CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the following subtopics, background of the study, the

statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the significance of the study and

the organization of the study and the rest of the chapters.

Background of the study

English is one of the core subjects offered worldwide in schools. The teaching and

learning of English Language have become a big problem to most pupils and teachers

in the basic schools. Teachers are judged by certain criteria, which know the subject

matter, active relationship with pupils and others in the community. It makes it very

disgusting to identity a child who has gone through a lot of processes of pre-reading

activities in pre-school, lower and upper primary and the J.H. S of the basic education

level not been able to articulate words set out in specific codes.

It also becomes appalling when an instructor who has prepared adequately with well

teaching notes and chronological arrangement of teaching and learning activities and

materials to get into the classroom and lead his pupils through the various reading

activities, and when a question “B” is thrown to the pupils as “do you understand”

they respond “yes sir or madam” but when the instructor want to evaluate the lesson

to measure pupils performance, the outcome shows that the pupil cannot even say a

word or even read the question to get the meaning in order to answer it.

One may not understand it and comes out with the question “why”? Personal

observation and conversation with teachers and pupils of Abochia D/A J.H.S revealed

1
that the pupils have a common problem in phonology, which deals with the study of

combining sounds to produce words and sentences.

It was as a result of this that the researcher decides to undertake this action research to

examine how knowledgeable he can help in reduction of the problem.

Pronunciation is an essential tool in reading

It is the most applied and effective tool for learning

A key skill, which opens the door of reading and intellectual self-improvements.

To be precise, if a pupil knows how to express him/herself in words, it means there is

the tendency that he / she can read a sentence without mistakes.

The results I had after going through some trial tests and interviews with both teachers

of Abochia D/A J.H.S made it clear that the pupil can neither read nor pronounce

simple words with mistakes. The principal reason is that teachers do not take pupil

through pronunciation drills as of comprehension exercises.

Teaching activities should make it an aim that beginners in reading learning all the

important pronunciation skills. All the necessary skill (letter sound relationship) the

pupil need from the very beginning in a way to become self- reliant reading in the

near future needs to be taught.

All the basic school teachers must be conversant with the entire phonic programme in

order to be able to deliver the topic to the pupils

Statement of the study

In the teaching of English Language some teachers teach without teaching and

learning materials. This has become a problem because pupils do not understand and

cannot pronounce the words being taught. It is against this background that the study

2
is being conducted that the use of phonic technique to solve the problem of

pronunciation.

Reading is important in day to day activities and this also implies to pronunciation

action compared to reading because it is an educational skills which is very essential

and it is the most effective self-reliance tool for learning. In actual fact, if a child can

express him/ herself in words as well as sentence, it means the child can read words

and sentences effectively.

My findings after careful trial test and interviews with pupils and teachers of Abochia

D/A J.H.S made it clear that the pupils could neither read nor pronounce simple words

correctly. The utmost reason shows that teachers do not

 Go in accordance with the practice in the teaching of reading and tend to fix

set patterns in the learner. Instructional activities should ensure that readers

learn all essential pronunciation skills.

 Ensure that the necessary phonic skills (letter sound relationship) the pupils’

needs in a way to become independent readers are taught.

 Show basic school to be familiar with the entire programmer so as to be able

to teach it to their pupils.

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of the study is to identify the reason why pupils have difficulties in

pronouncing words at Abochia D/A Basic seven

In our day to day school life, it pupils cannot discover the meaning of words from the

chalkboard after an instructor has successfully taught a lesson, then it is clear that they

can neither read nor write.

3
The purpose of this study is therefore to teach pronunciation at Abochia D/A Basic

Seven School using the phonic method.

This will help them to:

I. Improve upon their pronunciation skills and pronounce words in English cause

reader’s book.

II. To examine in detail the multi-syllabic work instead of sounds within a given

pattern for easy pronunciation.

III. It will also enable pupil to reduce the problem of letter sound manipulation

which actually possess the difficulty of pronouncing new words they come

across.

Research question

The researcher likes to provide some questions to serve as a guideline to successfully

finish his objectives. This includes.

1. How will the phonic technique be used in Abochia D/A Basic Seven?

2. What are some of the techniques that can be employed to improve upon their

pronunciation skills?

3. How would the technique stated above be used to help pupils make progress in

their pronunciation skills?

