DOCUMENT RESUME ED 430 215 CS 013 555 AUTHOR Dakin, Alexandra B. TITLE The Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics Reading Program K-2 as Measured by Student Performance and Teacher Evaluation. PUB DATE 1999-05-00 NOTE 74p.; Master of Science in Education, Dominican College. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses Masters Theses (042) Reports Evaluative (142) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Emergent Literacy; *Instructional Effectiveness; *Phonics; Primary Education; Qualitative Research; *Reading Instruction; *Reading Programs; Reading Research; Reading Skills; Teacher Attitudes IDENTIFIERS *Direct Instruction ABSTRACT This study focuses on the effectiveness and advantages of using an explicit phonics based reading program in kindergarten through second grade. The methods of decoding words that teachers introduce to the beginning readers must prove to be effective in introducing and building reading skills. Most recent studies have revisited and concurred with studies done in the 1930s and 1960s that the lack of phonics based reading instruction leaves students without important decoding skills necessary in recognizing letter/sound relationships in reading. The subjects in this study are 12 inner-city Catholic elementary school students. Four students at each grade level are evaluated and interviewed. Each student is at a different reading level identified as high, medium and low. Another component of the study is the teacher interview directed at each grade level teacher kindergarten through second grade. The teachers are interviewed as to their philosophy, style and methodology of teaching reading using explicit phonics instruction. The research method used is qualitative. Data gathering, evaluation and results are coded to ensure interviewed and research subjects confidentiality and anonymity. The implications of this study are to add to the existing research that the learning of the phonological structure of a word through use of phonetic decoding skills determines the success of the emergent reader kindergarten through second grade. An appendix contains unnumbered charts and tables of data, teacher interview questions and responses, a reading diagnosis chart, and several word lists. Contains 26 references. (RS) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Cs Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics 1 Running Head: EFFECTIVENESS OF A SKILL BASEDEXPLICIT PHONICS Dominican College San Rafael, California May 1999 The Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics Reading Program K-2 as Measured by Student Performance and Teacher Evaluation Alexandra B. Dakin Master of Science in Education BESTCOPYAVAILABLE PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. kt") 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 -1 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. C/) Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank her husband John, family and friends for their continuous support throughout this study. In addition, the author would like to acknowledge both Madalienne Peters, Ed.D., and Cate Diskin, M.A., for their inspiration, assistance and contributions to her post graduate work. 3 Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics The Effectiveness of a Skilled Based Explicit Phonics Reading Program K-2 as Measured by Student Performance and Teacher Evaluation Table of Contents Abstract 2 I. Introduction 3 II. Statement of Problem 5 III. Rationale 6 IV. Background & Need 8 V. Review of the Literature 13 VI. Methodology 23 VII. Results 36 VIII. Analysis of the Data/Discussion 40 IX. Conclusion 44 X. Reference XI. Appendix . 4 Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics 2 Abstract This study focuses on the effectiveness and advantages of using an explicit phonics based reading program in kindergarten through second grade. As teachers, the methods of decoding words that we introduce to the beginning readers must prove to be effective in introducing and building reading skills. Most recent studies have revisited and concurred with studies done in the 1930s and 1960s that the lack of phonics based reading instruction leaves students without important decoding skills necessary in recognizing letter/sound relationships in reading. The subjects in this study are twelve inner-city Catholic elementary school students. Four students at each grade level are evaluated and interviewed. Each student is at a different reading level identified as high, medium and low. Another component of the study is the teacher interview directed at each grade level teacher kindergarten through second grade. The teachers are interviewed as to their philosophy, style and methodology of teaching reading using explicit phonics instruction. The research method used is qualitative.It is practice based research done within the classroom environment. Each of the four students at each grade level are evaluated as to their reading level, word attack skills and use of phonetic decoding skill during the second semester of the 1998-1999 school year. The three teachers are interviewed with a set of eight questions on philosophy of teaching reading, style and methods of phonics instruction. Data gathering, evaluation and results are coded to insure interviewed and research subjects confidentiality and anonymity. The implications of this study are to add to the existing research that the learning of the phonological structure of a word through use of phonetic decoding skills determines the success of the emergent reader kindergarten through second grade. 5 Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics 3 Introduction One's earliest experiences in learning to read may be interactive, but what methods he or she uses to be a successful reader is the topic for discussion in this paper. In a documented report to the Superintendent of Public Schools in California, The Reading Task Force proposed that the State Board "adopt materials in grade 1-8 that include systematic, explicit phonics, spelling, and computational skills." (Reading Program Advisory 1996) This proposal had been presented in an effort to turn around the overall low reading performance of California students in each grade level. The Task Force concluded that the previous 1987 State Language Arts Framework was not adequate nor balanced enough in basic skills instruction to offer the beginning reader the skills necessary to succeed academically in the higher grades. The lack of explicit phonetic instruction left students without the important decoding skills necessary in recognizing letter/ sound relationships and word building patterns. The new guidelines proposed, called for the teaching of "an organized, explicit skills program with phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding skills emphathized." Without phonetic decoding skills, children will not be able to "understand, apply and learn the alphabetic principle and conventions of the written language." (Reading Program Advisory 1996) The reading process is a system used by successful readers to understand what they are reading. Three cueing systems are used interactively: the semantic cue uses background or prior knowledge of the reader, syntactic Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics 4 cues the reader's knowledge of language patterns, and the use of graphophonic cues taps into the understanding of the letter/sound relationship and letter/word patterns. Effective readers use these three cues together to decode their text. However, if one of these cues is not developed, such as the graphophonic cue which integrates phonemic awareness with phonetic decoding skills, the beginning reader will be hindered in his or her ability to understand the text. This study will explore the effectiveness and outcome of explicit phonics instruction in a reading program kindergarten through second grade. It provides evidence that the implementation of an explicit phonics program within the reading curriculum leads to better reading skills through evaluation of phonetic decoding methods used in written and oral comprehension of letter sounds in words of the beginning reader. 7 Effectiveness of a Skill Based Explicit Phonics 5 Statement of the Problem Given the implementation of an explicit instruction program, students in K- 2 will show evidence of reading skills in their word recognition assessments and comprehension evaluations. Teachers will also describe their reading philosophies and student progress in their interviews. Implementation ofan explicit skill based phonics program leads to increased reading skills and facilitates independent reading. Learning to recognize phonemes or individual sounds leads to phonemic awareness in beginning readers. Phonemic awareness in pre-k or kindergarten is an essential first step in beginning to learn to read words. Phonemic awareness is the ability to discern the alphabetic language's "sound system." (Chall 1996) This ability to discern separate letter sounds in the alphabet heightens