has two phonemes, check has three phonemes, and halt has four phonemes Graphemes, which are units of written language that reflect phonemes in word spellings, are not the same as phonemes A grapheme can be one letter, like P, T, K,
A, or N, or it can be made up of several characters, as CH, SH, -CK, EA, or -IGH, each of which represents a single phoneme According to Snow, Burns, and Griffin
(1998), phonemes are the phonological components of speech that vary in meaning The three phonemes that make up the spoken word rope are /r/, /o/, and /p/ It is identical to the spoken words soap, rode, and rip except for one phoneme
In the 1880s, a professor at Kazan University named Baudouin de Courtenay provided the first explanation of the phoneme theory He made a clear distinction between a phoneme and a spoken sound in his treatise "On the Comparative Study of the Grammar of Slavonic Languages." The person in question believed that a phoneme was a unique unit that distinguished semantic categories, but that a speech sound was an anthropophonics element of speech that had no intrinsic value The
9 aforementioned distinction proved to be exceedingly advantageous and facilitated the establishment of reciprocal connections between the auditory perception and the phonemic unit
According to L.V Shcherba's 1955 publication on the phonetics of the French language, spoken language comprises a far greater range of unique sounds than is generally believed These sounds combine, within each particular language, to form a system of very few sound categories that work to differentiate words and their grammatical variants Thus, this approach makes it easier for people to communicate effectively with one another Phonemes are the individual sounds to which he was referring During his investigation of the phoneme, L.V Shcherba deduces that the phoneme has a social component, serving as a speech sound that people utilize when speaking A key element of phonemic theory is the teaching of the discriminative function of phonemes This idea is most important in light of L.V Shcherba's description of the phoneme's sense-differentiating function, which was a turning point in the understanding of phonemes
There were two major linguistic movements regarding the concept of the phoneme over a period of years The main difference between the educational establishments was how each conceptualized the phoneme Supporters of L.V Shcherba took their cue from the word, while Moscow linguists took their cue from the morpheme People's different points of view affected how they approached the phoneme and how they understood the larger phonetic system Avanesov (1956) observed that since the two theories explained different linguistic phenomena, it was clear that they were both harmonious and accurate He therefore recommended making a distinction between the term’s "phoneme" and "phonematic family." In General Phonetics (1960), L.R Zinder reinforced R.I Avanesov's concept of the
"phonematic family" and advanced the teaching of phoneme variations, phonematic structure, and other issues
Review of previous studies
Below, we give a selection of current research papers that have investigated the efficacy of the Jolly Phonics method In a research conducted by Stuart (1999), a sample of 112 children at the age of five was examined, of which 96 were identified as English second language learners The participants were allocated to either the experimental group, which received the Jolly Phonics intervention, or the control group, which utilized a whole-language strategy centered around the use of huge books Holdaway’s (1979) Before the commencement of the 12-week intervention, a pretest was administered to assess the children's phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and proficiency in spoken and written language Following the implementation of the intervention, all participants were administered post-tests on the various measures immediately after the intervention and once more after a period of one year The findings indicated that the implementation of the Jolly Phonics program significantly enhanced children's development of phoneme awareness and phonics proficiency, hence facilitating their capacity to effectively utilize this information in the domains of reading and writing
The following research comes from the English Education Department of Ganesha University of Education Bali, and is credited to Ni Putu Pebri Ariani, Ni Nyoman Padmadewi, and I Wayan Suarnajaya Jolly Phonics: an effective technique for boosting children's English literacy is the title of their journal The purpose of this document is to provide ways for teaching and developing children's reading in English using Jolly Phonics This study was carried out in one of Denpasar, Bali's cutting-edge bilingual schools Teachers' information is gathered for this study by observation, documentation, interviews, and the descriptive qualitative method of research design The results demonstrate that the instructor has effectively implemented five Jolly Phonics skills: (1) learning letter sounds; (2) learning letter formation; (3) learning blending; (4) detecting sounds in words—for writing
