A Case for Teaching Pronunciation to Adult EFL Learners, Using Metrical Versification

Abstract

Accent, rhythm, and intonation are significant features of the English language. The Intelligibility of EFL learners' speech is largely affected for lack of knowledge of correct use (or no use) of these suprasegmental features in the oral production of English. The pre-university EFL curriculum in Saudi Arabia ignores the teaching of suprasegmental features, whereas training in suprasegmental features should be an essential aspect of EFL teaching. Metrical poetry can be used as a practical medium to teach accent, rhythm, and intonation in speech. The two-fold objectives of the present research were (i) to test the efficacy of metrical poetry used as a medium to teach accent, rhythm, and intonation in English, and (ii) to argue for the inclusion of training in suprasegmental features of speech in the Saudi EFL curricula, either as a separate unit or as a larger section in the current prescribed books. In a quasi-experimental study conducted at a Saudi university, a randomly selected group of 60 undergraduate EFL learners were given training in accent, rhythm, and intonation in connected speech using metrical, rhymed poetry, over a period of three weeks. A comparative analysis of the participants’ pre- and post- test speech samples revealed that learners made noteworthy progress in their accent, rhythm, and intonation in connected speech. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.3.25 Â