THE PHONICS METHOD IN TEACHING EFL PRONUNCIATION TO YOUNG LEARNERS WITH DYSLEXIA

Abstract

The Phonics method brings more logic into the correspondence between English pronunciation and spelling. Therefore, it might be beneficial for learners with special educational needs (namely dyslexia). The study investigates the effectiveness of the Phonics method in teaching English pronunciation to young non-native learners comparing the achievement of the intact and the integrated learners. The Phonics method was applied for five months in the experimental group, and other, more traditional methods for teaching EFL pronunciation were applied in the control group at an elementary school in Slovakia. Both groups consisted of the intact and the integrated learners (experimental group: 19 intact and 2 integrated learners; control group: 17 intact and 2 integrated learners). The learners underwent a dictation and a reading test in pre-test and post-test, and the results indicate the benefit of the Phonics method for all learners with significant improvement among learners with dyslexia. The integrated learners՚ improvement rate was nearly six times (dictation)/three times (reading test) higher in the experimental group than in the control group.