The Effect of Explicit Pronunciation Instruction on Undergraduate EFL Learners' Vowel Perception

Authors

  • Mohammad Reza Ghorbani University of Bojnord
  • Malihe Neissari Tabaran Institute of Higher Education
  • Hamid Reza Kargozari Tehran Payam Noor University and Tabaran Institute of Higher Education

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20360/G2XW2K

Keywords:

EFL Teaching and Learning, Pronunciation Errors, Phonetic Transcription, Vowel-Perception

Abstract

Since English pronunciation errors are often caused by the transfer of the Persian language sound system, the present study investigated the effect of explicit pronunciation instruction on undergraduate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ vowel perception enhancement. The nonequivalent group, pretest-posttest design was employed to study two classes of English literature and English teaching students at Kosar University of Bojnord (KUB) as the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG) respectively. A 40-item minimal pair test was developed based on the 3rd edition of the book Ship or Sheep written by Baker (2006). The reliability of the test was estimated 0.75 through KR-21 formula. After the pretest administration, both groups were exposed to the same activities; however, only the EG received the treatment regarding explicit pronunciation instruction. At the end of an eight-week training program, the pretest was used as the posttest. The results of the independent samples t-test from the posttest revealed that the EG had a better performance than the CG suggesting that EFL learners’ vowel perception can improve if they are explicitly made aware of their pronunciation errors.

Author Biographies

Mohammad Reza Ghorbani, University of Bojnord

Dr. Mohammad Reza Ghorbani is Assistant Professor of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at the University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran. He has worked as an EFL teacher and researcher in Iran, Japan, and Malaysia since 1990. He has published four books on educational issues and one in Germany as well as nineteen articles in specialized international journals. He has also presented seven papers in international conferences. His interests are English Teaching, Learning, Testing, and Evaluation. He is currently the president of Kosar University of Bojnord.

Malihe Neissari, Tabaran Institute of Higher Education

MA student of TEFL at Tabaran Institute of Higher Education

Hamid Reza Kargozari, Tehran Payam Noor University and Tabaran Institute of Higher Education

Hamid Reza Kargozari is a lecturer and Ph.D. candidate in TEFL at Tehran Payam Noor University, Iran. His current research interests cover issues in ELT, SLA, and Psycholinguistics. He has been involved in a range of projects in the area of applied linguistics.  

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Published

2016-04-03

How to Cite

Ghorbani, M. R., Neissari, M., & Kargozari, H. R. (2016). The Effect of Explicit Pronunciation Instruction on Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Vowel Perception. Language and Literacy, 18(1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.20360/G2XW2K

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1 (2016): Regular Issue

Section

Articles

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