Gist2014FinalFinal.indd

Tucker Signing as a Phonics
Instruction Tool to Develop
Phonemic Awareness in Children1
Tucker Signing como Herramienta Fónica para el
Desarrollo de la Conciencia Fonética en Niños

Amanda Carolina Valbuena2*
Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana, ÚNICA, Colombia

Abstract

To develop reading acquisition in an effective way, it is necessary to take
into account three goals during the process: automatic word recognition, or
development of phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, and a desire for
reading. This article focuses on promoting phonemic awareness in English as
a second language through a program called Tucker Signing. Twenty-five first
grade students in a public school participated in the study using the program as
phonics instruction. In the process, students would see a word, do a movement
with the left hand as a representation of the grapheme, and make the sound.
To analyze if the program was useful, students took a pre- and post-test, and
results were compared. Findings show that the program helped children to
develop phonemic awareness through the identification and the relationship
between each of the twenty-seven English graphemes (letters) and most of their
corresponding phonemes (sounds). At the end, students developed phonemic
awareness through the identification of English phonemes without the mix to
translate from their L1 (Spanish) to the L2 (English); although some phonemes
like “th” /θ/ /ð/, “j” /dʒ/, and vowels would need more reinforcement.

Keywords: reading, phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, the Tucker
signing program, grapheme, phoneme

1 Received: November 18, 2013 / Accepted: April 11, 2014
2 caro_20_20_20@hotmail.com

Gist Education and LEarninG rEsEarch JournaL. issn 1692-5777.
no. 8, (January - JunE) 2014. pp. 66-82.

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Resumen
Para desarrollar la lectura de manera efectiva, es necesario tener en cuenta
tres objetivos durante el proceso: reconocimiento automático de las palabras
(desarrollo de conciencia fonémica), comprensión lectora y deseo por leer. Este
artículo se enfoca en promover la conciencia fonémica en inglés como segunda
lengua, a través del programa Tucker Signing. Veinticinco estudiantes de primer
grado de un colegio público participaron en el estudio usando el programa
Tucker Signing como instrucción fónica. Los estudiantes que participaron en
el proceso tenían que observar una palabra, hacer el movimiento con la mano
izquierda como representación de cada grafema de la palabra, y finalmente
reproducir el sonido de cada grafema. Para analizar si el programa era útil, los
estudiantes tomaron un test diagnóstico y un test posterior a la implementación
del programa con el propósito de comparar los resultados. Los hallazgos
muestran que el programa ayudo a los niños a desarrollar conciencia fonémica
a través de la identificación y de la relación de cada uno de los veintisiete
grafemas (letras) en inglés y la mayoría de sus fonemas correspondientes
(sonidos). Al final los estudiantes desarrollaron conciencia fonémica a través
de la identificación de los fonemas en inglés, sin mezclar o traducir de su L1
(español) a su L2 (ingles); sin embargo algunas vocales y fonemas como “th”
/θ/ /ð/, “j” /dʒ/ necesitarían más refuerzo.

Palabras clave: lectura, conciencia fonémica, instrucción fónica, the
Tucker Signing program, grafema, fonema,

Resumo
Para desenvolver a leitura de maneira efetiva, é necessário considerar três
objetivos durante o processo: reconhecimento automático das palavras
(desenvolvimento de consciência fonêmica), compreensão leitora e vontade de
ler. Este artigo se enfoca em promover a consciência fonêmica em inglês como
segunda língua, através do programa Tucker Signing. Vinte e cinco estudantes de
primeiro ano de um colégio público participaram no estudo usando o programa
Tucker Signing como instrução fônica. Os estudantes que participaram no
processo tinham que observar uma palavra, fazer o movimento com a mão
esquerda como representação de cada grafema da palavra, e finalmente
reproduzir o som de cada grafema. Para analisar se o programa era útil, os
estudantes tomaram um teste diagnóstico e um teste posterior à implantação do
programa com o propósito de comparar os resultados. As descobertas mostram
que o programa ajudou as crianças a desenvolver consciência fonêmica através
da identificação e da relação de cada um dos vinte e sete grafemas (letras)
em inglês e a maioria de seus fonemas correspondentes (sons). No final os
estudantes desenvolveram consciência fonêmica através da identificação
dos fonemas em inglês, sem misturar ou traduzir da sua L1 (espanhol) à sua
L2 (inglês); entretanto algumas vocais e fonemas como “th” /θ/ /ð/, “j” /dʒ/
necessitariam mais reforço.

