“I feel like having a nervous breakdown”

Abstract

Evidence on the impact of second language teacher education is inconclusive in the area of pronunciation pedagogy. This study explores how the cognition (knowledge, beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and perceptions) of 10 pre-service and five in-service teachers developed during a postgraduate course on pronunciation pedagogy. Questionnaire items, focus group meetings, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and an assessment task were used to trace the development of participants’ beliefs and knowledge. Findings demonstrated that the development of the student teachers’ cognition was limited and the notion of integrating pronunciation into L2 lessons proved to be challenging for participants irrespective of their pronunciation teaching background. Also, while student teachers’ awareness about the benefits of kinesthetic/tactile teaching techniques increased, native English-speaking teachers without any pronunciation teaching experience appeared to be particularly susceptible to factors restricting cognition development. The paper concludes with a discussion about implications for language teacher educators preparing pronunciation instructors.

Implementing explicit pronunciation instruction: The case of a nonnative English-speaking teacher

“…Borg, 1998;Johnston & Goettsch, 2000;Phipps & Borg, 2009;Sanchez & Borg, 2014), an increase in research starting to analyse the beliefs and practices of pronunciation teachers did not occur until the last decade (e.g. Baker, 2011Baker, , 2014Baker & Burri, 2016;Baker & Murphy, 2011;Burri & Baker, 2019;Burri, Baker, & Chen, 2017;Buss, 2016;Couper, 2016Couper, , 2017Hismanoglu & Hismanoglu, 2010). These studies have demonstrated that pronunciation teachers exhibit a preference for controlled techniques like repetition (Baker, 2014;Buss, 2016;Hismanoglu & Hismanoglu, 2010); that pedagogical pronunciation training provides teachers with a variety of skills to implement in instruction (Baker, 2014;Baker & Burri, 2016;Burri & Baker, 2019;Burri, Baker & Chen, 2017); and that many teachers do not feel confident with their knowledge of certain aspects like phonetics and phonology to teach pronunciation (Couper, 2016(Couper, , 2017.…”

“…Baker, 2011Baker, , 2014Baker & Burri, 2016;Baker & Murphy, 2011;Burri & Baker, 2019;Burri, Baker, & Chen, 2017;Buss, 2016;Couper, 2016Couper, , 2017Hismanoglu & Hismanoglu, 2010). These studies have demonstrated that pronunciation teachers exhibit a preference for controlled techniques like repetition (Baker, 2014;Buss, 2016;Hismanoglu & Hismanoglu, 2010); that pedagogical pronunciation training provides teachers with a variety of skills to implement in instruction (Baker, 2014;Baker & Burri, 2016;Burri & Baker, 2019;Burri, Baker & Chen, 2017); and that many teachers do not feel confident with their knowledge of certain aspects like phonetics and phonology to teach pronunciation (Couper, 2016(Couper, , 2017. Despite the number of NNSTs in the field (Kamhi-Stein, 2014;Mahboob, 2010), and the key role of pronunciation in oral communication, one area that has been explored to a lesser extent is the beliefs and actual practices of NNSTs in pronunciation instruction.…”

Exploring the Connection between Teacher Training and Teacher Cognitions Related to L2 Pronunciation Instruction

“…Using data from 15 ESL/EFL student teachers in a graduate course on L2 pronunciation pedagogy, Burri conducted four separate studies to explore the connection between SLTC and SLTE. From those studies, he (and sometimes his co‐authors) found that exposure to different English accents enriched the trainees' knowledge about pronunciation teaching (Burri, 2015a) and that novice teachers perceived teaching pronunciation to be harder than experienced teachers (Burri, Baker, & Chen, 2017). Also, he found that the beliefs of the NNS trainees changed significantly because of a self‐perceived gain in their pronunciation (Burri, 2015b) and that a “mediational relationship between cognition development and identity construction” (p. 3) played a vital role in the development of the teachers’ learning of pronunciation pedagogy (Burri, Chen, & Baker, 2017).…”

Foneettinen osaaminen helpottaa vieraan kielen ääntämisen opettamista – kyselytutkimus suomalaisten kieltenopettajien käyttämistä ääntämisen opetusmenetelmistä

“…IPAa voitaisiin käyttää visuaalisena apuvälineenä linkittämään ääntöväylän liikkeet äänteisiin. Koko IPA-aakkoston ulkoa osaaminen on tarpeetonta usein vielä yliopistotason lingvistiikan opetuksessakin, mutta riittävä IPAn hallinta voi tarjota opettajalle kaivattua itseluottamusta ääntämisen opetukseen (Burri, Baker & Chen, 2017). Ääntämisen opetus muuttuu eksplisiittisemmäksi, kun ymmärretään ääntöväylän liikkeiden vaikutus tuotettujen äänteiden laatuun ja tehdään myös oppijat tietoiseksi tästä.…”

“…Täydennyskoulutuksen kehittämisen lisäksi yliopistojen tehtävä olisikin tarjota kieltenopettajaopiskelijoille monipuolista ääntämisen opetukseen liittyvää koulutusta, joka on tehokasta ja perustuu uusimpaan tutkimukseen. Foneettista tietoisuutta lisäävä ja ääntämisen opettamiseen keskittyvä koulutus hyödyntää yhtälailla niin kieltenopettajaopiskelijoita kuin valmiita opettajiakin (Burri, Baker & Chen, 2017).…”