Effectiveness of Phonics Instruction on Reading Motivation of Korean Elementary EFL Learners

This present study examines the effectiveness of phonics instruction on reading motivation of Korean elementary school students in English beginning levels. Fifteen first-graders in an after-school phonics program in a private elementary school participated in the study without any previous English instructions. Compared to their peers in the regular English class, they were not able to read any English word. Since phonics is one of the keystones to read English, which leads to higher reading motivation, phonics program was instructed for 40 weeks in a year with 18 exercise books. Three types of measurement methods were integrated to present how phonics instruction was effective on raising student’s reading motivation. First, self-questionnaire for students was designed based on a theoretical framework ‘MPR-R’. (The Motivation to Read Profile-Revised; Malloy, Marinak, Gambrell, Mazzoni, 2013) Second, in-class reading activities were video-recorded to evaluate students’ progress. Third, follow-up questions including reading comprehension and self-assessment were asked. Research findings suggest that phonics instruction is a significant contributor to increase young EFL learners’ reading motivation as well as reading competence.