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In:Early Language Education in Instructed Contexts: Current issues and empirical insights into teaching and learning languages in primary school
Edited by Stefanie Frisch and Karen Glaser
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 62] 2025
► pp. 94–117

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Chapter 5
Paving the way for L2 literacy skills from the start — raising phonographic awareness in the primary English language classroom

 | Leipzig University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 22 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.62.05sch
Abstract
This paper adopts a conversation-analytic (CA) approach to analyze L2 English (L2E) phonics instruction in a primary school setting. Specifically, it argues that the identification of interactional sequences that create learning opportunities can provide valuable insights that ultimately inform teachers’ pedagogical practices (Sert, 2021). Focusing on the teaching of split digraphs via the Magic E analogy in a German 3rd grade primary classroom, the analysis shows that phonics teaching, originally developed for L1 English literacy instruction, can raise phonographic awareness and lay the foundation for literacy skills in L2E by fostering the acquisition of sound-letter relationships, as illustrated by the learners’ competence gains elicited through read-aloud tests. Implications for phonics-based teaching of English in primary contexts are discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1The English writing system, split digraphs, and Magic E
    • 2.2Previous research on phonics instruction
  • 3.Research aims and methodology
    • 3.1Research aims and questions
    • 3.2Data
    • 3.3Intervention
    • 3.4Data analysis
      • 3.4.1Conversation Analysis of classroom interaction
      • 3.4.2Analysis of read-alouds
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Introduction of split digraphs
    • 4.2Practice of split digraphs
    • 4.3Understanding exceptions to the rule
    • 4.4Identification of split digraphs by the learners
    • 4.5Drawing analogies to similar phenomena
    • 4.6Learners’ performance in the read-aloud tests
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Link to previous research
    • 5.2Limitations
  • 6.Conclusion
    • 6.1Implications for research
    • 6.2Implications for teaching practice and teacher education
  • Note
  • References
  • Appendix
References (37)
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