PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES USED BY TEACHERS TO ENHANCE THE LITERACY DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AT RISK FOR SPEECH DISORDERS IN KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

The purpose of this study was to establish the phonological awareness instructional strategies used by teachers to enhance literacy development. This research was steered by the Phonological Awareness Theory. The study used a quasi-experimental design. Two groups of subjects were used: one is the control group, which did not participate in the treatment program. The other was the experimental group, which participated, in the given treatment. The study was conducted in Kiambu County, Kenya. Purposive sampling was employed to select 4 preschools and 40 preschool children. 8 teachers were randomly chosen from the selected preschools. Data was collected through interview schedules, tests, and questionnaires. Data was analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. The study found that almost all the teachers did not apply clear-cut planned instructional strategies to increase the preschool learner’s phonological awareness skills, such as pointing out the individual sounds in words or highlighting the number of syllables in words. The teachers, additionally did not apply authorized early literacy methods, such as stimulating phonological awareness activities. The study concluded that phonological awareness, ideally, is a broad skill that focuses on phonemes and for that reason, the preschool learners did not need to know the graphemes to be able to develop phonological awareness. The study recommended that there is a need to assess teachers’ literacy instructional practices and the resources they use in the classrooms to enhance literacy development. Preschool teachers should focus on working on a range of activities with children who are at risk for speech disorders to enhance their linguistic and literacy development. The Ministry of Education, Science & Technology (MoEST) needs to provide trainings/ seminars/ continuous professional development (CPD) workshops for Early Childhood Education (ECDE) teachers where strategies/ best practices for teaching reading can be outlined. During such trainings, teachers can share their best practices and help one another overcome problems in the teaching of reading and writing.  Article visualizations: