Nurturing Reading Proficiency of Pupils through Phonics: Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Early Childhood Educators in Nigeria

Nurturing reading proficiency among the Nigerian children has become pivotal to a functional and development-oriented education. The place of phonics in achieving this strategic goal seems unquestionable with attendant entrepreneurial opportunities for early childhood educators. This study therefore, investigates the influence of phonics in nurturing Reading Proficiency of Pupils with implications for entrepreneurial opportunities for Early Childhood Educators in Nigeria. Ex-post facto survey design and proportionate random sampling technique were adopted for the study. Structured Questionnaire (PRA Scale, r=.68) was administered on a sample Three Hundred pupils from twenty (20) elementary schools in Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics of simple percentages was used for data analysis. The findings revealed that teaching of phonics has improved the pupil’s reading ability with 96.7% of the pupils applied sound of letters in pronouncing new words; the pupils have imbibed the culture of reading and through the use of phonics, while the teachers have adopted the use of phonics in instructional delivery to pupils. Thus, it was recommended that early childhood educators must be continuously trained in the use of phonics and a national philosophy should be entrenched in the national policy on education emphasizing a school-wide reading proficiency and culture. Keywords: Phonics, Reading Proficiency, Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Early Childhood Educator