The Role of Phonological Awareness in Korean Elementary EFL Learners’ Word Reading

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between phonological awareness in the two languages of Korean elementary EFL learners and its predictive role in word decoding skills in English. 113 4th grade students enrolled in a Korean public elementary school were tested on a range of phonological awareness and emergent literacy skills measures, including word and pseudoword reading and English vocabulary knowledge. The findings indicate that their English phonological awareness was a significant predictor for their word reading skills, when controlling for the effects of outside-school English- learning factors, and that their Korean phonological awareness significantly explained their English reading abilities over and above their English phonological awareness. The results are discussed in terms of implications for phonological awareness training and phonics instruction.