Using phonics instruction to improve single-syllable word reading of the fourth grade students at Ave Maria School

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of phonics instruction on fourth grade students’ single syllable word reading. The subjects were 20 fourth grade students in the second semester of the academic year 2011 at Ave Maria school, Muang District, Ubon Ratchathani.
The instruments used comprised the phonics test that was used for subject selection, pre-testing and post-testing. The students were assigned to read the words on the pre-test before taking the phonics course/ Post-testing was then carried out to determine the effectiveness of the phonics method. The data were analyzed using t-test, means, and percentages.
The results of the study indicated that the students’ single syllable word reading ability improved substantially after the students had been treated with the phonics instruction. The reading ability of the subjects was significantly higher at P<0.05.