Significance of the study

This is to help the pupils at Abochia D/A Basic Seven to achieve the dues or strategies

for pronouncing new words rightly in their readings. This is the main reason why this

topic is chosen. The researcher will work in accordance with the curriculum Research

4
and Development Division (CRDD) to assist in publishing this action research in

order to make it available for teacher’s use.

Also, this action research is carried out to improve upon pupils’ effort and to spell or

pronounce new words completely whenever they come into contact with them.

Another advantage of this action research is to help develop listening and speaking

skill in English language and English related subjects.

The methodology content in this research study will also be of good use to other

researchers, circuit supervisions, education and student, teachers in our colleges of

Education for their teachings and correcting of pronunciation difficulties in schools.

This action research will also motivate teachers to change the way they deliver their

lessons by the use of phonic Approach in teaching of pronouncing.

Limitation

1. Time constraints and the schedules for teaching however cannot allow me

to extend this to cover enough schools or even the lower classes in the

basic schools.

2. Sampling error may also affect this study

3. The researcher as a teacher trainee who is still in school cannot reach all

the sample members due to financial problem

Delimitation

There are many schools in the Aowin District where the study would have been

conducted to give wider coverage to the study. However. The study was restricted to

only Abochia D/A Basic Seven

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A lot of method of teaching pronounce to our pupil can be used but I decided to use

the phonic approach as a technique of teaching pronunciation, because I would like to

examine carefully the outcomes it appears to contain as a possible solution to the

problem.

Organization of the study

The research is made up of five different components, each of them taking a chapter.

Chapter one covers the introduction of the study, research questions, limitations and

the organization of the study.

Chapter two is design to cover the literature review which has to do with what other

authors or researchers from different background have said about the topic in terms of

known facts or concept and empirical evidence (scientific research study) and lastly

the overall goal clarifying how the present study intends address the gap or weakness

in the already known literature.

Chapter three considers the appropriate method employed in carrying out the study,

the type of instrument used, and the population, sample and sampling techniques.

Chapter four deals with the analysis and discussion of results after the intervention

processes, and also shows the findings from the analysis of data.

Chapter five that is the final chapter discusses the summary, conclusion and

recommendations. It also presents the gist of the study involving the problem studied,

the methodology employed and the outcome as well as the concluding part of the

study and recommendation by the researcher.

6
 CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

There are a lot of strategies pupil may use to decide the difficulty in pronouncing

words in spite of those declared as sight words as sight words but phonic is the best

strategy.

Phonics instruction is associated with teaching letter-sound relationship only as they

connect to learning to read. Therefore, the most favorable amount of phonics

instruction a child should be uncovered to is the minimum the child need to become

independence or self-reliance reader.

Dirothy Simon (1992), base her study on specific sounds attached to work through the

letter or alphabet that compose the words children can however produce a lot of

already taught sounds and various chains of sounds are expected to be words he /she

have sounded a lot of times usually confuses and frustrate the teacher.

This area of the phonics however generates complaints that phonics taught children

are not readers, they are sound maker. The processes used in the instructional period

should be made reversible in order for teachers to change from only presenting

children with letters and then putting super imposing the instruction of the sounds on

those letters.

In the same way, although children at the basic level might not have idea or

knowledge of the alphabets, as such they have by all means heard and produced sound

conducted with the letters of their mothers tongue for years before they go to formal

school.

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Therefore children need not learn all these chains of sounds the letters have but rather

the letters (symbols) that go in line with the sound they know already. In this case it

clearly shows that it is the letters that are new to them and not the sound.

The children will understand better it is known to them that the letters which they

learn or read present uses these sound. However, if the pupils are able to recognize the

printed words and the phonic of its component letters or syllabic units, they would be

able to understand better through well taught out examples and appropriate drills and

games do overcome the syllabic or letter-sounds associated problems and therefore be

able to pronounce any new words they come across.

According to Tsadicky (1993) the technique lays much emphasis on the individual

letters making up the words. We can call it “reading by spelling”. This is alone when

the children pronoun the letters from the word in turns before saying it. Example,

Cat=c-a-t, man =m-a-n, dog=d-o-g

As stated by De Doer (1964), many pupils, at the early age of reading do not know

what sounds are represented by letters in the printed word. They have therefore learnt

to associate the letters in the printed word with sound in the spoken word. Phonic as a

word is said to be the study of the relationship of letters and letter combination words

in printed form.

