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FACTORS AFFECTING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF 
READING IN THE GHANAIAN KINDERGARTENS 
BY 
COMFORT DORVLO 
THIS DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF 
GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE 
REQUIREMENT FOR THF. AWARO OF MASTER OF ARTS 
DEGREE IN TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND 
LANGUAGE. 
MARCH 2009 
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DECLARATION 
I, Comfort Nyuiemedi Dorvlo do hereby declare that, apart from references made 
to the work of other people in books, theses and from the internet, which have 
been duly acknowledged, this project is my personal research work done under 
the supervision of Dr. Paul Agbedor. It has not been presented for any other 
degree in this or any other institution. 
-----------~------------------
Candidate: Comfort Dorvlo 
Q)~ ~ 
------------~~--------
Supervisor: Dr. P.K. Agbedor 
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DEDICATION 
With much pleasure I dedicate this work to you, my husband, Rev. Lawrence 
Freeman Dzakpa and our two daughters, Fafa and Dzigbordi for your great love 
and concern; as well as your readiness to suspend all other things for the sake of 
the 'Thesis'. 
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
lowe my God a great debt of gratitude for seeing me through this course and 
endowing me with the necessary wisdom and good health. I also express my 
profound gratitude to my mother, Mrs. Rose Dorvlo, for her decision to send me 
to Teacher Training College no matter what it might cause her. That has been the 
springboard that has brought me this far. 'Da, akpe sia.' I wish to thank you 
greatly, my hardworking and dedicated supervisor, Dr. Paul Agbedor. My God 
will reward you. I can never forget you sister Agatha. You always surprise me 
with your dedication to typing this work with such great speed. As if that was not 
enough, you managed to get your husband, Mr. Augustt to do all the statistical 
work for me. You are both wonderful and selfless. I pray that my God will grant 
you your greatest heart desire. 
I deem it very important to express my heartfelt thanks to the headteaehers and 
teachers of PRESEC Staff Kindergarten, Hannah School Complex, La 
Presbyterian Early Childhood Development Centre, La Roman Catholic 
Kindergarten, Jesus is Alive Preparatory and Anyirawase LI A Kindergarten. 
Thank you for accepting me and co-operating with me in the course of this study. 
I equillly ilppreciilte the help I received from my lecturers at Legon and Winneba 
especially Mr. S.K. Amegashie. God bless you all. 
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To all my mates, especially Mabel Arthur, Rashid Tee and Samson Ezu, I say 
well done. My final gratitude is to you, Mr. Frimpong and Aunty Joyce - both of 
the Linguistics Department, Legon. Your contributions are well appreciated. 
University of Ghana  http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v 
ABSTRACT 
This research has revealed that reading skills can be a great asset if it is acquired 
in early childhood. But the process is easily hampered by lack of: good readers, 
teaching/learning materials and parental involvement. Stressful school 
atmosphere, teachers' lack of knowledge and bad attitude towards work can 
equally hinder the reading process at this level. To these little ones, reading must 
be fun. Lack of oral competence of both teachers and the children in the target 
language equally hinder the child's reading progress. This is why it is important 
for policy makers to consider Anyidoho's (1999) statement that, the Ghanaian 
children's reading would be excellent if they are taught to read first in their Ll 
while they continue to gain communicative competence in the L2. 
On the other hand, early reading can be facilitated by the presence of good 
supervision, good use of teaching and learning materials, regular drills in the 
learnt item and frequent refresher courses for teachers. In view of these, it has 
been suggested among other things that all teachers in Ghanaian kindergartens be 
trained at the GES Nursery Teachers Training Centre to equip them with the 
necessary skills and knowledge needed for their work. 
It is also recommended that headteachers and education officers ensure that there 
is always good supervision to enable good practices to prevail. This implies that 
dedication and selfless commitment must be rewarded as well. The government's 
quick action in supplying readers and teaching learning materials as well as a 
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review of the kindergarten timetable will go a long way to affect the teaching and 
learning of reading positively. 
It is hoped that the research findings would be of much interest and benefit to 
teachers, headteachers, curriculum planners and future researchers. 
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 
ACIE American Council on Immersion Education. 
BUPL Danish National Federation of Early Childhood Teachers 
and Youth Educators. 
CSU California State University 
DANIDA Danish International Development Agency 
ECD Early Childhood Development 
ECE Early Childhood Education 
GES Ghana Education Service 
GNAT Ghana National Association of Teachers 
KG Kindergarten 
LI First Language 
NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations 
NRRF National Right to Read Foundation 
TPR Total Physical Response 
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural 
Organization 
US United States (of America) 
WAEC West African Examinations Council 
viii 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Page 
Declaration 
ii 
Dedication 
iii 
Acknowledgement 
v 
Abstract 
List of Abbreviations ... vii 
CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
1.0 Introduction ... 
1.1 History of Kindergarten Education in Ghana ... 2 
1.2 Statement of the Problem 5 
1.3 Objective of the Study 6 
1.4 Significance of the study 7 
1.5 The Scope of the Study 7 
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 9 
2.0 Introduction ... 9 
2.1 What is Reading 9 
2.1.1 Reading at kindergarten level 10 
2.2 Theoretical Vicw~ on the Reading Process 12 
2.2.1 The Bottom-Up Model 12 
2.2.2 The Top-Down Model 13 
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Page 
14 
2.2.3 Critique on the Reading Models 
15 
2.3 Methods for Teaching early Reading 
16 
2.3.1 The Synthetic Group 
16 
2.3.2 The Analytic Group 
2.3.3 The Eclectic Method 
17 
2.3.4 Other Research Findings 
18 
2.4 The Dominant Methods in Ghana 19 
2.4.1 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Methods 19 
2.4.2 Phonic Method 19 
2.4.3 The Look and Say Method 20 
2.5 Factors that Can Affect the Teaching and Learning 
of Reading at Kindergarten Level 22 
2.5 .1 Parental Involvement ... 22 
2.5.2 The Role of Teachers .. . 24 
2.5.3 Characteristics of Learner Needs 27 
2.5.3.1 Mental Ability 27 
2.5.3.2 Background Experience 28 
2.5.3.3 Usc and Co III IIIa mI ufLullgUUgC 29 
2.5.3.4 Emotional/Social Maturity 30 
2.5.3.5 Physical Conditions ... 31 
2.6 Educational Policies/State Initiatives 31 
2.6.1 School and Its Environment . .. 32 
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Page 
2.6.1 .1 Class Size 33 
2.6.2 Time Allocation 34 
2.6.3 Reading Resources 34 
2.6.4 Staff Development 35 
2.6.5 Curriculum Development 37 
2.7 Summary 37 
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .. . 39 
3.0 Introduction ... 39 
3.1 Population and Sample 39 
3.2 Data Collection Procedure 43 
3.2.1 Questionnaire ... 43 
3.2.2 Observation 44 
3.2.3 Personal Interviews 46 
3.2.4 Intervention and Testing 47 
3.3 Data Analysis ... 51 
3.4 Summary 51 
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANAL YSIS 53 
4.0 Illtl'odut;liull 
'" 53 
4.1 Analysis of Data 
53 
4.1.J Teachers' Profile 
53 
4.1.2 Teaching of Reading 
55 
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Page 
4. J.3 Approaches 58 
4.1.4 Factors That Affect Teaching/Leaming of Reading 59 
4.2 Interpretation and Test Data ... 61 
4.3 Answering Research Questions 67 
4.3.1 What does Reading at This Level Entail? 67 
4.3 .2 What kind of Approaches are Teachers Using to Teach Reading? 68 
4.3.3 What Calibre of Teachers Teach in the Ghanaian Kindergartens? 69 
4.3.4 What is the Role of Parents in Promoting the Child's 
Reading Process? 69 
4.3.5 What is the Govenunent's Role Towards the Kindergarten Child's 
Access to Reading? 72 
4.3.6 How can Reading be Made Fun at this Level? 75 
4.3.7 To Whom Should Early Reading Instruction be Given? 75 
CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION 77 
5.0 Introduction 
77 
5.1 Observation 
77 
5.1.1 Class Size 
77 
5.1.2 Teacher's Knowledge Level 
78 
5.1.3 Teachers' Attitude to Work 
80 
5.1.4 Confusing Letters 
82 
5.1.5 Use of Teaching-Learning Materials . .. 
82 
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Page 
5.1.6 English Readers 82 
5.1.7 Reading on the Timetable 83 
5.1.8 Nature of Classroom and School Environments 83 
5.2 Questionnaires 87 
5.3 Interviews 89 
5.4 Recommendations 92 
5.5 Conclusion 95 
5.6 Suggestions for Further Research 95 
Appendix A: Questionnaire for Teachers 96 
Bibliography ... 98 
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LIST OF TABLES 
Page 
40 
Table 3.1: Schools and Background of Teachers 
41 
Table 3.2: Pairing of the Schools 
Table 3.3: Population 42 of Pupils 
Table 3.4: Pairing of Schools and Times of Visit 44 
TJble 4.1: Teachers Qualifications 53 
Table 4.2 : Teachers Experience at Kindergarten Level 54 
Table 4.3: Sources of Supply of KG English Readers 56 
Table 4.4a: Number of In-Service Training Attended 57 
Table 4.4b: Teachers Experience versus Number ofIn-service 
Training Attended 57 
Table 4.5: Approaches Used for Teaching Reading 58 
Table 4.6: Pupils' Interest in Reading .. . 60 
Table 4.7: Result of Reading - Words with Pictures . . . 62 
Table 4.8: The Result of Reading Without Pictures .. . 63 
Table 4.9: Test Result of Reading - With 
Same Words at Different Positions 64 
Table 4.10: The Result of Phonic Reading - Two Letter Words 66 
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CHAPTER ONE 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
1.0 Introduction 
This study is based upon the fact that there is a great outcry in the country over 
students' poor perfonnance at both junior high and senior high levels. West African 
Examination Council (W AEC) Chief Examiner's report for Ghana Basic Education 
Certificate Examination 2002, states that some of the candidates were unable to 
answer the questions well because of their inability to read and understand the 
demands of the questions (Chief Examiner's Report 2002: 40, 46). This illustrates 
the importance of reading in relation to other school subjects. It is obvious that a 
child's ability to perfonn well in a subject does not depend only on hislher knowledge 
level in the subject, but also on hislher ability to read and understand. It is therefore 
very important to start this essential task of learning to read from the scratch so that it 
forms an integral part of the child. 
In Aukerman (1972:53), Lloyd states that advocates of early reading have conducted 
a research and come out that children of today are ready for reading at an earlier age 
than it used to be because of exposure to vocabulary through the explosion in the 
communication industry. The Ghanaian child is no exception to this research 
findings. It will therefore be wrong to overlook his or her readiness for reading. 
Ability to read and write is highly cherished by both literates and iIliLtl'Ule;:s ill Ghana. 
It is for this reason that n school's pcrfonnancc is judged by its students' reading and 
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fluency capabilities in the English language. Parents no longer see the kindergarten 
as the 'baby sitter' setting that it used to be. They want their children to achieve a 
native speaker's proficiency level in the English language. And this responsibility 
hangs on tr.e shoulders of the kindergarten educators. French (2004: 1) conducted a 
research on improving reading at primary six and concluded that reading is a tool or 
skill on which a child's progress in other subjects depends. Since kindergarten is the 
child's first level on the academic ladder, it will be appropriate to acquire this tool 
here. 
In our modern society, reading is a very vital means to a lot of ends. In fact, it would 
be a pity to stay without reading skills, because we need reading to be able to carry 
out our daily life requirements like reading road signs, utility bills, medical 
inscriptions, warnings about danger, etc. It will be a great asset to acquire this skill 
and the love for it at a tender age. If the kindergarten child will acquire this skill with 
ease, there should be somebody to impart it in a 'fun-full' way. That is why the 
teacher and his/her approaches will be very important to this research work. 
I.l History of Kindergarten Education in Ghana 
Kindergarten education is part of what is known as preschool (pre formal school) 
education and, has, therefore, not been singled out in this history. According to 
Britannica Encyclopedia on line (Britannica wcb sitc), preschool cducation is 
education during the earliest phases of childhood, beginning from infancy and ending 
upon entering primary school at about five, six or seven years of age. In Ghana, 
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preschool education is from zero to six years (though some preschool children are far 
Jl'ove this age) because the official age for entering primary one is six years. 
As Morrison (2001) rightly puts it, formal education at preschool level was not 
common in the Gold Coast. However, preschool, also known as Early Childhood 
Development (ECD) education, began in Ghana as far back as 1843 by the Basel 
Mission who attached kindergarten to some of their primary schools (GNAT-BUPL 
2003 : 12). This Basel ideology had infested other missionaries by 1920, hence the 
establishment of the Prince of Wales School at Achimota. As frankly stated at Vibe 
Ghana website, preschool was desirable but not compulsory in Ghana because 
government could not fund them. It was, therefore, left in the hands of private 
individuals, communities, churches and non-governmental organizations with a few 
public ones in the regions and districts. The first public preschool in Ghana is Queen 
Elizabeth's Early Years Development Centre in Accra. This school was opened in 
1951 to mark Queen Elizabeth's visit to Ghana. 
Early childhood education remained with the aforementioned stakeholders till 1961 
when the then Education Act placed it under the Ministry of Education. A Nursery 
Unit was established within the Ghana Education Service (GES) in 1965 to facilitate 
registration, control and evaluation of nurseries and kindergartens in the country 
(Antwi 1992; Oppong 1993 cited by Morrison 2001). The unit was also responsible 
for training persOlUlel for the sector. As a result, the National Nursery Teachers 
Training Centre was established in Accra with a model nursery school in 1969 under 
the sponsorship of the Danish Government. 
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Meanwhile preschool education was limited to the cities, urban and mission areas till 
the Djobo Report of 1974 recommended that kindergarten education be extended to 
all parts of the country to benefit all children (4-6 years). The recommendation was 
however not implemented (due to financial restrains) till a year later when the Evans-
Anform Report recommended that private participation be encouraged in the sector 
(GNAT 2003:13). This led to an increase in the number of ECD centres in the 
country and was boosted by the Commissioner of Education's directives in 1977 that 
preschools be attached to all primary schools in the country (GNAT 2003:13). Many 
communities attached preschools to their primary schools between 1977 and 1989, 
and by 1996 there were 5441 public kindergartens in the country (Education State 
University website). The communities could, however, not employ or pay teachers 
hence the need for GES to absorb the centres. Primary teachers were posted to these 
kindergartens but were later withdrawn and replaced by unqualified teachers. This 
work seeks to find out the effects this has had on the teaching and learning of reading. 
A recent ECD policy was formulated and code-named The Accra Declaration (GNAT 
2003:1J). Tt cill1s on government departments, agencies, Non Governmental 
Organizations (NGOs) and individuals to help expand the ECD vision from preschool 
concept to a broader early Childhood Development centre to cater for all children 
including the poor. As a result, Early Childhood Education has been mainstreamed 
into the Basic Education system in the 2007 Educational Reform. Other steps taken 
to boost ECD centres include the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) -
Danish National Federl'ttion of Early Childhood Teachers and Youth Educators 
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(BUPL) partnership in a three -year project to raise the image ofECD in Ghana. The 
Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), United Nations Children 
Fund (UNICEF) and other NGOs are also assisting the sector in diverse ways. 
In Ghana, preschool consists of creche (0-2 years), Toddlers (2-3 years), Nursery (3-4 
years) and Kindergarten (5-6 years). The government offers two years kindergarten 
ducation for 4-6 years while the private stakeholders take care of the rest. Data has 
shown that we presently have about 10,016 public preschools in the country (GES-
Nursery Unit Report - 2008). 
