The Status of Pronunciation Teaching: its Approach, Place and Teachers’ Beliefs and Efficacy Four Elementary Scools in Amhara Region in Focus
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Date
2008-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to determine the current status of pronunciation teaching in elementary schools. This was attempted by exploring the beliefs and self- efficacy teachers hold about the roles of pronunciation and their capabilities in teaching pronunciation, the approach of pronunciation teaching and its place in the students’ textbooks. The subjects of the study were both grades 7 and 8 English teachers in the four available elementary and junior secondary schools in Injibara Town, Amhara Region. All 13 (5 male and 8 female) teachers were taken for the main study. For the purpose of gathering sufficient and reliable data, four instruments-questionnaire, focus group discussion, classroom observation and textbook evaluation-were used. The questionnaire was deployed mainly to elicit information about the teachers’ perceptions (beliefs and self-efficacy) and the approaches and procedures they employ in the teaching of pronunciation. The textbooks were also assessed to evaluate the coverage and approach of pronunciation in students’ textbooks and in the overall EFL instruction. The focus group discussion and classroom observation were used mainly to triangulate and enrich the data gathered through questionnaire and textbook evaluation. The data were then analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In this study, the teachers were found to have strong belief about the roles of pronunciation while they were found to have low level of self efficacy. Their classroom practices, however, greatly diverged from the belief they possessed about the roles of pronunciation, but it enormously converged on their self-efficacy. They usually felt that they are incompetent to teach it. Yet there was no a significant relationship between their belief and self efficacy results. The approaches and procedures they employ are far from the current rationales and trends of EFL pronunciation instruction. The textbook evaluation result also revealed the fact that pronunciation has got little or ‘almost no’ provision in students’ textbooks and in the overall EFL instruction. In general, the prevailing situations and practices clearly show that the current status of pronunciation teaching is not on the right track. It is rather downgraded as it was in the periods of late 1960s and early 1970s. Therefore, it is pertinent to upgrade the teachers’ theoretical and practical competence in the teaching of pronunciation. Teacher training institutions should also evaluate their EFL programmes to see whether they are working beyond giving lip service to the usefulness of communicative approach to trainees. Besides, language curriculum designers and text book writers need to reconsider the coverage and approach of teaching pronunciation in the students’ textbooks and in the overall EFL instruction.
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Pronunciation Teaching