The English Pronunciation Teaching in Europe Survey: Initial Results and Useful Insights for Collaborative Work

Abstract

The English Pronunciation Teaching in Europe Survey (EPTiES) is an on-line survey which aims to collect information about English pronunciation teaching practices in European countries, following the work of Canadian (Breitkreutz et al, TESL Can J, 19:51–61, 2002) and Australian (Macdonald, Prospect 17(3):3–18, 2002) studies. Jointly prepared by teachers in ten European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland), the survey has 57 questions organised into nine categories. Initial results for 598 respondents are briefly presented in relation to six categories: characteristics of participants (e.g. age, gender, years teaching experience); teachers’ self-evaluation of their own pronunciation skills; teachers’ views on the pronunciation-related training they received; assessment of pronunciation; exposure outside the classroom (e.g. subtitled TV, live interaction with native and non-native speakers,); varieties and norms inside the classroom (e.g. for receptive and productive work). Some of the advantages and drawbacks of such collaborative research projects are also addressed.

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Table 3 Answers to “To what extent do you feel that your students aspire to have native or near native pronunciation of English?”

Table 4 Answers to “In relation to pronunciation, please rate the teacher training you received”

Table 5 Answers to “For you personally, how easy is it to teach English pronunciation?”

Table 6 Answers to “For you personally, how important is pronunciation in relation to other language skills?”

Table 7 Answers to “Do you evaluate your learners’ pronunciation at the end of the course and/or during the course?”

Table 8 Answers to “Which types of tasks do you use for assessment?”

Table 9 Answers from Finland to “Which types of tasks do you use for assessment?”

Table 10 Answers to “Are students exposed to English outside the classroom?”

Table 11 Answers to “Estimate how often students are exposed to English outside the classroom?”

Table 12 Summary of results from variety(ies) and model(s) questions