The impact of integrating Jolly Phonics Lessons application into English literacy lessons on UAE preschoolers’ phonics skills

Noora Almansoori; Robin Ogdol; Aisha Alteneiji

doi:10.37291/2717638X.202451299

Authors

Noora Almansoori Higher Colleges of Technology https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3372-6309
Robin Ogdol Higher Colleges of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8643-8457
Aisha Alteneiji Higher Colleges of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3329-8723

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37291/2717638X.202451299

Keywords:

Jolly phonics lessons application, Letter-sound identification, Letter formation, Phoneme blending, Phoneme segmenting

Abstract

The Jolly Phonics Lessons application is a digital tool that is designed to enhance the preschoolers’ reading and writing skills through synthetic phonics approach. This study examined the impact of integrating Jolly Phonics Lessons application into literacy lessons on the emergent reading and writing skills among kindergarten students, ages 4-6, in the United Arab Emirates through a comparative study between pupils (Group-A), whose literacy classes were integrated with the application, and pupils (Group-B) who were taught using the traditional method of teaching literacy. Mixed methods research design was followed to analyze the effects of integrating the application. The Phonemic Awareness Assessment Inventory (PAAI) tool, field notes, and artifacts were utilized to measure the development of students’ letter-sound identification, letter formation, phoneme blending and segmenting abilities. In addition, the paper compared the growth on phonics skills between students in Groups A and B. The results showed that students in Group-A outperformed pupils who received literacy instruction through traditional methods. The findings from the PAAI scores exhibited dramatic growth in letter-sound recognition and letter formation, and substantial increase in phoneme blending and segmenting abilities of Group-A. The T-statistic for differences between two means at 95% confidence revealed that there is a significant difference between the performance of students in Groups-A and B. Implications from this study highlight the positive impact of incorporating Jolly Phonics Lessons application into literacy classes on low-achieving students. On this bases, future research of Jolly Phonics Lesson application to support mixed-ability classes or students with dyslexia.

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