Non-native speaking students face a lot of challenges during their English language learning journey. Due to this, EFL teachers also have a hard time teaching them reading skills effectively.
However, with the help of one of the effective approaches you can teach reading effectively through “phonics.” It’s an approach that emphasizes which correspondence between letters and sounds for the students. Those teachers who have pursued courses like B.Ed. in TESOL, know how effective the teaching phonics approach is.
If you want to learn more about teaching phonics approach, then we have got you covered.
In this blog post, we will be exploring how effective teaching phonics to improve the reading skills of non-native English-speaking students.
Importance of Teaching Phonics To Improve Reading Skills
Phonics is an essential component of the EFL classroom. Because English is not phonetic, it is frequently impossible to read English words just by sounding out their letters. With the help of phonics, you can help students to learn how to pronounce various letter combinations, which might be difficult in English.
Teaching phonics helps students understand the fundamentals of English by stressing bottom-up processes like decoding new words and improving spelling – all of which are necessary for developing reading skills and gaining confidence in one’s reading ability.
Why EFL Approach to Teaching Reading Vary From The First Language Method?
EFL approaches to teaching reading differ greatly from first language techniques in that they prioritize phonics as a successful teaching strategy, emphasizing correspondences between sounds and letters. This approach is strongly backed by research. Whole language techniques, on the other hand, encourage acquiring words by sight without taking context or situational indications into account.
Students who are English as a foreign language (EFL) often have a greater vocabulary and a better understanding of its structure, allowing them to deduce new word meanings from context alone. EFL learners, on the other hand, frequently have limited vocabulary due to a lack of experience, therefore they benefit from more explicit phonics instruction.
Steps of Teaching Phonics To Your EFL Students
Let’s get to know what the steps of teaching phonics in your EFL classroom Successfully:
Step 1: You should start by introducing different letter sounds to your students. You can pick those words that frequently occur in their daily life along with their pronunciation and win written form as well.
Step 2: To help students grasp the sound of words used in context, you can consider demonstrating the pronunciation of those words through visual aids and relevant real-life examples. You can also use songs and stories to help students make letter sounds memorable for a longer period of time.
Step 3: Once students gain a proper grasp of letter sounds, then they can use them in their own way and in their daily lives. They can use it in their reading and writing activities to gain a better understanding.
Step 4: Once students get the hang of letter sounds, they can start reading familiar words made up of those letter sounds by applying their phonics knowledge during reading.
Step 5: Lastly, make your students aware that they should focus on hard-to-understand words with tricky spellings that don’t follow the regular phonics rules and they must learn those words independently.
Adapt Teaching Phonics Approach To Improve Reading Skills
Reading skill is one of the essential skills that every student needs to acquire in their language-learning journey. With the help of effective tools like the teaching phonics approach, you can make the reading activities simpler and more enjoyable for your non-native English-speaking learners.
If you want to learn more effective and engaging ways to teach English to your non-native students. Then, consider pursuing courses like a Bachelor of Education in TESOL, where you will get to learn from top expert trainers.
