Included in this review is discussion on arguments based on empirical evidence and information from studies concerning the role of structured methodologies and the development and acquisition of foundational reading skills. There is also evidence from laboratory and classroom studies regarding the most effective method for teaching reading and development of reading skills.
From all these different perspectives, two inescapable conclusions emerge. The first is that mastering the beginning reading skills is essential to becoming proficient in the skill of reading, and the second is that instructional techniques (namely, phonics, whole language and interactive methods) that teach this directly are effective.
This seems to be especially the case for children who are at risk in some way for having difficulty learning to read. It is also the case that the absence of effective reading instruction may increase the number of children at risk of becoming poor readers.
Empirical studies have equally offered relevant information on reading and reading development with reference to the local environment. Reading awareness has been investigated on the part of parents and teachers. This is in addition to investigation of some reading remediation techniques. Also investigated are the effects of some reading instructional methods both in the primary schools, secondary school and university settings.
The studies in the review are not totally different from this work. In the first place, all are dealing with reading and reading development among school learners. All are equally concerned and focus on issues relevant to how children learn to read, more especially on skilled reading and the implications for learning to read and teaching methods. Furthermore, the studies appear similar both in design and environments of study; involving laboratory and classroom studies regarding the most effective methods for teaching reading. Reading development is seen as the outcome of mastering the skills
expected to be acquired following the application of the prescribed instructional techniques.
At the local level, investigations appear similar to this study on the grounds of their nature, scope and intention. All focus on reading and reading development of students; as classroom studies are involved. Again, emphases are on reading skills to be acquired on the part of the students and the application of relevant teaching methods to enable the acquisition of the skills. The purpose and intention therefore look similar in all aspects of the review both globally and at the local level.
On the other hand, gaps exist in the review made which are expected to be covered following the execution of this study. The review focused on a wide range of topics relevant to how children learn to read, including the fact that mastering the beginning reading skills is essential to becoming proficient in the act of reading. This includes the fact that instructional techniques that teach this principle directly are effective. It would appear that major emphasis is on establishing the superiority of one method over the other. But this has not stopped the debate between phonics and whole language methods in particular. There is need to have a pointer (reading skills) at which each method should address.
The empirical studies from the local environment have on their own focused respectively on areas of reading. While some examined the issues of primary reading programmes and remediation (Aboki, 1998; Andzayi, 2001), others (Mmuodumogu, 2001; Ngochal, 2001) examined the effects of teaching strategies at the higher students’–
level reading and writing performance. While these cited studies appear adequate and encouraging in themselves, the proposed study stands different in focus, procedure (design) and purpose.
This study targets the teaching methods applied for the development of basic reading skills among primary schools pupils at the beginning reading stage. The three teaching methods being queried to be responsible for such basic reading skills acquisition (namely, phonics, whole language and interactive approaches) are applied under treatment conditions to determine their effects.
Experimental design is adopted whereby intact classrooms of primary four pupils are involved in the study. The expected reading achievement following treatment is measured by pupils’ performance scores on “beginning reading achievement assessment instrument”. The findings are interpreted in terms of their implications for teaching methods and beginning reading skills acquisition in primary schools.
CHAPTER THREE METHOD AND PROCEDURES
This chapter is a part of the overall plan which describes the research design, subjects, materials used, procedures, treatment, measurements, and data collection and analysis.
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
The conceptual framework within which the study was conducted, informed the research design. This was to help establish the conditions for the comparisons required to test the hypotheses of the study and to enable the researcher through statistical analysis of the data to make a meaningful interpretation of the results of the study (Ary Jacob and Razavieh, 1996).
This research was an experimental study, which adopted pre-experimental-post-experimental test design. Consideration was given to the fact that in a typical school situation, schedules cannot be disrupted nor classes reorganized in order to accommodate the experimenters study. Groups were therefore used, as they were already organized into classes. By this design, it was expected that all subjects were to take the pre-experimental test before the experiment, and the post pre-experimental test at its conclusion.
The design was made up of three experimental groups. For the purpose of this study, Group A was assigned the phonics method; Group B the whole language method, and Group C the interactive method. Intact classes were used as the reactive effects of experimentation were more easily controlled. The subjects were probably less aware of an experiment being conducted than when they would have been drawn from classes and put into experimental sessions. Again, it was considered much more
Table 1: Pre-Experimental Post-Experimental Test Design
Group Pre-Experimental Independent Post-Experimental
A Y
1X Y
2B Y
1X Y
2C Y
1X Y
2likely (in a school situation) to obtain administrative approval to conduct an experiment if intact classes were used. Furthermore, the more similar the experimental groups were at the beginning of the experiment, and the more this similarity was confirmed by similar group means on the pretest, the more credible the results of the experimental design would become (Ary, Jacob, and Razavieh, 1996).
The following terms and symbols were used
1. X – represents the independent variable, which is referred to as the experimental variable or the treatment.
2. Y – represents the measure of the dependent variable. Y1 represents the dependent variable before the manipulation of the independent variable X. There is usually a pre-experimental test before the treatment. Y2 represents the dependent variable after the manipulation of the independent variable X. It is usually a post experimental test administered to subjects after the experimental treatment.
In the paradigm for the design, the Xs and Ys across a given row are applied to the same subjects. The left-to-right dimension indicates the temporal order, and the Xs
and Ys vertical to one another are given simultaneously.
3.2 POPULATION AND SAMPLE OF STUDY