Teachers’ Beliefs and Teaching Practices in Teaching Phonics to Lower Primary Learners

Abstract

In English language education, it is essential for young students to demonstrate proficiency in macro skills. Phonics scaffolding leads to more proficient macro skills but the mastery of phonics is frequently overlooked in the process of acquiring language proficiency, as educators frequently emphasize practicality rather than the technical and fundamental aspects of the language. Relevant research has demonstrated the significance of phonological awareness in English language instruction. However, current studies that focus on teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices’ relationship in phonological instruction is limited. Hence, this research aims to examine teachers’ beliefs and practices in teaching phonics to young learners. The research employed a survey design by distributing questionnaires to 150 lower primary teachers at suburban schools in Gua Musang, Kelantan, Malaysia. The findings indicated that there is a positive correlation between the teachers’ beliefs and their teaching practices, which demonstrates that teachers' beliefs and teaching practises influence young students’ phonics mastery. The significance of this study lies in its contribution of progressive and relevant approaches to the teaching and learning of English phonics.