Introduction chapter I. Theories and strategies about motivating teaching pronunciation
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CONCLUSION
Traditionally, little attention has been paid to learners’ perceptions of pronunciation and comprehension instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. This study is aimed at putting forward a series of detected key aspects, students’ perceptions and proposals for enhancing, improving and implementing pronunciation and comprehension skills in the Spanish higher-education EFL class –specifically a pronunciation class. By means of the administration to students of three questionnaires designed ad hoc for this small-scale, pilot study, a diagnostic analysis has been carried out that has yield to valuable data and to the suggestion of specific proposals derived from first-hand experience. Accordingly, among other aspects, the results obtained show that students’ motivation and implication is high when being taught pronunciation, they believe in the usefulness of pronunciation instruction, but at the same time they may experiment frustration relatively easily, especially due to inhibition and peer-comparison factors that may negatively affect performance and self-confidence. In the same way, students are aware of the importance of both segmental and supra segmental aspects in order to favor comprehensibility, they consider variation in means, methods and activities to be fundamental in the classroom in order to keep their own interest and motivation and they find computer-assisted and audio-visual aids highly useful and valued when it comes to learn pronunciation It is beyond doubt that pronouncing a language properly is a key aspect when understanding and making ourselves understood. In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching and learning process pronunciation should play a determining role since it is directly related with the development of students’ communicative competence and thus to language proficiency and comprehensibility. Spoken communication is grounded on the communicability not only determined by correct grammar and profuse vocabulary but also on the correct interplay between the segmental and supra segmental features making up pronunciation. As Burns concedes, despite minor inaccuracies in vocabulary and grammar, learners are more likely to communicate effectively when they have good pronunciation and intonation. Nowadays, as Pourhosein states, despite the “emphasis on the importance of meaningful communication and intelligible pronunciation, it is not enough to leave pronunciation teaching and training to pronunciation classes only”; it is determining that the relatively few hours devoted to this purpose in the curriculum are planned and devised to make the most of them, giving students the tools to continue improving on their own and the voice to express in which ways they learn the best. In spite of this, “researchers in applied linguistics have paid little attention to learners’ perceptions of pronunciation instruction in L2 contexts” so that this article has tried to deepen on students’ perceptions and feelings about English pronunciation issues in general and about the English pronunciation subject “Pronunciation and comprehension of oral English” in particular in order to make a diagnostic analysis of the situation which will ideally lead to an improvement in their pronunciation skills. This small-scale but representative pilot study stems thus from my own concern as an English pronunciation teacher about the need to do some research on the traditionally assumed and clearly noticeable difficulties most Spanish students1 find in pronouncing English properly with the final aim to devise and implement feasible improvement. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, Anne, Gillian Brown, Richard Shillcock, and George Yule. 1984. Teaching Talk: Strategies for Production Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Baker, Ann. 1990. Introducing English Pronunciation: A Teacher′s Guide to Tree or Three? And Ship or Sheep? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Baker, Ann. 2006. Ship or Sheep? An Intermediate Pronunciation Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Bowler, Bill and Sue Parminter. 1992. Headway Pre-Intermediate Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxfor University Press Crystal, David. 2003. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, David. 2002. The English Language; A guided Tour of the Language. London: the Penguin Group. Crystal, David. 2003. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Falla, Tim and Paul A. Davies. 2007. Maturita Solutions Pre-Intermediate Student’s Book. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Falla, Tim and Paul A Davies. 2007. Maturita Solutions Pre-Intermediate Workbook. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gubbins, Paul and Mike Holt. 2002. Beyond Boundaries: Language and Identity in Contemporary Europe. New York: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Graddol, David, Dick Leith and Joan Swann. 2005. English history, diversity and change. New York: Routledge. Harmer, Jeremy.2005. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Hewings, Martin. 1993. Pronunciation Tasks: A Course for Pre-intermediate Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kelly, Gerald. 2007. How to Teach Pronunciation. Malaysia: Longman. Kenworthy, Joanne. 1990. Teaching English Pronunciation. NewYork: Longman. Laroy, Clement. 1995. Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. McArthur, Tom. 1996. ”English in the World and in Europe.” In The English Language in Europe, ed. Reinhard Hartmann, 3-16. Bristol: Intellect Ltd. O’Connor, Joseph Desmond. 1980. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. O’Connor, Joseph Desmond and Clare Fletcher. 1989. Sounds English: A Pronunciation Practice Book. Singapore: Longman. Oxenden, Clive, Christina Lathan –Koenig and Paul Seligson. 2009. New English File Pre-Intermediate Student’s Book.Oxford: Oxford University Press. Oxenden, Clive, Christina Lathan –Koenig and Paul Seligson. 2009. New English File Pre -Intermediate Workbook.Oxford: Oxford University Press. Phillipson, Robert. 2003. English – Only Europe? New York: Routledge. Soars John, Liz Soars and Sylvia Wheeldon. 2007. New Headway Pre-Intermediate Student’s Book. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Soars John, Liz Soars and Sylvia Wheeldon. 2007. New Headway Pre-Intermediate Workbook. Oxford: Oxford University Press Trudgill, Peter. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Languague and Society. London: the Penguin Group. Internet sources: Baird Allen. Teaching English: Tonguae Twisters. British Council TE Editors, 2012. Accessed August 14, 2012. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/twisters.pdf/. British Council. Global English and the Teaching of Pronunciation.TE Editor, 35.2011.Accessed A Download 40.56 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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