1.2 Statement of the Problem 
The WAEC Chief Examiner's Report (on BECE results) complains year after year 
about the poor performance of school children. This is normally associated with their 
inability to read and understand the questions before attempting them; bringing to the 
fore the fact that there is a loophole in the reading life of these children. What is the 
cause? Is the problem wtih teachers, students, parents or the government? Are there 
some factors that help some children to read well but militate against others? Talking 
on children's ability to read, French (2004:4) attributed the weak foundation in 
children's reading to their inability to read and follow instructions. If we want to 
strengthen this 'weak fowldation', it must be no where else than at thc kindergarten 
level. Laying a solid foundation fur u liftdung rt:uding hubit Lukes more thun books 
and a classroom. We need teachers who are well informed about the learning process 
of each child, a concerned government, and parents, in addition to ready-to-read 
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, h ilJr~n among other factors. This is why it is necessary to investigate the factors 
that :I llect the teaching and learning of reading at this early stage. 
1.3 Objective of the Study 
This study is intended to carry out a heuristic research with the main purpose of 
finding out how reading instruction is carried out in the Ghanaian kindergartens, what 
challenges an: faced by teachers, pupils, parents and heads of schools, and how these 
challenges can be addressed or minimized, using modem methods of teaching reading 
at the kindergarten level. 
Someone may ask, "Why talk about reading at this age?" Balwin and Tomasello 
(1998) conducted a research which proves that infants at the age of 12 months possess 
some basic abilities that facilitate word learning. This basic ability is in each child 
and should be awakened and motivated early enough to progress into reading habit 
formation. This is why reading at the kindergarten level is regarded as very important 
by this work. An awareness of the factors that affect reading at this level will be a 
means to an end. This is not to say that reading should be forced on the child. No, 
children karn when they are interested in what they do because it is fun. 
I he research questions that wiJI guide the study include : 
• What does reading at this level entail? 
• What kind of approaches are the teachers using? 
• What is the caliber of teachers in the Ghanaian kindergarten? 
• What is the parental role in promoting reading at this level? 
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• What role is assigned to the government (the policy makers) regarding 
reading by the kindergarten child? 
• How can reading be made interesting and fun at this level? 
• To whom should early reading instruction be given? 
1.4 Significance of the study 
As a teacher, I have observed that the acquisition of reading ability brings great joy 
and a sense of self-fulfilment to children. While teaching in a private kindergarten in 
Ghana, a young girl brought me a parcel on her sixth birthday. Attached to this parcel 
was a short note which read, "Auntie Connie, thank. you for teaching me to read and 
write." Though quite short, this note is powerful and keeps me wandering, 'How 
important is reading to this girl?' What about those who cannot read? Do they feel 
cut off from the rest and is there anything I can do to help them too? Are there some 
factors that help child 'A' to read so quickly but do not favour child 'B'? These and 
many others are the questions that have kept torturing me from that day. I find this 
time very appropriate to investigate these factors to help add value to our work as 
tcachers at this important level of the academic ladder. This study hopes to equip 
teachers and curriculum developers with valuable knowledge thflt will enable them 
perform their task with much ease. 
1.5 The Scope of the Study 
This work is meant to cover the importance of starting reading at the early years of 
education in Ghana. It will look at teaching/learning of reading at the kindergarten 
level, and the factors that inhibit or promote it. It will also look at how reading at this 
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!c,'e! can be made more interesting bearing in mind children's individual differences, 
social and psychological needs, socio-economic background, learning styles and other 
characteristics of children. Reading lessons will be observed to investigate the 
approaches being used and their effectiveness and suitability to children of this stage. 
There will be three intervention lessons testing the effectiveness of approaches in the 
Ghanaian context. 
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CHAPTER TWO 
LITERAT URE REVIEW 
2.0 Introduction 
Much research has been done world wide on teaching and learning of reading at the 
early years level but just a little attention has been directed to the factors that affect 
the teaching and learning of reading in Ghana. In this chapter the researcher intends 
to review the literature on what reading at this level entails, the factors that inhibit or 
promote learning and teaching of reading, methods of teaching reading, and some 
research findings about teaching and learning of reading. 
2.1 What is Reading 
Reading is a very crucial issue in the whole world, and the Ghanaian society is no 
exception. Both literates and illiterates consider the ability to read as the key word in 
education. That was why the late Mr. T.A. Dorvlo (PC) never called anyone a 
scholar unless he saw the person read a printed material. What then is reading? 
51 
According to the 21 Century Dictionary, reading is the act of: 
(i) looking at and understanding printed or written words . 
(ii) speaking worcis whi~h are printed or written. 
Thcse definitions imply thal reading involves looking at or speaking wun..ls as w~1I as 
understandir.g of them. 
Maggart and Zintz (1992:8) also give some definitions of reading, three of them say: 
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Reading is decoding of written words so that they can be produced orally. 
(ii) Reading is understanding the language of the author of a printed passage. 
(iii) Reading is the ability to anticipate meaning in lines of a print so that the 
reader is not concerned with the mechanical details but with grasping 
ideas from groups of words that convey meaning. 
The keywords in these definitions are decoding, understanding and meaning. This 
means that for reading to take place there is the need to decode the text into readable 
units for better understanding. As Maggart and Zintz (1992) rightly put it, the 
application of any of these definitions depends greatly on what the teacher lays 
emphasis on. 
2.1.1 Reading at kindergarten level 
Reading at this stage should aim at inculcating key skills in children that will lead to 
reading success in future, (US National Reading Panel 2000). Purcell-Gates (1997) 
associates early years reading with recognition of print, letters and then words. 
Gough (1972) and Adam (1990) refer to this type of rending us n letter by letter nod 
word by word process. This implies that the type of reading done by the early years 
learners has to do with letters to sounds, then to words. 
The reading process at kindergarten level should not be any strenuous academic 
exercise that would result in boredom. It should be done in a fun-full manner, 
creating the awareness that print has meaning, and can make the learner happy as well 
as give himlher information. Under normal circumstances kindergarten students are 
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given initial reading which is the type of instruction given to those who cannot read. 
In the Ghanaian educational set up, initial reading can extend to primary two or three. 
The US National Reading Panel (2000) carried out an evidence-based review on 
research on how children learn to read. They concluded that effective reading 
instruction includes teaching children to break apart and manipulate the sounds in 
words (phonemic awareness). 
II~ Ghana, reading at the kindergarten level differs from school to school. Most 
private schools practice 'phonic' reading - decoding words, while the public schools 
are at home with the 'Look and Say' way of learning to read. Each category precedes 
the actual reading with the acquisition of pre-reading skills like visual discrimination, 
auditory discrimination, oral language development, visual motor skills, visual 
memory and visual comprehension skills. This is done through activities like 
matching similar shapes, sizes and colours, spotting the odd ones out, spotting the 
difference in pictures, finding and adding missing parts etc. 
TIle US National Right to Read Foundation developed a primer that should be used to 
teach initial reading to children and adults. The primer lists 44 sounds in the English 
language which are very essential for beginning reading. These consist of: (i) 5 short 
vowels; (11) IH consonants; (iii) 7 digraphs; (iv) 6 long vowels; (v) 3 'r'-controlled 
vowel sounds (vi) 5 diphthongs and other special sounds. 
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2.2 Theoretical Views on the Reading Process 
There has been a great controversy among reading authorities as to which method to 
~ldopt in teaching initial reading. The bone of contention is whether word recognition 
(phonics) should be taught first or meaning should. There are two major schools of 
thought. 
The first group believes that the process of reading begins with letters and their 
sounds (phonics). They use the term, 'Bottom-Up' Model to explain the reading 
process. The other group opposes this view so much and proclaims that reading is 
chiefly 'external guided'. They believe in a hypothesis-test or the 'Top-Down' 
Model of the reading process (Zakaluk, 1996). The former group advocates the 
'phonics' approach to teaching initial reading while the later group subscribes to the 
'Look and Say' approach. 
2.2.1 The Bottom-Up Model 
According to Zakaluk (1996), Gough (1972) is the proponent of the phonic based or 
the 'Bottom-Up' Model of the reading process. Gough (1972) says that the reading 
process should proceed in a serial fashion from letters to sounds, to words, to 
meaning in the progression shown below. 
Level III 
Words 
/ ___- '-(L_eTx:::ic~a=17 .'L~ev:...:e:.:"I)7-____~ Lt:vd It 
Letter/Sound 
Level I (Character Level) 
Data driven or Bottom-Up Model 
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2.2.2 The Top-Down Model 
The theorists in the second group disagree with Gough's view-on the reading process. 
According to Goodman (1970), efficient reading does not depend on precise 
identification of all the elements in a word. It rather comes from the skill in selecting 
the fewest, most productive cues necessary. To them, readers have prior knowledge 
of what could be meaningful in a text, and this knowledge is based upon the reader's 
previous experiences and knowledge about language. 
The view of these theorists is that readers are not confined to letters that they see. 
They have two other kinds of information that they can use. These are the semantic 
cue (meaning) and the syntactic (grammatical or sentence sense). In other words, the 
reader's prior knowledge of the topic and their knowledge about language assist them 
to predict what the new word will be (Zakaluk 1996). This is known as the Top-
Down Model. In this model, information flows in a top-down word order, so that the 
process of reading depends on meaning first - as shown below: 
Meaning 
Lt:vt:1 III (Deep structure) 
Syntax 
Level II (Language Pattern) 
C1rllphemelPhoneme 
Levell Correspondent 
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2.2.3 Critique on the Reading Models 
There are criticisms of the two models. Rummelhart (1977) sees an essential flaw in 
the bottom-up model. He says it processes reading in only one direction - and the 
implication is that no higher level information ever modifies or changes lower level 
analysis. In refuting the idea that readers depend on bottom-up processing in reading, 
he explains that it takes only higher level semantic and syntactic processing to 
identify some words in their varied forms, ego 'read' in the following sentences: 
I read that book yesterday. 
I am going to read a new book today. 
In the above, he claims the reader can only draw from world knowledge as well as 
grammatical sense to pronounce the first 'read' correctly. He concluded that reading 
seems more interactive rather than a linear process based on letter perception. 
Huey (1968) and Pillsbury (1897) are other theorists that support this idea. To these 
theorists, a h!tter is more accurate in a word than when it stands alone. 
Stanovich (1980) also challenged the top-down model of using the cognitive 
processing to facilitate word recognition. Stanovich (1980) discredited the 
assumption that readers read so fast that they don't depend on phonemic code. 
Zakaluk (1996) also states that theorists that oppose the idea include Mitchell and 
Green (1978). 
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\!~!~hdJ and Green (1978) argue that while reading speed was faster for texts 
ll'lluining more frequently occurring words and words with fewer letters, readers 
show no tendency to increase rate as they progress through textual material. 
According to them, reading speed is rather determined largely by both word 
recognition rate and access to word meaning. Obviously, Mitchell and Green are 
drawing attention to the need for the combination of approaches. 
2.3 Methods for Teaching early Reading 
There are lots of methods for teaching early years reading skills. Gray (1969:75) puts 
the methods under two broad headings. These are the early Specialised Methods and 
the Recent Trends also known as the Ecletic Approach. Sadoski (2004) refers to this 
grouping as a summary of what was in practice in Huey's (1908) days. He then gives 
the 'Alphabetic,' 'Phonics', 'Phonetics', 'word', 'sentence' and combination of 
methods as the commonly used methods for now. Gray (1969:75) further divides the 
early specialized methods into analytic and synthetic groups. According to Gray 
(1969:76), and Sadoski (2004) the analytic group refers to the mental process of 
breaking down large structures - sentences, phrases and words into their constituent 
elements. The synthetic group on the other hand refers to the mental process of 
combining the detailed elements of language - sounds and syllables, into larger units. 
They put the Alphabetic, Phonics and Syllabic methods of teaching initial reading 
lIUdl:l the syulhclic group while the analytic group cover~ the word, pluase, sentence 
ami the story methods. Maggart and Zintz (1 Y92) reter to the analytic and the 
synthetic grouping as the top-down and the bottom-up methods. 
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2.3.1 The Synthetic Group 
This group is made up of the alphabetic, phonic and the syllabic methods. The 
alphabetic method is an old one which uses letters in an attempt to recognize and 
pronounce words (Gray 1969; Sadoski 2004). Farris et. al. (2004) also see this 
method as the one that enables children to link sounds to written letters by simply 
reading and discussing alphabetic books. 
The phonic method refers to the relationship between letters and sounds in written 
words (Farris 2004: 110). Adams (1990), cited in Farris et.:.al. (2004.), states that the 
-;, 
'phonic' method is a build up on the 'alphabetic' principle. The method combines 
sounds to form syllables and then words, phrases etc. (Gray 1969 and Halvorson 
1992). 
The 'syllabic' method is the last in the synthetic group. This method teaches reading 
using combination of syllables. After syllables are learnt and mastered, they are 
combined to form words and sentences (Gray 1969, Halvorson 1992). 
2.3.2 The Anlllytk Group 
The analytic group emphasizes word meaning. It comprises the Word, Phrase, 
Sentence and Story Methods. The 'Word' Method is also referred to as the 'Whole 
Word' Method. Users present words in meaningful settings through the 'Look and 
Say' techniques (Gray 1969; Gudschinsky 1973 and Halvorson 1992). Thus the 
words are often accompanied by pictures to aid meaning. 
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The . Phrase' Method is based on the assumption that phrases are more interesting 
than words and have added emphasis on meaning. On the other hand, the 'Sentence' 
Method views sentences as the true unit in language because they express whole 
thoughts which are the unit in thinking. Huey (1912) cited in Gray (1969:85) argues 
that the students learn to recognize a sentence and then break it into the individual 
words that make it up. 
The last method in Gray's (1969) analytic group is the 'Story' Method. It refers to 
the use of variety of sentences to form a story which will help spark students' interest 
in the reading process. This method can be seen as an expansion of the sentence 
method. 
2.3.3 The Eclectic Method 
According to Gray (1969) and Halvorson (1992), the Eclectic Method is a new 
approach to teaching initial reading brought out by the International Bureau of 
Education at Geneva. They further explain that this method uses the advantages of 
the other methods and point out that the major concern of the Eclectic Method is to 
combine the methods so that the strength of a method could cover up the weaknesses 
urlhe olher. 
This work desires to see the effects that a combination of reading approaches could 
have in our Ghanaian settings. 
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2.3.4 Other Research Findings 
Farris ct al (2004: 110) also point out two other instrumental approaches that could be 
used to help children develop their local knowledge of reading. These are 
Phonological and Phonemic awareness. 
Phonological awareness refers to children being aware of how sounds combine in 
words. According to them, children develop this awareness before coming to school 
and demonstrate it through their love for poems, rhyming songs, etc. According to 
Anyidoho (1999), Sarig (1987) conducted a research on the transferability of reading 
skills from Lito L2, and concluded that reading processes in the first language can be 
transferred into the second language. This shows that the child's home language is 
equally important for gaining reading competence in L2. It is therefore possible for a 
child to transfer his phonological awareness skills from Lito the English language. 
Phonemic awareness also refers to the ability to distinguish between the different 
sounds that one hears in a word, ego Book - fbi + lui + 1kI. Farrik et al (2004) 
supported their argument on the importance of phonemic awareness by stating that 
many studies have shown that acquisition of phonemic awareness leads to success in 
early reading. 
