Pronunciation Learning Strategies Used among Thai EFL Tertiary Students with Different Self-Evaluated Pronunciation Abilities

Abstract

The current research aimed to 1) identify the pronunciation abilities of EFL tertiary students at Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna Phitsanulok (RMUTL PLC) according to their self-evaluation, 2) reveal the English pronunciation learning strategies employed among EFL tertiary students with different self-evaluated pronunciation abilities, and 3) investigate whether there is any different employment of the English pronunciation learning strategies among the EFL tertiary students with different English pronunciation abilities. The participants were 270 EFL students enrolling in the second semester of the Academic Year 2019. Of the 270 participants, 40 participants anonymously and voluntarily took part in the semi-structured interviews. The data for analyses were obtained through the questionnaire and the semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data were statistically analyzed, and the qualitative data were scrutinized using the thematic analysis method. The results showed that, of the three pronunciation ability groups, namely good (GG), moderate (MG), and low (LG) groups, most of the EFL tertiary students at RMUTL PLC evaluated themselves as having a moderate English pronunciation ability. The GG participants employed the cognitive pronunciation learning strategy most often, while the MG and LG used the affective and social pronunciation learning strategies most often. Accordingly, the divergent employment of pronunciation learning strategies exists among these EFL tertiary students with diverse pronunciation abilities. They relied on online applications, such as Google Translate, for pronunciation demonstration because of its convenience and ease to access. When the participants did not use an online application, they sought help from their classmates rather than asking the teachers owing to their proximity and intimacy.