Survey of English Pronunciation Teaching: College Teachers’ Practices and Attitudes

Page No.: 
253
Writer(s): 
Yuko Koike, Fukuoka Prefectural University

Reference Data:

Koike, Y. (2016). Survey of English pronunciation teaching: College teachers’ practices and attitudes. In P. Clements, A. Krause, & H. Brown (Eds.), Focus on the learner. Tokyo: JALT.

In the current age of globalization, acquiring intelligible English pronunciation is considered important for achieving successful communication. However, pronunciation does not receive as much attention as other aspects of second language acquisition and has not been integrated into ESL and EFL teaching. Several surveys have been conducted in English-speaking countries to examine ESL and EFL instructors’ teaching practices and attitudes toward teaching pronunciation. These studies showed that many instructors saw teaching pronunciation as important, but that they needed more training opportunities. The present study examines college-level English pronunciation teaching in Japan. College English instructors working in Japan were surveyed to discover their teaching practices and attitudes toward teaching pronunciation. The results indicate that instructors were relatively confident in their knowledge and ability to teach pronunciation. However, it is suggested that more development should be done with pronunciation-related curriculum for English education in Japan.

国際化が進む現代社会において、対話者に通じる英語の発音を習得することは円滑なコミュニケーションを進めるために重要である。しかし、発音は第二言語習得の他の領域ほど注意が向けられていず、第二言語/外国語教育に十分に組み込まれていないのが現状である。英語教員の発音指導の実態と発音教育に対する意識についての調査が英語圏で行われてきているが、多くの教員が発音教育の重要性を感じており、指導方法の訓練の機会を求めていることが報告されている。本論文は、日本の大学の英語教員対象のアンケート調査をもとに、発音教育の実態と教員の意識を考察するものである。調査の結果、教員は発音教育に関する知識や指導能力に対して比較的自信を持っている一方で、発音教育が組み込まれたカリキュラムの更なる充実が日本の英語教育において求められることが示された。

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