Nasrawi, A. & Al-Jamal, D. (2017). The effect of using jolly phonics on Jordanian first grade pupils’ reading. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 4(2). 106-119. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/172/155 Received: 28.01.2017 Received in revised form: 15.03.2017 Accepted: 16.03.2017 THE EFFECT OF USING JOLLY PHONICS ON JORDANIAN FIRST GRADE PUPILS’ READING Abeer Nasrawi Yarmouk University nasrawi_abeer@yahoo.com Dina Al-Jamal Yarmouk University deena.j@yu.edu.jo Abeer Nasrawi is a post graduate student at Yarmouk University, Jordan; her research focuses on child education and teacher education programs. Dina Al-Jamal is an associate professor at Yarmouk University; her research focuses on TEFL topics such as content-based teaching, discourse analysis and second language acquisition. Copyright by Informascope. Material published and so copyrighted may not be published elsewhere without the written permission of IOJET. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/172/155 Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 106 THE EFFECT OF USING JOLLY PHONICS ON JORDANIAN FIRST GRADE PUPILS’ READING Abeer Nasrawi nasrawi_abeer@yahoo.com Dina Al-Jamal deena.j@yu.edu.jo Abstract Jolly Phonics is so much fun and favored by pupils by means of being superior to any conventional method. This study investigated the effect of Jolly Phonics strategy on Jordanian first grade pupils’ reading. The study followed a quasi- experimental research design. The participants of the study consisted of 58 first grade pupils purposefully chosen from a school in Irbid city, Jordan. Based on the results of a reading pre- tests, two groups are assigned: an experimental group which consists of 29 pupils taught by using the Jolly Phonics strategy under study for five weeks, and a control group of 29 pupils taught by using the Conventional strategy suggested by Action Pack 1 Teacher’s Guide, during the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016. In the current study, four instruments were used: a reading test, Jolly Phonics strategy worksheets, and Jolly Phonics songs with the Action Way. The findings of the study reported positive statistical effect of the strategy in focus. Keywords: achievement, phonic approach, worksheets and songs 1. Introduction All teachers want bright and smart readers. In general, one of the primary benefits of reading is to have a greater aptitude for education. Yet once a pupil battles to join letters, words and sentences together, s/he is not expected to grasp other subjects in the primary school. As pupils face difficulties in reading in their first grade, using the ‘right’ method in learners’ early years of learning is of much concern that needs to be articulated (Vernon, 2011). The phonics approach, as presented in this study, offers learners opportunities to study the sounds of the letters of the alphabet letters where harmony between letters and sounds of the words is established (Adams, 1990). In an EFL setting such as Jordan, teaching reading for first grade pupils is a very challenging task as learners have limited exposure to the English language. Phonics has been stated as helpful for young learners as it develops learners’ reading skills. Specifically, phonics in teaching is a systematic strategy that combines sounds with letters or with groups of letters. Further, phonics helps learners to read and write quickly and fluently as they get to read and write easier. As a result, learners can memorize words and retrieve them quicker (Ehri, 2005; Loyd, 2000; Vadasy, Sanders, & Peyton, 2005). Yellin, Jones and Devries (2008, p. 253) defined phonics as “a structured relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters)”. Yellin et al. (2008) further suggested using an explicit phonics instruction that entails blending sounds together. In such mailto:nasrawi_abeer@yahoo.com mailto:deena.j@yu.edu.jo International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 107 instruction, teachers may enhance pupils’ phonics skills by listening to phonics songs that focus on teaching the sounds of the letters. In Jordan, however, most EFL teachers do not use phonics teaching techniques as they stick with the Curriculum Guidelines where they only invite their pupils to trace and say the English letters independently. Jolly Phonics uses the synthetic phonics strategy for teaching the sounds of letters in a way that is funny and multi-sensory, with actions for each of the 42 letter sounds. This multi- sensory method is very motivating for pupils and teachers, too. Later, Loyd (2000) explained Jolly Phonics as a scheme which is attached to the synthetic phonics method which is associated with storyline as well as with coloring picture to be colored. Carnine, Silbert, Kame’enui, Tarver and Jungjohann (2006) further emphasized that Jolly Phonics focuses on blending sounds with letters for reading; learners are asked to listen to a sequence of spoken phonemes and then to combine them in a word. First grade pupils need to be aware of learning the sound of the letter, learning reading occurs when the learners are familiar with the isolated sound of the letter. Jolly Phonics can contain learning ‘’tricky words‘’ such as photo, ‘was’ and ‘the’. Chall (1996) concluded