Palavras chave: leitura, consciência fonêmica, instrução fônica, the
Tucker Signing program, grafema, fonema

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Introduction

In order to learn a foreign language it is basic to develop the four skills: speaking, reading, writing, and listening, with the purpose of communicating different kinds of information. Reading can be one
of the most complex skills to acquire in a second language, especially
when the native and the second language have key linguistic differences
that make the process more difficult. A native Spanish speaker who is
learning English as a second language needs to make distinctions in
order to produce the second language efficiently. One major difference
is the phonological system used in Spanish, which is different from that
of English. Spanish has fewer phonemes than English. Spanish has five
pure vowels and five diphthongs; in contrast, English has twelve pure
vowels and eight diphthongs (Shoebottom, 1996).

The consonants in English are also different and vary in
pronunciation from Spanish. For example, the “h” /h/ in Spanish does
not make any sound in words like “hoy,” while in English the “h”
/h/ makes a sound, and it has the pronunciation of the “j” in Spanish
in words like “horse.” Other differences can be found in the way of
writing and the sound of each of the graphemes. For example, the “f”
/f/ sound in Spanish and “ph” /f/ sound in English in words like “foca”
in Spanish and “phase” in English (Perea, 2010).

Because of these differences, it is necessary to accomplish
three goals during the process of learning to read in order to develop
this specific skill in a successful way: automatic word recognition
(development of phonemic awareness), reading comprehension, and a
desire for reading. This study focused on first grade students from a
public school in Bogotá, Colombia who have to deal with the afore-
mentioned differences between the two languages while reading, and
many of them do not recognize these differences. For these students
understanding in English classes can become demanding because they
do not see a relationship between the phonological system and the
writing system. In other words, they lack phonemic awareness (Hoover,
2002).

To deal with this difficulty, this study proposes a program called
Tucker Signing strategies for reading. This program helps learners
identify in first instance the associations between letters (graphemes)
and sounds (phonemes) (Tucker, 2001). It is a strategy that can be
incorporated into reading lesson plans.

[It] provides a mental model that students need in order to decode words
easily, accurately—and fast. It uses a system of 44 hand signs that prompt
associations between letters or word chucks and their sounds. Tucker

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Signs require readers to see the letter(s), make a sign, and say the sound
at the same time. (p. 3)

The objective of the program is to develop phonemic awareness
in children while they have fun. This program is used during class
instruction as phonics, which is the methodology that teachers use for
developing phonemic awareness (Tankersley, 2003). It is important to
highlight that this program has been used exclusively for children who
are learning English as the native language. In this article, we explore
how the implementation of the Tucker Signing program with first
grade ESL students helps them to acquire the first step of reading in the
second language, which means the acquisition of phonemic awareness.
In brief, the development of phonemic awareness is necessary in order
for students who struggle reading in English as a second language to be
able to manipulate the relationship between graphemes and phonemes
presented in any given text. Tucker Signing claims to be a phonics
instruction program that helps children to obtain such a manipulation in
a short period of time, while also allowing students to have fun.

Literature Review

There are several studies that support the importance of developing
phonemic awareness to acquire reading skills, and why phonics
instruction is used in this process. Furthermore, research also shows
how Tucker signing addresses the latter two concepts. Ault (2011)
analyzed whether phonics instruction increased the students’ reading
fluency. Ault believed that phonics instruction can “help students in
their future reading pursuits, and knowing phonemes, syllable types,
prefixes, and suffixes are only some of the important skills that help
students read multisyllabic words when they are in the higher grades
and in everyday life” (p. 4). Ault administered a pre-test, implemented
the phonics instruction for five weeks, and then administered a post-
test. The results of the analysis were not favorable; students read an
average of 5.8 words per minute less in the post-test than in pretest.
Nevertheless, they did affirm the author’s thoughts about an increase of
accuracy of reading in the whole target population (Ault, 2011). This
means that students developed a relationship between graphemes and
each one of the phonemes.

