Pronunciation improvement in EFL young learners through phonics instruction

Abstract

This article is based on a mixed research, whose objective was the use of Phonics Instruction to improve pronunciation of four sounds /θ/ , /ð/, /I/ and /I:/ in young learners in a private school in Bogotá. In this research, the impact of Phonics Instruction was analyzed in the students’ pronunciation. To perform this analysis, Phonics Instruction was implemented in five stages based on Lloyd (2007) six types of sections. The participants were 13 students aged 10 to 12 years old from fifth grade; a mixed method was carried out to analyze collected data through the following instruments: 2 tests (pre-post), recordings and artifacts. This analysis was made using randomly 6 chosen students. At first the students did the pre-test with 20 words containing the sounds / i: /, / I /, / / θ / and / ð /. In the second phase, the researchers implemented the stages of Phonics Instruction focusing on making visual, auditory, Kinesthetic and tactile. In the third stage, students did the post-test with 40 words containing / i: /, / I /, / θ / and / ð / sounds, the recordings obtained the pronunciation of students and transcripts of tests; so it could be determined if students improved their pronunciation of sounds with the use of Phonics Instruction. There were also artifacts as evidence of activities did by students. Finally, the results showed that the students had a breakthrough and Phonics Instruction contributed in their pronunciation achieving to identify differences and similarities in word pronunciation based on the minimal pairs.

Keywords

• instrucción fónica
• pronunciación
• estudiantes de educación primaria
• pares mínimos.