Teaching phonics to EFL adult learners

Abstract

Phonics instruction strengthens letter-sound connections and enlarges both learning abilities and meaning. While phonics training remains efficient in teaching literacy to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, a sig nificant discrepancy in research on young adult training at a Language institute at a Public University in Ecuador is still present. The current research aimed to determine the outcomes of precise and discerned phonics comprehensive schemes on literacy attainment among EFL students. A mixed-method approach with a descriptive scope, and a qua si-experimental design was applied. Twenty-two A2.2 level students from The Academic Language Institute actively participated in a seven-week phonics workshop. For the data gathering, two main tools were used, a survey identifying ten challenging words reported by A2.2 teachers and a series of pre- and post-test based on the workshop content. The results showed a significant main effect on students’ reading comprehension, pronunciation, and listening skills with pronunciation being the highest achievement. Therefore, these findings underscore the importance of integrating phonics acquisition into EFL curricula to encourage overall language competence.