20 purposes; and (5) complicated 25 Sue Lloyd, The Phonics Handbook, p 28–20 words, using a range of entertaining methods that appeal to kids' senses of sight, sound, and kinesthetic awareness Using the methods outlined in Jolly Phonics will help children become more proficient readers of English in general that pupils' English literacy can be enhanced by the cheerful phonics approach
Effectiveness of 'Jolly Phonics' Strategy in Developing the Pronunciation Skills of Primary Schoolers is the title of another study by Prof M Abu-Rahmah, Dr E A Ibaaly, and Taghreed A A Mekawy from the Faculty and Education Journal in Ismailia This study suggests that the researcher employed a quasi-experimental methodology Two first-year elementary classes from Elewa Elgededa Primary School in Sharqia Governorate's El-Huissanea (2012) district were sampled by the researcher There were two classes: the experimental class and the control class The researcher's tool of choice is: 1) A pronunciation skills identification questionnaire 2 An assessment of pronunciation The t-test, Etasquared, and Cronbach's Alpha were used to statistically assess the collected data The research results show that the cheerful phonics technique helps participants improve their pronunciation skills Their research showed that primary school students' pronunciation might be improved by using the cheerful phonics method There are noticeable changes in the data shown in the diary between the pre- and post- application periods of this humorous phonics method
In their longitudinal study, Johnston and Watson (2005) investigated the positive impacts of synthetic phonics instruction on the literacy achievements of primary school children in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, over a period of 7 years Approximately 300 students enrolled in primary 1 were segregated into three distinct groups Three groups of participants were instructed using different phonics approaches: the synthetic phonics method (specifically the Jolly Phonics programmed), the analytic phonics method, and a combination of the analytic phonics method with rhyme and phonemic awareness training To ensure the sustainability of advancements in children's literacy acquisition, a longitudinal study was conducted to monitor the growth of these individuals from the first year of primary education to the seventh year Throughout this period, their proficiency in spelling, word recognition, and reading comprehension was consistently evaluated
The third study is by Evi Faustina and Masitha Achmad Syukri from the English Department of Airlangga University Their diary is titled The effectiveness of Jolly Phonics in teaching 4-year-old children Indonesian children read English text The purpose of this study is to know The effectiveness of Jolly Phonics in teaching 4- year-old Indonesian children at The Apple Tree School Surabaya to read English texts Researchers Use pre-testing and post-testing The before and after inspection using ERSI (Early Reading Screener) ERSI includes 4 assessment tasks, that is knowledge of the alphabet, word concepts, phonemic awareness, and word identification The study's findings indicate that while teaching reading regular words with the cheerful phonics approach can be successful, teaching reading irregular words may not be able to benefit from it
The findings revealed that upon completion of primary 7, the cohort of students who underwent the Jolly Phonics (JP) program had a notable advancement of 3 years and 6 months beyond their chronological age in word recognition, 1 year and
8 months ahead in spelling proficiency, and 3 years and 5 months ahead in reading comprehension skills The study conducted by Ekpo et al (2007) aimed to examine the impact of Jolly Phonics on the improvement of reading skills among primary one student The study's sample comprised 168 primary-one kids selected from five schools located in three senatorial districts of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria (2015) Two intact classes were purposefully chosen from each school to constitute the experimental and control groups The experimental groups were administered the Jolly Phonics curriculum as the intervention The experimental group exhibited a range of improvement in reading age, spanning from 3 to 29 months, as measured by the Burt Reading Test (with scores ranging from 5.3 to 5.7) The findings of the study indicate that the use of Jolly Phonics (JP) yielded positive outcomes in improving children's reading abilities
Dixon, Schhagen, and Seedhouse's 2011 study investigated the efficacy of Jolly Phonics (JP) in enhancing English literacy among students from low-income schools in India The quasi-experimental design involved over 500 participants from 20 schools receiving a 6-month intervention The experimental group received JP-based lessons, while the control group continued their regular English curriculum The study measured reading and spelling abilities and found significant improvements in the experimental group, demonstrating the positive impact of JP on English literacy.
The study by Eshiet (2012) demonstrated the efficacy of Jolly phonics in improving reading abilities among young Nigerians The intervention group (JP groups) showed significant enhancement in their reading scores compared to the control group, highlighting the positive impact of Jolly phonics on reading proficiency.
