Learning Habits and Speech Intelligibility of EFL Learners

Abstract

The idea of intelligibility is essential within a conversation. The status of English as a global language and its emergence varieties, the notion of standard English (British and American) may no longer appropriate within the context of global communication. This leads to the importance of teaching learners to achieve intelligibility, which is more realistic and attainable rather than forcing the students to have native like proficiency. This study aimed to examine various learning habits that may affect the quality of intelligibility of EFL learners in an English Community namely GEC in Mandalika University of Education. Qualitative narrative research approach was used. The data were collected by using two instruments:(1) indirect observation by the of a native speaker acted as a rater; (2) face to face interview which aim to find out students’ strategies in improving their pronunciation. The subjects of the study were five members of GEC who met a set of criteria. Among the five students, two performed well in aspects like word stress, segmental pronunciation, and voice quality, and these high achievers showed active improvement in both receptive and productive English skills, while the predominant issue observed among these students stems from a lack of established learning habits that facilitate consistent practice, particularly in developing productive language skills, which affects their level of intelligibility in pronouncing English words