The US Teaching Treasures database also recommends four basic approaches to 
parents and teachers. Two of them are very popular - 'Phonics' and the 'Look and 
Say' Methods. The other two are: 
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The Language Experience Approach: This approach introduces the child to 
\i) 
reading based upon only the words that the child knows already. As the 
child's vocabulary increases, his reading materials are adjusted to include the 
new words. 
(ii) The Context Support Method: With this method, the teacher or the parent 
observes the child to see what interests himlher most. Reading materials that 
contain such objects are obtained to help build up the child's interest in 
reading since he is reading what interests himlher. 
204 The Dominant Methods in Ghana 
In Ghana, the most commonly used methods are the 'Phonics' and the 'Look and 
Say' Methods. The private schools practice the 'Phonics' Method, while the public 
schools are more at home with the 'Look and Say' Method. Some of the public 
kindergartens are now going eclectic - combining the 'Look and Say' Method with 
the 'Phonics' Method. 
2.4.1 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Methods 
Each of the above approaches to teaching initial reading has its strengths and 
weaknesses. The ideal thing to do therefore is to combine the approaches so that the 
strength of one will make up for the weaknesses of the other. 
2.4.2 Phonic Method 
Huey (1912), cited in Gray (1969:79) gives the most prominent strength of the 
'Phonic' Method, that is, its use of the sounds of letters in word recognition. They 
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explain that (his enables the students to pronounce any new word that follows the 
normal trend. Adams (1990) confirms this by saying 'Phonics' allows children to 
use the system of language to read rather than to guess. They also claim that 
'phonics' instruction enables the learner to decode words on his own and become an 
independent reader quickly. 
Nevertheless the 'phonic' method has some weaknesses. It has been criticized for 
being unable to help children understand what they read. Maggart and Zintz 
(1992 : 162) and Wren (2001) points out that the greatest weakness of 'phonics' is its 
dependency on explicit rules. Some others also think that phonic reading is too 
formal and can degenerate into lack of interest for reading (Fianu 2005). Other 
weaknesses of the ' phonics' method listed by Maggart and Zintz (1992) include: 
I . It is regarded as a decoding technique rather than an approach. 
2. Reading books may not be interesting enough for children. 
3. Too much emphasis is on decoding of words to the detriment of meaning. 
4. There are too many rules and too many exceptions to the rules. 
5. The approach may not benefit deaf children. 
2.4.3 The Look and Say Method 
Fianu (2UU5) describes this method as the one that implies looking at an alphabet, 
word. sentence etc. and saying what you see. The main ohjective of this method is to 
help learners recognize words. It encompasses all the methods in the analytic group _ 
the word, phrase, sentence and story methods. The method encourages whole word 
recognition and memorization, without dealing with letters. 
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LeDoux (2007) and Fianu (2005) see the following strengths in the Look and Say 
method. 
It makes reading easy and interesting. 
2. It enhances faster reading and instills love for reading in children as well 
as boost children's confidence level in reading. 
3. It enables pupils to build up sight vocabulary quickly. 
The method is, however, not free from criticism. Fianu (2005) says the method is 
inadequate as a technique since it does not help the pupils to read unfamiliar words. 
He also criticizes it as being unable to encourage learners to analyse new words on 
their own, as such, it encourages over-dependency on the teacher. Gray (1969) also 
criticizes the method of placing so much emphasis on meaning that word recognition 
is neglected. Dewey (1999) criticizes the method of encouraging rote learning which 
later renders students poor readers. 
Wren (200 I) jJuiui.ls uul lhal no single method is complete on its own. There is 
therefore the need for the combination of 'Phonics' and 'Whole Language' (Look and 
Say) methods. The combination will allow the strengths of one method to cover up 
the weaknesses of the other and vice versa. Wren (2001) concluded that it might be 
leaching 'phonics' first and then grauualing 10 'Whole language' approach~s. 
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2.3 Factors that Can Affect the Teaching and Learning of Reading at 
Kindergarten Level 
Research has shown that there are factors that can inhibit or promote the teaching and 
learning of reading at kindergarten level Gust as at the other levels) of the educational 
ladder. Among these factors are parental participation, teachers' role, learner 
characteristics, educational policies and national initiatives, teaching methods, and 
many others. This study seeks to find out which of these factors or which others 
affect reading in the Ghanaian kindergarten. 
2.S.1 Parental Involvement 
Children in the kindergarten grade, obviously spend more time at home than they do 
at school. It will be in their interest to get their parents involved in their school work 
especially in the reading process. This is easier if parents are literates Korppi 
(2003), in the ACIE Newsletter, reports on a heuristic research she conducted for MA 
thesis entitled, 'Reading Instruction in Early Foreign Language Immersion.' She 
explored reading through educated parents, teachers and an early year education 
centre. Her research reveals that there is the need to educate parents on how to 
support their children's reading programme. This expresses the importance of 
parental involvemcnt in the child's reading process. 
Farris et a1. (2004) mention phonologknl awareness as one of the approaches for 
helping children develop their local knowledge of reading. They say that children 
gain this knowledge through careers, parents, and childhood educators' rhymes, 
stories, poems, songs, etc. that they share with them. In this case, it appears that 
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,'hildren who have literate parents to do the above for them can be more successful 
than those with illiterate parents. Where parents have little or no literacy abilities, 
Community Reading Centres could be established to take care of children's reading 
needs. Illiterate parents could be encouraged to support their children's reading 
readiness through sharing of folk songs and tales, local tongue twisters, etc. with 
them, 
Miedel and Reynolds (1999) carried out a research to investigate the association 
between parent involvement in early intervention and children's later school 
competence. Results indicate that the number of activities in which parents 
participate in pre-school and kindergarten was significantly associated with higher 
reading achievement. Lonigan and Whitehurst (1998) also conducted a shared 
reading intervention for six weeks for children three to four years old; they came from 
low income families and attended a subsidized childcare. All the children entered the 
programme with oral language skills that were below their age levels. They were put 
into four groups as follows: 
(a) No treatment control 
(b) A school condition where only teacher reads to children in small 
groups. 
(c) A home condition in which parents read to children. 
(d) A cumbined home and school condition. 
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At the end of the period, all students were tested and the result proved that children in 
the groups with home condition scored higher marks. That parental involvement is 
\ cry important in the child's reading process cannot be overemphasized. 
2.5.2 The Role of Teachers 
Another vital factor that can inhibit or promote the child's reading process is the 
teacher. In Ghana and most African countries, teachers are 'gods' in the child's eye 
and are more important than anyone else, including parents. 
In Korppi's (2003) research, she found out that the teachers were very knowledgeable 
about the many factors that affect reading in the L I and L2, and have been using a 
combination of methods in teaching reading. This implies that the teacher's 
knowledge about recent reading issues can help himlher to understand children's 
problem areas and to choose better teaching approaches. 
Davis et a\. (1994) notice how crucial the teacher's role is in the teaching and learning 
of reading and say that it is true that teachers cannot turn majority of the students into 
enthusiastic readers, but the greatest part of reading prnhlems that students have can 
be traced down to teachers. They have in one way or the other, turned students away 
from reading through their approach to teaching this aspecl of the language. In other 
words, these researchers are saying that students' love or hatred for reading comes 
from the teacher. 
Weaver (1993) sees the importance of teachers in the acquisition of early reading 
skills and encourages them to help children acquire phonics knowledge by: 
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having faith in children that they are able to grasp letter/sound relationship 
with little direct instruction. 
(b) discussing interesting patterns of onset and rimes of the syllable structure 
while making sure that stories, poems, rhymes etc/ that are chosen to be 
shared with the young children are rich in alliteration and rhyme. 
(c) engaging children in a number of activities that reinforce natural learning 
of letter/sound relationship and patterns. 
Weaver's (1993) message is that teachers are a core part of the early reading process. 
They must go all out, turning every activity in and around the classroom into a 
stepping stone for the success of the reading process. 
Talking on children's literacy habits, Smith (1986), cited in Maggart and Zintz 
(1992), cautions that children acquire this habit at a very tender age and it is the duty 
of the teacher to be sensitive enough to this learning so as to assess, acknowledge and 
build on it. Maggart and Zintz (1992) also state that many unfortunate children come 
to school with little ullderslu11lliug uf lhl: purposcs of print and it~ ple<lsures. TIle 
teachers must provide many opportunities to help such children. Tt:!1l.:ht:rs· wit: is 
clearly defined here. They must be vigilant facilitators and planners of the reading 
process. 
Baynham (1995) states that the proponents of the phonemic awareness approach 
broadly argue that a generation of teachers have failed to impart the basic skills of the 
3 Rs to the school children and that this pedagogic failure will be set right by a return 
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to th<? basics of instruction. This means that teachers, as well as their teaching 
methods, are very important in the reading process. 
Good and Brophy (1987), cited in Davis et al. (1994: 1), talk about four essential 
pr<?conditions involved in the framework to motivate children's reading. The first of 
them is that the classroom environment must be supportive. This means the teacher 
should be a patient and encouraging person who supports the student's learning 
efforts. The implication here is that the teacher's personality traits are equally 
important in ensuring early reading success. 
Adler and Fisher (1999) reported on a research carried out by the National 
Assessment of Educational Progress to find out the status of early reading 
achievement for children living in poverty, with special reference to the Emerald 
Elementary School. Their findings reveal that there must be a 'school operation' 
towards achieving reading success. They state five key elements of this operation as 
follows: 
(1) a veteran, knowledgeable staff, 
('1) a strong leadcl'F:hip a\ se.hool and classroomleve\:;, 
(3) focus on student learning outcomes, 
(4) mUltiple reading programmes in every classroom; and 
(5) shared responsibility for student success. 
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Ihl.'SC elements form part of the duties expected of teachers and headteachers in a 
school and since Ghana is not yet above the poverty line, the above factors can 
equally apply in our situation. 
2.5.3 Characteristics of Learner Needs 
Harris and Sipay (1990) point out that it is impossible for a teacher to turn every 
student or the majority of the class into keen readers. Some effort is expected from 
the students. Though Davis et a1. (1994) agree only in principle with Harris and 
Sipay (1990), they also believe that the saying that a horse could be taken to the water 
but cannot be forced to drink, is applicable to students and books. 
Davis et a1. (1994) also say the early reading process can be inhibited by students' 
negative attitude towards reading. Thus, when a student views reading as a difficult 
thing and makes no effort to acquire it, slbe will have reading problem. Apart from 
this attitude, other factors affect leamer's reading progress. 
2.5.3.1 Mental Ability 
Rag (2001) sees the reading readiness concept as the one that denotes that there is an 
appropriate mental age at which children would naturally learn to read. She disagrees 
with this concept and cites Teale and Sulzby (1986) who argue that children gain 
literacy development long before starting formal instruction. 
Tollitt and Trevor (1995) are of the view that though it was a fashionable practice for 
children not to read until they reached 6Y2 years, it is now proven that children read 
before reaching the mental age of GYl yt:ars. 'lbt:y also state that with favourable 
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~nvironmental factors children can read at age 2~ - 3~ years. These factors include 
good linguistics background, motivation towards reading and sound intellectual 
abilities. It is therefore not surprising to know that children as young as 4 years can 
start reading in Montessori settings (Montessori explorer). 
Gray (1969) also proposes that children who have developed nonnally can learn to 
read at the age of 5 years if instruction is adapted to their level of maturity. In other 
words, growth retarded or handicapped children may fail to read despite their 'ripe' 
mental age. This comment stresses the importance of personal development in the 
child's reading process. 
I t would also be good to follow the recommendation of the Australian Council for 
Educational Research (cited in Gray 1969) which states that children should not be 
pressed to read until they are mentally and experientially ready for it. This is to 
ensure that they don't fail in reading when they come to school. This waiting period 
is to be used for inculcating phonological and phonemes awareness in these children 
(Yopp 1992, and Adams 1990). 
2.5.3.2 Background Experience 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) point out another factor that can affect the child's reading 
progress as hisfher home background experience of print. According to them, 
children begin literacy as infants and continue throughout preschool, and that children 
from 'print-rich' environments leam through observation that reading and writing are 
so important in life because they give enjoyment und infonnation. 
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Reyhner (2008) also refers to Vygostsky's 'Zone of proximal' development where 
children can learn new things that are a little above their current understanding with 
the help of more knowledgeable peers or adults. He said students who come from 
'high literacy' homes where they are read to on a regular basis, with lots of books in 
their environment, tend to read well regardless of their teachers' teaching methods. 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) also recognize that parents' ability to read is a very 
dynamic promoter of the child's reading success because it determines the value the 
child places on reading. They continue and say that the presence of books at home, 
and reading books to children encourage them to turn over pages as well as read the 
pictures in the 'shared books.' The absence of this factor could be a threat to early 
reading success in Ghana since most children in the rural areas lack that print-rich 
environment. 
2.5.3.3 Use and Command of Language 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) talk about facilities for language games as being very 
useful for children's quick access to language use. And also, children develop 
language faster if the adult that associates with them regularly encourages them to 
express themselves by answering their questions and engaging them in conversations 
in the target language. 
Anyidoho (1999) states that reading researchers agree that reading has its root in oral 
language proficiency, so reading must be preceded by a background language 
experience. She suggests that modem methods like the Total Physical Response 
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(TPR) should be used to help the Ghanaian children to gain oral proficiency in 
English before teaching them to read. She also adds that, while acquiring this 
proficiency, they should be taught to read first in their Ll. This skill could aid the L2 
reading later. 
Hoff (200 I) gives an elaborate chronological overview of language development in 
children. She states that from birth to one year, children change in terms of the 
sounds they produce in communicativeness of their behaviour. In the second year, 
they develop in the domain of vocabulary acquisition and become more 
communicative. As the child develops, his/her acquisition increases from sounds to 
words and to two word sentences. And by the end of the third year, children begin to 
develop language (Ll). This process is what Gray (1969) and others are calling on 
teachers and all that deal with children, to help speed up to promote good reading 
interest. 
2.5.3.4 Emotional/Social Maturity 
GIC:lY (1969) ami Anyiuuhu (1999) are of the view that a child who is emotionally 
disturbed will not progress in reading. This implies that tcachers should ensure that 
their classroum atmosphere is free f1'0111 auy strains uml ill-feelings. This is why it is 
very important to establish a cordial relationship between teacher and pupils, and 
among pupils themselves. 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) draw attention to the fact that many activities contribute to 
a child's emotional and social growth. It takes a sensitive teacher to trace traits like 
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timidity, aggression, and fear, and be able to meet each child's needs. They advise 
that children be allowed to play in groups and talk to each other to enable them 
understand each other better. 
2.5.3.5 Physical Conditions 
As Anyidoho (1999) rightly puts it, physical conditions like hunger, fatigue, bodily 
pain or abuse and under-nourishment have great influence on reading progress. This 
is why the time of the day that reading is done matters a lot. For instance, if reading 
is done in the initial periods of the morning, children's concentration level may be 
higher than when it is done after mid-day, (when hunger and tiredness may set in). 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) also see visual and hearing impairments as hindrances to 
the reading process. According to them visual and auditory discrimination are very 
important skills, This is because reading requires the ability to see clearly at close 
range for a period of time; and also the ability to distinguish between sounds heard. 
They suggest that young children be given a lot of opportunities at home and school 
to learn thcsc skills like noticing the difft:rt:m.:t: in shapes, colours, sizes, etc. Also 
identifying and discriminating between sounds, words and objects seen, as well as 
showing interest in books and tw'uing pagt:s of books. 