Helman (1964) competed phonics is a means by which a learner is helped to acquire

the skills to improve pronunciation of any word which he/she may come across during

readings.

For Durkin (1974), to help a child discriminate among letters is the purpose of

phonics

In their contribution, Guy L. Bon and Eva Wagner (1966) highlighted the phonic

teaches reading as primarily mater of sound- blending approaching. The child is

8
normally given ear training to make sure that he/she is then taught and some of the

more important phonic blends.

In the strict application of the method, initial instruction is limited to drill upon these

elements. After the child has become conversant with elements, the elements are

added up to make sentences. According to the facts in reading sentences, children

resort to phonic analysis only as it is needed. It is presumed that, an instruction under

phonic method through the learning of sound elements help the child to acquire a

system of words recognition that makes him/her an independent word recognizer.

Pronouncing correct English sound

Robert Dodd (1955) says people just make vowel and consonant sounds and gets

deeply convince that they are able to pronounce words correctly and accurately, in the

same way if we are to go by accuracy, most people will come to the view that the /L/

sounds at eh beginning of words like “little” is far different from that at the end of the

same word. If the sounds are exchanged, the word will sound strange even though it

will be recognized as the word “little”. If we consider a word like “calm” the /L/

sound does not represent an /L/ and the “C” represent a ‘k’ sound which is very

different from the sound and the same letter in a word like “place” to represent ‘calm’

as /ka:m/ and place as /pleis/ help in reminding us of the or original sound of the

words.

Therefore, if is always necessary to aid the pronunciation of pupils by explaining now

the sounds are make. In ordinary spelling these similarities do not show, instead a

consistent set of symbols make them clear.

Understanding and producing the “stream of speech”, Raga T Nasr (1972) contends

that the original number of differences of sounds in language is great, the number of

9
distinct sound which a language use to differentiate the meaning is very limited. For

example, the word race is distinguished in sound from the word raise, only by the

letter /z/ in the second word “raise as contrasted with the /s/ of the first word “race”

One the other perspective, sound difference that never gives constrictive meaning are

non-distinctive. The sound /k/ of ‘kill’ is clearly different from the /k/ sound in “call”.

The second /k/ is made with the base of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth

farther back than when making the /k/ sound of ‘kill’. However this phonic difference

is not used in English as the only contrasting features distinguish separate words. It

difference which follows that /k/ sound

Moreover, the difference between the /L/ of ‘till’ and that of ‘still’ is never the only

constricting sound feature to distinguish between separate words. Its difference

depends on the fact that /t/ of “till” is the beginning sound of the word and that of

‘still’ has an /s/ sound before it simply put a language will have a lot of phonic

difference that are not phonetic.

An alphabet system of spelling the sound of a language is excellent so far as it is

phonetic. This implies that there is only one distinct sign for each of the distinctive

sound unit of language. In English, the same letter stand for a number /ea/ in beat,

breath, beant, earth and others in talking about it with others of the sound of

English.it is important to use special alphabet in which each sigh is given to me of the

phonic of English

Teaching pronunciation

It is impossible to teach a foreign language to any learner for any purpose, by using

any method without paying a particular attention to pronunciation and little attention

to pronunciation in phonetics.

10
In pronunciation, some question cannot be ignored. It will be better for both teachers

and pupils if they are made simple.

If there is any question to ask, I believe it must be how good the phonetics is to and

not whether phonetics is necessary for language teachers.

Geoffrey Braughten et al (1980) stated that pronunciation teaching deal with two

inter- related skills,

They are.

I. Recognition and understanding the flow of the speech

II. Production and fluency in spoken language.

These skills nevertheless, depend very little on it intellectual mastery of any

pronunciation lows or rules.

The most import secret is practice in listening and speaking which will surely give the

learner the skills he/she requires. A number of new skills is however needed

especially recognition skills. In order to learn and acquire the best pronunciation

habit. Therefore, for a learner to hear the new language accurately and imitate, the

learner must respond to a whole new system (the new here means that the English

Language is new to learner)

Most at times, it is not easy for the learner to hear correctly and this may therefore

constitute the leaner’s handicap in pronunciation.

