Alphabetic Principle and Phonological Awareness for Korean Adult EFL Learners as Beginners

Abstract

This paper deals with the use of alphabetic principle and phonological awareness for Korean adult EFL learners at the beginning level. Alphabetic principle, phonological awareness, and oral reading skills are generally applied to the early language learners and some of the Korean adult learners who remain in the beginning level for an elongated period of time still lack those basic language skills. To verify the use of the knowledge in alphabetic principle, phonological awareness, and oral reading, 72 freshmen students were assigned in experimental and control groups. A phonological awareness test was performed to identify the beginning conditions of the participants and pre/post tests were implemented to find out the meaning of the progress made by the treatment. The knowledge on the alphabetic principle and phonological awareness functioned in the process of oral reading and the research treatment to the experimental group showed strong statistic significance superior to the control group. The absence of rudimentary language skills might interfere with appropriate and timely linguistic growth of the learners. For the EFL learners who have difficulty in accomplishing well-timed progression to higher levels beyond the beginning level, it might be effective for classroom teachers to consider replenishing the elementary linguistic skills to strengthen the basics of language learning.