4.1.1 Questionnaire 5

4.1.2 Interview 6

4.2 Data Collection and Data Analysis 6

4.2.1 Students’ Feedback on Phonics Learning 6

4.2.2 Teachers’ Understanding of Phonics Method 8

5. Suggestions on Improving the Implementation of Phonics Method 10

5.1 The Teaching of Letters 10

5.2 The Help of Teaching Aids 10

5.3 The Richness of Teaching Materials 10

6. Conclusion 11

References 12

Appendix 13

1. Introduction

Upon a boom in the interest in English language, those who work in the field mostly focus on how to help students learn English more effectively and easily in China. Some educational innovations have been started to be applied in teaching English as a foreign language in primary school. The New English Curriculum advocates the importance of learning to spell words and vocabulary strategies. And phonics teaching is considered as one of the methods which can help primary school students to master words. 

1.1 Research Background & Significance 

English has been an effective way to get access to all kinds of information and indispensable means of international communication. In fact, English vocabulary building is vital during the process of learning English, especially for the beginners, such as the primary students in China.

As vocabulary is one of the most important elements in a language, teachers and students pay a lot attention to it. But the Chinese teachers of primary school very often find serious errors in students’ spelling. What’s worse, some students even use Chinese Pinyin or Chinese characters to mark the pronunciation of English words, which is really a bad habit for learning a foreign language. Not only will it influence the correct pronunciation of the words, but also make students afraid of communicating with others in English. As far as I am concerned, it is closely related to the method of teaching. According to Full-time Compulsory General English Curriculum Standards (trial version,2011), one of the secondary objectives of English education courses in primary school is that students are able to spell simple words according to the spelling rules. And phonics is a way of teaching people to read in which they are taught to recognize the English sounds which letters represent. It helps students to develop their abilities of vocabulary building so as to improve reading ability and strengthen reading understanding. 

Therefore the effectiveness of phonics in vocabulary building is really a meaningful and practical topic to research. Many scholars have proved that phonics does help students in vocabulary learning, and its effectiveness not only is related to the accuracy of spelling words, but also influences students’ interest and confidence in the way of learning English.

1.2 Research Questions

The paper mainly deals with the understanding of the significance of phonics teaching, analyzes how primary students learn and apply this method in English learning, especially the building of vocabulary, and puzzling problems in teaching, and provides some strategies and principles for improving the application of phonics teaching. 

2. Literature Review

In this part, two main teaching methods will be mentioned. The two methods are The International Phonetic Alphabet and The Phonics Method. Every coin has two sides. There are also advantages and disadvantages for both methods. The details will be talked about in the following part.