Polish learners’ self-assessment and reflections on their pronunciation progress

Abstract

The aim of this pilot study is to describe, analyse and interpret the outcome of a pronunciation self-assessment task carried out by Polish learners of English at an academic level and their reflections on progress and what they believe they need in order to feel more successful as speakers of English in terms of pronunciation. It also attempts to discuss certain individual factors determining the perceptions of the learners’ performance. Seventeen Polish first-year university students of English philology were asked to assess their improvement in the production of individual English sounds based on two recording sessions that they had undergone at the beginning and at the end of the academic year, i.e. before and after a two-semester pronunciation course. The results of the students’ assessment were then compared with the teacher’s assessment. All of the participants were recorded reading a diagnostic passage which concentrates on examining individual segments of Standard British English (SBE). They were also asked a number of questions in the form of an open-ended questionnaire related to their attitudes and feelings towards certain mispronunciations and general performance in the two recording sessions, how they perceive the way they speak English, their opinions as to the most effective techniques and activities in pronunciation training.