that teachers should use Jolly Phonics strategy. She stressed that systematic phonics is a very effective strategy for beginner learners, yet it needs to be explained by the teacher especially when it comes to learn writing graphemes. Also, Smith (2003) highlighted how pupils need to be instructed for reading with a systematic phonics strategy. His phonic strategy was based on identifying a set of letter-sound relationship, then describing reading as a process with blending and segmenting the sounds together. He stressed such process as important for beginner readers, especially young learners. Jolly Phonics is different from the conventional method in practice as it is multi-sensory in terms of meeting all the needs of learners; whether visual, audio or kinesthetic. Most of all, it is fun since it entails games as well as songs to help learners remember the 42 sounds. Now, pupils are provided with a fun way of learning such as the character of the snake for example. 2. Context and Literature Review Bottom- up approach explains the processes in Jolly Phonics strategy as both help readers to decode sounds and symbols and make effort to blend sounds and symbols together. As early as 1979, Cambourne explained the bottom up approach as a series of decoding of written symbols into their aural equivalents. The following illustration (Figure 1), however, explains how the process of the bottom-up approach: Print Every letter Phoneme and graphemes Blending Pronunciation Meaning (discriminated) (matched) Figure 1: The Bottom-Up Approach for Reading (Cambourne, 1979) According to this approach, the reader processes each letter. Then each letter is matched with the phoneme which the reader is familiar with. After words, the phonemes (i.e. the individual units of the sound) are blended together in order to build words and pronounce them. Now, readers can get the meaning. The bottom-up, in this way, explains logically what happens when reading occurs, and where an interaction occurs between written and spoken symbols for beginner readers (i.e. reading produces from part to whole). Alternatively, the phonics strategy aims at developing the reading skill in the reader as similar to the bottom-up process. The demands of this approach involve learners’ awareness of every letter, word, and sentence in order to know the meaning. Figure 2 explains this approach (Liu, 2010, p. 156). Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 108 Meaning (deep structure) Words (lexical level) Letters / Sounds (character level) Figure 2: The Bottom –Up Approach for Reading Figure 2 shows that the process of reading starts from knowing every letter sounds in the character level. Then sounds are combined together forming words and then sentences through which readers can get the meaning of the sentences through which readers can get the meaning of the sentences. Moreover, Ball and Blachman (1991) introduced useful activities for raising learners’ phonemic awareness. In such activities, the name and the sound of the letter are presented. Then a strong connection between sound segment and letters is built. That is, sounds are presented by combining of letters; for example, choose has six letters but only three phonemes, /ch/, /oo/, and /z/. Ball and Blachman concluded that phonemic awareness had a great positive effect about pupils’ reading skills in the first grade, as it can improve their word recognition skill while being interested in the learning process with having a lot of joy. To Griffith and Klesius (1990), phonemic awareness can be developed by daily reading, young learners will be better in segmenting sounds in words. That is, daily reading will enhance pupils’ reading fluency. Off course, that does not mean pupils just will copy letters or words from the textbooks, but rather trying to write spoken words which, in turn, will enhance pupils’ reading. However, to Pullman (2004), reading was perceived as an active process which contains a lot of conversations and recognition aloud that are guided by the teacher. Now, learners start their reading by skimming slowly, then they spell and read every word aloud. In this way, learners will be active similar to the process of reading which is active, as well. Blaiklock and Haddow (2007) conducted a study on two experimental groups with no control group to examine the effect of using a combined approach (Jolly Phonics approach and whole language classroom) at primary school in Auckland, New Zealand. The cause of the current study was that pupils faced a difficulty in reading and writing. The sample of the first group was twenty-four pupils in year one, and the sample of the second group was twenty two pupils in year two. The teacher covered the letter sounds and vowels for first group in year one, and the teacher revised 42 letters sounds with extra focus on weak reader for pupils who are in the second group in year two through two weeks and the teacher focused on teaching spelling pattern with sound spelling then writing session with spelling quizzes. The pupils were divided into small groups at the writing sessions. The result of the study showed that children in year one and two achieved a year ahead of their age and great success in reading and writing. Ekpo, Udosen, Afangideh, Ekukinam and Ikorok (2007) applied synthetic phonics strategy in five schools in Akwa Ibom State Nigeria to test the effect of this strategy on reading. The sample of the study consisted of one hundred and sixty-eight pupils in ten first grade classes. The five groups were evaluated by using pre-posttest. The control group was trained using synthetic phonics strategy while the other experimental group were trained using the usual rote learning method. After the training of all the groups were post tested, the result of the study showed the great effect of synthetic phonics strategy for improving young learners’ reading skill, but the other groups could not read any single word. Due to the advances in all academic disciplines, new words are constantly topped to the English language where the original spelling patterns of language are retained. Off course, International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 109 English alphabet has 26 letters with 42 basic phonic sounds taken from Latin. In the conventional method suggested by the Teacher's Book of Action Pack 1, first grade pupils have to read words that consist of sounds that have groupings of letters. Several sounds may have different spellings. Unfortunately, certain spellings may comprise different sounds, such: elephant or food. Accordingly, teaching alphabets in a marginal manner (as in the Action Pack 1 textbook) may not enable learners to read successfully. 3. Method The current study followed a quasi-experimental pre-posttests research design. Fifty-eight male and female first grade pupils (as composing two intact sections consisting of 29 each) from Al- Farouq School in Irbid city were selected purposefully to participate in the first semester at the academic year 2015-2016. Participants in this study were young learners aged six who were randomly assigned to two groups; experimental and control. One section was assigned randomly (i.e. putting the names of the sections in a basket) as the control group, while the other was assigned as the experimental. The reason was behind selecting only two sections is related to the fact that the school has only two first grade sections; and these sections face difficulties in reading skills. Off course, parental consent was obtained. Two achievement tests (referred to later as pre-tests) were conducted. Table (5) demonstrates the results of the equivalence of the two groups; the experimental and the control, as the mean scores of both groups was low in reading as 4.84 and 5.39. Jolly phonics strategy is concerned with developing first grade pupils’ reading skills which was demonstrated as “low” at the pre-tests. In this strategy, the researchers used Jolly Phonics worksheets and songs with Action way in teaching first grade pupils the 42 letter sounds that may help them to develop their reading skills. Jolly Phonics Strategy is a pupil- centered approach which offers a joyful multi-sensory way to teach literacy through the synthetic phonics. It presents actions for each of the 42 letter sounds. Both pupils and teachers find that the multi-sensory method is very motivating. Sounds, however, are not taught in an alphabetical order. In order to enable pupils to build words, as early as possible, specific orders of sounds are used. Jolly Phonics initiates with the 42 diverse letter sounds that are introduced in a definite order. Now, this assents making words out of the 42 letter sounds nearly instantly. Off course, Jolly Phonics teaching in this study entailed five key skills of: forming letters, blending them into words, identifying sounds in words, spelling words, and reading tricky words. Of more particular focus, Table 1 as well as lesson note sample in Appendix 2 demonstrate how the teaching went. The present study used the synthetic phonics approach which teaches pupils the five key skills for reading as it provides a foundation for teaching literacy. The five skills that are taught in Jolly Phonics strategy as follows: 1. Letter sounds skill: pupils are taught the 42 main letter sounds. This includes alphabet sounds as well as diagraphs such as sh, th, ai and ue. Example: Make letter-sounds and let the pupils write the letter or letters that match the sounds. 2. Letter formation skill: by using different multi-sensory methods, pupils learn how to form and write the letters. Example: pupils circle the letters that are not completely closed or are missing items. 3. Blending skill: in teaching this skill, pupils are taught how to blend the sounds together to read and write new words. Example: pupils write the letters in the correct order then reading the related sounds. Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 110 4. Identifying the sounds in words (Segmenting) skill: Pupils listen for the sounds in words gives pupils the best start for improving spelling. Example: What do I get if add a sound /p/ to the beginning of ink? Answer: pink. 5. Tricky words skill: in teaching this skill, tricky words have irregular spellings and children learn these separately. Example: pupils read words like (chair, mechanic, the, teeth). The rationale for implementing the Jolly Phonics strategy is related to the aim of the current study. Particularly, to provide pupils with specific procedures that help them improve their reading skills. As concluded at the literature review Chapter, Jolly phonics plays essential role in developing pupils’ reading skills, especially where English is a foreign language. EFL first grade pupils need such strategy since they have problems in reading which was demonstrated in Chapter Four which reported low scores in their reading achievement pretests. This strategy was practiced for five weeks with the experimental group under study. One of the researchers taught the Jolly Phonics strategy in the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016. In each less, two activities were lead which lasted for 45 minutes. Table 1. The content of the Jolly Phonics strategy Week Day Materials Week One Day One 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (1.1, 1.2). /s/, /a/ Day Two 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (2). /t/ Day Three 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (3.1, 3.2). /i/, /p/ Week Two Day One 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (4.1, 4.2). /n/, /ck/ Day Two 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (5.1, 5.2). /e/, /h/ Day Three 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (6.1, 6.2). /r/, /d/ Day Four 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (7.1, 7.2). /m/, /g/ Day Five 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (8.1, 8.2). /o/, /u/ Week Three Day One 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (9.1, 9.2, 9.3). /l/, /f/, /b/ Day Two 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (10.1, 10.2). /ai/, /j/ Day Three 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (11.1, 11.2). /oa/, /ie/ Day 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 111 Four 2- Worksheets (12.1, 12.2). /ee/, /or/,/z/ Day Five 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (13.1, 13.2). /w/, /ng/ Week Four Day One 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (14.1, 14.2). /v/, /oo/ Day Two 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (15.1, 15.2). /y/, /x/ Day Three 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (16.1, 16.2). /ch/, /sh/ Day Four 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (17). /th/ Week Five Day One 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (18.1, 18.2). /qu/, /ou/ Day Two 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (19.1, 19.2). /oi/, /ue/ Day Three 1- Jolly Phonics Songs. 2- Worksheets (20.1, 20.2). /er/, /ar/ In order to answer the questions of the study, the researchers developed a set of research instruments:  A reading test.  Jolly Phonics worksheets.  Jolly phonics songs with action way.  Lesson plans for teaching Jolly Phonics strategy. The reading test was used with first grade pupils’ oral reading in both groups under study (i.e. the experimental and the control). However, this test was used twice; before the training (for the experimental group) and after the training took place. The reading test is correlated with first grade learning outcomes suggested by Action Pack 1. It consisted of two questions. The first question contained a text with familiar words and expressions from their Action Pack 1 which was entitled: Hello. First grade pupils were asked to read the text aloud individually in front of the other pupils. This lesson, however, contained twenty words (Miss, Mariam, Hello, I’m, What’s, your, name, Mazen, Asma, How, are, you, very, well, thank, this, It’s, green, book, Good bye) that have most sounds under study. In order to read successfully, pupils needed to combine words together in order to read. Of particular focus, reading assessment and measurement of the participating pupils in the present study was established by their ability to form letters, blend them into words, identify sounds in words, spell words, and read tricky words. Of more particular focus, Appendix 1 demonstrates how the assessment of achievement went. The validity of the reading test was concerned with matching the content of test to that of Action Pack 1 textbook. Thus, the test was given to three university professors at Curriculum and Instruction department at Yarmouk University, two English supervisors, and two English Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 112 teachers, to look into its content (See Appendices A and E). They suggested adding more specific details about reading test for assessing the effectiveness of Jolly Phonics strategy. Their remarks and recommendations were taken into consideration. In order to obtain the reliability of the reading test, the test was tried out (i.e. pilot) on 20 pupils (from another school) who were excluded out from the study’s sample. The same test was re-tested again on the same pupils. Pearson Correlation was calculated. Moreover, Cronbach Alpha was used. Table 2. The specification of the reading test Outcomes Frequency Crornbach Alpha Question 1 Read the text aloud which contains twenty words. Five Points 0.81 Question 2 Read forty single words aloud. Ten Points To make sure of the reliability of the test, it was given to the same pilot study two weeks after the pre-test application according to the test and posttest procedure; Pearson correlation coefficients between the first and the second application were used, the result was calculated as 0.81 as shown in Table 3 below. 