2.6 Educational Policies/State Initiatives 
The success of early reading in our schools will definitely lead to success in other 
academic subjects. It is therefore important for the government to get involved in 
determining steps that would lead to every child acquiring reading skills. It is 
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obvious that Americans and the British have realized this responsibility, hence the 
formation of numerous groups of reading researchers to review researches on reading 
so as to come out with the best ways of making sure every child reads (National 
Rights to Read Foundation, Reading Rockets, the National Reading Panel, the 
National Institute for Child Health etc. websites). Asenso-Boakye (2005) also says 
that the NPP government has a policy of upgrading all schools to the level of first-
class school status. This is to enable every Ghanaian child, irrespective of where he 
or she is, to access quality education which includes good reading skills. 
2.6.1 School and Its Environment 
Hoffman and Rutherford (1984), cited by Adler and Fisher (1999), reviewed several 
studies on the effects of schools on reading and concluded that three categories of 
characteristics contribute to the reading process. These are: 
(i) programme characteristics which refer to explicitly defined objectives and 
roles expectations, provision for continuous student progress, flexibility in 
matching materials and instruction to student needs, and stability of 
programmes over several years. 
(ii) leadership behaviours, thus to establish reading improvement as a school 
priority; 
(iii) psychological condition: This has to do with high expectations for 
students, calm and businesslike school climate, staff commitment to the 
reading programme, parental involvement, etc. By this, Hoffman and 
Rutherford are telling us that there is the need for schools to come out with 
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a reading policy which should be supported by all and sundry (including 
even parents), and monitored throughout its implementation keenly for 
success. 
Adler and Fisher (1999), reporting on the Reading Panel's research on reading 
success in schools in poor environments, state that focusing on student learning 
outcome is one of the five key factors that aided Emerald Elementary School to 
succeed in their reading programme. According to them, the school placed its 
emphasis on student learning outcomes to the extent that student learning was more 
important compared with curriculum and instruction. As a result, teachers keep 
changing methods to enable students make progress. 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) also express their views on the school environment. 
According to them, the kindergarten environment must be a literate environment, rich 
with books of many types, displayed for children to see their front covers and titles. 
They also advocate for words, phrases and sentences to be found in many places in 
the room and should serve va.rit:u purposes. Also all objects in the room should be 
labeled. 
2.6.1.1 Class Size 
It is possible thal the number of students in a class can either promote or impede the 
reading progress of the killdergurlt:n child. While the extrovelts can operatt: in all 
environments, the introvert on the other hand, needs lots of encouragement and 
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individual attention to be able to operate. This might not be possible when the class 
size is large because the teacher' s attention will be sought by others. 
Pikulski (1994) states that early intervention in reading, and the Boulder Project 
Program, present evidence that many children can make significant progress when 
instruction is given to small groups of students. 
2.6.2 Time Allocation 
Another important issue for the school to consider is the number of times reading is 
allowed on the timetable. Maggart and Zintz (1992) refer to Ebbinghaus' (1885) 
historical study on forgetting which states that 66.3% of what is learnt is forgotten 
within 24 hours. Stairway Reading Program confirms this finding by stating that 
reading concepts should be taught and practised over and over until they become 
over-learnt. In fact young children need time to practise. This is probably the main 
reason why Elam (2006) in the US National Right to Read Foundation recommends 
that phonics be learnt at least IS minutes a day for five days in a week. 
2.6.3 Reading Resources 
Reading resources are very vital to the success of the reading process. In the past, 
reading resources refer to books and flash cards. Presently other rcsources like 
computer games, languagc games, video games and electronic loys are equally good 
for teaching reading. Most reading re!;earchers advocatc reading to children at home 
and at school. 
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<.iray (1969) notices that one of the factors that can promote reading is the type and 
availability of reading books. He says if books are few or are not in the system at all, 
it is impossible to achieve reading success. This is because skills learnt in class 
cannot be practiced. He further states that countries such as Brazil lack 
supplementary readers and since only small amount of reading is done, pupils fail to 
acquire either fluency or keen interest in reading. The worst of all is the fact that the 
few books that exist are relating to history, geography and nature. He argues that the 
reader cannot enjoy reading if the materials to be read relate to things, events or 
activities that are beyond his immediate environment. Gray (1969) concluded that 
reading books for children must be of small booklet size rather than the large and 
broad ones. According to him, books that contain too many vocabulary for a lesson 
may be inappropriate for children to grasp. This factor is likely to affect the reading 
process of Ghanaian children because there isn't much literature appropriate to their 
background. 
The US National Right to Read Foundation suggests that children's formal reading be 
graded in such a way that decodable stories precede easy to read books. 
2.6.4 Staff Development 
As we have already seen, the teacher's role in the reading process is very vital and 
cannot be underestimated. It is therefore very important to make sure the teacher 
knows what he/she is doing. 
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Talking about the diverse needs of children in the classroom, Farris et al. (2004) 
establish tbl each individual student will come to the teacher with strengths and 
weaknesses, and it is the teacher's responsibility to be knowledgeable in the area of 
reading and writing development and skilled in assessment and intervention 
techniques. It is in this vein that Ghanaian teacher trainees study child psychology 
and English methodology. But as to whether this is enough to equip them for this 
great task is what this study seeks to find out. In American and most European 
countries the basic qualification for becoming a teacher is first degree in relevant 
subjects, including Education. 
Yopp (1992) and Adams (1990) of the Reading Task Force (CSU database) agitate 
for the creation of phonological and phonemic awareness in children as a way of 
preparing them for reading. This calls for teachers being knowledgeable in phoneme 
manipulation such as phoneme blending and segregation. 
According to Adler and Fisher (1992), teachers from Emerald School were 
interviewed on what led to their reading progress and each of them talked about the 
principal's support for staff development. There, kindergarten teachers were allowed 
to attend several professional development activities during the year. And most of 
these ilr.tivities were directed towards instructional practices. The panel also talk 
about mentoring newly traincd teachers by experienced staff members so us to give 
them assistancc in local practices. Also worth noting is the use of the internet to 
expand teachers' knowledge at Emerald. Some of these practices may take place in 
the Ghanaian private schools, but the public schools are yet to see this daylight. 
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2.6.5 Curriculum Development 
At this juncture, it is necessary for educational policy makers to undertake curriculum 
enrichment programmes to include staff development and new issues concerning 
early years reading. 
Curriculum enrichment is defined at the United Kingdom Education Standards' 
website as a guidance to the practitioners and it should have a balanced reading 
curriculum that includes reading aloud, shared reading, guided reading for children at 
different stages of learning to read. In other words, the curriculum enrichment calls 
for availability of the appropriate books (possibly very colourful), and well equipped 
teachers who are abreast of recent reading issues. 
Also very important to the success of the reading process is the language policy of a 
nation. In Ghana, the language policy is to use the most dominant local language as 
the medium of instruction from kindergarten through basic three, while English is 
taught as a subject. Whilst the private schools do not comply with this regulation, the 
public schools have started combining both local languages and the English language 
as media of instruction. The possible cause might be the realization that children 
need a good level of oral proficiency in a language to be able to read. 
2.7 Summary 
It is an undeniable fact that reading is a very important tool in the life of everybody, 
irrespective of age, and the earlier the skill is acquired the better. 
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Adler and Fisher (1999) rightly say that learning to read is a gradual process that 
occurs in several years; and it is difficult to say when the process begins or ends. 
This implies that teachers, as well as the other stakeholders, have the responsibility of 
being vigilant about the slightest thing or event that can enhance or impede the child's 
reading process. This includes paying attention to minor details like children's 
confusion of alphabet (e.g. 'b' for 'd') and correct pronunciation of sounds right up to 
bigger issues like word recognition and meaning making. The ability to give 
immediate feedback - praising correct responses and correcting mistakes, in addition 
to gearing all initial language work (including picture reading) towards phonemic and 
phonological awareness, will go a long way to speed up the learning process. 
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CHAPTER THREE 
METHODOLOGY 
3.0 Introduction 
This chapter describes the methods used in data collection for the study. The research 
was conducted mostly in school environments. The researcher undertook a six-week 
survey of how reading is organized in Ghanaian kindergartens. Since reading 
assessment can vary from place to place, the researcher engaged six schools. Four of 
them are from an urban area while the other two are from a rural area. The main 
purpose for the selection of two pairs of schools from the urban area was to compare 
one pair with the rural schools to find out whether factors that affect reading in the 
rural areas could exist anywhere in the city. 
3.1 Population and Sample 
Six Ghanaian kindergartens were selected for the study. The study was meant to 
investigate the factors that impede or promote children's reading progress at the 
kiJlJt:rgarlt:n It:vd . 
The population consisted of a whole class of each of the six schools. Four of these 
schools arc in lht: Greater Accra Region - only their firsl year pupils (KG One) were 
focused on. The remaining two schools were selected from the Volta Region. Here, 
the second year (KG Two) pupils were the focus. Refer to Table 3.1 for detail ahout 
the schools. 
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Table 3.1 
Schools and Background of Teachers 
Qualification of No. of Years 
Name of School LocationlRe&ion Teachers Taught 
PRESEC Staff Madina, Diploma 13 years 
Kindergarten Greater Accra 
Hannah School Madina, SSCE 4 years 
Complex Greater Accra 
La Presbyterian Early Cert 'A' 3-years 
Childhood La, post secondary 2 years 
Development Centre Greater Accra 
La Roman Catholic La, Cert 'A' 6 years 
Kindergarten Greater Accra 
Jesus is Alive Anyirawase, SSCE 1 year 
Preparat~ Volta Region 
Anyirawase L/A Anyirawase, 
Kindergarten Volta Region CertA 2 years 
In totality, three private schools were paired with three public schools. The pairing 
was to enable the researcher find out the methods that each category uses and how 
that affects the teaching/learning process of reading. It was also to allow the 
researcher to compare the effects of each approach to see if a combination of 
approaches could yield a better result. Each pair is chosen from the same 
geographical locality. The detail is shown in Table 3.2 below. 
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Table 3.2 
Pairing of the Schools 
Private School Public School Location of Each 
Pair 
PRESEC Staff 
1. Hannah Schools Complex Kindergarten Madina 
2. La Presbyterian Early Childhood La Roman Catholic La 
Development Centre Kindergarten 
Anyirawase LlA 
3. Jesus Is Alive Preparatory Kinde~garten Anyirawase 
From Table 3.2 above, it is clear that the schools are put in three geographical 
categories. The Madina schools are chosen as a representation for the 'Model' 
Kindergartens in Ghana. The pupils are mostly from elite homes. There are lots of 
literates in such homes with plenty of books that children are free to handle right from 
infancy. The choice of these schools: PRESEC Staff and Hannah School Complex 
Kindergartens was influenced by the fact that their Junior High Schools perform 
creditably at the country's Basic Education Certificate Examination level. It was also 
because of proximity since the researcher was teaching (It Mflc1infl at that time. 
The La schools were chosen to represent ~chooJ~ that are situated in the envinroment 
of the mid-income group. The schools are situated in the heart of La township and 
are attended mostly by children of the average working class in the community. 
Some of these parents are traders, farmers, mechanics, fishermen and the like. 
The Anyirawase (Volta) schools form a representation of schools located within the 
rural and deprived zones of Ghana. Anyirawase is a small village along the Accra _ 
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Ho main road. A majority of the inhabitants are farmers. Teachers, Middle School 
leavers, Senior High and Junior High graduates are the main literates in the society. 
KG one pupils were used in the Greater Accra schools because they were starters and 
could be given remedial action towards a better acquisition of reading skills. The use 
of KG two pupils for the main study is due to the fact that they are at the exit point of 
this level and all meaningful reading is best carried out here. 
Table 3.3 
Population of Pupils 
I 
Schools Population 
Boys Girls Total Age Range 
PRESEC Staff KG 30 20 50 4-5 years 
Hannah Schools Complex 10 9 19 4-5 years 
La Presbyterian Early Childhood 20 20 40 4-5 years 
Development Centre 
La Roman Catholic Kindergarten 34 30 64 4-12 years 
Jesus is Alive PreparatorY 7 6 13 4-6 years 
Anyirawase LlA Kindergarten 6 4 10 5-6 vears 
Total 107 89 196 
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3.2 Data Collection Procedure 
The instruments used for data collection included questionnaire (format adopted from 
french 20C4 and adapted to suit the level), observation, personal interviews and 
intervention followed by testing. 
3.2.1 Questionnaire 
Questionnaires for teachers were given out to thirty kindergarten teachers from the 
Greater Accra and Volta Regions of Ghana. These teachers were selected at random. 
The questionnaire was designed to verify teachers' views and attitude toward reading 
at this level. It was also meant to reveal some factors that affect the teaching and 
learning of reading in the Ghanaian kindergartens. Respondents were not made to 
disclose their identity so as to enable them give frank responses to the questions. 
The questionnaire was divided into five sections (Refer to Appendix A). Section A 
was meant to gather information on teachers' qualification and experience in teaching 
at the kindergarten level. This is necessary because teachers' knowledge and 
experience at this level can enhance or impede the reading process. 
Section B was to help gather information on the availability of reading books and the 
aspect of English language that the teacher enjoys teaching. The researcher deemed 
this section important because there is no way children can develop interest in reading 
if they do not have a leacher who shares their interest in reading, and provides them 
with good reading materials to admire and flip through. 
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Section C asked for approaches teachers use in teaching reading at this level - and 
\\hy . Respondents were also to state the number of regular refresher trainings they 
had attended. This is because teachers' knowledge of current issues, as well as their 
methods of teaching, can either promote or impede the reading process. 
Section D asked respondents to comment on their children' s attitude toward reading. 
They were also expected to give information on their use of teaching/learning 
materials, while Section E was designed to reveal some peculiar factors that affect 
reading in their schools. 
3.2.2 Observation 
In order to be aware of the methods that are used to teach reading in the Ghanaian 
kindergartens, the researcher conducted a six-week observation in all the schools that 
were involved in the study. Each school received two visits. The schools were paired 
(refer to Table 3.2) and each pair was visited for two weeks - as follows. 
Table 3.4 
Pairing of Schools and Timcs of Visit 
Name of School Time and Visits 
1. PRESEC Staff KG 1s t and 2nd weeks 
Hannah Schools Complex 
2. La Pre!>byterian Early Childhood Development Centre 3rd and 4lh weeks 
La Roman Catholic Kindergarten 
Jt!sus is Alive Preparatory ~th and 6th weeks 
3. J\nyim.wusl: T.fA Kindergarten 
University of Ghana  http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 
The researcher also participated in some school activities like morning assemblies 
and break time supervision to listen to pupils' spoken language. The researcher 
stayed throughout reading lessons to observe the type of reading methods teachers 
adopt at this level. She also looked out for teaching/learning materials and their 
usage in lessons. 
Other issues that were observed were the number of children in a classroom and how 
possible it was to engage all of them in the activities; the number of times reading 
occurs on the timetable and the availability and suitability of pupils' readers. In each 
school the researcher looked out for how literate the classrooms as well as the entire 
environment was. It was noted that two of the private schools practice the 'phonics' 
method of reading, while the public schools use the 'Look and Say' method. 
However, some of the public kindergartens combined both methods. 
After this initial observation period, Jesus Is Alive Preparatory and Anyirawase LI A 
kindergartens were chosen for the main study. These are the schools in the rural area, 
and within the same geographical location, making it easier for the researcher to 
move from one school to the other. Time and financial restraints, prevented the 
inclusion of the other four schools in the main study. 
It wa<; observed that the teacher in the prival~ s~huul us~d lht: 'Luuk and Say M~thod' 
to teach the children to read sentences in their environmental studies textbooks on 
'My Family.' 
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The teacher led the pupils to read the sentences that were attached to the pictures. 
