Application Of Phonics Instruction In English Vocabulary Teaching To A Junior High School

With the development of economy, English has become an essential tool to learn from other countries.Although there are 26 English letters, the knowledge of English includes three elements: pronunciation,vocabulary, grammar. Without grammar, people can’t express many things; without vocabulary, people can’t express anything. However, according to some research, there are many problems in learning English.The major problem is to remember the pronunciation and spelling of English vocabulary, which influences students’ interest in English. The author tries to find an appropriate method for students to learn vocabulary through many researches and analysis. International Phonetic Alphabet is always learned by people who speak English as a foreign language. Although International Phonetic Alphabet is a good way for people to pronounce vocabulary, it can’t set a good relationship between the pronunciation and spelling in English.Learning this method is also very difficult for students to remember English vocabulary. However, another method, phonics, is very popular in English speaking countries, which emphasis the relation with the pronunciation and spelling of vocabulary. Phonics also helps students pronounce vocabulary when they see them, and write down vocabulary when others pronounce them. Therefore, an empirical study was conducted to test the effects of phonics instruction and International Phonetic Alphabet on students’ English vocabulary learning.Theories applied in this thesis included two main parts: language transfer theory and phonological awareness. According to learning transfer theory, there are both positive transfer and negative transfer when Chinese students learn English. In the aspect of phonological awareness,the importance and the instruction of phonological awareness are introduced.The research questions in this thesis were mainly focused on the next three aspects:(1) Does phonics instruction promote junior students’ ability in English vocabulary spelling?(2) Does phonics instruction promote junior students’ ability in English vocabulary reading?(3) Does phonics instruction improve junior students’ interest in English vocabulary memorizing?To answer the above questions, the subjects of this thesis were the students of two classes in Grade 7,No.22 Junior School in Lanzhou, phonics instruction was used in the experimental class, and International Phonetic Alphabet instruction was used in the comparative class. Questionnaires, pre-test and post-test were used to test the effects of phonics instruction and International Phonetic Alphabet instruction on students’ English vocabulary learning,. The experiment was divided into three phases: pre-test, instructional processand post-test. Pre-test included three parts: reading test, spelling test and pre-questionnaire investigation.After eight-week training,five times per week and 15 minutes every time, post-test was conducted to compare the effects of phonics instruction with International Phonetic Alphabet instruction on students’ English vocabulary learning.The results of this study,compared the experimental class with the controlled class, indicated that students’ oral reading and spelling ability were all significantly enhanced in the experimental class. At the same time, phonics instruction also improved junior students’ interest in English vocabulary memorizing. It was suggested that teachers can use phonics instruction to improve learners’ oral reading and spelling ability. By the way, it can also promote their interest in English vocabulary memorizing.The thesis includes six chapters. Chapter 1 is Introduction; this chapter mainly focuses on the research background, aims and significance of the thesis. Chapter 2 is Literature Review, which includes the main methods of vocabulary teaching, that is, International Phonetic Alphabet and phonics instruction related literature abroad and at home. Chapter 3 is Theoretical Framework, which aims to give theoretical support to the research. Chapter4 is Research Design, in this part, research questions, subjects, research instruments,research procedure, data collection, and data analysis will be shown accurately. Chapter 5 is Results and Discussion. The research questions are resolved by analyzing the data. Chapter 6 is Conclusions. The conclusions are drawn from the present study, including the major findings, pedagogical implications and limitations of the present study and suggestions for future.