Bridging Literacy Gaps – Teachers Perspectives Towards Jolly Phonics for Marathi Medium Learners

Abstract

This paper explores the perceptions of English as a Third Language (ETL) teachers in Marathi-medium schools regarding the implementation of Jolly Phonics in their classrooms, with a focus on identifying challenges they face while teaching reading by different old methods in English language instruction. Data was collected from 36 teachers working in government Marathi-medium schools from Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. All participants responded to a questionnaire provided by the researcher. The questionnaire responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

The findings indicate that most teachers view Jolly Phonics positively, considering it an engaging method that supports students in improving their overall English literacy skills. However, a very less proportion of teachers do not use Jolly Phonics in their classrooms, primarily due to a lack of confidence in implementing the method effectively. Additionally, the study highlights that many teachers in government schools are unfamiliar with synthetic phonics like Jolly Phonics, before its implementation and have not received sufficient training too to incorporate it successfully into their teaching practices. After getting introduced to Jolly Phonics method and its training, the views of almost teachers get changed. The very change in their opinions can be seen in each of their answer to the questionnaire.

Based on these findings, several recommendations are proposed to assist teachers and policymakers. These recommendations aim to help other teachers adopt Jolly Phonics effectively and encourage decision-makers to create enabling conditions, such as providing adequate training and required resources, to facilitate the implementation of Jolly Phonics in Marathi-medium schools.