In a case study design employing a mixed method approach, Eshiet implemented the use of Jolly Phonics as an intervention The collection of quantitative data involved the administration of standardized reading and spelling exams, whilst the acquisition of qualitative data was accomplished through focus group discussions with teachers The results indicated that the use of the happy phonics (JP) method resulted in enhanced reading proficiency among students and a heightened level of enthusiasm among teachers for teaching English
The research that follows was conducted by Melor Md Yunus and Zulkifli Ahmad of the Universiti Kebangsaan (2015) Malaysia Faculty of Education The Effectiveness of Using Jolly Phonics Blending Phonemes to Year 3 English Language Classroom is the title of their journal The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Jolly Phonics Blending Phonemes' efficacy for third-graders A quasi- experimental research design was employed in this study There are two student groups used: the Control group and the Experimental group Students' achievement, interest, and total score had all changed significantly, it was discovered When compared to Group B (Control Group), however, Experimental Group A (Experimental Group) has demonstrated positive outcomes Following the introduction of JPBP, Group A may perform better on the present test and have a stronger interest in phonics instruction Students will demonstrate curiosity and self- motivation when introduced to novel and engaging ways, as evidenced by this significant improvement in overall performance As per the findings of their study on cheerful phonics, there exists a noteworthy variation in the whole score, encompassing both interest and accomplishments
In a study conducted by Shepherd (2013), the researcher examined the impact of the Jolly Phonics programme on the enhancement of fundamental reading abilities among primary school students in Cross River State, Nigeria A total of approximately 300 children from six different schools were involved in this study, which spanned a duration of eight months In each educational institution, a certain class was assigned to receive daily instruction utilizing the pedagogical approach known as Jolly Phonics (JP), while another class served as the control group and
23 adhered to the conventional teaching style primarily centered around repetitive learning and memorizing techniques A pretest/posttest comparison was conducted utilizing the Early Grade Reading Assessment instruments to assess various fundamental English literacy skills The findings of the study indicated that the children who participated in the happy phonics (JP) groups exhibited significantly greater proficiency in literacy exams compared to those who received their regular literacy training
In Vietnam, there arenot any research about JP They just research the effectivess of Phonics like: An evaluation of the application of phonics software in an English course for children at Thinh Quang primary school by Dinh Thi Hong Van, 2010 A questionaire was used with 141 students of grade 1 and 2 at Thinh Quang primay school Students were used Phonics sofware to learn English at class This reserach provided the information that the Phonics brings children confidence in learning at class, but it’s another kind of phonics, not Jolly Phonics
The JP blending phonemes method is a new method and is given good effection in reading skills but it’s not popular.
Summary
The chapter has thus far discussed the pertinent literature review that contributes to the development of the study's theoretical framework The framework the researcher used in this study is based on theories about Zulkifli Ahmad and Melor
Md Yunus by significant authors like Olviyanti (2015), Sharipa (2015), as well as
JP including definition, principles, procedures and benefits by Ni Putu Pebri Ariati,
Ni Nyoman Padmadewi, and I Wayan Suarnajaya (2018) and in Vietnam doesn’t have any research about Jolly Phonics The summary of the relevant studies in the same field was also presented to readers in this chapter
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research setting
This research was conducted at primary school in Hanoi city It is a public schools in the area with over 1000 students from grade 1 to grade 5 There are 80 teachers in it The English curriculumn for grade 5 was Global Success English textbooks which develops 4 listening, speaking, reading and writing skills according to regulations of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education in the English training program for primary school students Besides, they learned Family and Friends 5 special edition textbook to improve vocabulary, sentences and phonics
To improve reading aloud skills students will be provided with a lesson plan that incorporates the Jolly Phonics Blending Phonemes technique in each session They would not learn phonics in the Family and Friends textbook Group 1,2,3,4 was used in this research They learn in the Jolly Phonics sound blending book which is attached in the Appendix.
Research participants
The participants were 50 students at a primary school in Hanoi city Students would take tests, including pre-test and post-test The above students will participate in the survey questions At the beginning and the end of the course, I chose students to take an interview about the results before and after applying the above method.
