Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of multisensory phonics instruction in enhancing the phonemic awareness of Thai first-grade EFL students and explored learners’ perceptions of this approach. Using a quasi-experimental design, two intact classes comprising 40 students participated, with 20 students assigned to an experimental group and 20 to a control group. Both groups completed pretests on phoneme identification and phoneme segmentation to establish baseline equivalence. Over a six-week instructional period, the experimental group received multisensory phonics instruction integrating visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic modalities to strengthen phoneme–grapheme connections, while the control group followed traditional textbook-based instruction emphasizing reading and copying activities. Posttest data were analysed using paired-samples and independent-samples t-tests. Although both groups showed improvement, the experimental group demonstrated significantly greater gains. Their mean phoneme identification scores increased from 2.95 to 14.05, compared with the control group’s increase from 3.05 to 11.35. Similarly, the experimental group’s phoneme segmentation scores rose from 2.10 to 14.15, whereas the control group improved from 2.05 to 11.40. To complement the quantitative findings, focus group interviews were conducted with six students representing different proficiency levels. The qualitative results indicated generally positive perceptions of multisensory phonics instruction, including enhanced enjoyment, motivation, emotional support, and memory retention. However, some students experienced challenges related to oral confidence, language barriers, and performance anxiety, highlighting the need for instructional adaptations to address diverse learner needs.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.