Research Methodology

Phonological Awareness impacts children’s ability to read and write during the early years of their educational journey. Therefore, this action research will employ research methods that are sensitive to the children’s age which will highlight the problem effectively.

Participants

Phonological Awareness should develop as early as possible. Therefore, to protect future learners and their students, some of the participants include the parents from my class which is approximately 20 parents, one for each student. In this case, they are essential in establishing the proposed intervention at home to ensure that learning is a continuous process. This aligns with the educational requirement of parent involvement in their children’s education. The parents will be encouraged to ensure that they read correctly, efficiently, and pronounce words properly to promote phonological Awareness at home. The main participants will be students at kindergarten levels, 20 students from my class, the other 20 from a different class, and two groups of 10 students from different schools of the same level. Their involvement is necessary as it is the basis of the research. The research will measure their phonological Awareness by asking them to read aloud several simple words per their level.

The teachers that work closely with the sampled children will be involved. They will be required to share their experience working with the selected children and provide their expert opinion on the proposed intervention. Two officials from the education department responsible for early childhood education will be involved. Their role will be to give their idea on the intervention and the official understanding of the challenges faced by the teachers. A common characteristic of the participant is that they should be involved in early childhood education and have experience in dealing with them. The students should be aged between 5-7 years as individuals within this age bracket are in kindergarten.

Research Method

This research will employ a qualitative research methodology. Rahman (2020) argues that qualitative research methodology entails collecting, interpreting, and analyzing non-numerical data in an effort to understand people’s perceptions and their reality concerning a particular social problem. This action research seeks to confirm if other teachers are facing a similar situation of lack of phonological Awareness, which hinders their learner’s ability to read and write effectively. This method is appropriate to the research question as it relies on the teacher’s experiences in class to establish its argument. It also involves the children’s feelings as the primary subject when they are unable to read and write effectively as required by their level in their educational journey. In his research on language testing and assessment, Rahman (2020) found that qualitative research gave a clearer perspective and elicited deeper insights into the problem and recommendations to solve the problem. This is because the participants were allowed to provide their informed opinions. Employing the same tactic, this research incorporates qualitative research in seeking the participant’s opinions on the listen-up interventions as a way to address Phonological Awareness among the children.

Qualitative methodology has various barriers; for example, it is time-consuming and hence involves a smaller sample size raising the concern of generalizability to the whole population. Since the issue of Phonological Awareness not only affects my students, the application of the data collected and analyzed may differ in different societal settings within the education setting. In the United States, policymakers quantify student and teacher performance to analyze the problem (Rahman, 2020), often giving less credibility to qualitative research. However, regardless of the challenges in this method, this action research relies on the teacher’s and students’ experiences through their opinions, feelings, and perspectives, making it a viable option to use.

Data Collection Instruments

The type of data collection tools employed in every research determines the amount, type, and effectiveness of the data relevant to the research (Mihas, 2019). (Mihas, 2019). This research will use interviews, surveys, observation, and secondary data analysis.

Interviews

The interviewees will be the teachers, the students, parents, and the officials from the department of education. The interviews, in this case, will follow the structures, semi-structured and unstructured interview format. This involves having predetermined questions with multiple choices, having open-ended questions, and having conversations with the interviewees. Mihas (2019) argues that interviews provide reliable data as it is built on the interviewee’s experiences as the questions are structured to elicit the interviewee’s knowledge and perspective related to the topic.

Surveys

This instrument also relies on the participants answering. The survey will involve online questionnaires with open-ended questions emailed to various people in the department of education concerned with the teaching of lower-level children. Online questionnaires guarantee the respondent that they are not pressurized, making it likely to answer the questions honestly. These questionnaires directed to the ministry will seek to identify the challenges of implementing the listen-up interventions within the school curriculum. Having such information will guide the research in advocating for the intervention or seeking an alternative.

Observation

This instrument entails watching the subjects in their natural setting. In this case, the research will employ the covert method where the children will not know they are being watched. This is important for the main participants are children, and knowing a stranger is watching them may create tension and nervousness. Through observation that will require the children to read several words aloud will help determine the extent of the problem and the frequency.

Secondary data analysis

This instrument evaluates several published works, especially government records on education, statistical documents, and school reports. This will give a perspective on what other authors have published, especially their phonological awareness conclusion. School reports will provide information on the extent of the problem, bringing to attention the need for an intervention.

Research procedure for replicability

Replicability refers to the repetition of a study using different participants and settings to evaluate if the original research findings can be applied in a new setting (Allan, 2020). (Allan, 2020). This is an essential factor in research as it is one of the indicators of the authenticity of the study. To ensure replicability, the study will publish the findings and the methods used and attach the researcher’s contacts for any clarification. Making the research public allows facilitates access to the public and hence, replicability of my findings.

Resources to conduct the research.

Based on the data collection instruments, this research will need audio recording devices for the interviews. Secondary data collection calls for permission and accessibility to various records and documents, especially school reports. To observe students from my class and other classes, the study will need permission from the school board and the parents of the children participating in the study.

Data Analysis Technique

Data analysis involves organizing the data collected to make meaningful connections, mine the findings, and for presentation. This research will employ discourse analysis. Discourse analysis evaluates how written or spoken language is used within a particular context (Mullet, 2018). (Mullet, 2018). This research seeks to understand how listen-up instructions within the education system can be used to measure phonological Awareness for kindergarten students. The best way to measure this is through listening, which is the language-in-use approach of the analysis technique. Mullet (2018) highlights that discourse analysis involves the analysis of the participants’ vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, conversational abilities, and non-verbal communication. For this research, this technique will analyze all the above before and after implementing the intervention. The analysis process involves first defining the research question; the second step involves gathering the relevant information within a particular context where in this case, is a school. This is important as language differs with context; without proper guidance, children’s phonological Awareness may be compromised, for example, in families where English is not their first language. The final process is the analysis, where the research reviews several elements relating to the research.

IRB Review

The institutional review board governs research procedures, especially data collection and analysis, to ensure that the research does not have any federal or human rights. My participants are children, teachers, and officials from the education department. To ensure that my study is consistent with the appropriate ethical procedures required, it will need to be reviewed by the IRB. This review also guarantees the credibility of my research, primarily for replicability (Allan, 2020). (Allan, 2020). This review will inform the research on the appropriate channels to consider when seeking parental approvals and permissions, which is a vital resource.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Allan, G. (2020). Qualitative research. In Handbook for research students in the social sciences (pp. 177-189). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003070993-18/qualitative-research-graham-allan

Mihas, P. (2019). Qualitative data analysis. In Oxford research encyclopedia of education. https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-1195

Mullet, D. R. (2018). A general critical discourse analysis framework for educational research. Journal of Advanced Academics, 29(2), 116-142. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1932202X18758260

Rahman, M. S. (2020). The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in language “testing and assessment” research: A literature review. https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/16598