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EFL INSTRUCTORS’ KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES REGARDING PRONUNCIATION IN TÜRKİYE*

Year 2024, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 368 - 384, 31.01.2024
https://doi.org/10.24315/tred.1374129

Abstract

The present study investigated EFL instructors’ perspectives and practices regarding pronunciation. Ninety-five EFL instructors from 25 different universities in Türkiye participated in the online survey study. The results showed that most instructors lacked proper training in teaching pronunciation. While many of the participants believed in the importance of teaching pronunciation in SLA, they allocated limited class time to it. They relied heavily on textbooks for teaching pronunciation. In teaching pronunciation, instructors aimed at making learners intelligible rather than eliminating their accents, and therefore they tended to correct pronunciation errors that negatively affect intelligibility. However, pronunciation was frequently ignored in the assessment by most instructors. Considering the findings, the study has implications for the inclusion of pronunciation in textbooks and curricula more intensively and effectively. The findings also reveal that there is a need for improved training programs for EFL instructors on pronunciation.

References

  • Baker, A. A. (2011). Discourse prosody and teachers' stated beliefs and practices. TESOL Journal, 2(3), 263-292. https://doi.org/10.5054/tj.2011.259955
  • Birney, M. E., Rabinovich, A., & Morton, T. A. (2020). Where are you from? An investigation into the intersectionality of accent strength and nationality status on perceptions of nonnative speakers in Britain. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(4), 495–515. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20932628.
  • Breitkreutz, J., Derwing, T. M., & Rossiter, M. J. (2001). Pronunciation teaching practices in Canada. TESL Canada Journal, 19(1), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v19i1.919
  • Buckingham, L. (2014). Attitudes to English teachers’ accents in the Gulf. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 50–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12058
  • Burgess, J., & Spencer, S. (2000). Phonology and pronunciation in integrated language teaching and teacher education. System, 28(2), 191-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(00)00007-5
  • Buss, L. (2016). Beliefs and practices of Brazilian EFL teachers regarding pronunciation. Language Teaching Research, 20(5), 619-637. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168815574145
  • Couper, G. (2006). The short and long-term effects of pronunciation instruction. Prospect, 21(1), 46–66.
  • Couper, G. (2011). What makes pronunciation teaching work? Testing for the effect of two variables: Socially constructed metalanguage and critical listening. Language Awareness, 20(3), 159–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2011.570347
  • Creswell, J. (2016). 30 essential skills for the qualitative researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Czajka, E. (2014). A qualitative and quantitative investigation into the relevance of pronunciation instruction: Piloting data collection tools. In D. Gabryś-Barker & A.Wojtaszek (Eds.), Studying second language acquisition from a qualitative perspective. (pp.175-188). Switzerland: Springer
  • Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2015). Pronunciation fundamentals: Evidence-based perspectives for L2 teaching and research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., & Wiebe, G. (1998). Evidence in favor of a broad framework for pronunciation instruction. Language Learning, 48(3), 393-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00047
  • Drewelow, I., & Theobald, A. (2007). A comparison of the attitudes of learners, instructors, and native French speakers about the pronunciation of French: An exploratory study. Foreign Language Annals, 40(3), 491–520. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2007.tb02872.x
  • Foote, J. A., Holtby, A., & Derwing, T. M. (2011). Survey of the teaching of pronunciation in adult ESL programs in Canada, 2010. TESL Canada Journal, 29(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v29i1.1086
  • Foote, J. A., Trofimovich, P., Collins, L., & Soler Urzúa, F. (2016). Pronunciation teaching practices in communicative ESL classes. The Language Learning Journal, 44(2), 181–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2013.784345
  • Formanowicz, M., & Suitner, C. (2020). Sounding strange(r): Origins, consequences, and boundary conditions of sociophonetic discrimination. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19884354
  • Hahn, L. (2004). Primary stress and intelligibility: Research to motivate the teaching of suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly, 38(2), 201–223. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588378
  • Hansen, K. (2020). Accent beliefs scale (ABS): Scale development and validation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 148–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19883903.
  • Henderson, A., Frost, D., Tergujeff, E., Kautzsch, A., Murphy, D., Kirkova-Naskova, A., & Curnick, L. (2012). The English pronunciation teaching in Europe survey: Selected results. Research in Language, 10(1), 5-27. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10015-011-0047-4