39 Jolly Phonics worksheets as downloaded from Jolly Phonics Websites were used during the training. These worksheets consisted of series of activities which help pupils to improve their reading skills. The test consisted of four activities. The first activity focused on producing the sound of the 42 English letters by connecting them by familiar objects. The second activity entailed a group of single words needed to be read aloud with the teacher. In the third activity, pupils need to cross out the word that does not have the required sound. The fourth activity, pupils need to practice writing the required English letter. A number of Jolly Phonics songs for first grade pupils were used. The songs consisted of a series of words which focus on producing the 42 English letters sounds. The Jolly Phonics songs were practiced with moving the parts of the bodies to produce the sounds (i.e. weave hands in a shape, like a snake, and say sssss). The Jolly Phonics songs are attached with the rest of the instruments. These songs were downloaded from Jolly Phonics Websites. The researchers designed twenty lesson plans where an integration of all of learning outcomes, teacher roles, instruments (songs, worksheets, Action Way) are organized in a systematic manner. The validity of the Jolly Phonics worksheets, Jolly Phonics songs and lesson plans was concerned with matching its content to Action Pack 1 textbook. The lesson plans were given to the same jury of the reading test. All the jury approve the songs successfully. In order to test the hypothesis of the study, the researchers calculated the means and standard deviations for the performance of the members of the study sample on the reading posttest. Table 3 presents mean scores, standard deviations, and sample sizes for the two strategies Jolly Phonics and Conventional strategy. Table 3. Means and standard deviations of the study sample members on the reading pre- test and post-test Strategy N Reading pre test Reading post test Mean Std. Deviation Mean Std. Deviation Jolly Phonics strategy 29 4.84 2.976 9.89 3.785 Conventional 29 5.39 3.752 5.49 3.754 International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 113 Table 3 shows that the pupils who are taught by Jolly Phonics strategy have the highest improvement on achievement in the reading posttest mean score = (9.89), and the mean score of the Conventional strategy was the lowest one (i.e. 5.49) on the total of reading posttest. In order to check if the difference is statistically significance, ANCOVA was used, and Table 4 presents the results as follows: Table 4. The results of ANCOVA of the pupils’ reading post test Source Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Partial Eta Squared reading pre test 215.792 1 215.792 20.464 0.000 0.271 Strategy 319.726 1 319.726 30.321 0.000* 0.355 Error 579.966 55 10.545 Corrected Total 1076.039 57 *The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. Table 4 shows that (F) value= 30.321 on the total of reading and this value is related with significance level which is estimated as 0.000 (at α ≤ 0, 0 5) which means that there is a significant difference on first grade pupils’ reading skill. The researchers rejected the null hypothesis that note “there is no statistically significant difference effect (α ≤ 0.05) of Jolly Phonics strategy on first grade pupils’ reading achievement”. In order to decide the differences were in favour of which strategy, the researchers collected the adjusted means and the results as follows: Table 5. Adjusted means and standard errors for the pupils’ reading post-test Strategy Mean Std. Error Jolly Phonics 10.045 .604 Conventional 5.334 .604 Table 5 shows that the mean differences were in favour of the experimental group (taught by Jolly Phonics strategy) compared with the control group because the mean score of the Jolly Phonics strategy was higher than these of the Conventional strategy as Table 5 shows. 4. Discussion and Conclusion The study investigated the effect of Jolly Phonics strategy on Jordanian first grade pupils’ reading achievement in English language. This can be explained on the grounds that the Jolly Phonics strategy suited the pupils under study more, which in turn, helped them in their reading achievement. Jolly Phonics strategy is easier to be understood and processed due to the phonemic awareness which is useful for improving reading abilities. Gough (1996) suggested that when the phonemic awareness background is included in first grade pupils’ reading instruction, they will get higher performance for their reading achievement. Moreover, Byrne, Fielding-Barnsley and Ashley (2000) confirmed that the phonemic awareness ‘sound foundation’ that can improve first grade pupils’ reading skill. Additionally, Ehir, Nunes and Willows (2001) asserted that young learners can develop their reading skill by concerning the sounds together which support the effect of Jolly Phonics strategy with young learners’ instruction. In the researchers' view, the Jolly Phonics strategy is very crucial in helping young learners to read in English. The teaching materials, accordingly, included phonics instruction that enabled them to read better than their peers in the control group. Mostly, if Action Pack 1 textbook material is included with Jolly