L2 phonics instruction and the development of L2 sound/spelling links in primary school learners

Porter, Alison (2013) L2 phonics instruction and the development of L2 sound/spelling links in primary school learners. BAAL 9th Teaching and Learning SIG, Twickenham, Richmond upon Thames, London Borough of, United Kingdom.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

English education policy and curricula promote literacy as an integral part of foreign language learning; yet recent evidence notes that reading and writing remains undeveloped in primary school MFL programmes (Cable et al., 2010; OFSTED, 2011). Concerns relating to current levels of foreign language literacy achievement in secondary schools led to calls for explicit and coherent decoding instruction (Erler, 2004; Woore, 2009: 3). However, subsequent research has noted that the teaching and learning of L2 sound/spelling links is a “slow business” (Cable et al., 2010; Erler & Macaro, 2011) and that learned links are unreliable in novel contexts (e.g. unknown words) (Woore, 2007).

This paper presents findings from a 7 month action research study exploring the development of L2 literacy in two English primary schools with 45 beginner learners of French aged 9-11. The teaching intervention was designed around a combination of explicit phonics instruction, language awareness raising and meaning based activities. Second language instruction was delivered once weekly in 50 minute sessions - a familiar format for many English state primary schools. The literacy component of the intervention focused weekly on either systematic phonics work or meaning-related, text-based activities. Learner attainment was tracked through a mix of classroom-based observations and formal tests. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative data will track and explore the effects of the intervention on the development of specific L2 sound/spelling correspondences.

This record has no associated files available for download.