Data collection instruments
The type of this research is quantitative research The technique of collecting data of this research as follow:
Tests were one of the objective tools I used for the investigation The effectiveness of JP blending phonemes was evaluated by comparing the post-test results of the students to their pre-test results at the same level All of the pre- test, post tests had 10 sentences with 100 marks, each sentence is 10 If the students misreaded a word or mispronounces vocabulary parts in a sentence or did not have a ending sounds that sentence would not be scored
The pre-tests were given to the class at the preliminary stage The purpose of the pre-test was to measure the reading skills of the students in the class The post-tests were given to the students at the beginning of the next lesson They were designed with a reading text There were 10 sentences The students had to finish the test in 5 minutes by reading aloud The tests were made in the form of a sheet, and the students would blend and read aloud The content of the pre tests and post tests was relevant to the content in JP course book
Post-test 2 was a reading-aloud test too The teacher showed test on the board; students looked at it and read aloud too There were 10 sentences Students needed to practice at home before lesson
All of the pre- test, post tests had 10 sentences with 100 marks, each sentence is 1o point If the students misreaded a word or mispronounces vocabulary parts in a sentence or did not have a ending sounds that sentence would not be scored
I employed a series of surveys with 5 questions on them In my survey, I used the Likert scale Every remark discussed how pupils felt about their school's English classes The scale rated from 1 to 5, relevant to from strongly disagree to strongly agree The survey was given to the students 2 days before the lesson In order to help students understand clearly some questions in it, teacher would help and translate to Vietnamese for students and give them direction before giving the survey
The interview was divided into 2 parts Part 1 included 1 questions This part was given to the students before the lesson to find out about the their attitude towards English and the lesson Part 2 consisted 3 questions This part was given to the students after the lesson to see if there was any changes in the attitude of the students towards the lesson with the implementing of JP Five random students were chosen to participate in the interview All the answered were recorded and transcribed.
Research design
3.4.1 Definition of Classrom Action Research
Scholars with expertise in language education and research have characterized Classroom Action Research (CAR) in a number of ways CAR is defined by Elliot
(1991) as "a method of studying classroom situations to improve the quality of
26 teaching activities" "It is a small-scale study to solve a practical problem," as Van Lier (1996) phrased it In contrast, CAR is "simply a research activity conducted at the same time as teaching activities," according to O'Brien (2001) Or Dick (2002) puts it more succinctly when she describes CAR as "the process of both teaching and learning (learning by doing)." In further detail, Carr & Kemmis (1986) define CAR as “a self-reflective inquiry process conducted by teachers to enhance the reasonableness and legitimacy of the pedagogical methods or situations that they encounter in their teaching activities” As can be seen from a few of the definitions above, CAR is performed in order to:
• Improve understanding of teaching activities;
• Improve educational situations during teaching
The Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) Action Research Model serves as a useful framework for understanding the key stages of action research, offering a succinct representation of essential concepts Despite criticism for being overly rigid, the model remains valuable in its simplicity and has been widely adopted Researchers acknowledge its pioneering role in advancing action research methodology.
In this stage, I prepared all the materials needed for the research:
- A 45-minute lesson plan for Step 1 – group 1,2 including JP blending method
- A pre test for the beginning of the lesson to test the students’reading skills, and a post test which was used to test their reading skills after learning the lesson This post test was used in the next lesson
- A questionnaire list(and a list of questions for interviews )
- A video and worksheet for them to practise at home
- One cycle was acted for 1,5 months
To assess students' reading readiness, a pre-test involving a brief 10-sentence text was administered within 5 minutes Individual student efforts were encouraged without teacher assistance The subsequent lesson, guided by the Sound Blending book, began with a brainstorming session where students were asked to identify sounds and their corresponding letters The lesson progressed to the JP blending method, teaching the fundamental principles of sound blending and word formation Worksheets reinforced the concepts A post-test during the following English class served as a follow-up assessment to gauge progress in phonics skills.
