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Abstract

This classroom-based mixed-methods study investigated a 16-week, principle-based phonics program that explicitly taught grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs) to Grade 5 Taiwanese EFL learners. Twelve students completed a researcher-developed 50-word dictation at pretest (T1), posttest (T2), and a 15-week delayed test (T3), and provided anonymous written reflections. Nonparametric analyses (Wilcoxon signed-rank; McNemar) showed robust and durable gains: mean dictation accuracy increased from 56.00% at T1 to 78.00% at T2 and 88.83% at T3, and every learner maintained or exceeded posttest performance at delayed testing. Feature-level error tracking revealed significant improvement in six targeted areas, including letter-name vowel mappings for /ɛ/ and /æ/, intervocalic /ɾ/ flapping contexts ( vs. ), nasals before stops, consonant clusters, and -/- → /ʃən/ spellings, with only minor relapse at T3. Reflections indicated greater rule awareness, more rule-guided self-correction, and fewer disruptions during drafting. Instructional implications include spaced micro-retrieval, spiral review, and rule-prompted revision; limitations include a single-group design, a small high-achieving sample, and reuse of the same test form. Lessons followed a consistent cycle of rule explanation, guided decoding, read-alouds, word-sorting, dictation, and short composition tasks that prompted learners to apply newly learned patterns in context. Students reported increased confidence when revising spelling during writing.

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/content/journals/10.1075/ltyl.25060.yeh
2026-04-21
2026-05-11

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/content/journals/10.1075/ltyl.25060.yeh
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Principle-based phonics instruction for grapheme-phoneme correspondences and long-term spelling retention in Grade 5 EFL classrooms
John Benjamins ; https://doi.org/10.1075/ltyl.25060.yeh
/content/journals/10.1075/ltyl.25060.yeh
/content/journals/10.1075/ltyl.25060.yeh
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: invented spelling ; grapheme–phoneme correspondence ; phonics ; orthographic mapping ; writing assessment ; spaced retrieval ; elementary EFL context

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