The Effectiveness of Synthetic Phonics in Developing Reading Fluency among Year 2 Intermediate Pupils

Abstract

Reading skill is an essential skill that is taught in every language subject in schools. Its importance is irrefutable as it relates closely to the pupils' academic and future success. Today, many Malaysian pupils are still struggling hard to read with fluency and understanding. It is noticed that educators in schools have been giving limited attention on reading fluency since reading comprehension is the ultimate goal in reading development. Researches show that mastery of reading fluency is required for comprehension to take place subsequently. Therefore, this action research aims to examine the effectiveness of synthetic phonics in developing the reading fluency of the Year 2 intermediate pupils in a sub-urban school in Dalat, Sarawak and their perception towards the intervention. Six pupils were involved in this research. Data were collected through pre-post-tests, classroom observation and structured interviews. Paired T-tests were conducted to determine the significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores of ORF assessments which were analysed in mean, standard deviation and p-value whereas classroom observation and structured interviews were analysed through content analysis. The findings indicated that pupils had improved in their reading fluency after the intervention and had positive perceptions towards the intervention. For further research, more sampling is recommended to generalise the findings.