Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Instruction in a Teacher Preparation Program

This mixed methods study examines the achievement and perceptions of approximately 100 pre-field elementary education teachers enrolled in a literacy methods class with specific instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness. Quantitative data was collected from the course-embedded pre-test and post-test and analyzed by descriptive statistics. Qualitative data was collected from a student questionnaire on phonics instruction and was analyzed using conventional and summative content analysis. The results of the study show that students made a 30% growth in phonics-related skills from the pre-test to the post-test. Approximately 80% of the pre-field teachers felt prepared to teach phonics at the end of the course while the class average on the post-test was 70%. The qualitative results aligned with the quantitative results in regards to the areas of phonics which pre-field teachers identified as easiest and most challenging. Findings are compared with current literature on the topic.