After that, most of the pupils were asked to read aloud. Since the sentences were only 
two, the pupils were able to memorise them and could say them without looking at 
the words. They could however not identify and point at any of the words that form 
the sentences. 
In the public school, the teacher used a 'whole word' method to teach high frequency 
words like 'an, am, on, in and at'. The words were written on the board and the 
pupils were made to repeat them several times after the teacher. After that, pupils 
were made to read the words as the teacher put the pointer on them. This was 
difticult be":luse most of the pupils could not identify the words. The teacher used 
two of the words in sentences and the children repeated these sentences after him. i 
Two of the pupils were asked to read all by themselves. They managed to read two I 
words each correctly. 
l' 
3.2.3 Persollal Interviews 
Verbal Communication was held with some respondents. Headteachers from the i 
selected schools and nine others from Adentan and Ho districts of Ghana were 
selected at random and interviewed to gather information on the kind of students they 
admit into tbeir preschool first year classrooms, their (headteachers) own background 
knowledge of preschool activities, the kind of readers in use and the approaches that 
the school adopts for teaching English reading. 
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Fifteen parents of some of the pupils in the rural schools were interviewed as they 
visited the schools within the research period on the number of children they have in 
school, their preschool children's ability to read, and what they think contribute to 
their children's ability or inability to read. They also spoke on home support in terms 
of availability and use of books and supervision as well as their professions and the 
effects on the child's learning. The essence of this interview was to enable the 
researcher evaluate the effects of children's home background on their reading 
process. The teachers of the six schools engaged in this study were also consulted on 
why some of their pupils could not read at all at the end of their preschool education. 
The home background of those who could read very well and those who could not, 
was also sought from the classteachers. 
An officer from the Teacher Education Division of the Ministry of Education was 
interviewed on the changes being made to the curriculum of teacher training colleges 
to equip teachers with teaching skills for teaching at the kindergarten level, with 
special emphasis on teaching reading in the early years. The National Early 
Childhood Co-ordinator was also interviewed on policies for early reading in the 
Ghanaian kindergartens. 
3.2.4 Intet-vcntion and Testing 
The purpose of this study was to find out how rcading instruction is carried out in the 
Ghanaian kindergartens, the challenges that are faced and how to minimize these 
challenges by the use of modern methods of teaching reading at this level. After 
observing the six schools, it was realized that reading instruction in the kindergartens 
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was either by Look and Say or Phonic Methods. With this in mind, the researcher 
conducted intervention lessons which were preceded and followed by testing. This 
was to help her find out whether the use of any of the two methods quickens or 
impedes the reading process. Because she thought some of the pupils in the private 
schools were far ahead of their counterparts in the public schools. There were three 
intervention lessons. In the first round, both schools were taught to recognize letter 
names. The essence of this lesson was to ensure that pupils' knowledge of the 'letter 
names' was good enough to build on, using the 'phonics' or the 'look and say' 
method. 
It was a 'fun-full' lesson in which the researcher led the pupils to read the letters from 
'letter freeze', 'letter strip' and then from 'flash cards'. In the next step, each pupil 
was asked to pick a flash card which was turned upside down. He/she was to read the 
letter on the flash card correctly for a prize. This section was ended by a testing game 
code-named "I am letter .. .."  In this game the researcher gave each pupil a cut-out 
letter which was different from that of hislher mates. This was done bearing pupils 
capabilities in mind. When the researcher picked any of her 'letter cut-outs', the 
pupil with that same kind of letter would say, '1 am letter this,' e.g. 1 am letter 'B'. 
For a homework, each child was given a strip of three letters to learn to identify by 
namt: . The pupils returned to class the following day rejoicing because they could 
idcntify their letters. 
III the ~eeund round, the pupils from the private school were led by the researcher to 
do picture identification and description. The pupils' ability to speak both the local 
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language and the English language fluently made it possible for this lesson to be very 
interesting. Objects to be identified included: spoon, pot, jug, bottle, etc. (refer to 
appendix B). These were domestic objects and the children were able to identify 
almost all of them. Those they could not identify in the English language were 
identified in the Ewe language and the researcher assisted them to learn their English 
names. One item - 'jug' was not identified in any of the two languages because it 
was not a common household item in the area. 
On the other hand, pupils from the public school were led by the researcher to learn 
the sounds of English short vowels except lui. They learnt each of them by repeating 
its sound after the researcher several times and then associating it with objects they 
are familiar with, that begin with the vowel sound in question. Then the pupils were 
made to pick and identify vowel flash cards. To test individual pupils' ability to 
identify the vowel sounds, the researcher and the pupils played "snake and ladders", 
"play, read and move" game. 
In the fmal round of the intervention lessons, the effectiveness of the two dominant 
approaches to teaching initial reading in Ghana - the 'Look and Say' and the 
'Phonics' Methods - was examined by the researcher. The pupils in the private 
school were taught to read with the 'Look and Say' method while the 'Phonics' 
Method was us\:d fur It:aching reading in the public school. This was to find out how 
effective each method could be in the setting within which it was used. Before this 
time, the researcher had observed that majority of the private schools used the 
'phonics' method while the public schools used 'Look and Say' Method. It was also 
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tLl tind out whether by using the 'phonics' in the public school, it could be possible 
for the pupils to read those words (on, in, am, at, an) that they could not read when 
the teacher used the 'whole word' method to teach at the pre-intervention stage. 
Using the Look and Say Method, the pupils were led to identify and name the pictures 
uf a \ariety of objects. This was very interesting. Every child was able to identify 
lots of objects. Next, the researcher presented the real objects of 'hat', 'mat' and 
'fan' to the children to identify. Then the pictures of 'cat', 'car' and 'man' were also 
presented for identification. The names of these six objects were written on the board 
and children were led to read the words several times. Picture flash cards to match 
the words, were given to children one by one to paste near their corresponding names. 
Each child was able to identify at least a word and read it to the class. After that the 
pictures were removed from the board - leaving only the words. Each pupil was 
asked to identify and read some of the words as the researcher placed the pointer on 
them. To test the pupils' real ability to read these words, the researcher cleaned the 
board and re-arranged the words on the board with changed positions. Each pupil 
was asked to read all over again. This was quite difficult for the pupils. Only one 
could read up to four out of the six words. 
In the public school, the researcher tested the pupils' ability to recognize vowels: la, 
e, i, u/. It was realized that everybody could identify at least two vowels. She moved 
on to teach the sound of three consonants: 1m, n, tI. When the pupils had mastered 
these consonants, they could pick and sound any of them. The researcher then moved 
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on to combine a vowel with each of these consonants. In each case the vowels 
occurred at the initial position, e.g. l!t. The children were encouraged to attempt 
sounding the two sounds together. They were not restricted from prolonging the 
sounds but were afterwards made to know that the vowels are short vowels and 
should not he prolonged. 
With much encouragement from the researcher and the class teacher, the pupils were 
able to read 'am', after which the rest 'an', 'on', 'in' 'at' were quite easier to read. 
The children's ability to read the above two-letter words was tested. Those who 
could read five or four words were drawn aside by the researcher to expand their 
knowledge a little through learning to read two letter words formed with 'b' and the 
vowels i.e. 'bi', 'ba', 'be' and 'bo'. The rest of the pupils remained with the teacher 
to practice reading, 'on', 'an', 'at', 'am' and 'in'. 
3.3 Data Analysis 
The statistical technique that is employed in analyzing data collected in this study is 
table tabulation. 
3A Summary 
In this chapter a brief description of the schools selected for the study was given in 
addition to the research methods used for data collection. In order to gain proper 
insight into the factors that affect the teaching/learning of reading at the kindergarten 
level, the researcher had to observe classes, give out questionnaires, conduct 
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unstructured interviews as well as give intervention lessons and tests. Data so 
gathered are analysed in chapter four. 
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CHAPTER FOUR 
DATA ANALYSIS 
·t.O Introduction 
The study is meant to examine factors that affect teaching/learning of reading in the 
Ghanaian kindergartens. Questionnaires, and interviews were used to gather 
information from teachers, head teachers, parents and education officers. 
4.1 Analysis of Data 
~.1.1 Tearhers' Profile 
The thirty respondents (who were selected at random from Greater Accra and Volta 
Regions) hold a variety of qualifications. 33.3% of them held Diploma in Basic 
education in addition to the teachers Cert 'A'. 36.7% held only teachers Cert 'A'. 
Out of this number 10% were post secondary trained teachers while 26.7% were Cert 
'A' 4-year trained. The other qualifications were SSCEIW ASSCE 23.3%; GCE '0' 
Level 3.3% and GCE 'A' level 3.3%. 
Table 4.1: Teachers Qualifications 
Qualification Frequency Percentage 
~loma 10 33.3 
Post Sec 3 10.0 
Ccrt 'A' 4 Year 8 26:, 
SSCE/W ASSCE 7 23.3 
GCE '0' Level 1 3.3 
GCE . A' Level 1 3.3 
Total 30 100 
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From Table 4.1, 70% of the respondents hold teachers' Cert A or a better 
qualification in teaching. This implies that a majority of the kindergarten pupils are 
taught by qualified teachers. This was not the situation ten years back (from the 
records of National Co-ordinator of ECD's Office) when kindergarten teachers were 
mostly untrained secondary school leavers. This achievement may be due to 
introduction of Distance Education Learning in the countries' universities, which 
gave most teachers the opportunity to enroll for Diploma in Basic Education. 
The study also investigated the teachers' experience in teaching at the kindergarten 
level. Those who were in their first-three years formed 33.3%; 26.7% were between 
four and six years, 13.3% had seven to ten years experience, while another 26.7% had 
served more than eleven years. Table 4.2 has the details of this data. 
Table 4.2: Teachers Experience at Kindergarten Level 
Number of Years Frequency Percentage 
1-1 10 33.3 
4-6 8 26.7 
7-10 4 13.3 
11 and above 8 26.7 
Total 30 100 
The information in Table 4.2 indicates that about 60% of the teachers had spent six or 
less years in teaching at the kindergarten while 40% had seve n or more years 
experience. 
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4.1.2 Teaching of Reading 
In this section, the respondents were asked to state the aspect of English they enjoy 
teaching at the kindergarten level. Fourteen of them, representing 46.7% enjoy 
teaching reading, 40% stated conversation while 13.3% indicated grammar as their 
best. The teachers' views on reading were sought. Ninety percent of them saw 
teaching of reading as interesting, 6.7% said it was boring and 3.3% was indifferent. 
On the other hand, all the thirty respondents gave an affirmative response that 
teaching of reading is very important at this level. 
The study also looked out for the problems that teachers encounter in teaching 
reading. 53.3% of the respondents responded in the affirmative that they encounter 
problems while the remaining 46.7% gave a negative response. Among the problems 
faced by the teachers were: lack of textbooks and teaching/learning materials, 
children's different learning styles and lack of interest in reading, lack of home 
support, late introduction of phonics in the public schools, children's inability to 
express themselvcs wcll in thc targct language, the heavy workload of explaining 
word meanings and children's entry behaviour (Le. children who enter kindergarten 
one without nursery education find it difficult to read smoothly at this level). 
The research also probed into the availability of English readers in the Ghanaian 
kindergartens and those responsible for the supply. It was realized that 66.7% of the 
sample pool have enough English readers. Out of this number, 33.3% have parents as 
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their source of supply. The government supplies to 200,0/  a f th em. The detail is 
shown in table 4.3 below. 
Table 4.3: Sources of Supply of KG English Readers 
Source Frequency Percentage 
Government 6 20.0 
Parents 10 33.3 
NGO 1 3.3 
School 3 10.0 
Not applicable 10 33.3 
Total 30 100 
From Table 4.3, it can be realized that 33.3% of the respondents had not got enough 
English readers in their schools. The teachers in this category solve this problem by 
falling on parents, pairing pupils to use what is available, writing words on the 
board/flash cards or just waiting for GES to do something about it. It is obvious that 
a majority of those in this group are from public schools. This is because most 
prival~ schools ensure that parents buy such books before the academic ycar begins. 
The teachers were also asked to indicate whether they have been to any in-service 
training or workshop on reading or not. Sixty percent have had in-service training 
while forty percent had not. Refer to Table 4.4a for the details. 
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T a bl e 4.4 a ..  Number ofIn-Service Training Attended 
Number of times attended Frequency 
Percentage 
30.0 
Once 9 
10.0 
Twice 3 
3.3 
Thrice I 
Four Times 0 0.0 
More than Four Times 5 16.6 
None 12 40.0 
Total 30 100 
Table 4.4b Teachers Experience versus Number 
of In-service Training Attended 
Number 
of Years Number of In-Service Training 
Taught 0 1 2 3 4 5+ 
1-3 6 2 I 1 
4-6 3 2 1 2 
7-10 I 2 1 
11+ 2 3 1 2 
Total 12 ~ 3 1 5 
It is expected that those who spend longer years in the kindergarten should have more 
staff development training. Comparing data from Table 4.2 to Table 4.4b, it was 
noted that out of the twelve respondents that had taught in the kindergarten for seven 
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or more years, only two had attended in-service training or workshop for five or more 
times. Three of them had no training at all. Five had in-service training only once 
and the remaining two had had it twice each. This is an indication that in-service 
training courses that are organized for teachers are inadequate and this can have 
adverse effect on their performance in teaching, especially in the teaching of reading. 
4.1.3 Approaches 
Another important factor the study looked at was the methodology that teachers adopt 
in teaching reading. It was clear from the data collected that the dominating 
approaches were the 'Look and Say' and the 'Phonics' methods. The details are 
captured in Table 4.5 below. 
Table 4.5: Approaches Used for Teaching Reading 
Method Frequency Percentage 
Phonics 5 16.7 
Look :lnd Say 10 33.3 
Both 15 50.0 
Total 30 100 
Table 4.5 indicates that 50% of the respondents use a combination of 'Look and Say' 
and 'Phonics' (Eclectic Approach) to teach reading at this initial level. Those who 
practice 'phonics' only formed 16.7% and 'Look and Say' only was 33.3%. The 
respondents also stated that they were familiar with other reading methods such as 
dictation, oral drills, pick and say, picture reading, rea d ing aloud, reading 
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comprehension, conversation, story telling and teaching/learning flash cards. The 
appropriateness of these 'methods' is discussed in chapter five. 
The teachers were made to give reasons for preferring one method to the others. 
Seven respondents (23.3%) stated that 'phonics' introduces children to reading while 
'Look and Say' helps them in the identification of words. Another 23.3% said 
'phonics' helps children to improve upon their reading and fluency in speech because 
it leads to sound identification which makes reading easier. 16.75% of the teachers 
also stated that both methods help children to understand the reading lesson better. 
Other reasons were: 
Both 'phonics' and 'look and say' make pronunciation easy. 
'Look and say' aids picture reading 
It depends on the child's ability and the aspect of the language being taught. 
Children learn faster through observation of the pictures. 
Though it seems the 'look and say' makes children to learn faster, through 
observation of pictures, it was realized in the intervention lesson that it rather aids 
memorization and guessing which do not work well when the position of words 
change. 
4.1.4 Factors That Affect TeachinglLearning of Reading 
The research also requested that the teachers rate their pupils' reading interest and the 
result is shown in Table 4.6. 
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Table 4.6: Pupils' Interest in Reading 
-
Interest Rate Frequency Percentage 
High 8 26.7 
Good 12 40.0 
Average 10 33.3 
Low 0 0 
Total 30 100 
The Table indicates that over 50% of the pupils in the Ghanaian kindergartens studied 
have great interest in reading. The researcher also realized from the observations and 
the intervention lessons that reading does not scare a majority of the KG pupils. 
