A Study On The Application Of Phonics In English Vocabulary Teaching In Primary Schools

According to the English Curriculum Standards(2011),the students in primary schools are required to read simple English words according to the phonics rules.The traditional vocabulary teaching methods used in many primary schools,however,have failed to help the students to establish the relationship between the letter and the sound,which makes it very difficult for the pupils to read and spell words,and also brings about negative influences on their interest in studying English words.Phonics has been widely used in the English teaching in the foreign countries where English is the mother language or the second language.It aims to enhance the students' memory of the pronunciation and the spelling of words by establishing links between the letter and the sound.Therefore,it is of great necessity to apply phonics to English vocabulary teaching in China,where English serves as a foreign language,to improve teaching efficiency.The author did an experimental study which lasted a semester by selecting two parallel classes taught by the author herself from Grade Four of a primary school in Yantai,Shandong province.There are 50 participants in each class.During the experiment,the controlled group studied English words by traditional methods,while the experimental group was taught by traditional methods and phonics in a systematic way.The main research questions are: Can phonics better improve students' ability to read the English words? Can phonics better improve students' ability to spell the English words? Can phonics stimulate students' interest in vocabulary learning? Based on statistical analysis,the main findings are as follows:(1)The average score of the word reading post-test of the experimental class is obviously higher than that of the controlled class.The independent samples T-test with the T value.000 shows there is a significant difference of the ability of word reading between the experimental class and the controlled class.Consequently it might,to a large extent,prove that phonics can better improve students' ability to read the Englishwords.(2)The average score of the word spelling post-test of the experimental class is also higher than that of the controlled class.The independent samples T-test with the T value.000 shows there is a significant difference between the ability of word spelling of the two classes.Consequently it might,to a large extent,prove that phonics can better improve students' ability to spell the English words.(3)Through the questionnaire and the author's interviews,it might be found out that an overwhelming majority of the students approve of phonics,which tries to enhance their classroom engagement and further stimulate their learning motivation and interest.