The Effects of a Peer-Mediated Synthetic Phonics Intervention with Children from a Rural Indian Town
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The Effects of a Peer-Mediated Synthetic Phonics Intervention with Children from a Rural Indian Town Christopher John Counihan A thesis submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences Newcastle University October 2017 Abstract It’s a truism that children living in rural areas of India suffer from a lack of quality reading instruction and guidance. Singular rote pedagogies hinder children’s progress and potential for higher study. In light of this, research continues to find benefits in synthetic phonic and peer learning methods, offering a potential avenue for accelerating early reading achievement. This study investigated the effects of a peer-mediated synthetic phonics programme operating in a rural Northern Indian town. Following a sociocultural peer cooperative approach to reading instruction, children from a low-cost private school (N = 44) were recruited as Monitors and trained in a peer/synthetic method ahead of a four-month intervention. Given localised problems associated with education access and quality, children from a range of mainstream education providers (N = 701) were recruited as Learners and randomised into control and intervention groups. An embedded mix methods research design was incorporated into a three-phase research plan. Using an experimental random controlled trial (RCT) design, quantitative collections involved pre/post testing on all children’s phonological awareness, spelling, reading skills and reading attitudes. Qualitative collections during phase two developed pre-test findings by exploring Monitors’ reading attitudes ahead of the intervention. The main findings suggest children receiving peer-mediated synthetic phonic instructions are able to improve their English phonemic awareness, spelling, and reading skills. It demonstrates capacity for accelerating reading achievement over a short intervention period, potential for further study in this area and pedagogical reform. In addition to this, factors associated with peer reading opportunities, location and pedagogical structure improved reading attitudes. Attitudes to reading is an underdeveloped area in Indian education policy, it is not referred to in any policy documents or curricula. The significance of peer reading promotion in academic and recreational settings is crucial to accelerating reading achievement. Taken as a whole, this research has major implications for international development programmes looking to target progression in early reading achievement and the promotion of positive attitudes in reading activities. I Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful to a number of people who have helped with the development of this study. Firstly, my supervisor, Professor Pauline Dixon has been a rock of support throughout the entire process. Her work and dedication to my study often went above and beyond the call of duty. I’m forever grateful for the training, unscheduled meetings and time invested in the development of this study. I would also like to express thanks to Preet Grewal and the management team at Alpine Public School. If not for them, general access to the school’s facilities and network would have not taken place. I’m extremely grateful for the unscheduled meetings and numerous phone/Skype calls – sometimes very late into the night. To all the children who invested their time and energy over the study period, I would like to express how unbelievably proud you made me over the study period. Your conduct, desire and passion for teaching and learning were commendable and made a huge difference to the challenging situations you all worked in. Special thanks goes to Chris Jolly who supported the study with generous donations of books and materials. I’m extremely grateful for your support and help. Finally, I would like to thank my parents and wider family for all their love and support during this process. To my partner, Lisa, I love you very much and could not have completed this work without your support. II Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................................... II LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. VIII LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... IX GLOSSARY OF TERMS ............................................................................................................................ XI CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 ILLITERACY IN INDIA – A NATION’S ANATHEMA ............................................................................ 1 1.3 ENGLISH POLICY & EDUCATION ............................................................................................................. 2 1.4 CHALLENGES IN PRIMARY EDUCATION AND READING PEDAGOGY............................................ 4 1.5 THE CHOICE OF LOCATION AND STUDY CONTEXT .......................................................................... 6 CHAPTER TWO - LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 14 2.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY & EMERGENT LITERACY ............................................................................. 14 2.2.1 Relationships of L1 - L2 Reading and Emergent Readers ................................................... 16 2.3 THEORETICAL MODELS & READING DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................... 17 2.3.1 Stages of Reading .................................................................................................................................. 17 2.3.2 Reading Pedagogy ................................................................................................................................. 19 2.3.3 Whole Language Approach............................................................................................................... 19 2.3.4 Analytic Phonics Approach .............................................................................................................. 21 2.3.5 Synthetic Phonic Approaches ........................................................................................................... 22 2.4 RECIPROCITY IN L1 AND L2 READING ATTITUDES .............................................................................. 25 2.4.1 Day and Bamford (1998) Model ..................................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Ruddell and Speaker (1985) Model ............................................................................................... 28 2.4.3 Mathewson (1985, 1994) Model ..................................................................................................... 28 2.4.4 Mckenna (1994) Model ....................................................................................................................... 29 2.5 PEER LEARNING: THEORETICAL DIMENSIONS ..................................................................................... 30 2.5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 30 2.5.2 Social Interdependence Theory ....................................................................................................... 31 2.6 PEER LEARNING METHODS ...................................................................................................................... 36 2.6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 36 2.6.2 Peer Tutoring........................................................................................................................................... 37 2.6.3 Peer Collaborative Learning ............................................................................................................ 37 2.6.4 Peer Cooperative Learning................................................................................................................ 39 2.6.5 Peer Cooperative Learning and L2 Reading ............................................................................. 41 2.7 PEER COOPERATIVE TEACHING & LEARNING STRATEGIES ................................................................ 42 2.7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 42 2.7.2 Constructive Controversy ................................................................................................................... 43 2.7.3 Teams Assisted Individualisation (TAI) .....................................................................................