Daddy (1975) contends that listening and speaking are connect closely in that more

accurate, listening usually results in better speaking and more careful listening, his

view on the subject is that, the component of an excellent pronunciation for the person

who will speak English well are the ability to;

1. Recognize and produce all distinctive sounds in the English Language sound

system.

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 2. Combine these sound correctly and contribute them in acceptable pattern of

strong and weak syllables.

3. Vary the tone of the voice; this conveys information about the speaker’s

attitude.

The above requirement can be totally summed up as correct sounds, correct rhythm

and correct notation. In this case, when the learner is readily and easily able to

identify a particular sound or pattern he/she hears and can differentiate it from the

similar sound of patterns, he/she will have far less problem in producing the sound

required.

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 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research design population and sample selection, research

instruments, interventional processes, monitoring technique as well as data collection

methods.

Research Design

Pre- test and post-test intervention methods were used in conduction the study. Pupil’s

knowledge about pronunciation was determined by the use of pre-test. The aim of the

intervention process was to adequately prepare the pupils with the need knowledge

and skills that will enable them find no difficulty in their pronunciation of words.

The reason for the conduction of the post- test was to determine if there had been any

improvement after the interventional activities. This action research was chosen

because with action research, the researcher is able to identify the problem in the

classroom and the learning environment to find out why that particular problem exist

and apply the appropriate interventions to solve the problem or to reduce the problem

to and appreciable level.

However, the weakness of these research designs has numerous benefits to offer.

Action research has the following benefits:

1. It assist the researcher to detect problems associated in the classroom and that

can be solved are tackled with the aim of solving them, it helps reduce

problem to and appreciable level or solve it completely. Some of the weakness

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 of this research design include; the designing of series of interventions which

may not prove to resolve a problem under study

Population and sample selection

The researcher recognized the problems at Junior High School one (JHS 1) to be of

great interest and concern to him personally and that was the reason why it was

chosen.

Sampling procedure

Out of the twenty- nine (29) pupils in the class, nineteen (19) were sampled out for

study. The pupils were selected because pronunciation was difficult for them. Eleven

(11) out of theirs number were boys and eight (8) were girls. Out of the nineteen (19)

pupils twelve (12) were put in poor readers group and Seven (7) as non-readers. The

average age selected for the study was sixteen (16) years.

Research instrument

The researcher used the test as the research instrument for the study.

Test can be used to deal into the depth of a problem and again to determine the

effectiveness of an intervention that has been set aside to address the problem in

action research. These when used as diagnostic instrument is referred to as pre-test

and used after administering the effectiveness of the intervention, is called the post-

test.

In the course of the pre-test twenty five (25) words were selected from the junior High

on e (J.H.S 1) redder for pupils to pronounce in order to determine how they could

14
pronounce the words effectively. During the post –test, the twenty five (25) words

used again to determine whether the pupils had progressed.

Intervention process

Intervention is a set of strategies planned and implemented to solve a specific problem

or to improve an educational practice located in an immediate situation. It involves a

systematic procedure, which is constantly monitored over varying periods of time and

a variety of mechanisms. It can also be concrete measures of methods. Put in place to

solve a specific problem. The process involves; pre-intervention, intervention and post

–intervention

Pre intervention

The actual intervention came after the researcher had used pre-test to diagnose the

anticipated problem.

Twenty five (25) words were picked from the pupils readers during the pre-test.

Classified pupils who were poor readers pronounced only nine (9) words out of the

twenty- five (25) words correctly. The aim of the pre-test was to evaluate pupil’s level

of pronunciation.

The intervention

The intervention is a series of concrete measures put in place to solve a specific

problem.

The word, ‘attack’ is used when dealing with the phonic instructions the pupils

studied and the alphabets preceding the study of the phonics.

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In the table below, is the plan the researcher devised out in the attempt to solve the

problem.

Table 1: a five intervention plan

WEEK DAY INTERVENTION.

1 1 pronunciation of twenty five

selected words

1 revision of the letter of the alphabets

2 2 pronunciation of consonant blends

1 identification and pronunciation of

diagraphs

3 2 identification of letter sound

correspondence

2 word attack

4 1 combining consonant and vowels to

form words

5 1 revising the whole process and test

3 Pronunciation of the twenty-five

selected words.

