محمدرضا شمس الدینی

Early years of learning a language play a critical role in students' achievement and/or failure in educational contexts. Knowledgeable teachers could lead students to the proper direction and help them to become literate in a language. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between phonics teachers' knowledge and Persian early learners' English literacy skills improvement. Five phonics teachers and their students (N=39) participated in the study. Phonics teachers were assessed based on an adapted version of Basic Language Constructs survey. Their students were also assessed in three areas of English literacy skills namely spelling abilities, phonological awareness, and pseudo word reading. In order to examine students in these areas a dictation task and two subtests of DIBELS measurements (Phoneme Segmentation Fluency and Nonsense Word Fluency) were used. While teachers showed limited knowledge of basic language constructs, the overall results indicated a positive relationship between teachers phonics knowledge and students' literacy skills development. However, the relationship between teachers' phonics knowledge and students' spelling abilities and pseudo word reading did not reach a significant point. These findings suggest the importance of assessing beginning reading teachers' knowledge of basic language constructs in every stage of their teaching practice. In addition, assessing students' literacy skills in the first stages of becoming literate in a language can prevent later failure and provides useful feedback for teachers to recognize students' at risk of learning deficits. Relating the findings of teachers and students' assessments could also be beneficial for school principals, educational policy makers, and stakeholders in order to provide useful preventive and intervention programs.