Pronunciation mistakes of good learners of english and their correlation with the duration of english phonetics courses: a non-experimental-causal-comparative study

Abstract

Research on second language acquisition has, for many years, concentrated on aspects of language such as the teaching of grammar, lexical forms and, lately, on communicative functions. Pronunciation, however, has remained neglected and, as Estebas claims, it “has always been considered a second-class issue in language classes ” (2009: XV). This is particularly true when it comes to EFL training, even within English teacher training programmes, some of which have adopted a so-called „integrative approach,‟ leaving the teaching of Phonetics and Phonology aside for considering it too theoretical and, even, irrelevant. Even when research on second language pronunciation has been conducted, it is still an area that needs further investigation. One of the aspects that remains almost untouched concerns the type of mistakes good learners make and how a formal training in Phonetics may influence the learners‟ oral performance.