EFL learners’ confidence, attitudes, and practice towards learning pronunciation

Abstract

Although pronunciation is part of the curriculum in many EFL education programs, it is often neglected in instruction. The study's rationale was to fill the literature gap and explore Saudi EFL learners’ confidence, attitudes, and practice towards learning pronunciation. To this end, the study recruited a convenience sample of 336 Saudi EFL learners majoring in English at a university in Saudi Arabia. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine: (i) learners’ pronunciation confidence level; (ii) whether enrollment in phonetic courses, travel to English‐speaking countries, and attitudes towards pronunciation affected learners’ confidence in their pronunciation; and (iii) learners’ reported pronunciation attitudes and practices. It was found that learners in this study have higher than neutral confidence in their pronunciation and hold a highly positive attitude towards English native‐like pronunciation. Interestingly, this study showed no statistically significant difference between those who had taken a phonetic(s) course and those who had not in terms of their confidence in their pronunciation. Therefore, this study urges instructors be aware of their learners’ needs in pronunciation, present appropriate materials, and further opportunities to practice various strategies.

The Negative Transfer of Chinese Phonology on Students English Accents and Its Impact on Accent Perception

“…Since this study found no apparent correlation between pronunciation accuracy and their perception of others' accents, the results can also echo other researchers' findings. Almusharraf also claimed that there isn't a correlation between the learners' production accuracy and perception of phonetic segments in a second language [18]. This phenomenon may be explained by the theory of first language "loyalty," which means confident second language learners may not bring production into conformity with perception for psychological reasons JE Flege [19].…”

“…Other experiments also got similar results. Almusharraf found that if learners have higher confidence than the neutral level in their pronunciation accuracy and hold a highly optimistic attitude towards English native-like pronunciation, they tend to have a more accurate perception of English [18]. The causes are related to language anxiety and linguistic self-confidence [20].…”

A study on pronunciation assessment of English learners based on temporal classification algorithm

“…The results describe the most and least used techniques for teaching pronunciation at three educational levels and Polish teachers' beliefs about teaching pronunciation. The literature [17] shows that English pronunciation is a part of the educational curriculum but is often neglected in teaching. A sample of learners majoring in English was recruited from a university in Saudi Arabia and statistically analyzed to determine the learners' level of pronunciation confidence, whether attitudes toward pronunciation influence learners' confidence in their pronunciation and learners' reported pronunciation attitudes and practices.…”