  • Hismanoglu, M., & Hismanoglu, S. (2010) Language teachers’ preferences of pronunciation teaching techniques: Traditional of modern? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 983-989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.138
  • Hood, M. (2009). Case study. In R. A. Croker & J. Heigham (Eds.), Qualitative research in applied linguistics: A practical introduction (pp. 66–90). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/97802302395174.
  • Huensch, A. (2019). Pronunciation in foreign language classrooms: Instructors’ training, classroom practices, and beliefs. Language Teaching Research, 23(6), 745-764. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818767182.
  • Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kennedy, S., & Trofimovich, P. (2017). Pronunciation acquisition. In S. Loewen & M. Sato (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of instructed second language acquisition (pp.260-279). New York: Routledge.
  • Lee, J., Jang, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). The effectiveness of second language pronunciation instruction: A meta-analysis. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 345–366. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amu040
  • Litzenberg, J. (2014). Pre-service teacher perspectives towards pedagogical uses of non-native and native speech samples. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 26(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12084
  • Macdonald, S. (2002). Pronunciation: Views and practices of reluctant teachers. Prospect, 17(3), 3–18.
  • Motohashi-Saigo, M., & Hardison, D. M. (2009). Acquisition of L2 Japanese geminates: Training with waveform displays. Language Learning & Technology, 13(2), 29–47.
  • Murphy, J., & Baker, A. (2015). History of pronunciation teaching. In M. Reed & J. M. Levis (Eds.), The handbook of English pronunciation (pp.35-65). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
  • Roessel, J., Schoel, C., & Stahlberg, D. (2019). Modern notions of accent-ism: Findings, conceptualizations, and implications for interventions and research on nonnative accents. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 87-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19884619.
  • Saito, K. (2012). Effects of instruction on L2 pronunciation development: A synthesis of 15 quasiexperimental intervention studies. TESOL Quarterly, 46(4), 842–854. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.67
  • Saito, K. (2013). The acquisitional value of recasts in instructed second language speech learning: Teaching the perception and production of English /ɹ/ to Adult Japanese Learners. Language Learning, 63(3), 499-529. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12015
  • Saito, K. (2015). Variables affecting the effects of recasts on L2 pronunciation development. Language Teaching Research, 19(3), 276–300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541753
  • Saito, K., & Lyster, R. (2012). Effects of form-focused instruction and corrective feedback on L2 pronunciation development of /ɹ/ by Japanese learners of English. Language Learning, 62(2), 595–633. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00639.x
  • Saito, K., Trofimovich, P., & Isaacs, T. (2015). Using listener judgements to investigate linguistic influences on L2 comprehensibility and accentedness: A validation and generalization study. Applied Linguistics, 38(4), 439-462. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv047
  • Saito, K., Trofimovich, P., & Isaacs, T. (2016). Second language speech production: Investigating linguistic correlates of comprehensibility and accentedness for learners at different ability levels. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37(2), 217–240. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716414000502
  • Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129-158.
  • Szyszka, M. (2016). English pronunciation teaching at different educational levels: Insights into teachers’ perceptions and actions. Research in Language, 14(2), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.1515/rela-2016-0007
  • Tergujeff, E. (2012). English pronunciation teaching: Four case studies from Finland. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3(4), 599–607.
  • Thomson, R. I. (2011). Computer assisted pronunciation training: Targeting second language vowel perception improves pronunciation. Calico Journal, 28(3), 744–765. https://doi.org/10.11139/cj.28.3.744-765
  • Thomson, R. I., & Derwing, T. M. (2015). The effectiveness of L2 pronunciation instruction: A narrative review. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 326–344. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amu076
  • Üstünbaş, Ü. (2018). Does pronunciation instruction make any sense? EFL learners and teachers’ beliefs. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 10(1), 71-84.
  • Yagiz, O. (2018). EFL language teachers’ cognitions and observed classroom practices about L2 pronunciation: The context of Turkey. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 12(2), 187–204.
  • Zhang, Q. (2013). The attitudes of Hong Kong students towards Hong Kong English and Mandarin accented English. English Today, 29(2), 9–16.

YABANCI DİL OLARAK İNGİLİZCE OKUTMANLARININ TÜRKİYE'DE TELAFFUZA İLİŞKİN BİLGİLERİ, İNANÇLARI VE SINIF İÇİ UYGULAMALARI

Year 2024, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 368 - 384, 31.01.2024
https://doi.org/10.24315/tred.1374129

