The impact of the synthetic phonics method on the early grade literacy skills of government school children from across Nigeria that are learning English as an additional language

Literacy is a powerful accelerator of sustainable development. Literacy in globally used languages such as English enhances economic opportunities, reducing poverty - a key driver of sustainability challenges - and provides... [ view full abstract ]

Literacy is a powerful accelerator of sustainable development. Literacy in globally used languages such as English enhances economic opportunities, reducing poverty - a key driver of sustainability challenges - and provides people with access to extensive knowledge, promoting greater awareness of sustainability issues. However, there are continuing debates concerning the relationship between mother-tongue and official/global language literacy teaching, as well as how early grade literacy skills should be taught in any language. Entering into these debates, this paper will present research concerning the impact of the synthetic phonics method on the early grade literacy skills of government primary school pupils learning English as an additional language in various Nigerian contexts. To date, around 20,000 government school teachers from 17 Nigerian states have been trained to teach the synthetic phonics method in English, resulting largely from extensive and ongoing state and federal government support for the method. Focus schools in each of these states have been selected and pupils in these schools have been/will be assessed using both standardised and contextually adapted quantitative literacy skills tests. So far, the results have demonstrated a significant positive impact on English early grade literacy skills. These results will be presented, along with results that are expected to be obtained at the end of the 2014-2015 academic year, and recommendations for development policy will be made.