Trainee Teachers’ and In-Service Teachers’ Beliefs on EFL Pronunciation Instruction

Abstract

Teacher cognitions and beliefs constitute an extremely important field in pronunciation teaching research because they shape and affect the learners’ outcomes. Teachers acknowledge the importance of pronunciation instruction, but many tend to avoid it in their classrooms for various reasons such as lack of time or inadequate preparation. Even though some EFL teachers recognise intelligibility as the main pronunciation teaching goal, a large number claims nativeness to be the ultimate aim of pronunciation instruction. The study investigates beliefs of two groups: last-year students at the Institute of English Studies, who chose the pedagogical track so as to become English teachers, and in-service English teachers with experience varying from 10 to 23 years. The student group completed a 30-hour pronunciation pedagogy course, whereas the in-service teachers were randomly recruited from two state secondary institutions. The measurement includes a Likert-scale questionnaire and semi-structured interviews as a follow-up. The study results indicate slightly higher trainee teachers’ pronunciation awareness than that of in-service teachers.