Phoneme Based English Learning System

It is widely accepted that English is recognised as an important language. However, in terms of proficiency, the level of English in Malaysia is not on par with international standards despite being heralded as a country with a high proficiency in the language. Although there has been governmental assistance given to improve the teaching methods in Malaysia, it does not touch upon the environment and methods of teaching. Language learning should be personalized to a degree, with a system that is tailored to suit the primary learner. Phonemic Awareness, a subset of phonics, is a method which focuses on learning the sounds of letters, and it has been seen as a method which helps increase reading and speech proficiency. The objective of this research is to understand the level of phonemic awareness in students, and to find out what is the best way to create a mobile application that caters to their needs, which then leads to the development of such an application. This research‟s scope covers kindergarten students, and by extension primary school students and the study of creating a Phoneme based English learning software for them. In doing so, it also covers the development of a standalone Flash based system, capable of running on most types of mobile phones. The system will be primarily developed using Adobe Flash Professional CS6. Next, the system will cover two methodologies: Qualitative Interviews for the Research Methodology, which is implemented because the interview relies on the teacher‟s experience in teaching; and Prototyping for the Development Methodology, as the system will undergo several revisions and refinements before being officially deployed to the public to ensure maximum usability. Although the system was initially planned with kindergarten students in mind, it seems that some kindergartens have already implemented some form of phonemic awareness methods in their current syllabus. However, insight has been given on the important elements needed in a learning based courseware, and that will serves as the basis for the implementation of the Mobile Phoneme Based English Learning System.