A study by Martínez (2011) used explicit phonics instruction to
improve literacy skills in ESL students from Bogotá Colombia. The
main objective of this study was the development of reading abilities
in the second language, including reading comprehension, spelling,

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and proper use of verbs in written statements. The students showed
proficiency in literacy in Spanish (L1), and during the kindergarten
courses they developed the basic diagraph in English (L2) (the
combination of two sounds as /θ/ /ð/ /ʃ/ /tʃ/) and short and long vowels.
The author found that explicit phonics instruction does improve EFL
children’s reading comprehension. “Phonics helps students to better
decode and pronounce an English word, which translates into better
understanding of what is being read, and hence improve the reading
comprehension of EFL students” (Martínez, 2011, p. 45). The author
recognizes that adequate phonics instruction helps children to develop
phonemic awareness, which later will help to develop skills including
reading comprehension and writing.

Further studies also demonstrate that English language learners
(ELLs) have shown improvement in their reading abilities when
phonemic awareness skills are encouraged. Walter (2010) conducted a
study with kindergarten students whose native language was Spanish.
Most of them presented a deficiency in the second language because of
little exposure of English at home or school. After the instruction given
to develop phonemic awareness through meaningful activities, a test
was given to observe and analyze if students enhanced reading abilities
in the second language. The study showed that for students whose
language is related to English, as in the case of Spanish, the emphasis
of English phonemes that do not exist in their native language was a key
factor in the optimization of reading acquisition. Additionally, students
presented an improvement not only in reading but also in writing skills,
including a positive outcome in the acquisition of new vocabulary in
the second language (Walter, 2010).

Studies related to the Tucker Signing Strategies for Reading
program show the effectiveness of the program in reading development.
The first study conducted by Cole 2001), known as the Indiana Tucker
pilot study, demonstrated that students improved their reading skills.
A follow up study was carried out (Cole, 2005) which investigated
the effects of the program on the decoding skills of elementary school
students. The number of sessions using the program varied between
4 and 50. As in the previous study, the results suggest that students
who received the Tucker reading strategy instruction exhibited greater
progress in the decoding of sight words than their peers in the control
group, who did not receive such instruction. Students with disabilities
also benefited as much as the target population, in as much as they did
not present any difficulty, and showed improvement in their reading
process. There are no recent studies in which the program has been used
with English as a foreign language (EFL) students.

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Methodology

Research Design

In this study, the Tucker Signing program was applied with a
population of 25 first graders aged 6-7 in a public school in Bogotá,
Colombia. The population demonstrated proficiency in reading skills in
Spanish, including the ability to identify letters, syllables, words, and
sentences. Most of students also demonstrated phonemic awareness in
their native language and were able to read aloud with fluency, and an
understanding of most words.

The source of the information was the observation of one-hour
classes delivered three times a week for six months. The observation
of the program’s activities allowed for interaction as well as the
emergence of other phenomena, such as emotions of excitement and
happiness, experiences, and thoughts, which might affect the results
of the study. Observations were conducted after the implementation of
each of the tests, with individual detailed analysis about how students
related each of the graphemes with a phoneme (not necessary with the
corresponding one). Observations also occurred during the process
students were learning how the Tucker Singing program works. This
part of the observation shows the cognitive and emotional experience
between the students and the program.

Other sources of data in this study were a diagnostic test, the
implementation of the Tucker Signing Strategies for Reading Program,
and a post-test given after carrying out the program to measure the
levels of proficiency in the acquisition of phonemic awareness.