Abstract

Bu çalışma, İngilizce eğitmenlerinin telaffuzla ilgili bakış açılarını ve uygulamalarını araştırmıştır. Çevrimiçi anket çalışmasına Türkiye'deki 25 farklı üniversiteden 95 İngilizce eğitmeni katılmıştır. Sonuçlar, çoğu eğitmenin telaffuz öğretimi konusunda uygun eğitimden yoksun olduğunu göstermiştir. Katılımcıların birçoğu telaffuz öğretiminin ikinci dil edinimindeki önemine inanmakla birlikte, bu konuya sınıfta sınırlı zaman ayırmışlardır. Telaffuz öğretimi için büyük ölçüde ders kitaplarına güvenmişlerdir. Telaffuz öğretiminde eğitmenler, öğrencilerin aksanlarını ortadan kaldırmak yerine anlaşılır hale getirmeyi amaçlamış ve bu nedenle anlaşılırlığı olumsuz etkileyen telaffuz hatalarını düzeltme eğiliminde olmuşlardır. Bununla birlikte, telaffuz çoğu eğitmen tarafından değerlendirmede sıklıkla göz ardı edilmiştir. Bulgular göz önünde bulundurulduğunda, çalışma, telaffuzun ders kitaplarına ve müfredata daha yoğun ve etkili bir şekilde dahil edilmesi için çıkarımlarda bulunmaktadır. Bulgular ayrıca, İngilizce öğretmenleri için telaffuz konusunda geliştirilmiş eğitim programlarına ihtiyaç olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.

