The main aim of this MA thesis is to address literacy development in English textbooks used in the second cycle of primary school. As literacy skills in the mother, as well as foreign language, are important, if not essential, the research explores which methods of literacy instruction are present in English lessons.
The first part presents the reading process and the differences between the English and Slovenian writing systems. An overview of methods of literacy instruction in English speaking countries and in Slovenia follows. The methods are: the synthetic, analytical, and global method. Equal use of all three yields the best results when teaching and developing literacy. Some common problems that can occur when teaching literacy skills are listed, because the English and Slovenian languages are orthographically very different.
The empirical part contains an analysis of nine English textbooks: three for 4th grade, three for 5th grade and three for 6th grade. The aim of the empirical research was to answer five questions: is there explicit phonological instruction in the textbooks; whether textbooks address the letter-sound correspondence; whether textbooks teach the English alphabet; whether textbooks strengthen phonemic awareness and how; and what method of literacy prevails in these textbooks. The results show that each unit in the textbooks analyzed has at least one task that develops and encourages the literacy process, but systematic literacy development in coursebooks is still in large part neglected.
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