Their inability to read should better be traced to what kills this interest. 
The teachers were asked to indicate whether they had enough teaching/ learning 
materials in their schools or not. 76.7% of the sample pool responded in the 
affirmative. 40% of this number got their supply from their school authorities, the 
government supplies 13.3% of them and teachers and parents supply the remaining 
23.3%. The other 23.3% that answered in the negative solve this problem by using 
phonics hooks for teaching, falling on parents to buy books and writing words on the 
board. 
The research requested that the respondents comment on their pupils' response to 
lessons when they use teaching/learning materials. 46.7% of them stated that the 
pupils participate fully in the lesson because they are excited and motivated to learn. 
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. h'ld 'learning as interesting 
167% said learning becomes easier. 20% also saw c I ren s 
when teaching them with teaching/leaming materials. 
The concluding part of the questionnaire asked teachers to indicate the factors that 
affect teaching and leaming of reading most in their classes. Home influence was 
stated by 53.3%. 30% indicated teaching/leaming materials, 6.7% stated textbooks, 
and teaching methods was stated by 3.3%. Those who did not respond to this 
question were 6.7%. Out of those who stated home influence as a factor, only 4 
(25%) receive positive home support. The rest (75%) receive negative home support 
towards the reading process. This is an alarming issue because lack of home 
influence had more than 50% of the sample pool. It appears teaching/leaming 
materials have positive effect on reading when compared with the other factors 
because out of the nine (30.0%) respondents that stated it, only two (22.0%) claimed 
that its effect was negative. 
4.2 Interpretation and Test Data 
One of thc rcscarch qucstions that guided this study was "What kind of approacht:s 
art: teU(;heTs using to tc~ch rCllding at the kimkrgi.trlen level". As already stated, 
'phonics' and 'look and say' methods are the predominant approaches in Ghana 
(Refer to table 4.5 for details). As part of the intervention lessons, the researcher 
tested the effectiveness of the 'look and say' method in one of the private schools _ 
Jesus Is Alive Preparatory (Anyirawase). Only ten pupils participated in the Lesson 
because three were absent from school on that day. The researcher taught six words: 
fan, man, mat, cat, car and hat. She first introduced real objects and pictures; and 
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then wrote [heir names on the board. The children were led to read through the words 
several times. The individual pictures were affixed adjacent to their names. The 
children were asked to read one after the other and the result was as follows: 
Table 4.7: Result of Reading - Words with Pictures 
Number of Words Frequency Percentage 
with Pictures (%) 
Six 3 30.0 
Five 3 30.0 
Four 2 20.0 
Three 2 20.0 
Two 0 0.0 
One 0 0.0 
Zero 0 0.0 
Total 10 100.0 
With the pictures, every child was able to read at least tlu'ee words. Tlm:t: uf lh~ 
pupils (30%) were able to read all the six words. Another 30% were able to read five 
words and four words were read by two pupils. 
The researcher removed the pictures leaving only the words Clt the same positions. 
The children wert: lIladt: lo read individually and they fared as follows: 
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Table 4.8: The Result of Reading Without Pictures 
Number of Words Frequency Percentage 
(%) 
Six 2 20.0 
Five 4 40.0 
Four 2 20.0 
Three 1 10.0 
Two 1 10.0 
One 0 0.0 
Zero 0 0.0 
Total 10 100.0 
When Table 4.8 is compared with that of Table 4.7, it could be realized that, there 
was not much change. In Table 4.8 the number of children that could read six words 
reduced from three to two while that of five words increased by 10%. In Table 4.7, 
the least number of words read was three but it moved a step down to two words on 
Table 4.8. Since there is not much difference between the two test results, the 
correlation between the use of pictures and the pupils' ability to read could be 
interpreted as negative. 
The words were cleaned and rearranged on the board. The children were asked to 
fI.'ClJ individually again. This was to test their ability to recognize and read the words 
in the absence of pictures and at different 'environments.' The test result is shown 
below. 
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Table 4.9: Test Result of Reading - With 
Same Words at Different Positions 
Number of Words Frequency Percentage 
(%) 
Six 0 0.0 
Five 0 0.0 
Four 1 10.0 
Three 2 20.0 
Two 2 20.0 
One 2 20.0 
Zero 3 30.0 
Total 10 100.0 
Table 4.9 has revealed a deviation in the children's ability to read the six words - car, 
fan, man, mat, hat and cat. None of the pupils was able to read six or five words. 
Only one child could read four words. Three to one words were read by two children 
each while as many as three children (30%) could not read any word at all. 
Table 4.9 has therefore shown a positive correlation between the pictures and the 
children's ability to read the words. That is, as the pictures diminished, and the 
position of the words changed the children's ability to read too decreased. While 
30% of the pupils could read all the six words with l'iclun:s, IlOIlt! of the pupils (0%) 
could read t:le six words when the pictures were removed and the position of the 
words changed. 
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Table 4.9: Test Result of Reading - With 
Same Words at Different Positions 
Number of Words Frequency Percentage 
(%) 
Six 0 0.0 
Five 0 0.0 
Four 1 10.0 
Three 2 20.0 
Two 2 20.0 
One 2 20.0 
Zero 3 30.0 
Total 10 100.0 
Table 4.9 h<ls revealed a deviation in the children's ability to read the six words - car, 
fan, man, mat, hat and cat. None of the pupils was able to read six or five words. 
Only one child could read four words. Three to one words were read by two children 
each while as many as three children (30%) could not read any word at all. 
Table 4.9 has therefore shown a positive correlation between the pictures and the 
children's ability to read the words. That is, as the pictures diminished, and the 
position of the words changed the children's ability to read too decreased. While 
30% of the pupil3 could read all the six words with pi\,;tw·t:s, nunt: uf the pupils (0%) 
could read t:le six words when the pictures were removed and the position of the 
words changed. 
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This implies that the children's ability to read as portrayed by Table 4.8 was aided by 
their ability to memorize the words via their original positions. When the positions 
changed, the pupils were seen guessing. According to 'Stairway to Reading' 
programme, guessing is a bad reading habit which should not be encouraged. 
According to Fianu (2005), the 'Look and Say' method encourages whole word 
recognition and memorization without dealing with letters. In this test, there was a 
complete memorization of the words but little (if any) recognition had taken place. 
Since as many as 33.3% of the sample pool (refer to table 4.5) uses only this method 
to teach reading, there is a possibility of a teaching method impeding the reading 
process. 
The researcher also tested the effectiveness of 'phonics' reading method in the public 
school - Anyirawase LI A Kindergarten. After using many games and 
teaching/learning materials to teach the English short vowels (except 'u') and three 
consonants - 'm', On' and 't', the researcher combined the vowels and the consonants 
to form two-letter words. She encouraged the children to pronounce them together. 
Sounding thc first word - 'am' - was difficult initially but after muny clues and 
encouragement from thc researcher and the teacher, a child was able to say 'am' 
correctly. She was followed by the rest of the class to pronounce 'an', 'at', 'on' and 
'in ' correctly. in each case, the children's ability to recognize and produce the sounds 
of the individual letters involved in forming the words, was tested first before 
combining them. Finally the words were written on flashcards and turned up side 
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down on a table. The children took turns to go to the table, pick the cards one after 
the other and read to the researcher. The result is shown below: 
Table 4.10: The Result of Phonic Reading 
- Two Letter Words 
Number of Words Frequency Percentage 
(%) 
Five 2 20.0 
Four 3 30.0 
Three 2 20.0 
Two 1 10.0 
One 1 10.0 
Zero 0 0.0 
Total 10 100.0 
The Table indicates that 50% of the pupils could read between four and five words 
and every child read at least one word. Since these were the words that the class 
teacher used "whole word" method to teach during the pre-intervention lesson, the 
researcher went further to see if the children's ability to decode is limited to those 
words only. The sound of it:lll!r 'b' was taught to the five children that read four to 
five words in tht: tl!sL. The new sound was used at the initial position to fonn 
syllables: 'bi', 'ba', 'be' and 'bo'. This reading was done with very little difficulty, 
which was attributed to the change in vowel position from initial place to final. 
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Comparing the number of pupils that read the word  s - ' am",  an, 'at ' , ,. , 'on In, -
during the pre-intervention lesson with their perfonnance in the post-intervention test, 
it is clear that the post-intervention test had recorded an improvement over the pre-
intervention one. It therefore implies that phonics can be effectively used to teach 
reading in the public or private kindergartens. It should however be noted that the 
children's achievement was greatly supported by individual attention which was 
possible due to the small class size (refer to Table 3.3 for details). 
The research has made it clear that none of the methods - 'Phonics' and 'Look and 
Say' is completely effective all alone. Each of them has its own strengths and 
weaknesses. A better approach is to combine the two so that the strengths of one can 
cover up the weaknesses of the other. 
4.3 Answering Research Questions 
The research questions that backed the study are discussed in this section based on the 
data collected and other research findings. 
4.3.1 What does Reading at This Level Entail? 
Reading at the kindergarten level is a gradual process which involves putting together 
hit~ and picce3. A careful examination of the Ministry of Education's kindelgwtl:ll 
curriculum, reveals that this gradual process begins with pre-reading activities like 
left to right eye movement, visual discrimination, etc. to inculcating reading interest 
in the children through book sharing picture reading turning f b k 
' ,0 00 pages, before 
introduction to alphabet awareness. It also means maldn th hi' 
g e sc 00 envIronment 
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literate enough to capture the child's interest and desire to know more (Maggart and 
Zintz, 1992). This implies that the classroom and its surroundings should contain 
labels, and beautiful drawings, books with colourful pictures, etc. that can attract 
children. Teachers' ability to use the right teaching methods could enhance this 
process. 
The study had noticed from observation of lessons that the public schools use more 
'Look and Say' method than the 'Phonics'; and the private schools keep to 'phonics' 
and hardly use the 'Look and Say' method. In the Ghanaian kindergartens, a child is 
expected to do lots of pre-reading activities in KG one and part of KG two. The rest 
of KG two is supposed to be spent introducing the child to phonological awareness -
reading two-three letter words. (KG Curriculum 2006). While 'Look and Say' 
method is appropriate for teaching pre-reading activities, reading two to three letter 
words is best learnt through phonics. 
4.3.2 What kind of Approaches are Teachers Using to Teach Reading? 
The research revealed (see Table 4.5) thnt 50% of the sample pool used a 
combination of 'phonics' and 'Look and Say' methodll. 16.7% of the remaining 
respondents used only Phonics while 333% lise 'Look and Say' only. An interview 
with lht! fifteen head teachers (refer to page 46) also confirmed this research finding 
that •P honics and Look and Say' methods dominate teaching of reading in the 
Ghanaian kindergartens. Meanwhile the only reason why the headteaehers and their 
teachers adopt these methods was that they make reading easier and faster for 
children. This is an indication that they do not have much knowl d f th 
e ge 0 e recent 
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research findings on these methods. This lack of knowledge can have adverse effect 
on the reading process. Regular in-service training is capable of eradicating this 
impediment but data collected on teachers' teaching experience and the number of in-
sen·ice training attended revealed that those who had spent seven or more years 
teaching in the kindergarten have had only a few in-service trainings (Table 4.4b). 
4.3.3 What Calibre of Teachers Teach in the Ghanaian Kindergartens? 
Table 4.1 gives a detailed information on the qualification of the thirty teachers that 
were used as the sample pool. From this table, the highest qualification held by the 
respondents was Diploma in Basic Education and the least was GCE '0' level. It was 
also noted that over 50% of the respondents had received training to teach children. 
This indicated that a some percentage of the Ghanaian kindergarten children are 
taught by teachers who had been trained to teach. It was however noted (through 
personal communication with the teachers) that only one of the respondents had been 
trained to teach at the preschool level. The others were trained (as teachers) at the 
time that preschool education was not considered in the Teacher Training Curriculum. 
As a result they are limited in knowledge of issues that affect teaching at this level, 
and must be given regular in-service training in order to enhance their performance. 
4.3.4 What is the Role of Parents in Promoting the Child's Reading Process? 
According to Farris, et al. (2004), parenlal involvement in a child's rt~ading progress 
begins from infancy, whenlht: child is helped to gain phonological awareness through 
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~hc songs, stories. poems, rhymes, etc., that are administered to himlher whether 
knowingly or unknowingly. 
The research also revealed several other sectors in which the Ghanaian child needed 
his/her parents to support him acquire reading skills. When the research asked the 
respondents to state whether they have enough reading books in their schools or not, 
66.7% answered in the affirmative. They were also asked to indicate their sources of 
supply. As many as 36.7% of them (the largest quota) stated parents as their source 
of supply for English readers. 33.3% of the respondents stated that they didn't have 
enough readers and were asked to say how they solve the problem. Again 6.7% of 
this group solve their problem by relying on parents to buy the books for their wards. 
In other words, out of the thirty respondents, thirteen (43.3% rely on parents for the 
supply of reading books. This implies that where parents are unable to provide this 
need of the children, a lot of them go to 'school' without readers. The researcher 
observed in the Labadi and the rural schools that, there was lack of English readers 
due to parents' inability to supply them. In one of the schools, none of the ten pupils 
in the class had a reader. It was gathered from the interview with parents that most of 
them were illiterates and could not read to their children. Others could not afford it. 
The few who were literates, were not aware that they need to read to their children at 
home. 
The study also cullt!cted data on factors that affect the teaching of reading ill 
kindergartens. 53.3% of the respondents stated home support as a factor that affects 
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their readir.g lessons. Seven-five percent (75%) of this figure receives inadequate 
support from home. When asked the role they expected parents to play in their 
children's reading, headteachers stated among other things that parents must have 
time to supervise and encourage their children's learning. Headteachers from the 
model schools stated in an interview that, they ensured that each child that goes to 
class one is able to read at least two letter words, by inviting parents of 'less 
performing' children to discuss how to motivate the teachers to give the children 
extra attention after school. 
Teachers of the six schools also told the researcher that children whose parents are 
literates and are abreast with current ways of learning to read progress faster in 
reading than those with illiterate parents. Also parental initiative to pass children 
through nurseries before entering kindergarten is a great push to access smooth 
reading skills. During the main study, the researcher had the opportunity to evaluate 
the home backgrounds of the ten pupils that were in the public school (see Table 3.3). 
Only two of them have parents that support their learning at home. These are far 
ahead of their mates. One of the children has practically nohody who can read in his 
hOllse. Though he had much delight in taking reading assignments, he returned thc 
followinl3 (IllY ullnble to rL'ad them correctly. This confums Maggart und Zintz's 
(1992) assertion that parents' ability to read is a very dynamic promoter ofthe child's 
reading because it makes his/her environment 'print-rich' and determines the value 
the child places on reading. 
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4.3.5 What is the Government's Role Toward  sthe Kni d  e rgarten Child's 
Access to Reading? 
The government in this sense is represented by the educational policy makers like 
Ghana Education Service (GES), Ministry of Education, Teacher Education and 
National Commission on Children. Data collected for the research indicated that, the 
government has vital roles to play to enable the kindergarten child acquire reading 
skills. 
In the first place, the government is the policy maker and determines where the 
kindergarten child stands on the educational ladder, what goes into hislher learning, 
who teachers hirnlher and even how he/she should be taught to read. In other words, 
the government's policies can make or mar the kindergarten child's learning, 
including acquisition of reading skills. 
