Impact of Jolly Phonics Teaching Method on the Formation of Letter Sounds Abilities of Primary School Pupils in Gusau Local Government of Zamfara State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focused on the impact of Jolly Phonics method on the formation of letter sounds abilities of primary school pupils in Gusau local government of Zamfara State, Nigeria. Two research questions were developed and answered in line with what the study sought to find out. Also two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the probability of 0.05 levels of significance. The study made use of Burt and EGRA reading and writing tests to ascertain pupils' baseline in word formation and their level of attainment in the same skills after being exposed to Jolly Phonics teaching method. Thereafter, they were subjected to treatment for 6 weeks using adapted Burt-EGRA reading and writing test. The instrument Burt-EGRA reading and writing test was developed from the review of related literature and was used for the treatment of the respondents. The instrument Burt-EGRA reading and writing test validated by experts in Department of curriculum (Language Education) Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto and to ensure reliability of the items, they were pilot tested in two (2) primary schools outside the selected schools within the study area. The entire population for the study was 79,377 pupils and total of 1,901 obtained from the sixteen (16) sampled primary schools selected from the study area. One hundred (100) respondents were sampled out of the total population using stratified simple random sampling technique. The data collected for the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and Standard deviation) to answer the research questions raised where t-test statistical analysis was employed by the researcher to test the null hypotheses.  The findings of the study revealed that there was significant difference in the performance of respondents  subjected to treatment using Burt-EGRA reading and writing test in teaching Jolly Phonics. It was recommended that enough time should be allotted to the teaching of Jolly Phonics as this will help pupils to improve in their skills of sounds identifications, sound formation and words formation.