Challenges Pupils Face in Learning Phonological Skills: A Case of Bunda District, Tanzania

Abstract

This study assessed pupils’ phonological awareness (PA) skills in reading English language among Primary Schools in Bunda, Tanzania. The study was guided by the Interactive Theory developed by Rumelhart (1980) that views reading as a process which employs both the top –down and the bottom –up processes. Collection of data was done by using interviews, focus group discussions and tests. Data collection was also done through classroom observations, interviews, focus group discussions and tests. The major findings revealed that majority pupils in public primary schools and some in English medium schools had low phonological awareness skills.  The pupils faced difficulties in pronouncing words with consonant clusters and in decoding digraphs; they also faced difficulties in recognizing silent sounds and in o decoding words with irregular Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences (GPC). Pupils inserted phonemes within consonant blends and in word finals as a result of Kiswahili and mother tongue influences. The study concluded that pupils will excel in learning phonological skills if teachers strictly employ phonics strategies such as segmentation, blending, substitution, deletion and rhyming games. Moreover, teachers in English medium primary schools and their colleagues in public schools should work closely together in addressing the strategies and techniques of imparting phonological awareness skills to pupils.