This study focuses on the competency structure factors of elementary school English teachers under China’s new curriculum standards, aiming to reveal the core competencies that teachers should possess in the context of education in the new era. Through the comprehensive application of qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaire survey methods, this study provides an in-depth analysis of the competency structure of primary English teachers. It was found that the competency structure of elementary school English teachers is mainly composed of six dimensions: professionalism, personality traits, teaching ability, student views, teaching organization strategy and research ability. These dimensions work together to influence teachers’ teaching effectiveness and students’ learning effectiveness. The study also found that there were significant differences in the competency characteristics of elementary school English teachers across gender, teaching experience and educational qualifications. In general, this study provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for the professional development of elementary school English teachers, which can help to improve the quality of teachers’ teaching and promote the comprehensive development of students.

With the development of globalization and diversification, more and more people attach importance to English, and a great number of primary schools in China begin to attach importance to English teaching. As an international mainstream English teaching method, phonics has gradually been used in primary school education in China. Phonics guides students to match letters or letter combinations in the words with sounds, and read or spell words through these pronunciation rules, so that students can learn the vocabulary in a relaxed and pleasant way. It will also reduce obstacles to reading and writing words, and improve students’ learning efficiency. However, there are still some problems in primary school English teaching in China, such as lack of systematic teaching, neglect of phonetic symbol learning and neglect of word meaning, which need to be further improved so that phonics can better assist primary school English teaching.