Promoting the correct production of English sounds in extensive reading-circle classes: Explicit vs. implicit pronunciation training

Abstract

Correct pronunciation of English words is of vital significance for mutual intelligibility in the EFL context. Despite its prominence in L2 learning, teachers of English cannot decide whether and how to implement pronunciation practice into their teaching practices. For this reason, pronunciation training is widely neglected in language classes or learners of English might learn incorrect pronunciation of segmental units causing fossilization in L2 setting. The importance of pronunciation training has been highlighted in the related literature. Keeping this fact in mind, this study aims to explore whether explicit pronunciation instruction has a superiority over implicit instruction in extensive reading classes. To reach this purpose, two groups of successive B1-level Intensive English Program (IEP) students were chosen through convenience sampling technique. Before training, both groups were given a pre-test of segmental unit pronunciation consisting of the most frequented words in the book used for the extensive reading classes at B1 level. Then the participants in the control group received implicit pronunciation training in which the language instructor did not directly focus on phonemic properties of English sounds. However, explicit pronunciation training was implemented into the teaching practices in the experimental group. The teaching period lasted eight weeks, and following this period both groups were given a post-test to unravel the level of improvement in each group. The results of this study revealed that explicit pronunciation training is more advantageous for B1 level students than the implicit one due to various reasons.