AN INVESTIGATION OF LONG-TERM EFFECT AND EFFECTIVITY OF SYNTHETIC PHONICS ON PUPILS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE LITERACY IN GOMBE STATE.

Abstract

A lot of studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of synthetic phonics approach to reading English Language, especially to lower grade learners. Positive impacts of the method have always been found from almost all the studies. This research work tended to investistigate a long-term effect of employing synthetic approach to teaching English Language to tackle literacy problems in Gombe State of Nigeria. The method has been in existence for 7 years (as at the time of this research work) in the area of the study. Its impact had been found to be positive at the early stage of the programme. This work further investigated the long-term impact of the programme in the student’s literacy skill. The study also explored the effectiveness the seven-years-old project as a literacy programme in Gombe State of Nigeria. The study employed the use of comparative research method to highlight the difference between phonic-based students and non-phonic students. Finally, the study came out with some suggestions and recommendations to further improve and rectify the weaknesses found from the use of the synthetic phonic methods.