ASSISTING T I AHMADIYYA JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS IMPROVE UPON THEIR READING AND COMPREHENSION SKILLS USING THE PHONIC METHOD

Abstract

The study design was action research conducted to solve a classroom problem which was identified during teaching and learning in T I Ahmadiyya Junior High School Form One. The study lasted for a three weeks from pre-intervention, intervention and post intervention stages. The purpose of this study was to improve the reading and comprehension skills of the JHS 1 students of T I Ahmadiyya Junior High School. The population of the entire form one class was 25 students and they were made up of 10 boys and 15 girls. Data were collected from pre-test, observation and post-test and analyzed on tables for easy understanding. The pre-test results show that no student scored between 80-100 marks, and only one (1) student had a pass mark which falls between 50-79 representing 10% of the student sampled population. The post test results show that four (4) students scored marks between 80-100 representing 40% of the sampled students. The study concluded that teachers are do not always consider the appropriate aspects of the phonic method like systematic synthetic phonic and phonics instruction for teaching reading and comprehension skills. The findings show that students face various levels of difficulties in learning reading comprehension. These difficulties emanated from their homes, teachers, remediation, assessment, sex, teaching and learning recourses, government inability to provide adequate infrastructure. First of all, the school environment must be conducive for learning to take place. The teachers who facilitate the students learning must be trained and retrained to be equipped with adequate competences for their jobs. Students try to identify their weaker points in their process; this will help them learn to improve upon their weak sites. Proper assessment should be made before mainstreaming student into one learning environment to enable teacher handle their individual differences.