This study compares the phonics instruction with the whole language approach to literacy instruction in elementary English education and investigates the effects of the two approaches on literacy skills and affective factors. The experiment was conducted over eight weeks by sampling 56 fifth-graders at an elementary school in Seoul. The control group was given phonics instruction using English stories, whereas the experimental group was given the whole language approach using the same English stories. The instruments included pre- and post-reading and writing English tests and pre- and post-questionnaires. The analyses showed that the whole language approach had more positive effect than phonics instruction on improving learners’ English reading and writing ability. Furthermore, the whole language approach showed a positive change in the affective domain of interest, self-learning attitude and recognition, whereas two sectors of self-confidence and learning motivation did not show statistically significant difference compared to the control group. These results suggest that the whole language approach is more efficient than phonics instruction in developing learners’ literacy in elementary English education.

Language makes it possible for children to communicate with each other and has a great influence on their thinking and leaming. Since language is so closely related with children' s development of cognition and language skill, the language teaching in early infancy and the study of it have become more and more important. Language educators have realized the importance of the early Chinese teaching and its teaching method in China, where 21 million babies are bom every year. The first part of this paper focuses on the early Chinese teaching being practiced in China and gives a review of the developments of the early Chinese teaching. It combines the present situation of the early language education with "The Guidance Synopsis for Infant School Education" to find the characteristics of the early Chinese teaching. The who1e-language approach has been app1ied to the early Chinese teaching since the second half of years in 1990s. The second part of the paper studies the whole-1anguage approach to early Chinese teaching. The focus of this part is on how to app1y the approach in actua1 teaching. It gives practical examples to analyze the characteristics of the whole-language education. At last, the paper discusses some matters to be considered and problems to be solved when the who1e-language approach is applied to Chinese teaching in China. It a1so forecasts the future development of the whole-1anguage education.