The 2007 Educational Reform made kindergarten education a compulsory part of 
basic education in Ghana. As a result, every child must have two years sponsored 
kindergartcn cdul:;aliull bt:ful't: t:nll::ring primary one. Since lht:n, t:vt::ry primary 
school headteacher has been encouraged to attach a kindergarten department. The 
government is therefore expected to provide good accommodation for these young 
learners. This has been a problem in most of the public schools lcading to large class 
sizes. During the visit to the six schools, it was realized that the two puhlic schools in 
Accra had not less than fifty pupils in a class. In one of the classes, two KG One 
classes were put together for lack of rooms. While conducting this research, the 
researcher was appointed an Early Childhood Education Coordinator for one of the 
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ne\\· T'.lunicipal Assemblies in A cera. Her visits to the schools revealed that out of 
the elewn kindergartens in the Municipality, only two have classrooms spacious 
enough to accommodate the children. 
Supply of furniture to the pupils is equally poor. In the rural area, it was observed 
that the ten pupils in KG two of the public school were sharing three tables, two long 
benches and a chair. This made it so difficult for the children to sit comfortably 
during lessons, or for the teacher to re-arrange class for certain activities, including 
story telling. 
Apart from accommodation, it is the government's responsibility to supply the 
schools with textbooks, including English Readers. The researcher asked that the 
respondents to indicate whether they had enough readers in their schools. 66.7% of 
them stated that they had adequate supply. Out of this number only 20% had their 
supply from the government. 33.3% of the respondents answered this question in the 
negative. It is possible that this percentage of the respondents too depend on the 
government for their supply of readers. That makes a total of 53.3% of the sample 
pool depending on the government for supply of English readers. In an interview 
with headteachers, one of them expressed concern about how government's inability 
to supply textbooks had led to the penetration of the market by several 'authors' 
selling printed materials they call 'textbooks' with many errors which go undetected. 
The pupils learn such errors and produce them in examination. This can lead to their 
failure. 
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Another vital role of the government is to supply relevant teaching-learning materials 
to the kindergartens. The research revealed that 76.7% of the thirty respondents have 
enough teaching-learning materials and 13.3% of this figure receive their supply from 
the government. The school supplies 40% and teachers improvise 16.7% of the 
teaching-learning materials. Teaching-learning materials here include wall charts, 
flashcards, video games, language games, computers, electronic toys etc. 
The research also led to another responsibility of the government towards the 
kindergarten child's acquisition of reading skills. This is to equip the teachers that 
teach there with the necessary skills. The government must ensure that the teachers 
who teach in the Ghanaian kindergartens receive regular in-service training on current 
reading issues among other things. The data collected during the research had 
indicated that the number of in-service training that the respondents had had, did not 
correlate positively with their teaching experience in the kindergarten. The number 
of in-service training that is given to teachers is inadequate. 
The govcrnr.lcnt is also cxpected to review the teacher traiuiug l:urril:ulUItl to t::nsure 
that teacher trainees IIfC wcll eqllipp~u wilh knowledge on t.ellching the: kindergarten 
child to read . An interview with an officer at Teacher Education had made it clear 
that the government had set aside seven teacher training institutions to specialize in 
early years education. 
All these apart, the government is responsible for developing the appropriate 
curriculum for the kindergarten children, and determining which methods should be 
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used to teach these young children to read. For instance, 50% of the sample pool 
(refer to table 4.5) indicated that they combine both 'Phonics' and 'Look and Say' 
method for teaching reading. This is so because the curriculum indicates that picture 
reading as well as phonological awareness should be taught. 
4.3.6 How can Reading be Made Fun at this Level? 
From the researcher's visits to the six schools, it was realized that most teachers teach 
reading at this level as though they were teaching primary six children. All children 
learn better through play. For this to happen, adequate use of relevant teaching-
learning materials is necessary. Data gathered in the research had indicated that 
children's learning becomes easier and interesting when teaching-learning materials 
are used. They are motivated to learn and they fully participate in it. A 'fun-full' 
reading lesson is made possible by the teacher's creativity and his knowledge of the 
method s/he is using. From the research intervention lessons, the researcher realized 
that giving meaningful and manageable reading assignments as well as engaging 
children in p<!tty competitions are means of making reading at kindergarten great fun. 
4.3.7 To Whom Should Early Reading Instruction be Given? 
One of the teachers from the schools that were observed told the researcher that 
children who could not access reading before leaving her class were those who were 
not mature enough to be in the class. Much as it is tme, thnt is, children must be 
mentally mature for reading before starting it, one must also bear in mind that 
children differ greatly in their mental ability at any given age. Smith (1986) cited in 
Maggart and Zintz (1992) stated that children acquire literacy habits at a very tender 
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age and it is the responsibility of teachers to be sensitive and observant enough to 
identify this readiness so as to build on it. 
The curriculum developers seemed to have this in mind when they were developing 
the curriculum for kindergarten education. Units four to seven of the KG One 
English were dedicated to pre-reading activities which would prepare the child for 
actual reading. Picture reading, left to right eye movement etc. that respondents 
mentioned earlier in this chapter as the other methods they were familiar with, were 
all meant to make the child ready for actual reading. Even in KG Two, real alphabet 
work begins from unit 12 and is preceded by advanced pre-reading activities. 
Teachers are expected to be vigilant in looking out for which child is ready for 
reading so as to move him or her to the next stage. This will prevent boredom, which 
results from delaying the fast learner as well as rushing the slow learner. 
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CHAPTER FIVE 
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION 
5.0 Introduction 
The main objective of this study is to find out factors that affect the teaching and 
learning of reading in the Ghanaian kindergartens. In all, six schools were observed. 
Four from the city - Accra and two from a rural area. Through observation of 
teachers' work in the six schools and analysis of data collected through 
questionnaires, interviews, and testing, it became clear that a lot of issues are 
involved in the teaching and learning of reading at the kindergarten level. 
5.1 Observation 
5.1.1 Class Size 
It was realized in Accra public schools that the teachers have to handle a class of not 
less than fifty pupils. This number makes teaching of reading very difficult. In one 
of the schools, as many as sixty-four children, with varied age groupings, were 
packed into one classroom. It is also very difficult to prepare enough teaching aids 
for such classes and class control becomes an impossible thing. As a result of 
inaJt:4ualt: It:aching-leaming materialR for this large number, the teachers resort to 
using pictures in pupils' workbook as aids for teaching reading. Majority of the 
pupils did not benefit from such lessons. While the teacher was busy teaching with 
her attention on only those in front, those behind busily engaged themselves in a 
variety of activities including fighting, gossiping, tearing pages, turning to other 
pages, etc. 
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The fact of the situation was that some of the children did not own books and had to 
share with others. This inadequate supply of reading books resulted into conflict 
because each user wanted to satisfy hislher inquisitiveness. In yet another of such 
large class situations, the teacher was using old basic one readers. These books 
contained lots of pictures on a page. While the teacher was drawing attention to 
picture five, those a bit far away from her were discussing other pictures on the page. 
This is partly due to the large class size and to the fact that the pictures in that book 
were too plenty to be used as a teaching aid in any class size. In another public 
school, the teacher tried to solve this problem by drawing the pictures on the board. 
Though a better approach, it implies that children can only learn about objects that the 
teacher can draw. Sometimes, if care is not taken, children can mistake the drawn 
object for another object and print that interpretation in their minds. 
5.1.2 Teacher's Knowledge Level 
A teacher's knowledge of current reading issues is of great importance to the teaching 
and learning of reading in the kindergarten. In La Presbyterian Early Childhood 
Development Centre, it was observed that the teacher, who was a newly trained 
teacher, had an indepth knowledge of the English sounds. She easily linked her 'look 
and say' picture reading lessons with phonemic segmentation and sound identification 
exercises. This kept her reading class busy and interesting. It was also noticed that 
the headteacher's knowledge and experience in early childhood education served as a 
good bank that supported this young teacher's work. 
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Also helpful to the reading success in this class is the teacher's ability to 
communicate in the children's Ll. She communicated instructions and parts of her 
lesson in both languages. As a result, the children understood clearly what they were 
to do at each given time. 
In another school, a teacher's lack of knowledge in the pronunciation of English 
sounds, led children to pronounce ymbrella and 'bird' wrongly. lui in 'ymbrella' was 
pronounced /'J :/ instead of 1"/ and 'ir' in 'bird' was pronounced le/ instead of 13:/. 
In another private school (Hannah School Complex), the teacher was not a 
professional teacher but had attended seven intensive nursery teachers' in-service 
trainings. With the knowledge gained from these trainings, she was able to adopt a 
different measure from what the school prescribed, to help her children learn to read 
two letter words and sounds. At the time of the observation, fifteen out of her 
nineteen children could read two letter words/syllables formed with vowel 'a' and any 
consonant without help. The other four needed help with some of the words. It is 
important to note that the class size and elite background of the pupils, added 
'flavour' to her achievement. 
TIlt: rural schools have good class sizes too. The private school had thirteen pupils 
and the public school hud only ten. Tht: altitude of these teal:ht:rs tuwards work was 
not desirable. The pupils in question were in their exit point of the level but as at the 
time the rese;u-cher visited these schools, none of the pupils could identify the English 
alphabet up to halfway. At 'Jesus Is Alive' Preparatory, the teacher was using pupils 
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Environmental Studies Book One to teach reading. The pupils were made to 
memorize and say the sentences: 'This is my father Kwame' and 'This is my mother 
Ramatu'. They were not able to identify and read any of the words that form the 
sentences. This teacher held WASSCE certificate and was in her first year of 
teaching. She had not had any in-service training. Comparing this teacher with the 
other private school teachers at 'Hannah and La' one would agree that a teacher's 
knowledge level in reading issues matters a lot and it can impede or promote the 
pupils' reading progress. 
5.1.3 Teachers' Attitude to Work 
It was also observed that teachers' attitude towards work at this level is crucial in 
reading skill acquisition. In the La schools, the private school teacher took pains to 
prepare adequately before teaching reading. In her picture reading lessons, the 
pictures we:'e either drawn on the board or on a manila card. Few pictures were 
treated at a time. At the end of the lesson the class concentrated on one picture, to 
learn the sounds that constitute its name. There were lots of letters for the children to 
sort through in search of a given letter or sound. But the public school teacher 
reported late to work and seemed unprepared for the lesson. Upon interrogation, it 
was realized that reauiug llau lIol ht:t:1I going on in the class for some time then, 
because of some renovation work which cleaned the wall pictures. Children's 
workbook was used to teach reading and since some of the children did not have the 
books, they did not actively partake in the lesson. 
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Another 'teacher attitude' that was observed was intolerance towards the children 
during the reading lesson. The researcher saw some teachers from both public and 
private schools confusing the young 'readers' by exercising no patience for them to 
read at their own pace. In one of the lessons, both the fast and the slow readers were 
made to keep reading through the same set of words. A fast reader told the teacher, 'I 
know all that already'. He was shut up immediately. In some schools the teachers go 
to the extent of using canes and insults on the children. This puts off the child's 
desire to read because he/she begins to associate the beating or insults with reading. 
In the rural area, the researcher observed that some of the teachers that work in the 
public kindergarten were too old to carry out the strenuous work of teaching reading. 
In the KG one of one of the schools, a male pensioner was the teacher while another 
male who was very close to retirement was the KG two teacher. Though experienced 
teachers are good hands for kindergarten department, great experience without the 
necessary enthusiasm is useless. These teachers could hardly handle three effective 
lessons in a day. 
It was also observed that lack of supervision and motivation can make teachers 
develop poor attitude towards work. While lack of motivation had caused some of 
the private school teachers to relax their output, it was realized that most of the public 
kindergartens do nol opt:rate well because of lack of supervision. In the coursc of the 
obscl' vatiulI, t1islribulion of questionnaires and the main study, public teachers were 
seen rutting in less for lack of supervision. Effective teaching of rcuding gocs with 
dedication and commitment on the part of It:uehers, pupils ami ht:atlteachers. 
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Adequate supervision will ensure that the right thing is done at all times. In one of 
the public schools, it was observed that two teachers were teaching KG one because it 
was a combined class. Nevertheless, only one of these teachers was at post at any 
given time. This made class control a very difficult task. 
5.1.4 Confusing Letters 
In some lessons children were seen mistaking some letters for others. For instance, 
letter'j' was mistaken for letter '1'; 'd' was also mistaken for letter 'b'. This calls for 
careful writing of letters on flash cards, board, etc. Some children made these 
mistakes due to poor sight and must be observed and positioned near the board. 
5.1.5 Use of Teaching-Learning Materials 
Out of the six schools observed, only two used teaching-learning materials through 
out their lessons. When a class of fifty was observed, it was noted that the teaching-
learning materials kept their interest through out the lesson. This was because the 
materials were appropriate and relevant to the lesson. On the contrary, when pictures 
in pupils' workbooks were used for teaching-learning materials, the lesson generated 
into chaos. Where no tel'lching aids are used, children begin to get bored in less than 
ten minutes into the lesson. It was observed that there was not adequate supply of 
materials for teaching reading ill both public and prival~ kimkrgarlens. 
5.1.6 English Readers 
It was observed that each of the six schools used a different set of readers. Hannah 
School used a primer, PRESEC Staff was using the Old Primary English Course 
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Book One, La Presbyterian Early Childhood Centre used "USAID' Workbook and 
'Language Activities Book', La Roman Catholic Kindergarten used 'Picture Work for 
Beginners' and Jesus is Alive Preparatory was using Environmental Studies Book 
One. Anyirawase LlA Kindergarten had no readers at all. It was also observed that 
two different curricula are in use in the schools. Some kindergartens are using the 
2006 Curriculum designed for kindergartens by the Research Development Division 
of the Ministry of Education. The other Schools are using the Curriculum designed 
by'USAID '. 
5.1.7 Reading on the Timetable 
According to the US National Rights to Read Foundation, reading should be done for 
about fifteen minutes in every contact day of the week. The researcher observed the 
timetable of the six schools to see how often reading is taught in our kindergartens. It 
was found that the private schools have reading not less than three times in a week 
but most of the public schools have it once, in addition to library reading, which does 
not take place because of lack of story books. Other literary periods were meant for 
teaching of rhymes, story telling, writing and conversation. Teaching reading to these 
little ones for only 30 minutes in a week is woefully inadequate, and needs immediate 
intervention. 
5.1.8 Nature of Classroom and School Environments 
As Maggart and Zintz (1992) rightly put it, the kindergarten environment must be full 
of labels. The researcher looked out for how our kindergarten environments were 
labeled. Out of the six schools, only two were averagely labeled. In PRESEC Staff 
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Kindergarten there were lots of print and drawings on the walls of the compound and 
the classrooms were full of walls charts. There was however no labeling of objects in 
the room and there were no library books. In La Presbyterian Early Childhood 
Development Centre, there were no wall drawings and prints but the inside walls of 
the classroom were well labeled with alphabet and numeral freezes, objects and 
charts. Before taking any reading lesson, the children were drilled in letter name 
recognition in the English alphabet. In the rural schools, none of the walls (both in 
the public and the private schools) was good or safe enough for labels or sticking 
anything on. They were made of clay with no plastering. Even the school building of 
the public kindergarten was on the verge of collapsing. 
The researcher also found out that the children are not taken through enough reading 
- readiness activities. In the rural schools, the KG two pupils could not pick out the 
odd ones in a given series of pictures. They were neither familiar with the shapes of 
the English alphabet though they could recite them with much ease. 
It was also observed that most teachers use 'Phonics' and the 'Look and Say' 
mcthods without indepth knowh::dg~ 0[' thdr usage. The US National Rights to Read 
Foundation gave a systematic way of using the 'Phonics' method in 16 steps as 
follows: 
(1) Short vowels sounds egoI W!I 11/ lei etc. 