Data Collection Instruments

The project used a diagnostic test before the implementation
of the Tucker Signing program, and a post-test after its execution to
show how effectively students developed phonemic awareness. The
diagnostic test was designed taking into account three reading tests:
the National Right to Read Foundation (2011), the Burt Reading Test
(Hepplewhite, 2005), and the Quick Assessment of Reading Ability
(Luke, 2011). The three tests were combined into one instrument, and
all the words that were chosen have between one and two syllables (See
Appendix). The test had three parts. The first part consisted of a list of
fourteen letters, which students had to read. The second part was a list
of fourteen simple words of one or two syllables; as the student read
the words, they became more difficult to pronounce. The last part of the
test consisted of five sentences that were simple in structure and easy

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to pronounce. This test allowed the researcher to determine if students
were able to relate graphemes to phonemes. A voice recorder was used
in order to keep students from feeling intimidated while marking which
words were well and incorrectly read. The post-test was the same as
the pre-test. The post-test determined whether students have developed
phonemic awareness as the first step in reading skill.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

After the implementation of the pre-test, the researcher used
the recordings to listen to each student’s pronunciation of the letters,
words, and sentences given in the test. All the students were classified
in different levels of reading described above. After the analysis of the
pre-test, the Tucker Signing Strategies for Reading program, containing
one book and a CD explaining how to pronounce and make each
one of the forty-four phonemes with the left hand, was taught to the
population. The idea is that students blend a word written on the board
and pronounce the correct phoneme of each of the graphemes while
they make the form of the grapheme in the air with their left hand.
Afterward, students pronounce each of the phonemes together, thus
arriving at the pronunciation of the complete word. At the end of the
semester, after the implementation of the Tucker signing program, the
post-test was analyzed in the same way as the pre-test.

Results

Lack of Phonemic Awareness

The pre-test evaluated and analyzed the reading abilities of the
participants. The test was analyzed taking into account how the three
tests assess students in order to see who is able to read proficiently. In
the first part of the test, in which students must identify letters of the
alphabet, if the student misses one or two letters, he or she is still on
the right track. If the student misses three to five letters, he or she needs
more instruction. If the student misses more than five letters, he or she
requires considerable reinforcement in the identification of letters.

Results show that one student made four miscues, and the rest of
the population made more than five miscues.

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Figure 1. Identification of the English alphabet (pre-test)

The second part of the pre-test presents a sequence of words.
According to the scoring information, if the student misses one or two
words, the student may still be able to read independently at this level.
If the student misses three words, he or she needs reinforcement in the
reading process. If the student misses four or more words, this level
could be frustrating for a student.

All students missed more than four words indicating a high degree
of frustration.

Figure 2. Pronunciation of words (pre-test)

In the last part of the pre-test, students are asked to read simple
phrases. Scoring takes into account 1) skipping words, in the case that
students do not pronounce the words; 2) insertion of a non-related

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word, in which students may pronounce a word that is not included in
the sentences; 3) fluency, or how fast students read the sentences with
or without hesitation; and 4) mispronunciation of a word. If the student
makes one miscue, he or she is still able to read independently. If the
student makes two or three miscues, he or she needs more instruction in
reading. A student who makes four or more miscues is not performing
at the reading level for the grade.

Results of the pre-test show that most of the students performed
well in the fluency task and in the incorporation of all the words in each
of the sentences. However, they made miscues in the pronunciation of
words, and in the insertion of non-related words.

Figure 3. Reading sentences (pre-test)

Students’ results from the pre-test indicate difficulties with the
pronunciation of consonants and vowels. Most students continued to
produce the patterns of Spanish while speaking English. For instance,
all of them pronounced the “h” /h/ as silent in words like “he” or “hen.”
Another case related to this letter is the pronunciation of the “th” /θ/ /ð/
sound; students were prone to avoid the “h” /h/ just pronouncing the
“t” /t/ in words like “the” and “things.” The “j” /dʒ/ was pronounced
voiceless as in Spanish instead of being pronounced as voiced in
English with words like “just.” The “w” /g/ was pronounced as a “g;”
/g/. The letters “d” /d/ and “t” /t/ presented a special difficulty in words
which finished with these two letters, as in the sentence “Ben can fix
his bad bat.”

Students also confused short and long vowels while reading
the words and sentences. The “silent e” included in many words was
pronounced by most of the students as if they were reading in Spanish.
We can see this mistake in words offered by the test like “some” or “love.”

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Figure 4. Analysis of the phonemes pronunciation (pre-test)

Development of Decoding Skills

The post-test test was carried out in a similar fashion, taking
into account the same parameters as the pre-test, with the purpose of
comparing students’ performance before and after the implementation
of the Tucker signing program.

