Abstract

A.C.Gimson mentioned in his An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English (1908) that in order to speak any language, one needs to learn almost 100% of its pronunciation, 50%-90% of its grammar and about 1% of its vocabulary, which indicates that pronunciation might be the most significant part of English learning. Thus an efficient phonetic teaching strategy is needed for EFL learners, especially young beginners for the early childhood is the optimal timing of learning phonetics. IPA is a traditional way to teach pronunciation but it neglects the internal relationship between sounds and letters. Learners have to memorize the pronunciations of each word individually and separately, which is not very efficient for phonetic learning.

Recently a new method called phonics becomes increasingly popular due to current situation for its simple spelling rules. It first appears in European countries where people regard it as a way to improve people’s reading and writing after many systematic researches. However, there are few researches and papers about whether phonics is suitable in China’s elementary English classroom or whether phonics helps primary school students’ pronunciation. So can the use of phonetic teaching method based on phonics help students’ pronunciation? And when we use the phonics, what are the characteristics of phonetic teaching in China? (Mainly on teacher’s teaching approaches.)

To answer the above questions, experiments have been carried out which last for four weeks. The subjects of the experiments are 49 students of Class 6 Grade 4 and their English teacher in Xuejun Primary School. This study employs the analytical method. By analyzing the tests we can know that phonics does help Ss’ pronunciation. Through observing and analyzing teacher’s phonetic class, it will be easy to see that through the synthetic and analogy-based approaches, Ss can pronounce strange words correctly with the knowledge they have learnt without the help of others, which cultivates Ss’ confidence in phonetic learning. Meanwhile, games, competitions and rewards are needed while processing those approaches, so that Ss can learn pronunciation with great interests and fun, which will make the class more efficient. 

Keywords: phonics; phonetic teaching; primary English

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 The Background of the Research-1

1.2 The Significance of the Research-1

1.3 The Layout of the Thesis-3

2. Literature Review-3

2.1 Phonics-3

2.1.1 The Definition of Phonics-3

2.1.2 The advantages and disadvantages of the phonics-4

2.2 Different phonics approaches-5

2.2.1 Synthetic phonics-5

2.2.2 Analytical phonics-5

2.2.3 Embedded phonics-5

2.3 Studies of Phonics Abroad and Home-5

2.3.1 Studies of Phonics Abroad-5

2.3.2 Studies of Phonics Home-6

2.3.3 Summary-7

2.4 Theoretical Framework-7

2.4.1 The Theory of Children’s Cognitive Development-7

2.4.2 Critical Period Hypothesis-8

2.4.3 Summary-8

3. Methodology-9

3.1 Research Questions-9

3.2 Subjects-9

3.3 Research Methods-9

3.3.1 Tests for Pronunciation-9

3.3.2 Classroom Observation-10

4. Data Analysis and Discussion-10

4.1 Analysis of the Tests-10

4.1.1 Test in Stage One-10

4.1.2 Test in Stage Two-11

4.1.3 Discussion-12

4.2 Analysis of the Classroom Observation-12

4.2.1 The analysis of the Classroom Observation-12

4.2.2 Discussion-13

5. Conclusion-14

5.1 Conclusion-14

5.2 Limitation-14

6. References-16

7. Appendix-18