Effectiveness of Phonological Awareness Instruction in Reading Achievement Among Students with Reading Difficulties in Bhutan

Abstract

Robust research is available to provide empirical evidence of phonological awareness as the predictor of reading success. Phonological awareness, which is one of the early literacy skills, is referred to as the ability to recognize, identify, and attend to the sounds of a language, and it is a critical skill for reading development (Verissimo et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was three-fold: (a) to identify phonological awareness deficits among students with reading difficulties, (b) to investigate the significant impact of phonological awareness instruction on reading achievement among students with reading difficulties, and (c) to design and implement an intervention program using phonological awareness instruction for special education needs (SEN) teachers. A qualitative case study approach was used with six students with reading difficulties and three SEN teachers. The textbooks were selected for their sociocultural relevance to Bhutanese students. The key findings revealed that phonological awareness instruction significantly improved students’ reading skills, highlighting its effectiveness as a targeted intervention for students with reading difficulties. Therefore, it is argued that the current findings call for English language teachers to implement targeted phonological awareness intervention as per the need of students with reading difficulties.