HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --------------- TRAN NGOC LY TEACHERS’ USE OF PHONICS INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING READING TO YOUNG ENGLISH LEARNERS AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages, Hue University THUA THIEN HUE, 2021 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --------------- TRAN NGOC LY TEACHERS’ USE OF PHONICS INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING READING TO YOUNG ENGLISH LEARNERS AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: DR. TRAN QUANG NGOC THUY THUA THIEN HUE, 2021 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ --------------- TRẦN NGỌC LY ỨNG DỤNG NGỮ ÂM TRONG VIỆC DẠY HỌC SINH ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN Ở MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC TẠI THÀNH PHỐ HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. TRẦN QUANG NGỌC THÚY THUA THIEN HUE, 2021 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Signed: ………………………… Date: ……/ ……/……… i ABSTRACT Phonics instruction is an approach of teaching reading that stresses the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences, and is crucial for the successful acquisition of literacy. This study aims to investigate the views of the English primary school teachers about phonics instruction and their in-class practices of phonics instruction in teaching reading. A questionnaire, class observations and interviews were used to collect data, with a sample of 27 teachers from seven primary schools in a city in Central Vietnam. The data were analyzed, synthesized and interpreted both quantitatively and qualitatively.
The findings showed that most of the teachers recognized the important role of phonics instruction in teaching reading to young English learners. However, teachers’ knowledge of phonics was a questionable matter as many of them were conflicted when talking about aspects of phonics. In classroom practice, phonics instruction was hardly employed by the observed teachers due to many reasons including teachers’ lack of skills and knowledge of phonics, large size classes and limited teaching time, teachers’ doubt of teaching methods’ effects, and heavily implemented curriculum. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr.
Tran Quang Ngoc Thuy, my research supervisor, for her patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this research work. I would also like to thank teachers of Tran Quoc Toan, Thuan Thanh, Thuan Loc, Thuan Hoa, Phu Cat, Vy Da, and Truong An primary schools for providing me with the most favourable conditions to collect the data needed. Finally, I wish to thank my family and my colleagues for their support and encouragement throughout my study. iii List of Tables Table 1.
Surveyed Participants by Age Group Table 2. Surveyed Participants by Work Experience Group Table 3. List of Class Observations Table 4. List of Interviews Table 5.
Distribution of Questions in the Questionnaire Table 6. Agreement of Recognizing Letters in Teaching and Learning Phonics Table 7. Teachers’ Perception on the Importance of Phonics Table 8. Teachers’ Opinion about Scope of Phonics Learning Table 9.
Teachers’ Opinion about Sequence of Phonics Learning Table 10. Teachers’ Reported Use of Phonics Learning Activities Table 11. Frequency of Phonics Activities Used in Class iv List of Figures Figure 1. Teachers’ Self-assessment of their Knowledge of Phonics Figure 2.
Agreement of the Importance of Recognizing Letters in Teaching and Learning Phonics Figure 3. Agreement of the Importance of Reading Sounds of Letters and Understanding Combining Sound Rules in Teaching and Learning Phonics Figure 4. Agreement of the Importance of Phonics in the Assessment of Students’ Language Competence Figure 5. Agreement of Teaching Phonics to YELs Figure 6.
Agreement of Teaching Phonics to Students of Grade 1 and 2 Figure 7. Agreement of Approaches to Teach Phonics to YLLs Figure 8. Frequency of the Integration of Phonics into Teaching Reading Skills v List of Abbreviations EFL English as a Foreign Language IRA International Reading Association MoET Ministry of Education and Training N Number PA Phonemic awareness YELs Young English Learners YLLs Young Language Learners YLs Young Learners vi TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP. iii List of Tables .iv List of Figures.
v List of Abbreviations .vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .vii Chapter 1: Introduction. Aims of the Research. Significance of the Study. Organization of the Research.
4 Chapter 2: Literature Review. Young Language Learners. Reading to YLLs. Models of Reading.
Approaches to Teach Reading. Aims of Phonics Instruction. The Importance of Phonics Instruction in Teaching Reading. Data Collection Procedure.
28 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion. Teachers’ Perception of Using Phonics Instruction in Teaching Reading to YELs at some Primary Schools in Hue. Results from questionnaire. Results from interviews.
Teachers’ practices of using phonics instruction in teaching reading to YELs. Results from questionnaire. Results from class observations. Results from interviews.
49 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications. Limitations and Further Research. 69 viii Chapter 1: Introduction 1. Rationale Being a mother, and an English teacher for young learners (YLs), I started using English to communicate with my child when he was small.