During the lesson, I observed the students' replies, attitude, participation, and achievement All the observation was noted down d Reflecting
After the lessons, all the issues were considered All the observation, answers and results were analyzed After completing the first cycle, I encounted some issues and mistakes in the process of teaching I continued my research with Cycle II using the same concepts as the first one The lesson in Cycle II was from Group 3,4 To be specific, the CAR employed in this study was a cyclical technique developed by Kemmis and McTaggert, as indicated in the figure
Data analysis
The scores from the pre test and post tests were used to collect quantitative data Both pre test and post test 1 consisted of reading a short story Post test 2 which students would read a long story Students needed read aloud, fluently The highest score was 100 point The means of students’ score was calculated by the following formula:
The passing rate was 80%, which means that students had to score 8 in the test The minumum percentage of students’ who passed the tests was calculated by the following formula
R : The number of students who get point more than 7
All the numbers and results were processed in Microsoft Exel
- Students must read the text and blend phonemes fluently and exactly
- If studens had one mistake when they read They would be subtract the point One mistake is one point
One of the Likert scale's most often used versions, the 5-level scale, was employed in this investigation Based on responses, the 5-level Likert scale, also called the Likert scale, is employed, with each question denoting one of five rising levels of satisfaction or agreement Rensis Likert, an American social scientist, created it in 1932
The Likert scale is employed in research to gauge participants' perspectives, actions, and beliefs on identified issues Researchers present subjects with a spectrum of options ranked by agreement level, allowing for ease of data analysis due to its quantitative nature The questionnaire typically includes five response options: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree, providing quantifiable data for analysis.
Prior to the commencement of the lesson, a questionnaire was administered to students to ascertain their attitudes toward English lessons within their academic institution Utilizing Microsoft Excel, all quantitative data and findings underwent comprehensive analysis.
Interviews with students were used to collect qualitative data 5 students in the class were chosen randomly There were 4 questions in my interview given to them after the lesson to determine their feeling about the JP blending phonemes method
The students answered with Yes or No to each question All the answers were recorded and transcribed.
Summary
This chapter provides detailed information about the methods of data analysis, and the steps to conduct the action researcher including preliminary investigation, action plan, implementation, observation and reflection The major instruments used for data collection are survey questionnaires, tests and interviews The findings of the research will be presented in the next chapter
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
Results and analysis from tests
One of the goals of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the JP phoneme matching method on the English reading skill results of 5th grade students Before and after the intervention to verify the reliability of the progress of the JP blending phonemes method, students were given pre-tests and post-tests, two tests later The purpose of post-test 1 is to find out whether there is a difference in results between the pre-test and post-test 1 so that researchers can determine the effectiveness of the
JP blending method to improve reading skills The purpose of post-test 2 is to test students' memory abilities when implementing the JP phoneme blending method The pre – test and post tests are reading sentences in a story, there were 10 sentences with 100 point They needed use blend skills to read
The collected results of the tests are calculated, analyzed and presented in Table 3
Table 3 Students’ test results in cycle 1 Number of students Score of pre-test Score of post test 1 Score of post test
It can be seen from Table 2 that the minumum score of the pre-test is 10, these of the post test 1 and 2 are 30 and 50 respectively, whereas the maximum score of 3 tests is 100 The gaps between the minimum score and the maximum score of pre test, post test 1 and post test 2 are 90, 70 and 40 points respectively The average score on the pretest was 43,60; for post-test 1, it was 54,80; and for post-test 2, it was 60,20 Research results showed that the quality of each test has improved quite strongly Especially from pretest to post-test 1 rather than from posttest 1 to post-test 2
In general, it can be seen that JP has helped very weak students to be able to identify sounds and combine them into one word to read Usually, when reading texts, there will be many words called tricky words Because these words need to be studied more carefully, students need to review their homework more
Table 4 Comparison of distribution of test score range in cycle 1
Pre test Post test 1 Post test 2 Number students of % Number students of % Number students of %
After cycle 1, i found that the mark of students got better The number of students had very good and average mark increased The number of students have poor or very poor marks are decreased with 2 and 2 The result clearly show on the figure below:
