Although previous studies have shown that many language teachers neglect pronunciation teaching, only a few of those studies have been conducted in EFL contexts. This study is therefore designed to investigate current pronunciation teaching practice, particularly teachers’ instructional decision-making and their backgrounds, at universities in Tokyo, Japan. In total 92 teachers participated in an online survey, and results showed that most respondents were teaching pronunciation as opposed previous studies where many in-service teachers reported to be neglecting pronunciation teaching. Furthermore, length of training in pronunciation teaching and confidence in knowledge about effective pronunciation teaching methods were significantly correlated. Respondents’ confidence in knowledge about effective pronunciation teaching methods was also found to be a significant predictor of the frequencies of use of explicit pronunciation teaching and mechanical drills, and confidence in diagnosing learners’ pronunciation significantly predicted the frequency of providing pronunciation models. As explicit instruction and providing feedback have been found to be effective in pronunciation teaching, teacher training with an emphasis on pedagogical pronunciation should be encouraged to foster knowledge of pronunciation instructional techniques in language teachers. With the knowledge through teacher training, they further gain confidence in teaching pronunciation and can then make informed instructional decisions.
Cite as: Yokomoto, K. (2016) Teacher Training and Approaches to EFL Pronunciation Teaching. Proc. International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (ISAPh 2016), 95-100, doi: 10.21437/ISAPh.2016-19
@inproceedings{yokomoto16_isaph,
author={Katsuya Yokomoto},
title={{Teacher Training and Approaches to EFL Pronunciation Teaching}},
year=2016,
booktitle={Proc. International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (ISAPh 2016)},
pages={95--100},
doi={10.21437/ISAPh.2016-19}
}