A Study On The Application Of Phonics In EFL Classroom Teaching Of Primary School In China

British linguist Wilkins, D. A.(1972) said, “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.” Therefore, it can be seen that words are the foundation of learning language. However, at present a majority of students are not interested in learning words and they have difficulties in pronouncing and spelling words. In recent years, there are a lot of related researches on primary school word teaching in China. However, the studies on word teaching through phonics are few. Although there are some word teaching researches on phonics, many of them mainly focus on theoretical introduction and the summary of experience about phonics instruction(Gao Min, 2005; Liang Yankui, Ya Na, 2010). What’s more, in practical teaching researches on phonics, most of research subjects are junior students or college students. There are few researches selecting elementary students as research subjects. In addition, most of studies only employ tests, and the researches using tests, interviews and questionnaires are few. Therefore, it has essential significance to do an applied research based on phonics with pupils as its research subjects and tests, interviews and questionnaires as the instruments.Under the theoretical framework of phonics instruction, this study takes Grade 3 pupils as the research subjects to conduct an applied research on phonics instruction. The research aims to study the effects of phonics on primary students’ word pronunciation, spelling and interest in learning words. The study is implemented at Huimeng Central Primary School, Mengjin county, Luoyang city, Henan province. The Class 1 Grade 3 is the experimental group(EG) and the Class 2 Grade 3 is the control group(CG), a total number of 60 students as the research subjects. In this study, there are some instruments applied: questionnaire1 on the situation of pupils learning words after phonics teaching, questionnaire2 on exploring pupils’ interest in learning words, edited word reading tests and spelling tests and student interviews. Then data is collected through the above instruments and analyzed with statistic software SPSS 19.0.The conclusions of this research are as follows:(1) After the phonics training, EG’s word reading ability is significantly increased than that of CG’s(P=0.00(<0.05)). CG’s pronunciation ability is improved, but the degree is tiny. After the training for a semester, EG’s spelling ability is greatly improved than that of CG’s(P=0.00(<0.05)). CG’s spelling ability is improved, but the degree is slight. However, EG’s mean in word reading post-test increases more than that of in spelling post-test. It may be related to the mode of Chinese students’ vocabulary acquisition and the nature of dictation.(2) After the teaching, there is statistical difference(P=0.012(﹤0.05)) between EG and CG on the interest in learning words. In EG, the students with very high interest or relatively high interest account for 66.7%, which is greatly superior to that of CG(13.3%). However, CG’s interest in learning words isn’t improved but decreased.The present study has important implications for teachers and learners. For example, at the beginning of phonics teaching, phonograms should be taught intensively and systemically by aid of other reading materials, in order to help students develop pronunciation ability and spelling ability as early as possible and reduce dependence on teachers. In teaching evaluation, oral examination and written examination should be used at the same time in all quizzes, midterm exams and final exams, in order to take advantage of correct guidance and promotion of tests in foreign language teaching. When learning phonics, learners dare to try pronouncing unfamiliar words and can’t always turn to their teachers and classmates for help. Learners can also intensify the training of their spelling through cooperation among classmates or friends.