Learner Beliefs

Research questions: There is concern that pronunciation is a neglected element at schools (e.g. Derwing 2009), and pronunciation mistakes may even lead to communication apprehension (Baran-Łucarz 2014). The importance and goals of pronunciation teaching have also interested researchers in recent years (e.g. Jenkins 2000). Often studies also focus on the learners and their opinions (e.g. Waniek-Klimczak & Klimczak 2005). In this study we wanted to explore the learner perspective on the pronunciation of English. We focused on three questions: 1. How much emphasis do university students of English think earlier education has placed on spoken language? 2. What is the importance of pronunciation in comparison to other language skills? 3. How do learners evaluate their skills and the goals they set for themselves?
Method: We collected data with a questionnaire from first-year university students (n=112) of English in connection with a lecture course on English phonetics. The questionnaire had statements in random order, and the subjects were asked to respond on a 5-step Likert scale. Many subjects (n=73) were also taking a practical pronunciation course at the time of the questionnaire. We analysed the answers statistically, compared questions and groups of subjects. The quantitative data are being complemented by semi-structured interviews to strengthen and deepen the analysis.
Results: The students thought that spoken English and pronunciation had not been much focused on in earlier education; especially those students who attended pronunciation training at the same time were of the opinion that pronunciation had not been taught before. The students were also of the opinion that they often pay attention to their own pronunciation and thought that pronunciation is more important than grammar but less important than vocabulary for their communication skills. It also seems that pronunciation teaching further increases students’ interest in pronunciation. As for their goals, the students valued native accents and often had native accents as their learning goal. Attitudes towards their own native accent in English were very negative. Consonants were considered more challenging to pronounce than vowels. The results suggest that explicit pronunciation training also seems to decrease students’ confidence when speaking English. In our presentation, we will also discuss how the interview data correlated with the quantitative findings.
Conclusions: Our study shows that university students of English are active learners who have high learning goals. Our study supports earlier findings in that earlier education seems to neglect spoken language and pronunciation training. The study also shows how explicit pronunciation training makes learners more aware of the linguistic skills they think they should possess. Moreover the study shows that explicit teaching might also have a negative effect on learners’ confidence. Next the quantitative results will be complemented by the interview data to draw more specific conclusions. The tendency to use the middle values in answers on the Likert scale also sets limitations to the analysis.