This time in the first part of the test, where students have to identify
the letters of the alphabet, just four of the 25 students had one or two
miscues forgetting the name of letters and recognizing the vowels. One
student made three miscues. However, they were able to self-correct
miscues in the recognition of vowels. For example, if a student saw the
letter “I” and he said that the letter was an “A” he realized instantly that
he had made a miscue and stated the correct name of the letter. 20 of the
25 did not make miscues.

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Figure 5. Identification of the English alphabet (post-test)

In the second part of the test, most of the students (14) just missed
one or two words from the list using Tucker Signing; however, in nine
cases students missed three words. None of the students missed more
than three words.

Figure 6. Pronunciation of words (post-test)

In the last part of the test, 24 students performed well in terms of
fluency and the incorporation of all the words in each of the sentences,
as in the pre-test. Four students made mistakes in the pronunciation of
words. None of the students inserted non-related words.

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Figure 7. Reading sentences (post-test)

This time personal analysis and observations about the post-test
give more detail as with the pre-test. This analysis shows a significant
difference between the results obtained in the pre- and post-test. In
general, students did not translate complete words from Spanish to
the English. Nevertheless, a few students still struggled with the
pronunciation of some vowels and consonants because they translated
from Spanish to English. For instance, two students pronounced the
“g” /g/ sound in English as a “j” /dʒ/ sound in Spanish. One student
made “j” /dʒ/ sound in English as a “J” /x/ sound in Spanish; and one
student pronounced the “h” /h/ sound as voiceless as in Spanish instead
of pronouncing this sound as voiced as in English. Additionally, eight
students out of the 25 presented confusion in the “th”/θ/ /ð/ sound,
making the movements for the “T” and the “H” sounds separately. This
likely occurred because there was insufficient time to reinforce this
sound with students, and thus they did not remember how the movement
was made. With the help of the instructor, they were able to remember
the sound. Short and long vowels were confused by nine students while
they were reading the words and the sentences. The silent “e” at the end
of a word was recognized by 24 of the students, which means that just
one student pronounced the silent “e” at the end of the word as a long
vowel.

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Figure 8. Analysis of the phonemes pronunciation (post-test)

Intervention with the Program and Observations during the
Process

At the beginning, most of the students had problems with the
identification of the left hand movement, either forming the letter with
the right hand or using both hands. The researcher explained to the
students that the use of the left hand is very important in order for the
graphemes have the right position; on the contrary, if the form of the
letter is made with the right hand, graphemes are going to be upside
down and students can get confused. At the end of the process just a few
students six students were still sometimes using their right hand instead
of the left hand or mixing both hands.

Through the use of different contests to engage the class, students
were able to learn not only how to pronounce each phoneme, but also
several phonetic rules: “When we have two vowels in the same syllable,
the first vowel is pronounced as a long vowel and the second vowel is
silent,” or “When we have a vowel the consonant S and another vowel
the S /z/sounds like a “Z,” then we have to do the “Z” /ʒ/ sound instead
of the S /s/ sounds in words like “nose” or “rose.”

The identification of vowels was hard for children at the
beginning, but through the phonics rules they managed to identify the
differences between long and short vowels, and how these are used.
Through different activities students recognized the pronunciation of
vowels in several words, which means most of the time they identified
when they had to use short versus long vowels, taking into account two
main phonetic rules: a) When there is one vowel following another in

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the same syllable, the first vowel is pronounced as a long vowel, and
the other one is not pronounced; and b) When a word is made of one
consonant, one vowel, and other consonant, the vowel is taken as a
short one.

The program motivated students to read words as well as both short
and long easy sentences. They had fun while they were pronouncing
different words using the program and taking into account the phonetic
rules mentioned previously, and often laughed, shouted, or raised their
hands to participate. After students pronounced a word or a sentence,
they asked or looked for the meaning of them.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated how the implementation of the Tucker
signing program influenced the development of phonemic awareness
in first grade students in a public school. Students developed phonemic
awareness while reading English words or sentences. Students of
first grade learned to manipulate most of the English phonemes in
different words and sentences, even when one grapheme had two
or three phonemes. Students finished their school year developing
phonemic awareness of most of the forty-four phonemes in English.
They were also able to make relationships between phonemes with their
corresponding grapheme.

