Rhyming, Sound Deletion, Phoneme Substitution Instructional Strategies and Primary Pupils’ Reading Performance in English Language inAkwa Ibom North East Senatorial District

Abstract

The research determined the effect of three phonological instructional strategies on reading performance of primary school pupils in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District. In order to carry out the study objectively, three specific objectives, three research, questions and three hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted the pretest, post-test, control group non-randomized quasi experimental research design. The population of the study comprised of 11,180 primary two pupils consisting of 5,361 males and 5,819 females from public primary schools and a sample size of 120 respondents. Instruments titled “Pupils Reading Performance Test (PRPT) was used for data collection. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to determine the reliability of the instruments, which gave value of 0.87 for PRPT. Mean and standard deviation were used for answering research questions while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used in testing the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is no significant mean difference in pupils’ reading performance when taught using rhyming, sound deletion, phoneme substitution and Look and Say Instructional strategies. The result shows that the mean gain of pupils when taught reading using rhyming is 42.68, while the mean gain for pupils taught with look and say is 40.88. This shows that pupils taught reading with rhyming slightly performed better than pupils taught using look and say. Hypothesis one showed that there is a significant mean difference in pupils’ reading performance when taught using rhyming. Hypothesis two showed that there is a significant mean difference in pupils’ reading performance when taught using sound deletion instructional strategy. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that teachers should use rhyming, sound deletion and phoneme substitution when teaching spelling in classrooms. The school administrators should consider in-service training for English Teachers in phonological instructional strategies