Abstract:
This study aimed to examine teacher competency in teaching phonemic awareness in
the development of early reading skills among early grade pupils in the Effutu
Municipality. The study employed a quantitative research approach to: (1) investigate
the phonemic awareness competency level of early grade teachers, (2) find out how
early grade teachers perceive their competency in teaching phonemic awareness, (3)
examine the relationship between early grade teachers‘ perceived and actual
competency levels in phonemic awareness instruction, and (4) examine early grade
teachers‘ perception of implicit and explicit instructional strategies in teaching
phonemic awareness to early grade pupils. The study used a cross sectional survey
which targeted all the 134 teachers who taught at kindergarten to primary two in the
27 public primary schools within the Effutu Municipality. Out of this, 116 teachers
responded to the questionnaires. The study found that, although the respondents had a
significantly high perception of their competency, they generally had limited
competency in phonemic awareness instruction. Moreover, the respondents who were
more competent were better able to predict their competency level than their less
competent counterparts although they all generally overestimated their competency
levels. The respondents were also generally in strong agreement with the use of
explicit instructional strategies but they also supported the use of implicit instructional
strategies. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that the
National Council for Tertiary Education should ensure that teacher preparation
programmes of Colleges of Education and universities were designed to equip
teachers with the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary for providing early
systematic reading instruction. This study should also be extended to other
municipalities in the country to facilitate a broader understanding of early grade
teachers‘ competency in phonemic awareness instruction.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Special Education,
Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Special Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
JULY, 2020