Abstract
This study investigated the impact of English Language proficiency testing on the pronunciation performance of undergraduates in South-west. Nigeria. The study was a descriptive survey research design. The target population size was 1243 (200-level) undergraduates drawn from eight tertiary institutions. The instruments used for data collection were the English Language Proficiency Test and Pronunciation Test. The English Language proficiency test was used to measure the performance of students in English Language and was adopted from the Post-UTME past questions from Babcock University Admissions Office on Post Unified Tertiary Admissions and Matriculation Examinations screening exercise (Post-UTME) for undergraduates in English and Linguistics. The test contains 20 objective English questions with optional answers. The instruments were validated through experts’ advice as the items in the instrument are considered appropriate in terms of subject content and instructional objectives while Cronbach alpha technique was used to estimate the reliability coefficient of the English Proficiency test, a value of 0.883 was obtained. The research questions were answered with mean and standard deviation while hypothesis was tested with Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study revealed that the mean value of the students’ English Proficiency and pronunciation scores were 66.36 and 74.21% respectively, which showed that the students’ English proficiency and pronunciation performance were above average and high result respectively; there was a significant positive relationship between proficiency in English Language and pronunciation performance of the students who participated in the study (r = 0.589; p < 0.05). Key words: English proficiency test, pronunciation, Language Testing, University, South-West.
Highlights
The following research questions were formulated to guide the study: 1. What is the level of English proficiency of Linguistics undergraduate students in the South-west geopolitical zone of Nigeria? 2
This study investigated the impact of English proficiency test scores of undergraduate students on their pronunciation performance
This means that the level of English proficiency which the undergraduate students in South-west geopolitical zone possess is above average
Summary
In their submission, Obisike et al (2019) regard language as the human existence trademark in which communication of humans and their relationship with one another is made possible. According to Kolawole and Oyinloye (2008), the most studied and generally desired language in the world is English Language, especially in the Nigerian society, starting from the nursery school to postsecondary school It is a verbal behaviour governed by rules that have attained international scope (Omale, 2019). Apart from the fact that it is the language used for instruction, it builds bridge across the barriers created by the existence of several ethnic groups and serves as the official language with which communication is done in all facets of political, economic and social lives
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