Exploring EFL Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices Regarding Pronunciation Teaching in a Saudi Setting

Abstract

Recent research has shown that explicit pronunciation teaching is effective in improving learners’ speech comprehensibility, and many studies have presented effective ways to teach pronunciation (Thomson & Derwing, 2014). However, it is still not yet known in many EFL (English as a foreign language) settings whether this finding has any effect on the current beliefs and practices of English language teachers. The current study examines what EFL teachers in a Saudi EFL context believe about teaching pronunciation, how they teach pronunciation, and what pronunciation training they have. Fifty-five English language teachers at the English Language Center at Taif University in Saudi Arabia were asked to complete an online survey regarding pronunciation teaching. Their responses were subjected to quantitative descriptive analysis. The results revealed that the teachers highly valued pronunciation teaching, and most of them considered it as important as teaching other language skills. In addition, most of the teachers reported incorporating pronunciation teaching into their English classes. The unavailability of pronunciation materials and technological recourses forced the teachers to employ traditional strategies to teaching pronunciation. The findings also showed a lack of specific pronunciation training available to the teachers, though the teachers desired to have more training opportunities.