(2) Consonant sounds e.g. fbi IkJ Idl etc. 
(3) Two-letter blends e.g. b+a = ba, f +i = fi etc. 
(4) Three-letter blends e.g. ba + t = bat; be + n = ben 
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(5) Twin consonants endings ego sell, kiss, puff etc. 
((,) Two consonant blends ego blab, frog, brag etc. 
(7) Digraphs ego chin, whip, ship etc. 
(8) Three consonant blends ego scrub, split, spring etc. 
(9) High frequency words: no, he, we, me, is, I etc. 
(10) Long vowels: cake, baby, feet, etc. 
(11) R-controlled vowel sounds e.g. 13:1 in bird, la:1 park 
(12) Diphthongs e.g. hil boy, I~ul go, leil hate etc. 
(13) Special spelling patterns e.g. lsi = £ent, fa£e etc. 
* Ij/- age, frigge, gym etc. 
Iff - lilione, cough, etc. 
/kJ - chorus, Christmas etc. 
• Ish! - £hef, £hampagne etc. 
(14) Decodable stories 
(15) Easy to read books 
(16) Reinforcement till third grade 
TIus is a gradual lone term plfln whieh begins from the kindergarten and runs through 
to about class three. At t:(ll.:iI puinl It:al.:ht:rs are to give daily practice of ahollt 1" 
minutes, five days in a week. It would be more fruitful if each child is allowed to 
muvt: at his ur ht:r own pace. 
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At number 13 above, the National Rights to Read Foundation uses Ijl instead of IdtJ 
and 'sh' in place of lSI. This, unfortunately is incorrect. It is important to note that, 
while 'sh' is not an English phoneme, 'g' in age, 'dg' in frigge and 'gy' in gym will 
sound '<5' and not Iji. 
Another thing that the research revealed was that children who speak both their L 1 
and the English language progress faster in reading. Though' Jesus Is Alive 
Preparatory' is in the same locality with Anyirawase LI A Kindergarten, their students 
speak both languages and could easily remember the names of objects that have been 
learnt during a previous lesson. Their counterparts in the public school could not. 
They hardly speak any English though they are very fluent in their L 1. Such students 
can benefit a lot from reading if they are taught to read first in the L I and then move 
on to learn to read in the English language. Teachers could use modern methods for 
learning language like the Total Physical Response (TPR) to teach these children to 
acquire lots of English vocabulary within a short time (Anyidoho, 1999). The theory 
backing the method explains that, children acquire their L 1 by listening to lots of 
commands from their environment right from infancy. As they grow, they turn to 
understand the commands and respond appropriately (even before they begin to 
speak). This process is transfcrrcd into L2 learning by allowing the studenls tu listen 
10 Iheir teachers use the target language in several situations aided by the usc of 
pictures, gcstun:s auJ u~~asiunal words from students' native language. The students 
will then respond physically to the commands (Anyidoho, 1999). 
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It was also noted that things in the child's environment contribute to hislher reading 
progress. In' Jesus Is Alive Preparatory', children were able to use both Ewe and 
English languages to do picture identification during a reading lesson. They could 
however not identify 'jug' in either of the languages because it was not a common 
household object in the locality. 
The intervention lessons also revealed that every child has a great interest in reading. 
This interest is nurtured by a teacher's use of good methods, appropriate 
teaching/learning materials, good preparation before the lessons, adequate motivation 
and enough opportunity to practise as well as sufficient parental support. 
Introduction of petty competitions and games to crown reading lessons activate 
children's interest the more. 
5.2 Questionnaires 
The data collected from the questionnaires that were given to teachers have revealed 
that the government is failing in its responsibilities towards the KG child. These 
responsibilities include supply of English readers, teaching/learning materials, 
uJcquatc in-service training for It:adll::rs who teach at this level, etc. From the data 
(j6.7% uf lhv responclents claimed that they have English readers but only 36.7% of 
this number received their supply from the government. As much as 40% of the 
teachers have not received any in-service training. Meanwhile 50% of these people 
have been working in the kindergarten for more than three years. This can have 
adverse effects on teaching in general, and reading in particular, because early 
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rea dm· g researc he rs  keep coming out with new findings that can enhance the teaching 
of reading. It is also funny to note that out of 76.7% of the sample pool that stated 
that they have teaching-learning materials in their schools, only 13.3% is supplied by 
the government. The schools rather supply 40%. 
Data from the questionnaires show that most of the kindergarten teachers do not have 
much knowledge of the methods that are used for teaching early reading. The 
respondents were to state the other reading methods they are familiar with, apart from 
the one they were using. 43.3% of them did not answer this question, 10.0% of them 
(those who were using 'Look and Say' method) stated 'Phonics' and 16.7% of them 
(those using 'Phonics') stated 'Look and Say'. The rest stated: Flash cards, pick and 
say, left to right eye movement, oral drill, objects around the classroom, dictation, 
conversation, story telling and reading comprehension. 
While some of these are aspects of the language, others are just activities for practice. 
Left to right eye movement for instance is a pre-reading activity designed to prepare 
the child for actual reading. Reading comprehension is not a teaching method for 
reading. It is a type of reading in which the reader is to understand the text and 
answer questions on it. At kindergarten level, only visual comprehension and picture 
reading comprehension are appropriate. Methods that are commonly lIsed for 
teaching early reading include: Alphabetic, Phonics, Syllabic, Phrase, Word, Sentence 
and Story Methods. Other approaches are Phonological and Phonemic awareness, 
language experience approach and the context support method. 
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It was also obvious from the questionnaire that teachers have problems with teaching 
of reading at the kindergarten level. 53.5% of the sample pool affirm this statement. 
Some of the problems they faced were: 
children's lack of interest in reading 
lack of readers and teaching-learning materials in the schools 
the difficulty of teaching children who have not been to KG One; and 
effects of children's different learning styles. 
Some of these problems have easy remedies. For instance, children's interest can be 
reactivated in the lesson by using the right methods and the appropriate teaching 
learning materials. Children who have not been to KG One must be started from 
scratch before joining the rest of the class. The questionnaire indicated that methods, 
textbooks and teaching-learning materials can affect reading positively or negatively. 
Another important revelation made by the questionnaire is that the in-service training 
that is offered to the Ghanaian kindergarten teacher is inadequate. Since such staff 
development programmes are meant to refresh the teachers understanding of the 
current issues on learning, it will be laudable to have it correspond with the number of 
years spent teaching ill lht: kimk:rgarlcn. 
5.3 Interviews 
Interviews conducted to headteachers, class teachers and some parents have made 
some contributions towards the research findings. The headteachers confinned the 
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researc her ' . v that there are factors that promote reading while others impede it. 5 Vle\ 
Among the factors that affect teaching and learning of reading positively are: 
good supervision of teachers' work. 
children's regular phonics drills 
gooJ teaching methods 
exposure to library books and shared reading. 
interesting reading lessons 
provision of the right readers; and 
motivating the young learners. 
It is necessary to emphasize the point on exposure to library books and shared 
reading. The public kindergartens have 'library reading' on their time tables but 
teachers do not utilize it due to lack of library books and also because most of them 
do not know what they are supposed to do. A lot could be done during this period. 
Children could be allowed to pick the library books and flip through the pages -
reading and interpreting the pictures. An adult, a teacher in this case - could read an 
interesting book to a child or a group of children. This is referred to as book sharing. 
During book sharing, the teacher is supposed to sit in a way that all the children in the 
group can benefit from what is being read. He or she is to vary his/her voice to suit 
the characters in the story, so as to keep children' s attention and interest throughout 
the reading. The teacher must pallse to allow the children to pass comments on what 
has been read so far . 
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The headteachers also unfolded some factors that affect teaching of reading 
negatively as follow: 
lack of home support 
erroneous English readers 
chorus reading 
large class size 
lack of supervision 
teaching without teaching/learning materials 
use of unsuitable reading materials 
ineffectiveness of teachers and absenteeism of pupils. 
The headteachers also gave the following as problems faced by their teachers: lack of 
understanding of the teaching methods, influences of teachers and pupils L1 on 
pronunciation and large class sizes. 
Some head teachers pointed out the secrets to reading success in their schools. Some 
of those are listed below: 
Good supervision to ensure good practices at all times. 
Insisting on effective use of teaching/leaming materials. 
Regular drills in 'phonics'. 
Division of the reading task among the various stages (classcs) that 
the child will pass through before leaving the kindergarten. 
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This last point demands that each headteacher sets a target for hislher school's 
reading success and breaks this goal into achievable units to ensure that every teacher 
contributes his/her quota effectively. The interview also revealed that the government 
has no prescribed readers for the kindergartens because each school used a different 
reader. 
The interview with parents and class teachers was meant to help evaluate children's 
home background and its effects on their reading skills acquisition. Fifteen parents 
were interviewed and the outcome has shown that a parent's socio-economic 
background can either have a positive or negative effect on the child's reading. It was 
also noticed that seventeen out of the nineteen children in Hannah School have 
parents that support their reading while only two out of the ten children in 
Anyirawase L/A Kindergarten had supportive parents. In effect, the former were able 
to read words at the time that the latter were struggling with identification of letters. 
5.4 Recommendations 
There is no doubt that reading is the key to any educational success the child may 
have in life. As such, great commitment and dedication must be attached to its 
acquisition at a vcry tcnder age like kindergarten days to enable it become part of a 
normal life. 
To this end, it is recommended that teachers change their attitude towards work. 
They need to prepare well before teaching reading or any other aspect or subject. 
This preparation has to do with writing of lesson notes ,alcqIuois 't'n  f th 0 e necessary 
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teaching/learning materials and upgrading their knowledge to inform and improve 
their practices. 
It is also recommended that headteachers and education officers should always ensure 
that there is sufficient supervision to enable good practices. It is very necessary for 
every preschool teacher and headteacher to receive nursery teachers' training. This 
training, especially the one offered by GES, will equip the teachers with the 
knowledge they need to teach these young children reading as well as give them the 
opportunity to prepare almost all the teaching/learning materials they need for 
effective teaching of reading. The headteachers too will become aware of what is to 
be taught and how it is to be taught. They can then be in the right position to insist on 
good practices in their kindergartens. 
The government must, as a matter of urgency supply readers and other textbooks to 
kindergartens. A syllabus alone is not enough for any KG teacher to produce results. 
It will also be rewarding to review the teachers' salary upward as a way of motivating 
them to work harder. The KG teacher needs to be accorded the respect that hislher 
colleagues at the higher levels receive from the society. He or she is not a KG teacher 
as a result of hislher block headedncss but rather because he/she is the best teacher, 
and purposely trained for the job at that level. 
A review of the kindergarten time table for public schools is also recomrm:nded. This 
is necessary because the present 30 minutes a week for teaching reading is 
inadequate. It would be much appreciated if provision of good classroom blocks for 
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k· d In ergartens ·11 be  on District Assemblies' priority list. This will prevent these WI 
vulnerable ones from being trapped under the dilapidated structures that house most 
of them now (especially in the rural areas). 
Good and appropriate teaching/learning materials are a gateway to interesting reading 
lessons. To encourage teachers to use good teaching/learning materials, and not 
pictures from pupils' workbooks; GES needs to come out with standard and useful 
teaching/le[:rning materials like 'Kims game', descriptive pictures, picture cards, etc. 
This will not only enhance reading lessons but also lessen teachers' workload as far 
as preparation for reading lessons is concerned. 
Since in-service training is meant to refresh teachers' knowledge in current learning 
issues, it is recommended that all kindergarten teachers be given periodic in-service 
trainings on reading issues to enable them practice with knowledge and 
understanding. Parents' constant visit and link with teachers will serve as motivation 
to teachers and enable them to initiate new approaches to help all children gain 
reading success. 
It is also necessary for the Department of Social Welfare to begin to establish and run 
day nurseries which will in turn feed the public kindergartens. This will help bridge 
lht: gap between the entry of children into the public kindcrgartens nnd thosc into thc 
private ones. 
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5.5 Conclusion 
This study has shown that, there are factors that affect the teaching and learning of 
reading in Ghanaian kindergartens either positively or negatively. The major factors 
include: 
Teachers' positive attitude towards work and good parental/home support. 
Good knowledge and strategic choice of teaching methods. 
Regular in-service training and workshops from knowledgeable personnel to 
refresh teachers' knowledge in reading matters. 
Good English readers - well structured to cater for children's learning stages -
and good planning of the kindergarten curriculum; and 
Ample practice plus commitment to reading success by all and sundry. 
If any of the above factors is lacking in a kindergarten, reading is likely to be affected 
negatively. 
111e researcher hopes the recommendations in this chapter would be considered by all 
stakeholders so as to promote fast acquisition of reading skills among our young 
learners. 
5.6 Suggestions for Further Research 
This research work was limited to kindergartens but most of the findings can easily 
apply to the Lower Primary. Future researchers could therefore look at factors that 
affect teaching of reading at the Upper Primary and Junior High levels in Ghana. 
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APPENDIX A 
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 
Please supply the information needed by either ticking the appropriate box or writing 
the information where applicable. 
lao Sex Male [ ] Female [] 
A. 
2a. Qualification 
Degree [ ] Diploma [] Certificate [ ] Post Sec [ ] 
Cert A 4 year [ ] SSCE/WASCE [] Other _______  
2. Number of years taught in Kindergarten 
1-3 [ ] 4-6 [] 7-10 [ ] 11 and above [ ] 
B. 
1. Which aspects of English do you enjoy teaching? 
Grammar [] Conversation [ ] Reading [] None [ ] 
2. How do you view the teaching of reading 
Boring [ ] Interesting [ ] Tiring [] Indifferent [ ] 
3. Is it necessary to teach reading in the Kindergarten 
Yes [ ] No [ ] 
4. Do you encounter some problems in teaching English reading? Yes [] No [ ] 
5. If yes give example . . ..... .. . ... . . ... . . . .. . . ... .. . . . .. . .. ................. ... .......... . 
6. Are there enough English readers in you school? Yes [] No [ ] 
7. I1'no how do you solve this problem? ............ .. ......... ........ ............. .. .. .. 
8. If ycs, who supplies the books? Govcnunelll [ Parent [] NGO [ ] 
School [] 
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C. 
1. Have you attended any in-serve training or workshop on reading? 
Yes[] No[] 
2. If yes, how many times? ........... . ... . .... . ........................................ .. 
3. Which methodes) do you use for teaching reading? 
Phonics [ ] Look and Say [ ] Both [] Others (Specify) ........... . 
4. Why do you like using the methodes) .. . ............................................ .. 
.. .. ............................................................ . ........................... 
5. State any other reading methods you are familiar with: ................... . ... . 
D. 
1. How would you rate your pupils' interest in reading? 
High [] Good [] Average [ ] Low [] 
2. Do you have teaching-learning materials for teaching reading in your school? 
Yes [ ] No [ ] 
3. If yes, who supplies them? .................. .. . 
4. If no, what do you normally do? .................................. ................... . 
5. What is your pupils' response to learning to read when you use teaching / 
learning materials ............... . ..... .. .......... . ....... . ..... . ..... . ................ .. 
E. 
I. Which of these factors do you think affects the teaching/learning of reading in 
your class most? Home support [] Text books r 1 
Teaching learning Materials [ ] Reading Methods [ ] 
2. Does it affect it positively or negatively? ............. ............................ . 
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K k L I ,---------~ 
Jug kettle p L...-____- --' 
Mm 
mat orange 
Pp Qq R r 
~ 
pencil queen 
28 
- - ~. -~.  .. ... - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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