Figure 2: Score range in cycle 1
It is revealed in Table 4 tand figure 2 that before teaching reading by JP, the majority of the students could not do the test successully In the pre test, up to 38,00% of the students get poor mark and 18,00% of them received very poor mark The percentage of the students who get avarage score is the highest, at 24% The proportion of the students who get good and excellent score is 10%% and 10% respectively
In the post test 1, the number of students who get excellent score increases tremendously from 10% to 18% 10% of the students have good marks and 48% of them receive avarage score
The rate of poor scores decrese after the post test 1, from 38% to 18% the percent very weak decrease from 18% to 6% In the post test 2, the percentage of the students with the very good scores kept in 18% Meanwhile, the datas for good and avarage score rise to 12% and 64% respectively Whereas, the number of students who have poor results goes down to 2 student, accnounting for 4% of the total students In addition, the number of students have very weark accnounting for 4%, decrease from 3 to 2 students
Table 5 Students’ test results in cycle 2 Number of students Score of pre-test Score of post test
Obviously, in cycle 2, the average score after each test also changed significantly The mean of the pre-test was 42,60 and the post-test figure increasd slightly to 55,00 and the result in post-test 2 was higher at 62.80 The end results clearly show progress in students' ability to read aloud JP blending phonemes can be help students remember the word better
Table 6 Comparison of distribution of test score range in cycle 2
Pre test Post test 1 Post test 2
After cycle 2, i found that the mark of students got better The number of students had very good and average mark increased The number of students have poor or very poor marks are decreased with 4 and 1 The result clearly show on the figure below:
Figure 3: Score range in cycle 2
Through table 6 and figure 3 , in the preliminary exam, the number of students scoring was poor, accounting for the highest percentage of 38%, followed by the average score of 28% There were 9 students with very poor scores The figures for people receiving good and excellent scores are quite low, 8% and 8% respectively
In test 1, the average group still ranked first with 48% The number of students with poor scores decreased from 19 students to 10 students, equivalent to 20%
After the post-test 2, the overall student performance showed a significant improvement The percentage of students receiving average marks remained highest at 68.89% The very good group saw a rise to 28.00%, while the excellent group grew to 18.00% Notably, the number of students with very poor scores decreased from 4.00% to 2.00%.
JP blending phonemes method in teaching has a positive effect on students’reading skills
Pre - test Post test 1 Post test 2
Very good Good Average Poor Very poor
Many students have improved when approaching this new method Looking at figures 3 and 6, we can see that many students are getting good scores and then getting better more sets However, many students get lower scores due to a lack of review at home Therefore, it can be seen that although JP can help students improve, students still need to review lessons at home
4 2 Results and analysis from questionnaires
One of the ways to collect data and results is questionnaires There are five statements in the questionnaires that are meant to elicit the students' thoughts on the research Investigating the students' opinions toward reading abilities is the purpose of items 1, 2, and 3 The usefulness of the JP blending approach is the subject of items 4 and 5
Table 7 Students’ opinions about reading and JP blending phoneme
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
Reading is important in learning
I find it has a lot of troubles to read some vocabulary with many syllables
From the above table, it can be seen that all of 50 students in the class admit that “Reading skills are important” Most of them think that there are too many new vocabulary in one English Reading lesson, making up for 95.66% Only 2 students, which is 4%, are in neutral position When the students are asked about the difficulty in reading some vocabulary with many syllabales, 36 out of 50 students strongly agree with that statement With question number 3, the majority of the class 47 strongly agree or agree that the new technique that the teacher applied makes the English lesson more interesting and convenient Only 3 students have a neutral opinion about the attraction of the lesson The results of question 4 reveal
It is interesting to learn reading with the JP blending method that the teacher’s applied
The JP blending method helps remember words longer
The JP blending method helps read and pronounce more accurately
40 that most of the students think that the JP blending phonemes help them remember words longer
Especially, 50 students strongly agree with this opinion In question 5, the students are required whether JP blending phonemes helps them read and pronounce more accurately
All of them agree and strongly agree that JP blending phonemes helps them improve more in pronounciation The results of the questionnaires have shown that learning vocabulary by using the JP blending phonemes is considered effective The feedback of students to questionnaire helps uncover the 5th graders’ attitudes toward the JP blending method used in vocabulary teaching Most of the students have positive assessment about the JP.