When my child turned to the age that is suitable for developing literacy skills, around five to six years old, a question came to my mind: “How should I teach children to read in English effectively?” This was the time that my interest in teaching reading to young English learners (YELs) arose strongly. The question urged me to dig deeper in the field of teaching reading to YELs. Among different approaches to teach students to read in English at primary school, phonics instruction, which I found having many similarities to the way Vietnamese teachers teach Vietnamese young students literacy skills, received much of my attention. Unarguably, learning to read is a complex task for beginners.
The question of how best to teach beginning reading may be the most politicized topic in the field of education (Stahl, 1990). Learners must coordinate many cognitive processes to read accurately and fluently, including recognizing words, constructing the meanings of sentences and text, and retaining the information read in memory (National Reading Panel, 2000). Adam (1990) claimed that the two predominant indicators of success in early reading are alphabet recognition and phonemic awareness (PA), and that children with PA skill grasp the alphabet principle with ease. Approximately 84% of English words are phonetically regular (Blevins, 2006).
Therefore, teaching the most common sound-spelling relationships in English is extremely useful for readers. 1 In the situation of Vietnam, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) issued Circular No. 32/2018/TT-BGDDT dated on December 26, 2018 on the promulgation of the new general education curriculum which introduced English as an optional subject for grades 1 and 2, and a compulsory subject for grades 3, 4 and 5 in primary schools. Accordingly, English education starting at an early age is no longer a choice, but a target that the whole educational system heads to.
Developing PA is one of the important aims set by MoET in the English curriculum at primary school level. Specifically, primary school students should have knowledge of English vowels and consonants, and understand the correspondence between sounds and letters in order to spell, read, and write in English correctly (MoET, 2018). In order to achieve the goals mentioned, primary school teachers, who are directly in charge of the quality of teaching and learning, play an important role. My choice of this research topic derives from my keenness on teaching reading to YELs, and a great concern about how phonics instruction is perceived and applied in the real contexts of primary schools.
This thesis reviews the theoretical background, and research literature related to phonics instruction and teaching reading to YELs, and investigates primary school teachers’ perception and in-class practices of using phonics instruction in teaching reading. Aims of the Research The aim of this research is to investigate the views of the in-service primary English teachers in phonics instruction and their practices in teaching reading to children. Research Questions To discover how phonics instruction is perceived and applied in the context of English teaching and learning at primary schools in Vietnam, this study was conducted with two research questions: 1. What perception do English teachers at some primary schools in Hue city, Vietnam hold about phonics instruction? 2.
What are the teachers’ in-class practices of using phonics instruction in teaching reading to young English learners? 1. Research Scope In this study, the main focus is on teaching phonics at primary schools in Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province. Specifically, the study looks into teachers’ perception of phonics instruction in teaching reading, and investigates their practices of using phonics instruction in class. Due to the limited time frame of the thesis, only seven primary schools in Hue city including Tran Quoc Toan, Thuan Thanh, Thuan Loc, Thuan Hoa, Phu Cat, Vy Da, and Truong An are chosen to collect the data for the study.
Significance of the Study With the development of YLs learning English in Vietnam, it is necessary to examine how literacy skills should be taught effectively to young students, who hold specific and different characteristics that distinguish them from adolescence and adult learners. Although a number of studies have initiated to explore effective tools which can support young children’s reading skills in English as a foreign language (EFL) in Vietnamese contexts (Luu, 2020; Truong, 2020), there is not enough research to unveil English teachers’ perception on phonics instruction, and phonics application in 3 teaching reading to students at primary grades. I hope that my choice of this research topic not only follows the drift today, but also increases fellow teachers’ perception of the importance of using phonics instruction in teaching reading to YLs. By investigating the practice of teaching reading to YLs, the study could expectantly make considerable contributions to the enhancement of reading activities with the help of phonics, and provide fellow practitioners with some recommendations on how to teach reading to children effectively by using phonics instruction.
Nonetheless, given the small scope of the study, the research findings cannot explain for all, but can serve as a reference for similar situations. Organization of the Research The current thesis reports an investigation of teachers’ use of phonics instruction in teaching reading to young English learners at some primary schools in Hue city. The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter gives a brief introduction about the background of the research and explains the reason why the research topic is chosen.
The research questions, research scope, significance of the study as well as the structure of the study are also included. Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 2 presents the concepts and definitions of key terms related to the study as well as a review of the previous related studies. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter describes the participants, the methods to collect and analyse the data for the study, and explain the reason why each method is chosen. 4 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion This chapter presents the data collected from the three sources which were analysed and discussed to answer the research questions.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications This is the last chapter which summarizes the whole research. Then the suggestions and implications drawn from the main findings of the thesis are provided. 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter first briefly presents the definition and characteristics of young language learners (YLLs).