Phonological Awareness and Word Reading in an EFL Context: Phoneme-based vs. Onset/Rime-based Method

Phonological Awareness and Word Reading in an EFL Context: Phoneme-based vs. Onset/Rime-based Method

This paper considers the most effective phonological elements for teaching phonics and word reading to Korean children. In particular, this study compares the effects of the phoneme-based method with those of the onset/rime-based method on the ability to read words. The results of the experiment showed that both methods greatly increased the subjects' ability to read words, but the phoneme-based method was even more effective for the development of phonics skills, word reading as well as interest and confidence than the onset/rime-based method. Furthermore, Korean children were found to prefer the phoneme-based method over other phonics methods. In this study, the findings were explained by the syllable structure difference between the first and the target language. This paper discusses some implications the results have for reading instruction in elementary schools.