References

  • Baker, A. A. (2011). Discourse prosody and teachers' stated beliefs and practices. TESOL Journal, 2(3), 263-292. https://doi.org/10.5054/tj.2011.259955
  • Birney, M. E., Rabinovich, A., & Morton, T. A. (2020). Where are you from? An investigation into the intersectionality of accent strength and nationality status on perceptions of nonnative speakers in Britain. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(4), 495–515. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20932628.
  • Breitkreutz, J., Derwing, T. M., & Rossiter, M. J. (2001). Pronunciation teaching practices in Canada. TESL Canada Journal, 19(1), 51-61. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v19i1.919
  • Buckingham, L. (2014). Attitudes to English teachers’ accents in the Gulf. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 50–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12058
  • Burgess, J., & Spencer, S. (2000). Phonology and pronunciation in integrated language teaching and teacher education. System, 28(2), 191-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(00)00007-5
  • Buss, L. (2016). Beliefs and practices of Brazilian EFL teachers regarding pronunciation. Language Teaching Research, 20(5), 619-637. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168815574145
  • Couper, G. (2006). The short and long-term effects of pronunciation instruction. Prospect, 21(1), 46–66.
  • Couper, G. (2011). What makes pronunciation teaching work? Testing for the effect of two variables: Socially constructed metalanguage and critical listening. Language Awareness, 20(3), 159–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2011.570347
  • Creswell, J. (2016). 30 essential skills for the qualitative researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Czajka, E. (2014). A qualitative and quantitative investigation into the relevance of pronunciation instruction: Piloting data collection tools. In D. Gabryś-Barker & A.Wojtaszek (Eds.), Studying second language acquisition from a qualitative perspective. (pp.175-188). Switzerland: Springer
  • Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2015). Pronunciation fundamentals: Evidence-based perspectives for L2 teaching and research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., & Wiebe, G. (1998). Evidence in favor of a broad framework for pronunciation instruction. Language Learning, 48(3), 393-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00047
  • Drewelow, I., & Theobald, A. (2007). A comparison of the attitudes of learners, instructors, and native French speakers about the pronunciation of French: An exploratory study. Foreign Language Annals, 40(3), 491–520. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2007.tb02872.x
  • Foote, J. A., Holtby, A., & Derwing, T. M. (2011). Survey of the teaching of pronunciation in adult ESL programs in Canada, 2010. TESL Canada Journal, 29(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v29i1.1086
  • Foote, J. A., Trofimovich, P., Collins, L., & Soler Urzúa, F. (2016). Pronunciation teaching practices in communicative ESL classes. The Language Learning Journal, 44(2), 181–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2013.784345
  • Formanowicz, M., & Suitner, C. (2020). Sounding strange(r): Origins, consequences, and boundary conditions of sociophonetic discrimination. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19884354
  • Hahn, L. (2004). Primary stress and intelligibility: Research to motivate the teaching of suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly, 38(2), 201–223. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588378
  • Hansen, K. (2020). Accent beliefs scale (ABS): Scale development and validation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 148–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19883903.
  • Henderson, A., Frost, D., Tergujeff, E., Kautzsch, A., Murphy, D., Kirkova-Naskova, A., & Curnick, L. (2012). The English pronunciation teaching in Europe survey: Selected results. Research in Language, 10(1), 5-27. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10015-011-0047-4
  • Hismanoglu, M., & Hismanoglu, S. (2010) Language teachers’ preferences of pronunciation teaching techniques: Traditional of modern? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 983-989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.138
  • Hood, M. (2009). Case study. In R. A. Croker & J. Heigham (Eds.), Qualitative research in applied linguistics: A practical introduction (pp. 66–90). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/97802302395174.
  • Huensch, A. (2019). Pronunciation in foreign language classrooms: Instructors’ training, classroom practices, and beliefs. Language Teaching Research, 23(6), 745-764. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818767182.
  • Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kennedy, S., & Trofimovich, P. (2017). Pronunciation acquisition. In S. Loewen & M. Sato (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of instructed second language acquisition (pp.260-279). New York: Routledge.
  • Lee, J., Jang, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). The effectiveness of second language pronunciation instruction: A meta-analysis. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 345–366. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amu040
  • Litzenberg, J. (2014). Pre-service teacher perspectives towards pedagogical uses of non-native and native speech samples. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 26(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12084
  • Macdonald, S. (2002). Pronunciation: Views and practices of reluctant teachers. Prospect, 17(3), 3–18.
  • Motohashi-Saigo, M., & Hardison, D. M. (2009). Acquisition of L2 Japanese geminates: Training with waveform displays. Language Learning & Technology, 13(2), 29–47.
  • Murphy, J., & Baker, A. (2015). History of pronunciation teaching. In M. Reed & J. M. Levis (Eds.), The handbook of English pronunciation (pp.35-65). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
  • Roessel, J., Schoel, C., & Stahlberg, D. (2019). Modern notions of accent-ism: Findings, conceptualizations, and implications for interventions and research on nonnative accents. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 87-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19884619.
  • Saito, K. (2012). Effects of instruction on L2 pronunciation development: A synthesis of 15 quasiexperimental intervention studies. TESOL Quarterly, 46(4), 842–854. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.67
  • Saito, K. (2013). The acquisitional value of recasts in instructed second language speech learning: Teaching the perception and production of English /ɹ/ to Adult Japanese Learners. Language Learning, 63(3), 499-529. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12015
  • Saito, K. (2015). Variables affecting the effects of recasts on L2 pronunciation development. Language Teaching Research, 19(3), 276–300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541753
  • Saito, K., & Lyster, R. (2012). Effects of form-focused instruction and corrective feedback on L2 pronunciation development of /ɹ/ by Japanese learners of English. Language Learning, 62(2), 595–633. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00639.x
  • Saito, K., Trofimovich, P., & Isaacs, T. (2015). Using listener judgements to investigate linguistic influences on L2 comprehensibility and accentedness: A validation and generalization study. Applied Linguistics, 38(4), 439-462. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv047
  • Saito, K., Trofimovich, P., & Isaacs, T. (2016). Second language speech production: Investigating linguistic correlates of comprehensibility and accentedness for learners at different ability levels. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37(2), 217–240. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716414000502
  • Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129-158.
  • Szyszka, M. (2016). English pronunciation teaching at different educational levels: Insights into teachers’ perceptions and actions. Research in Language, 14(2), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.1515/rela-2016-0007
  • Tergujeff, E. (2012). English pronunciation teaching: Four case studies from Finland. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3(4), 599–607.
  • Thomson, R. I. (2011). Computer assisted pronunciation training: Targeting second language vowel perception improves pronunciation. Calico Journal, 28(3), 744–765. https://doi.org/10.11139/cj.28.3.744-765
  • Thomson, R. I., & Derwing, T. M. (2015). The effectiveness of L2 pronunciation instruction: A narrative review. Applied Linguistics, 36(3), 326–344. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amu076
  • Üstünbaş, Ü. (2018). Does pronunciation instruction make any sense? EFL learners and teachers’ beliefs. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 10(1), 71-84.
  • Yagiz, O. (2018). EFL language teachers’ cognitions and observed classroom practices about L2 pronunciation: The context of Turkey. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 12(2), 187–204.
  • Zhang, Q. (2013). The attitudes of Hong Kong students towards Hong Kong English and Mandarin accented English. English Today, 29(2), 9–16.
There are 44 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Vocational Education and Instraction(Other)
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Esra Çam 0000-0002-7598-2606

Early Pub Date January 26, 2024
Publication Date January 31, 2024
Submission Date October 10, 2023
Acceptance Date December 4, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2024 Volume: 14 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Çam, E. (2024). EFL INSTRUCTORS’ KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES REGARDING PRONUNCIATION IN TÜRKİYE*. Trakya Eğitim Dergisi, 14(1), 368-384. https://doi.org/10.24315/tred.1374129