| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系碩士班 === 99 === This study aimed to explore the effects of two phonics instructional approaches, i.e., the synthetic phonics and analytic phonics instruction on Taiwanese EFL elementary students’ single word reading and spelling. Forty-eight fourth graders without phonics knowledge in an elementary school in Chang Hua County were randomly assigned to each group for a 10-week training instruction.
The main focus was to find out the kind of phonics instruction that is more effective on young readers’ single word reading and spelling, and the overall performance of these two skills. In addition, their perceptions as well as their attitudes and behavior toward English learning after the training intervention were explored.
Three principal instruments were employed for data collection in the study: (1) tests for single word reading and spelling, (2) self-perception measurement, and (3) interviews. The quantitative data were obtained through tests and measurement with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 17), whereas the qualitative data were collected through interviews from ten participants randomly selected from each group.
The findings revealed that, firstly, the two phonics approaches have yielded positive effect on the single word reading and spelling tests after the training intervention. Secondly, the two phonics approaches were of the similar effectiveness on the single word reading and spelling overall performance of EFL elementary students in Taiwan. Thirdly, the participants of both groups held a positive and helpful perception towards their English learning after ten weeks training instruction. Lastly, the data collected and interpreted through interviews revealed more than half of the students from each group attributed their English achievement to their phonics strategies—either onset-rime analogy or letter-sound correspondences accordingly. Additionally, the interview data also displayed essential affective gains. The motivation and the behavior of the two groups’ students were drawn to a more positive direction after the training program.
Finally, based on the findings, some pedagogical implications and suggestions are proposed for those who intend to pursue further studies on this issue.
Keywords: synthetic phonics, analytic phonics, onset, rime, letter-sound relationship, segmenting, blending
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