Results and analysis from interviews
Table 8 The students‘ attitude towards the implementation of JP in teaching reading skills
1 How do feel when read a long text with many difficult vocabulary?
All of the students feel anxious, worried and stressed when read some diffcult words with many syllables
2 What are advantages and disavantages when you learn reading through JP blending phonome?
Advantages: Students answer that they found a new and good way to read, they don’t feel scared when teacher ask they read aloud a parapraph or answer a question They feel more self – confident about the pronounciation
Disavantages: Students feel have a litlle bit difficult to remember beacause Jolly Phonics is established some phonemes in one group They need to practice more if they want remember along Sometimes, they have a litlle confuse about letters and phoneme in English when they do some listening exercise
3 Why does JP blending phoneme help you read aloud well?
Most students answer that because JP blending provided the sounds, phoneme, they would blend some phoneme and cread a word
4 Do you want to learn read aloud with JP phoneme method more in English class? Why?
All of students answer that they wanted to learn this method more, because it a good method They can read and speak correct words and sentences They are happy with new method
The interview results show that all interviewees said that when they used the JP blending phoneme helps them read more fluently When reading a lengthy text with a lot of challenging language, none of them feels anxious anymore Besides, they felt more self – confident about pronounciation and wanted to learn JP blending phoneme method more It was a good method for reading aloud and identify sound and words In Addition, Students found the disavantages of learning reading by this method that they could not remember the words or phoneme more, JP blending phoneme would divided lesson into 7 groups with 5 or 6 phonemes in 1 group They need to blend and combine the words Morever, students could not sometimes distinguished between letters and phoneme when they did some listening exercise
In general, through the interview result the JP blending phoneme method was a good effection for students’ reading aloud skill Although it still have a few problem about learning many phonemes in 1 lesson, they can practice more at home JP is the most optimal method in Phonics ways They learn more phoneme in 1 group and learn how to combine a word and write a word Students can read aloud better and faster.
Summary
The analysis of data from surveys, interviews, and tests revealed significant findings Pre- and post-test comparisons demonstrated an improvement in students' reading ability Additionally, survey and interview responses indicated changes in students' learning attitudes, with students acknowledging the positive effects of the JP blending phonemes method.
JP blending method has promoted students’ ability to read, increased motivation to participate in the lessons JP blending phonemes could help students improve reading more, but JP was difficult students need to practice at home too
CONCLUSION
Recapitulation
This action research project involved 50 primary school students and sought to enhance their reading abilities through the implementation of the Jolly Phonics blending phoneme method The research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this method and gauge student attitudes toward its use in the context of reading instruction.
On the other hand, the teacher also feels more confident and comfortable delivering the lesson in a happy way and interact with the students better It could be concluded that the JP blending method does not only facilitate the teacher’s teaching process, but also promote the harmonious relationship between the teacher and students This method could provide a good way to read and enhance the results in the students’ work
The study included three data gathering approaches, namely questionnaires, interviews, and tests, to obtain answers to the aforementioned two questions Results from the survey questionnaire indicate that 95,66% of students felt that gaining reading skills using the JP method was good and that the JP phoneme combination class was beneficial It's true that JP pairings can improve kids' reading skills Eighty percent of pupils desired to study with the JP mixed technique in the future, according to the interview data
Following two cycles, there was a notable increase in scores In cycle 1, the mean score rose from 43,60 to 60,20, while in cycle 2, it went from 42,62 to 62,80
It demonstrated how pupils' reading abilities improved with JP's help When students blend and combine sounds to create words in their studies, they read more fluently The promotion of the learner's worldview—making them the center of attention in every lesson—is the fundamental principle of the JP This can assist learners assimilate new information more effectively and quickly by making it familiar and simple to do so.
Concluding remarks
This research primarily aims to determine how well JP blending phonemes can help children become more proficient readers Research results indicate that utilizing the JP will assist the majority of kids in the class read more and better
43 based on the analysis of data gathered from surveys, interviews, and exams From the interviews, every student is excited for the upcoming JP lessons
The test results clearly showed the improvement in the students’ scores There was a rise after every cycle Many students improved their scores in the post-test, some students even scored high
The usefulness of the JP blending sounds is demonstrated by comparing the post data with the original data, which demonstrates how well the sounds assist students acquire reading abilities This approach might improve the quality of the students' work and offer a healthy learning environment.
