Does Training Influence EFL Practitioners' Pedagogical Approaches and Techniques to Teach Pronunciation in Spanish Secondary Schools? A Survey Study

Abstract

Although researchers generally agree that pronunciation instruction benefits students’ communicative skills in the second language, some teachers keep avoiding it in class. In fact, many of them claim that they lack the necessary training to teach pronunciation effectively. This study aims at investigating how training in pronunciation and pronunciation teaching affects EFL teachers’ pronunciation practice in secondary schools in Spain. Thirty-eight teachers took an online survey from May to October 2023. Percentages were provided and Fisher’s exact tests were run to examine the use of both pronunciation theory and practice in the classroom. Results reveal that both general pronunciation and pronunciation teaching training encourage the introduction of theoretical explanations. Besides, teachers tend to introduce innovative methods and feedback more when receiving specific training in pronunciation teaching, although practice seems to be present even if no training was received. These findings should be interpreted as a first step to understand the current situation of pronunciation instruction in the Spanish EFL classrooms to improve teacher training programs and guarantee an improvement in students’ communicative skills.