Phonics worksheets and songs with Action Way, they will gain better achievement in reading. This seems to be in the line with the findings of Blaiklock and Haddow (2007) who asserted the effect of Jolly Phonics instruction on reading Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 114 achievement, as it has an important role in facilitating reading process of the foreign language. The findings agree with Vadasy, Sanders and Peyton’s (2005) study that highlighted the significance of Jolly Phonics strategy versus the conventional strategy in order to improve first grade pupils’ reading ability and achievement, as it has an important role in facilitating reading (decoding letters) of the foreign language. Phonics ‘sound foundation’ needs to be taught to emergent young readers to learn decoding and to be able to build a base for later reading. The researchers believe that, an inclusion of Jolly Phonics content should be included in Action Pack 1textbook. It is worthwhile mentioning that providing first grade pupils’ with this explicit strategy instruction will enable them to become more successful readers than having the conventional strategy. Based on the results of the current study, the study recommends the following: 1. The Ministry of Education is advised to adopt the current Jolly Phonics strategy in the Action Pack 1textbook along with all its teaching material included in this study. Yet, only by employing what is learned from research will care be made for enhancing pupils' reading performance. Off course, implementing evidence-based practice by the Ministry of Education in Jordan should be fed by informative strategies. The strategy introduced and approved by the present study is an example of such strategies. Admittedly, educational systems are complex entailing different levels of stakeholders such as parents, teachers, policy makers of and—ultimately—improving reading performance to be evidence-based teaching practice. Nevertheless, variation in the implementation of this practice may report different results. 2. One of the practical implications of the present study is that though Jolly Phonics develops pupils' reading performance as one of its foremost gains, it attends only for auditory abilities. Consequently, pupils who are not auditory may face problems in learning by the means of Jolly Phonics. Due to the fact that pupils have different learning styles, teachers need to find mixed activities which enable them to read successfully. 3. What's more, theoretical implications for confident reading instruction comprise providing teachers with of research-based results that support improving literacy skills of young readers. Due to the communicative nature of the Jordanian curricula, EFL teachers may consider contact with real life texts that meet such outcomes while practicing decoding at the same time. In this way pupils' motivation will be boasted. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 115 References Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Ball, E. W., & Blachman, B.A. (1991). Does phoneme segmentation training in kindergarten make a difference in early word recognition and developmental spelling? Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 49–66. Beers, K. (2003) When kids can’t read, what teachers can do: A guide for teachers. 6-12. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Blachman, B. A. (1984). Relationship of rapid naming ability and language analysis skills in kindergarten and first grade reading achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 610-622. Blaiklock, K., & Haddow, S. (2007). Incorporating phonics within a New Zealand whole language literacy programme. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 4(1&2), 143-159. Byrne, B., Fielding-Barnsley, R., & Ashley, L. (2000). Effects of preschool phoneme identity training after six years: Outcome level distinguished from rate of response. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(4), 659-667. Cambourne, B. (1979). How important is theory to the reading teacher? Australian Journal of Reading, 2, 78-90. Carnine, D. W., Silbert, J., Kame’enui, E. J., Tarver, S. G., & Jungjohann, K. (2006). Teaching struggling and at-risk readers: A direct instruction approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall. Chall, J. S., & Popp, H. M. (1996). Teaching and assessing phonics: Why, what, when, how. Cambridge: Educators Publishing Service, Inc. Ehri, L. C. (2005). Development of sight word reading: phases and findings. In M. J. Snowling, & C. Hulm (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 135–154). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Ehri, L., Nunes, S. R., Willows, D. M., Schuster, B. U., Yaghoubzadel, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps students learn to read: evidence from the national reading panel’s metaanalysis. Reading Quarterly., 36, 250-287. Ekpo, C. M, Udosen, A. A, Afangideh, M. E., Ekukinam, T. U., & Ikorok, M. M. (2007). Jolly phonics strategy and the ESL pupils’ reading development: A preliminary study. A paper presented at 1 st Mid Term Conference held at the University of Ibadan Oyo State. Gough, P. B (1996). How children learn to read and why they fail. Annals of Dyslexia, 46, 3- 20. Griffith, P. L., & Klesius, J. P. (1990). The effect of phonemic awareness ability and reading instructional approach on first grade children’s acquisition of spelling and decoding skills. Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, Miami, FL. Krashen, S. (1993). The power of reading. Englewood, Col.: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Liu, A. (2010). A short analysis of the nature of reading. English Language Teaching, 3(3),152-157. Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 116 Loyd, S., (2000). The phonics handbook: A handbook for teaching reading, writing and spelling. United Kingdom: Jolly Learning, Ltd. Pullman, P. (2004). The war on words. Guardian Review. 6. November.4. Smith, C. B. (2003). The teaching of phonics, (Report No, CS512536). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED482405). Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Sue, L., & Sara, W. (2009). Jolly Phonics, parent/teachers’ guide. Essex, UK: Jolly Learning Ltd. Tailors House. Vadasy, P. F., Sanders, E. A., & Peyton, J. A. (2005). Relative effectiveness of reading practice or word- level instruction in supplement tutoring: How text matters. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 364-380. Vernon, S. (2011). The hows and whys of teaching pronunciation. Teaching English. Retrieved May 10, 2015 from http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_Pronunciation.htm Yellin, D., Jones, M. B., & Devries, B. A. (2008). Integrating the language arts. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway, Publishers, Inc. Yopp, H. K. (1988). The validity and reliability of phonemic awareness tests. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 159–177. Jolly Phonics Websites: http://www.cartoonito.co.uk/activities http://jollylearning.co.uk/gallery/cartoonito-activity-sheets/ http://jollylearning.co.uk/2010/11/03/jolly-phonics-actions/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2YAqhzaheE http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_Pronunciation.htm http://www.cartoonito.co.uk/activities http://jollylearning.co.uk/gallery/cartoonito-activity-sheets/ http://jollylearning.co.uk/2010/11/03/jolly-phonics-actions/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2YAqhzaheE International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 117 Appendix 1 (reading test) Q1. Read the following text aloud. (____/5 points) Hello! Miss Mariam: Hello, I’m Miss Mariam. What’s your name? Mazen: I’m Mazen. Miss Mariam: What’s your name? Asma: I’m Asma. Miss Mariam: How are you? Asma: I’m very well, thank you. Miss Mariam: What’s this? Mazen: It’s a green book. Miss Mariam: How old are you? Asma: I’m six. Miss Mariam: Good bye. Q2. Read the following words aloud. (____/10 points) 1. What? 2. Chair 3. Girl 4. It’s 5. This 6. Pencil 7. How many? 8. Kitchen 9. Computer 10. CD. 11. Notebook 12. Friend. 13. School 14. Bedroom 15. Mum 16. Fadia 17. Living room 18. Toy 19. Poster 20. Count 21. Tree 22. Tie 23. Jump 24. Color 25. Five 26. Six. 27. Fish 28. Three 29. Blue 30. Car 31. Oil 32. Look 33. Please 34. Bag 35. Bathroom 36. Samia 37. Game 38. My 39.Dad 40. sister Appendix 2 (Lesson plan) The Lesson Plans contain the following seven groups will be taught answering worksheets: Group 1:- s, a, t, I, p, n Group 2:- ck, e, h, r, d, m Group 3:- g, o, u, l, f, b Group 4:- ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or Group 5:- z, w, ng, nk, v, short oo, long oo Group 6:- y (4 sounds), x, ch, sh, voiced th, unvoiced th Group 7:- qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar Week: One Nasrawi & Al-Jamal 118 Lesson plan specimen ) Day:. Date: First Period: The outcomes of this lesson are: 1- To say words starting with /s/sound, e.g. snake and sun. 2- To sing a song “The snake is in the grass’’. 3- To colour the snake. 4- To practice writing /s/. 5- To circle three pictures having a /s/ sound in them. 6- To cross out the one that does not have a /s/ sound in them. Materials 1- Jolly Phonics Songs with Action Way. 2- Worksheet (1.1). Time: (25 minutes). Procedures: 1. Before the teacher starts: Tell pupils to think in pairs about words which start with /s/ sound. 2. Ask each pupil to color the snake that includes /s/ sound. 3. Ask a few pupils to circle three pictures having a /s/ sound in them, and to cross out the one that does not have a /s/ sound in them. 4. Listen to the song: “The snake is in the grass’’. 5. Practice writing /s/ sound. The outcomes of this lesson are: 1- To say words starting with /a/sound, e.g. ant and apple. 2- To sing a song “Ant on my Arm’’. 3- To color the ant. 4- To practice writing /a/. 5- To circle three pictures having a /a/ sound in them. 6- To cross out the one that does not have a /a/ sound in them. Materials 1- Jolly Phonics Songs with Action Way. 2- Worksheet (1.2). Time: (20 minutes) Procedures: 1. Before the teacher starts: Tell pupils to think in pairs about words which start with /a/ sound. 2. Ask each pupil to color the ant that includes /a/ sound. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2017, 4(2), 106-119. 119 3. Ask a few pupils to circle three pictures have a /a/ sound in them, and to cross out the one that does not have a /a/ sound in them. 4. Listen to the song: “Ant on my Arm’’. 5. Practice writing /a/ sound.