On the Development of Early Spelling in an EFL Context - Phoneme-based vs. Whole-word Method

On the Development of Early Spelling in an EFL Context

  This study is concerned with how Korean children learning English as a foreign language learn to spell English sounds, particularly English consonants, in words, exploring effective methods of teaching early spelling in an EFL situation. For these purposes, two groups of children were treated with different methods, the phoneme-based method and the whole-word method, respectively. The results of the experiment were analyzed quantitatively according to the children’s proficiency level of spelling consonants in words and the position of the consonants in words, particularly word-initial and word-final position. Spelling errors found in this study were also analyzed in order to consider the development of early spelling and the first language influence on it in an EFL situation. The results of the experiment showed that both methods greatly increased the children’s ability to spell the consonants in words, but the phoneme-based method was even more effective than the whole-word method for early spelling across the proficiency level of the children, especially in the word-initial position. Educational implications for early spelling instruction in Korean elementary schools were also addressed based on the findings of this study.