An Investigation Of Phonics In English Vocabulary Teaching In Primary Schools

Vocabulary teaching is fundamental in English instruction of primary school and there are some internal relations between English sounds and forms.Phonics is a teaching method of English vocabulary that requires students to recognize the letter names and sounds of 26 letters,which can help students to establish the connection between letters and sounds according to the pronunciation of letters and their combinations.In recent years,many English teachers in primary schools transform traditional teaching methods into phonics consciously,however,for the lack of systematic knowledge of the phonics,they fail to integrate theory and practice effectively in the actual English classroom.This thesis purposes to explore the challenges and problems in application of phonics in primary school and provides some countermeasures.The thesis conducted one month’s survey of four teachers and 160 students in a primary school in Q ingdao and explored the application of phonics in English vocabulary teaching by means of questionnaires,classroom observations and interviews.The research indicated that students affirmed the importance of English vocabulary learning and also expressed certain difficulties in vocabulary learning.In the English class teaching,teachers can use phonics consciously,and students can use phonics to spell and read words under the guidance of teachers.However,students encounter the challenges in the pronunciation of vowels and some consonants,and lack the abilities to classify words and use phonics to spell and read on their own.Most of teachers have no training opportunity on the theory and practice of phonics,and the limited class time makes phonics teaching unable to achieve their desired results.Based on the challenges and problems in the practical teaching,the following countermeasures are provided: firstly,teachers should focus on cultivating students’ leaning interests and their self-efficacy by designing various interesting teaching activities to ease students’ tension of learning new words and arouse their interests in using phonics.At the same time,teachers learn to give students affirmations and praises for their achievements in order to help them build self-confidence and learning motivation.Secondly,schools should provide all the conditions for teacher education,in which the teachers can develop theoretically and practically.O n the other hand,it is important for teachers to learn better the phonics theory,improve their teaching abilities and master effective teaching skills to make great progress in English vocabulary teaching.Finally,teachers should provide enough supplementary interesting learning materials,such as Micro Learning Resource and Picture Books related to the phonics,which can improve students’ consolidation of knowledge after class and make up for time limitation in class.