Implications
By emphasizing the sounds and letters that make up words, the phonics technique teaches students how to read and write Spoken language is represented by the written alphabet's letters, which stand for the sounds Students acquire the following knowledge through phonics:
- Acknowledge the noises and the corresponding letters
- Determine the sounds that the letters produce together
- Blend the sounds to create a word
Acknowledge the noises and the corresponding letters The foundation for reading, writing, and spelling is phonics It gives kids a solid foundation on which to build the essential reading skills they will need throughout their lives Studies indicate that proficient phonics instruction helps younger kids learn the foundations of reading more quickly, typically adding five months to their progress Students who have advanced reading abilities can access additional curricular sections on their own Their overall progress will increase in proportion to their phonics proficiency.
Limitation and suggestions for further studies
This method often focuses on learning vocabulary through reading sounds, so it is not always suitable for learning English words that do not follow pronunciation rules Teachers need to understand the methods and teaching methods of Jolly Phonics to apply them effectively
The Jolly Phonics method is generally suitable for kindergarten and elementary school students, but may not be suitable for more advanced learners or older English learners
Learning English through the Jolly Phonics method may require longer time than learning through other methods, especially for struggling learners
To achieve optimal outcomes with phonics, including the JP blending phoneme method, a substantial time commitment is essential, ranging from 6 to 24 months Additionally, regular phonics practice at home is imperative to enhance the effectiveness of the lessons and promote lasting mastery.
Due to the heavy focus on analyzing sounds, writing and reading words, students may feel bored and lose interest when studying for long periods of time
Thus, when using the Jolly Phonics method in teaching English, teachers and learners need to carefully consider both the advantages and disadvantages of the method to apply it effectively Phonics helps students build a foundation to develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the future The first step will be teaching students how to recognize sounds and read them into sounds
This study focuses on phonics instruction for elementary school students, particularly those in Grade 5 At this developmental stage, students possess basic literacy skills, enabling faster phonics acquisition However, accurate pronunciation remains crucial, necessitating careful and authentic teaching methods to ensure students' phonetic accuracy.
First, The teachers should prepare carefully some activities, reading text Next the teachers need to make many tests after students finished 1 group Addtion teachers need to explain carefully about the differences sounds from letters in English
JP blending phoneme gives them good reading aloud so the students should be learn hard and practice carefully more The students should be listening and read more at home
First of all, The researchers should prepare the plan well with all the detailed steps, the researchers should cooperate more with the participants and the subjects of the research Next the researchers should conduct the research on more participants to have better results Finnally the researchers should complete the research in a short peridod of time
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Snow, C.E, Burns, M.S., & Griffin, P (eds.) (1998) Pre
By the end of the lesson, Ss will:
- Students remember phonemes containing the group 1
- Students know how to blend sounds
Materials: course book, story, course book, slides, games,…
Class: 5 Teacher: Lynn (Name has been changed)
No Timing Teacher’s activities Students’ activities
- Play a games Look at the pictures and guess the words
Ss will learn some easy words, teacher shows the pictures on the board or
TV, Ss will look at and guess
Teacher can divide class into 2 or 4 groups to play who has may correct answers will become winner team
What, cat, put, sit, sat, which,
Ss look at the pictures guess the words Try to give the correct answers
- Teacher introduce some combine words in Group 1 and teach Ss how to read the word through blending skill
Words: a, s, as, at, sat, i, its, it, sit, pit, pat, nap, pan, pants, tap, sip, tips
- Ask Ss: What is the first phonemes of
Ss listen and repeat the words
Answer the teacher’s questions Play the games to practice
How differences between letter A with phonemes a?
They are have differents ways to read, phonemes like Vietnamese sound but letter no
They have the same way to write
- Teacher teach about the rules of combine phonemes of a word
- Ss can divide class in to 2 groups and to use some game to practice for
Teach Ss read the words and sentences of the story by blending skills
Teacher will say the words and when
Ss write, please ask them: “What is the first phoneme?” as, at, sat, i, its, it, sit, pit, pat, nap, pan, pants, tap, sip, tips
Sentences: Teacher can pick some sentences in the story and say
When time up, remind Ss need to practice at home and they need take a video at home about group 1
Listen and write, answer the question of teacher
APPENDIX – COURSE BOOK – JOLLY PHONICS