Explanation of the plan executed

WEEK ONE, DAY ONE: pronunciation of the twenty –five (25) selected word.

Examples planning, plaque, plait, plane, shout, sham, shake, shouting, holiday, oldest,

shoulder, wild.

The aim was to evaluate pupils level of pronunciation

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WEEK ONE, DAY TWO: Revision of the letters a, b, c, d, e,f,g,h, i, h, k,l,m,n,

o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z.

The aim was to activate pupil’s minds on the basic sounds of the letters of the English

alphabets.

WEEK TWO, DAY TWO: pronunciation of consonant blends. Example /p/ as in

planning, plane, plait, plate, /sh/ as in shouting, shake, shame. /id/ as in shoulder,

oldest.

The researcher introduced consonant blend to the pupils by assisting them to

pronounce the words. The initial bled /pl/ as the words like plait, plane , plaque were

first used and later on the terminal or final blends /id/ as in valid , solid, hold or /sh/ as

in shake, shame, shout.

WEEK THREE, DAY ONE: Diagraphs five were introduced to pupils. The

researcher guided pupils to pronounce them after they have been written on the

chalkboard. Pupil were called to pick and pronounce the flash cards with diagraphs on

them after they were put in a box and pupils were made to say it aloud.

The researcher formed word with the diagraphs such as dr- owning as in drawing,

pr=ay as in pray,wr-ath as in wrath, pl-ait as in plait. The words were re – written on

the chalkboard and pupils were called one after the other to the chalkboard to

underline the diagraphs in the words.

The aims of these to help pupils to identify and pronounce each diagraph as a sound.

WEEK THREE, DAY TWO: Letter- sound correspondence.

Identification of the beginning sounds of the words and letters of words was done by

the pupils with the help of the researcher. A container with the word cards in it was

put on the table in front of the class and the researcher called pupils one after the other

to pick a card and pronounce the words on each card they picked. The pupils were

17
later on assisted to identify the beginning sounds. For instance, the researcher asked

pupil to identify the beginning sound of “open” later on. Other words were given to

pupil to identify the beginning sounds and other letters. Example were given as

stories, child, shower, touch, should. The aim was to help pupils the identification of

the beginning sound of words and letters of words.

WEEK THREE, DAY THREE: Word attack pupils identification and pronunciation

of words. Example /t/-/able/ as in table. /t/-/urtle/ as in turtle, /r/- uter/ as in rule.

WEEK FOUR, DAY ONE: Combing consonants and vowel to form words. The

researcher made it known to the pupils that when consonants and vowels come

together, meaningful words formed. The researcher than wrote some examples on the

chalkboard, is =s-consonant, i=vowel,.

Therefore “I” + “s” =is aim =”ai”=vowel, “cm”= consonant therefore “ai” +

“=/aim/=came= “qe” =vowel, “cm” =constant Therefore “qe” = “cm” =/came/

All these came up making meaningful words. Pupils were asked by the researcher to

give examples of two-letter words and three-letter words and were written on the

chalkboard. Example, “at”, “so”, “how”, “bay”, “cat”

Exercise was given to pupils to do in groups.

WEEK FIVE, DAY ONE: Revision and final evaluation.

The whole process was revised by the researcher and pupils were assessed with a test

to check their understanding on the whole exercise

Post intervention

In the process of the pre-intervention stage, pre-test to diagnose the perceived

problem before the actual intervention, was done the researcher. Pupils were called

18
one after the other to pronounce the twenty –five (25) words which were used during

the pre-test by the researcher.

The scores were based on each word pronounced correctly. The score were then used

to compare the performance level of the pupils before and after the intervention.

19
 CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Overview

This chapter entails detailed analysis of data collected. It also reveals the results,

finding and discussions on all the research instruments used in the collection of the

information and testing the effectiveness of the intervention as to the improvement of

the problem at hand

Results/findings and discussion

In order to determine the effectiveness of the phonics instruction on the ability of the

pupil in their pronunciation of the words correctly, being the main aim behind this

action research. The opinion or belief of this research came to height that, pupils

pronunciation of word would be improved through the use of technique.

Table 2: percentage records for pupils inability to pronounce words at the pre-test

stage.

