Teachers' beliefs and practices towards teaching English pronunciation among EFL senior high school teachers in Yunnan province, China

Abstract

The objectives of this study were 1) to examine EFL senior high school teachers’ beliefs towards teaching English pronunciation in Yunnan province and 2) to investigate the English pronunciation practices used by Yunnan EFL teachers. The participants were 59 EFL senior high school teachers in Yunnan province who were purposively sampled. There were 3 research instruments which were 1) online questionnaire; 2) semi-structured interview and 3) classroom observation. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, which were the means and standard deviation, and qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The findings revealed that 1) Yunnan EFL teachers’ beliefs towards pronunciation teaching were highly positive and they believed that teaching English pronunciation was really necessary. The goals of pronunciation teaching were mixed among native-like fluency, intelligibility and comprehensibility. They also have mixed beliefs in using traditional methods and communicative practices, and they believed that they needed training in pronunciation teaching. 2) In terms of practices, they taught both segmental and supra-segmental features, but the frequencies were not high due to the examination-oriented system, time limitation and lack of pronunciation teaching training. Also, they used traditional methods and controlled practices. English pronunciation teaching should be drawn to attention in national English curriculum. Pronunciation teaching goals should be intelligibility and comprehensibility. The training on how to use communicative methods and practices to teach pronunciation should be provided for Yunnan EFL teachers.