The study also shows that the Tucker Signing program is a useful
tool not only for native speakers of English who are learning to read,
but also for Spanish speakers who are learning to read in English as a
second language. After the implementation of the program, students did
not translate phonemes of their native language (Spanish) to the second
language (English). During the process, students also learned some of
the phonetic rules used to identify vowels and some consonants.

The analysis of both tests allows readers to compare the results.
Before the implementation of the Tucker Signing program students
could not identify short and long vowels in words and they pronounced
some of the consonants like “j,” “h,” and the “w” as Spanish sounds.
This lack of phonemic awareness made the mispronunciation of most
of the words and sentences students had to read in the test. After the
implementation of the program, students continued to have some
pronunciation miscues, but they were able to read most of the words
and sentences presented in the test correctly.

The lack of time was a key factor in the process of developing
phonemic awareness as there were not enough classes to implement the

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program. It is necessary to spend more time than the six months allotted
for the study because learner would benefit from reinforcement of each
of the forty-four phonemes. Phonemes like “th”/θ/ /ð/ were taught in
a rush without reinforcement, and most of the students forgot how to
make this sound with the corresponding movement. Because of lack of
time, some phonemes could not be taught. Those phonemes were the
diphthongs and the use of “ar”, “er”, and “ir” /ɚ/ sounds.

Still, the Tucker Signing program proved to be engaging and
motivating for students during their process of developing phonemic
awareness. All 25 students wanted to learn a new sound every class,
and they liked to participate trying to pronounce new words and simple
sentences looking for the meaning by themselves after they got the right
pronunciation.

Taking into account this previous information, future English
teachers could consider implementing the Tucker Signing program in
their classes to teach reading. This program has not been widely used
in Colombia, and further research on this program could be useful
particularly with children who have reading difficulties or even adult
second language learners.

References

Ault, L. (2011). The effect of phonics instruction on oral reading fluency
in a fourth grade intervention classroom. The Faculty of the College
of Education and Human Services, Ohio University. Retrieved from:
http://www.cehs.ohio.edu/gfx/media/pdf/Ault.pdf.

Cole, C. (2001). Indiana Pilot Study Tucker Signing Strategies for
Reading. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Retrieved from:
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/cell/Tucker_Pilot.pdf

Cole, C. (2005). The effect of Tucker signing strategies for reading
on the decoding skills of students in four elementary schools.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Retrieved from: http://www.
iidc.indiana.edu/styles/iidc/defiles/cell/Tucker_Study_June2005.pdf

Hepplewhite, D. (2005). Burt Reading Test (1974). Syntheticphonics.
Retrieved from

http://www.syntheticphonics.com/burtreadingtestpage.htm

Hoover, W. (2002). The importance of phonemic awareness in learning
to read. SEDL Letter: XIV(3). Retrieved from: http://www.sedl.org/
pubs/sedl-letter/v14n03/3.html

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Luke. (2011). Quick reading assessment-first grade. Sonlight
Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.sonlight.com/quick-
reading-assessment.html

Martínez, A. (2011). Explicit and differentiated phonics instruction
as a tool to improve literacy skills for children learning English
as a foreign language. GIST Education and Learning Research
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Author

*Amanda Carolina Valbuena is a student at the Institución
Universitaria Colombo Americana, ÚNICA. She has worked as a
personal tutor teaching English as a second language to children
and pilots. She recently joined the Amity program is currently
working as a teaching assistant in a Spanish immersion program
in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she teaches kindergarten.

tucKEr siGninG as a phonics instruction tooL vaLbuEna

No. 8 (January - June 2014) No. 8 (January - June 2014)

Appendix

Reading Pre-test and Post-test

Part 1

J N V

K E B

H W F

F L G

Part 2

Up, he, at, my, sun, the,
eggs, duck, some, went,
boys, love, now, sad.

Part 3

- The big red hen is mad.

- Did Bob get on the bus?

- Ben can fix his bad bat.

- Hit the fat bug on the bed.

- Don let the cat sit on his lap.

tucKEr siGninG as a phonics instruction tooL

No. 8 (January - June 2014) No. 8 (January - June 2014)