CATEGORIES NUMBER OF NUMBER OF PERCENTAGE

WORDS PUPILS (%)
PRONOUNCED
Poor readers 10 8 33

Very poor readers 6 4 17

Non-readers 4 12 50

Total 20 24 100

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The above table deals with the pupils ability levels which would have been expressed

in percentage as the pre-test. With regards to the above table and its percentages, it is

obvious that lot of the pupils who were used for the research were poor at

pronounciation and could be noticed after the pre-test

Table3. This shows the calculated results from the conversation test before the

intervention.

Number of pupil Words pronounced Sector of angle

8 10 180

4 6 108

12 4 72

Total 24 20 360

10
For 8 pupils ×360 =180
20

6
For 4 pupils ×360=108
20

4
For 12 pupils 360=72
20

A pie chart disclosing pupil’s performance

21
 non readers
1800 Sales

poor 1st Qtr

readers 2nd Qtr
very poor 1800 3rd Qtr
readers
1080

Table 4: Percentage of categories at past –intervention

Categories Number of words Number of pupils Percentage

pronounce (%)
Poor readers 13 13 52

Very poor readers 10 8 32

Non-readers 7 4 16

Total 30 25 100

With reference from the table above and its percentages besides, it can be compared

to table two at the pre-test level that there was a great improvement in pupil’s

pronunciation skill.

The non-readers decreased from twelve (12) to four (4) the poor readers rose from

eight (8) to thirteen (13) and very poor readers decreased from eight (8) to four (4)

Table 5: it shows the results calculated from the conservation test after the

intervention

Number of pupil Words pronounced Sector of angle

12 12 1600

9 9 1200

22
 6 7 800

Total: 27 28 3600

12
For 12 pupils × 360=160 °
27

9
For 9 pupils × 360=120 °
27

6
For 6 pupils × 360°
27

A pie chart, showing pupils performance after the intervention.

Sales

poor very poor 1st Qtr

readers readers 2nd Qtr
1600 1200 3rd Qtr

non readers
800

If the two pie charts are compared, it can be seen that before the pre-test, the non-

readers were able to fill 72° but their level of pronunciation word has increased to 80°

Moreover, the very poor readers were able to pronounce words to occupy 108 ° but

now they have occupied 120° . this indicate clearly that there was a remarkable

improvement in their pronounciation

Discussion of finding and results

In chapter three, the methodology stated that, only two categories of the sample

population were used at the pre-test that is poor readers and very poor readers. It was

23
made known that, it was important to develop a third category so that it will cater for

the very poor readers.

The sample population was then categorizes as poor readers, very poor readers and

non-readers to make assessment very easy.

If we make references to the pre-test and posttest, the results will be shown that the

two table suggest that there was worth mentioning improvement among members of

the sample population on their pronunciation problem if the high performance of the

pupils are put asides, about five (5) categories the various categories can be assigned

to certain factors.

At the pre- test level, if a pupil scored higher and the same person later scores a lower

mark at the post – test, it can be noted that, that pupil did not continue to practice at

home. After the researcher had interviewed the head teacher and other members of the

staff, the responses showed that the intervention brought about a remarkable

improvement in pupils pronunciation skills.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIOHN AND RECOMMENDATION

This is the final chapter of the action research and it includes the summary,

conclusion and recommendation. In this chapter, a summary of the research work on

the various chapters is made. Recommendation to improve the teaching and learning

process and conclusion of the work are also presented.

Summary

The research work started with the background of the study.it was observed pupil at

Abochia D/A Junior high School (J.H.S 1) do not pronounce some of the English

words correctly.

Followed by chapter two, which is the review of the related literature.

Under this chapter, expect express their views about the topic.

The next step is the research methodology which discussed the research design

population and sample selection research instrument, interventional process,

monitoring techniques as well as data collection methods.

Results, findings and discussion were also considered. It included tables, pie charts

that displayed pupils’ performance both in interventional and post-intervention,

conclusion and recommendations. Which dealt with some things one need to take into

consideration for further research in future, were also considered.

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Conclusion

Generally, the result of the study suggested that many pupils at the basic schools have

problem with pronouncing words correctly. If drastic and pragmatic measures are not

taken into implementation to check radically, the problem of pronouncing words

correctly will go a long way in the near future to affect the social-economic

development of our country.

Because of social consequence of pronunciation difficulties pose to us and their

related problems,

If viable measures are not taken to bring radical change in the overall problems of

pronunciation difficulties the country will have no future.

