Enhancing Reading Comprehension among EFL Learners: The Effectiveness of Phonological Awareness Interventions

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of PA intervention on the reading comprehension performance of Chinese EFL learners. A total of 88 students from a senior high school in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, participated in this study, with 44 students assigned to the experimental group and 44 to the control group. This study employed a quasi-experimental approach using a pre-test and post-test design. Both groups completed pre- and post-tests, but only the experimental group received PA intervention, which integrated phonics instruction, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and the analogy teaching method. The control group received delayed intervention to minimize potential bias. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 29. Descriptive statistics and paired sample t-test methods were applied. The results revealed a significant mean difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group (Mpre = 18.41, SD = 4.33; Mpost = 22.64, SD = 5.03), indicating that PA intervention significantly enhanced reading comprehension performance. It was concluded that targeted PA-based instruction can effectively improve EFL learners’ reading comprehension, offering practical implications for English teaching in Chinese secondary schools.