This study explores how upper secondary school English teachers in Sweden view English pronunciation in the classroom, particularly in the context of English as a global language and the native speaker ideal. The results are analysed from a sociocultural perspective, highlighting contextual and cultural aspects of pronunciation teaching. Despite its importance for effective communication in a global context, the current English syllabi provide limited directives on teaching the productive skill of pronunciation. The study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with Swedish upper secondary school English teachers. Three research questions were formulated and addressed in the results section concerning the teachers’ perspectives on English pronunciation, their methods and strategies, and attitudes toward language varieties and the native speaker ideal. Furthermore, thematic analysis was utilised to identify themes that corresponded to the aim of the study. The findings indicate that pronunciation is primarily addressed alongside receptive skills, and the teachers prioritise communicative ability over adherence to a specific pronunciation norm. Teachers’ emphasis on pronunciation varies according to their pupils’ needs. While the teachers recognise the importance of exposing pupils to diverse English varieties, 60% give inner-circle forms as examples. Furthermore, the teachers perceive that pupils often aspire to sound native, yet the teachers accept different English varieties in the classroom. The study discusses the use of a Swedish variety of English as both an opportunity and a challenge. Moreover, various teaching strategies are reported, with reading aloud being employed by half of the teachers and a phonetic approach by two. The findings suggest that pronunciation teaching is a context-sensitive practice influenced by ongoing negotiations between teachers and pupils in the specific classroom.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-65189 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Löf, Hanna |
| Publisher | Jönköping University, Högskolan för lärande och kommunikation |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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