Exploring teachers' understanding of phonemic awareness and phonics in teaching reading in upper kindergarten in a school in Addu city : a case study / Asrath Naseer

Abstract

In Maldives, english is learnt as a second language and taught by non-native speakers of english. Learning to read in English begins in preschool which means preschool teachers should have in-depth knowledge of reading pedagogy. Therefore the purpose of this dissertation is to explore preschool teachers' understanding of phonics awareness (PA) and phonics in teaching reading English in upper kindergarten (UKG). A case study is presented within the context of a school using the phonics method of teach reading in preschool. Data was collected from interviews, classroom observations and documents and documents. The findings showed that the teachers considered the phonics method to be very useful in helping children learn to read and write. The findings also showed that the teachers knowledge of PA and phonics was very limited. It was also showed that the teachers pronunciation of some English phonemes were incorrect. Although the teachers used a variety of methods to teach reading using the phonics method, it was found that their instruction was neither explicit nor systematic

KEY WORDS: Phonemic Awareness (PA), phonics, upper kindergarten (UKG), explicit and implicit knowledge.