The study has revealed that use of phonic technique could be used to enhance

pronunciation.

Recommendation

The researcher liked to put the following suggestion across.

Teachers must be motivated with inactive package in order to encourage them to

perform their usual work with enthusiasm for instance, interest free car loans,

scholarship for further education among other incentives can be given to motivate

teachers and schools to attract more trained teachers in the hinter areas.

Also Ghana education service to supply the needed concrete teaching and learning

materials to the basic school teachers to make teaching and learning more easier and

interesting.

The intellectual ability of children should be considered when choosing teaching and

learning materials to teach a particular topic. Teachers must again adopt the

26
appropriate method for a choosing teaching and learning materials to make the lesson

simple.

I would also like to put the following suggestion across for future modification of the

profit.

First of all, I used the pre-intervention and interview to gather information for the

research. Therefore, I suggest that anyone who wishes to continue can use different

methods such as observation, checking pupils exercises books just to mention but a

few, to elicit information from their correspondents.

Again, I used the phonetic technique work on this research. I suggest that whoever

wants to embark on the same can use different research method.

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 REFERENCES

Burn, P.C and ROC, BD (1980) teaching in today’s Elementery Schools, Hougton

Mifflin Company, London.

Raja T.Nnasr (1972) Teaching and learning English.Longman group.

Dorothy (1992) The Role of Literature in Reading Instruction, Literature in Reading

instructions,London cross-culture view

Durking, D (1974), teaching the child to Read Macmillan company.

Dodd, R (1975) practicing spoken English Hint for teachers in West Africa.

London Evan Brother Limited.

Isadiday, S.W.K ( 1993): A comprehensive Guide to English Methods For Teachers

in Training,Accra New Town, shphered printing

Geoffery, B et al (1980) Teaching English as a foreign Language.

Second edition,Rutledge and kegan London, paul Limited.

Heiman,A.W. (1981): Phonres in proper perspective.

Colombus, ohio. Charles E.Merril Book INC.

Hondy, As(2006),oxford advanced learners Disctionary (7 th Edition) London, Oxford

University Press.

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 APPENDIX I

An interview with the head of Abochia D/A junior High School and the class teacher,

by the researcher.

Researcher: Please, Sir is your knowledge on phonetic technique broad and do you

think you think your pupils’ speech and pronunciations skills are improved when this

technique is use?

Class teacher: phonic is said to be a linguistic, a style or an approach which show the

difference between letters and sounds. It will be useful and necessary for us to teach

the letters along with the words

Researcher: how do you improve or handle the pronunciation of new words?

Class teacher: I teach then separately in accordance with their sounds.

Researcher: please, have you identified any difference or improvement in you pupils

with regards to the technique used

Class teacher: in fact, there is considerable improvement because I have noticed they

can now pronounce words very easily without much problem as compared to the past.

Researcher: Head teacher, please have you identified any difference in this method

used and those of the other teachers in their teaching of new words.

Head Teacher: oh, there is a massive difference between the two. The method you

used is very is helpful.

Researcher: is it of ease for the teacher to get teaching aids or materials for the

teaching of English when they are needed.

Head Teacher: No, it is not always

Researcher: please, what can you say about this action research?

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Head Teacher: this action research has really helped to increase my pupil’s speech

skills and I therefore recommend it highly to my teachers and any other person who

may want to use it.

Researcher: Thank you for your time. Am much grateful for you co-operation.

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 APPENDIX 2

Words used for the research before and after the test.

Stadium

Should

Television

Turtle

Shall

Table

Brush

Dam

Earth

Jug

Hold

Bread

Shoulder

Please

Place

Ever

Fly

Birds

World

Visit

Describe

Story

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 APPENDIX 3

Exercise used for the intermittent evaluation.

Exercise 1

a. circle the beginning sound of the words in the following sentences

1. kwabena comes to school early

2. the girls come to school everyday

b. underline the word with consonant blend in each of the sentences

1. the tree is in front of the classroom

2. there are children on the playground

Exercise 2

Underline the words with diagraphs in the given sentences

1. close your eyes and pray

2. The word given was wrong

Exercise 3

Identify the beginning sound letter of the following words

1. Train

2. Push

3. Throw

4. Late

5. Dress

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