Journal 1: Based on Chapter 2 Learning to Recognize and Spell Words

Suppose your son, nine years old, does not read in English yet, so you decided to send him to Hakwon. But 3 months later he ended up feeling that English is simply a nightmare. He hates doing phonics workbook and memorizing words. He doesn't want to go to Hakwon anymore. You are anxoius and worried about your only son. How would you help him enjoy reading in English?

Research shows that it is vitally important for children to have a solid start in reading. The ability to read is essential to being abl to learn any subject taught in school: many have even stated that reading is the key to success at school and in life! 

The topic for this journal entry discusses about a fundamental problem which affects many children, not just in EFL environments but even in English speaking countries, like the United States. An educational survey conducted (U.S.) showed that 44%o the 4th grade children nation wide are not able to read at or above the basic, or partial mastery, level on the Nationl Assessment of Education Progress test.
The problem of poor reading ability may be traced back to children's experience of learning phonemic awareness and phonics.  This is mainly due to the fact that reading is not automatic but must be learned. Whether or not the children are native speakers of English, they must first develop a conscious awareness that the letters on the page represent the sounds of the spoken word (phonemic awareness) and followed by a thorough, systematic phonics approach for reading instruction.

Teaching phonics in EFL situation presents a bigger challenge in many aspects: 1) children typically begin learning English as a foreign language much later than native speaking children; 2) lack of exposure to target language outside the classroom; 3) lower vocabulary skills; 4) age-inappropriate phonics approach to reading instruction; 5) negative perception learning phonics as being tedious and boring. This may be the case of this nine-year old boy who is unable to read and unwilling to learn phonics. Since the boy is much older than children who typically learn phonics (at around age 7) in English speaking countries, approach to teaching phonis must be modified to match his cognitive level. Even though he cannot read in L2, his L1 learning experience would facilitate his understanding of learning a language. In addition, he should be able to learn sight words, word fmilies, prefixes, and suffixes faster,: deliberate learning of essential words and rules regarding sounds and spelling will help his phonics approach to reading instruction. When teaching older learners, strategy training is necessary and helpful to expedite the learning process.

Finally, phonics instruction should be designed to cover affective, cognitive, and social factors for more effective learning experiences that gauge language learners.