French Teachers of English: Are They Trained to Teach English Pronunciation and Oral Comprehension Properly?

Abstract

Many researchers agree to say that English teachers generally lack adequate skills to teach pronunciation properly (Macdonald, 2002; Chen & Goh, 2010), and that "there is a definite need for more courses for ESL teachers" (Derwing, 2010, p.27). We propose to present a survey that was conducted with 60 French primary school teachers and 71 secondary school teachers of English. The study was conducted in several private and public primary schools and high schools. Through a questionnaire, it focused on teachers’ self-efficacy (i.e their "individual beliefs about their own abilities to perform [the teaching of English pronunciation] (…) and achieve specific results" (Chen & Goh, 2010, p.333), on how the teachers working in these schools were trained (or not) to teach English pronunciation, and how they are used to working on pronunciation and oral comprehension in their classes. An analysis of the responses will make it possible to answer the following questions: what is the profile of primary school teachers and secondary school teachers in France? What are their needs and objectives? Are they capable of teaching English pronunciation efficiently and what can we objectively expect from them?

12 | 2 | 2023

“…Szpyra-Kozłowska, 2008;Coates et al 2017;Kralova, Kucerka 2019). Several studies 8 have shown that one of the problems related to the lack of interest in pronunciation development is that non-native EFL teachers often have a very low phonetic competence, which leads them to neglect both pronunciation instruction per se and the correction of their learners' errors in this area, with obvious repercussions on the development of the learner's own pronunciation skill (Petsy 2022). The question arises as to why many EFL teachers -"who (theoretically) should speak […][English]fluently as they serve as models for their students […] with regard to pronunciation" (Lipińska, 2018, 98) -show such a low phonetic competence, which is accompanied by a profound unwillingness to include pronunciation in their syllabus (Petsy 2022).…”

“…This is even more so when it comes to English pronunciation, which seems to be a widespread matter of concern (e.g. Hismanoglu and Hismanoglu 2013;Petsy 2022). One may wonder why primary school teachers are far more worried about teaching English than they are about teaching any other subject, considering that English is one of the disciplines included in all Primary Education curricula, just like Maths, History, Geography, etc.…”

“…In Italy, for example, according to the already mentioned Italian law (Financial Law 311/2004), graduates in Primary Education are officially the only ones who can teach English in publicly funded primary schools, while language specialists are (paradoxically) non abilitati. 10 This is quite common in most non-English-speaking countries, which is why it seems reasonable to reflect on what one can objectively expect from primary teachers when it comes to teaching English (Petsy 2022), and to focus on whether -and possibly how -non-native primary teachers are supported in their role of English instructors, especially with regard to pronunciation, a widely neglected area. An exploration of this issue could shed light on any possible weaknesses of primary education curricula and training in EFL, and on any possible flaws of ELT (English Language Teaching) materials and resources for YLs and YLs' teachers alike.…”