Arab Educational Information Network

More than any other subject or skill, our children’s academic success at school and in their future education is all but determined by how well they learn how to crack the code and read. To become a fluent reader is, indeed, the ultimate goal of any literacy programme. As such, the current study sought to probe the effect of adopting a multisensory synthetic phonics program (Jolly Phonics) on developing automatic word recognition, be it real, pseudo or tricky, and spelling ability among young learners of reception stage. An interventional study of 17 weeks synthetic phonics teaching programme was undertaken with one intact class of 25 young learners at the reception of one of the British International Schools in Cairo, Egypt. After a one-full-term (27/08–20/12) of synthetic phonics instruction, all the participants sat for a Phonics Screening Check, a Tricky-Word-Reading-Test and a Spelling Test. Results revealed significant difference between the pre and post scores of the participants in automatic word recognition and spelling attainment. In effect, the multisensory synthetic phonics programme had an enhancing impact on helping young learners become fluent reader and better spellers. The study concluded with some recommendations, among which are the need to start teaching young learners how to crack the code as early as possible. Furthermore, the study concluded that for phonics to have its pay-off, it needs to be taught explicitly, systematically, and to a level where decoding becomes habitual and automatic. Finally, phonics teaching is enhanced by an emphasis on multi-sensory activities. (Published abstract)