Relatore Chiar mo Prof. Graziano Serragiotto Correlatore

6. 
The Case Study 
This chapter presents the purpose of the case study and describes the method of the research 
in details, including the participants, the materials and the procedure used to collect the data. 
6.1. Purpose of the Study 
The purpose of this case study is to provide an overview of how English pronunciation is 
taught in primary schools in Italy, or more specifically in three public primary schools of the Veneto 
region, and give an outline of the opinions and the perceptions of the teachers and the pupils about 
this topic. The research questions posed are the following: 
a)
What do the teachers think about teaching English pronunciation at primary school 
level?
b)
How much time do the teachers spend on developing pronunciation skills in primary 
school pupils? 
c)
What techniques, activities and materials are the most commonly and the most 
frequently used for the development of pronunciation skills? 
d)
What techniques, activities and materials are considered to be the most effective for 
the development of pronunciation skills in primary school pupils? 
e)
What are the opinions and perceptions of the pupils about English? 
f)
What are the opinions and perceptions of the pupils about the way English is taught to 
them (including the oral linguistic input they receive)?
g)
Are the pupils aware of the difficulties that they might have regarding the 
pronunciation of English sounds? 
6.2. Participants 
The participants of the study were teachers and pupils of three public primary schools of the 
Veneto region. Two of the schools 
are located in Vicenza (“Giovanni XXIII” and “Lino Zecchetto”) 
and one in Venice (“Giustina Renier Michiel”).
The number of teachers participating in the study was 13. Three teachers teach at the 
“Giovanni XXIII” primary school, six at the “Lino Zecchetto” primary school and four at the “Giustina 
Renier Michiel
” primary school.

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The pupils of 8 teachers participated in the study. The total number of pupils was 227 (120 
boys and 107 girls) and the age range was approximately from 8 to 10 years. About 70-80 pupils of 
each school took part in the survey (Table 2); 62 of them were in a 3
rd
year level class, 72 were in a 
4
th
year level class, and 93 were in a 5
th
year level class (Table 3). The total number of classes was 
13: at least one 3
rd
year level class, one 4
th
year level class and one 5
th
year level class of each school