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A Correlational Study of Phonological Awareness and Spelling of Words

Author: YuChaoChao
Tutor: YangHuiLan
School: Chinese Geology University (Beijing)
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: phonological awareness spelling errors spelling ability English teaching
CLC: H319.3
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2013
Downloads: 39
Quote: 0
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Abstract


English has been a language widely used all over the world. One of the obstaclesthat Chinese students come across in English learning is vocabulary, particularlyspelling, which is very time consuming. As English, unlike Chinese, is an alphabeticlanguage, the author believes that it is efficient to spell based on the pronunciation.Except loan words, a large majority of words can be learnt in such a way. In this thesis,the author studies the correlation between phonological awareness and spelling ofwords by a quasi-experiment. Phonological awareness, an ability to reflect and controlphoneme segments of language, is also a metalinguistic ability.This thesis includes four chapters: introduction, literature review, researchquestions and methodology, data analysis and results. In order to study the relationbetween phonological awareness and spelling, the author conducts a small-scalequasi-experiment including two groups, the control group and the experimental group,both from the original English classes for graduate students of science. Three testes–pre-test, mid-test and final test–are done in both groups and eight exercises aboutspelling rules are done in the experimental group to develop their phonologicalawareness. The experimental group practices a certain spelling rule repeatedly in eachexercise.This thesis has reaped three results. Firstly, the students are found to have almost nophonological awareness and seldom spell in this way. According to my personalteaching experience, they learn words mechanically. Secondly, according to the dataanalysis of spelling errors in the mid-test and the final test, the author finds that theexperimental group to a great extent has developed phonological awareness which hashelped their spelling. Among the30subjects, the students scoring more than fivepoints in the three tests are11,20and23respectively, a persistent increasing tendency(Ten points are the full score.). Most of them can pass the last two tests. The controlgroup has changed little:8,9and13of them score more than five points in the threesuccessive tests. Most of them still cannot get a qualified grade in the last two tests.What’s more, phonological awareness enhances their spelling. Thirdly, based on the analysis of spelling errors in the three tests, the author finds other spelling errorswhich are not made as a result of lack of phonological awareness, for example theneglect of singular and plural forms, tense and so on. They are also the sources ofspelling errors.The results imply that teachers as a part of their teaching should raise students’awareness of spelling rules. When learners can efficiently learn words by heart,learning may not be labor and chore and even their general English proficiency willbe elevated as a result.

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CLC: > Language, writing > FOREIGN > English > Language teaching > Teaching method
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