Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilNuméros88VariaRecensionHodgetts, John. Pronunciation Ins...

Varia
Recension

Hodgetts, John. Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation of Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices.

Springer International Publishing
Alice Henderson
p. 479-486
Référence(s) :

Hodgetts, John. 2022. Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation of Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices. Springer International Publishing. ISBN: 978-3-030-56115

Texte intégral

1The book Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation of Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices by John Hodgetts explores the attitudes, beliefs and practices of learners, teachers and course leaders in United Kingdom pre-sessional EAP access courses, by examining their pronunciation goals over one such ten-week course. The author uses a mixed methods approach to focus particularly on suprasegmental instruction, via direct observation and semi-structured interviews. It is a valuable addition to research on pronunciation in EAP contexts, in part because the experiences of three different stakeholders are queried; the focus is not solely on learners or teachers. Moreover, readers interested in carrying out similar instructional research will appreciate the detailed treatment of the methodological choices involved.

2Written in an accessible academic style, the book starts with Lists of Tables and Figures and then its 251 pages are organized into six chapters and fifteen appendices. The chapters vary in length after the seven-page Introduction, but each begins with a concise one-paragraph summary of the content, and ends with a list of references. Chapters 2 and 3 present the context of the research and its underlying theoretical framework: Pronunciation Instruction: Background, Techniques and Relevant Studies (forty-one pages) and Suprasegmental Instruction and Intelligibility (thirty-five pages). In chapter 4, thirty-four pages are used to explain the Methodology: The Mixed Methods Approach, followed by the substantial seventy-four pages of chapter 5 (Results, Analysis, and Discussion). The final chapter (Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Practice) is as brief as the introduction. Researchers will appreciate how the extensive Appendices (44 pages) provide the materials necessary to replicate the author’s research, including interview guides, learner and teacher questionnaires, teacher feedback sheets, and consent forms.

3The short, dense introduction explains the background to the current research, as well as the general objectives of the book and its contents. The author explicitly situates his research within the field of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), yet notes that aspects of his research and findings may also be applicable to ESL, EFL and ESP sectors. The specific context for his study is a ten-week, summer pre-sessional EAP course at a British university, which are widespread among UK universities. Pre-sessionals vary in length (e.g., ranging between four and fifteen-week formats) and are designed to help international students boost their English language and/or general academic skills before starting an under- or post-graduate degree. They are described as ‘high pressure courses where time is of the essence’ (p. 2), and, due to strict visa rules, they tend not to lead to a learner remaining in the UK. This reality partly motivates the self-declared, intelligibility-driven orientation of the author. Hodgetts argues that this differs from the nativelike-pronunciation goals more common in ESL contexts, where learners are more likely to lean toward integration into their host country long term. More broadly, the author focuses on one pre-sessional course yet hopes to provide valuable insight into how pronunciation instruction is shaped by the interactions of institutions and teachers. In relation to methodology, Hodgetts highlights his choice of participant observation; as both teacher and researcher, he argues that he gained ‘a more in-depth insight into the teacher’s role and how suprasegmental instruction might be optimized’ (p. 2). He also points out that – in 2018 when he did his field observations – the vast majority of attendees on his course were native speakers of Chinese; on page 204 he claims this is the case on EAP programmes across the UK. This is important for his focus on suprasegmental instruction, obliging him to later critically review pronunciation research involving this specific group of English learners (section 3.9).

4The second chapter starts with a brief overview of pronunciation instruction’s history and techniques, reaching further back in time than is required for the focus of this book. Nonetheless, researchers or students new to the field of pronunciation research will find many foundational references in sections 2.2–2.9, which constitute a skillfully written synthesis of key developments. More experienced readers may prefer to skip directly to sections 2.10–2.12, which are the most pertinent to the book’s focus on teacher and learner attitudes and beliefs, and which provide the bedrock for the methodology and research questions. Section 2.10 deftly treats the importance of affect in relation to language learning, linking it to issues of identity and motivation. The paragraph summarizing research on how to optimize positive affective factors and minimize negative ones is especially well-turned. The much longer (six pages) of section 2.11 Pronunciation Techniques and Relevant Research is particularly rich and inspiring, even though the organization seems loose. Affective aspects are briefly touched on, with references to relaxation and breathing techniques as well as drama, and self-reflection (Baker and Burri 2016). Baker’s (2013) categorization of techniques (language awareness, controlled practice, guided practice, free practice, fluency activities) is mentioned, with Hodgetts pointing out that these range along a continuum from more to less structured. However, while readers might expect the rest of the section to be shaped on the basis of this, the author does not do so. Section 2.12 includes a paragraph about world Englishes and their impact on the choice of targets, which cites very recent research (Matsuda 2019; Bayyürt 2018), opening readers’ eyes beyond the usually cited authors. The section explores English as an International Language as well as the status of the native speaker variety.

5One of the gaps in the research which Hodgetts seeks to fill is the contribution of suprasegmentals to pronunciation instruction. This is explored in conjunction with intelligibility in chapter 3, which is the most compact and succinct chapter. It addresses key notions and issues in nine sections, as follows: What Are Suprasegmentals?; Native-Like Production or Intelligibility?; Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness; The Lingua Franca Core; Key Issues Connected with Intelligibility; Suprasegmental Instruction; Testing and Assessment; Studies Involving Chinese Learners; Instruction in EAP Contexts. The section on Jenkins’ (2000) Lingua Franca Core (LFC) provides a good overview of the most common critiques, which are taken up again in the section on suprasegmental instruction. Here, Hodgetts reminds us how many suprasegmental features were omitted from the LFC. He summarizes studies showing the benefits of including (particularly) stress in instruction, as well as intonation (e.g., Levis 2018). All sections but the first relate their contents to the notion of intelligibility, including the two pages devoted to testing and assessment; these are clearly distinguished from one another but could have benefitted from more detail. Finally, the section on studies involving Chinese learners is informative but also too short, at only three pages. Ideally, as these are the study’s main participants, Hodgetts should address the impact on learning English of dialectal variation between, at a minimum, Standard Beijing Chinese (Lee and Zee 2003), Cantonese (Zee 1991) and Chinese as it is spoken in Shanghai (Chen and Gussenhoven 2015). While these three publications focus on the phonetic and phonological features of the dialects, other studies exist which explore the suprasegmental aspects so central to this research (e.g., Chan and Li 2000; Liao and Zhu 2013). The final, excellent section zeroes in on research into instruction in EAP contexts, discussing numerous recent studies and funneling neatly into the next chapter.

6Chapter 4 judiciously presents the research context and research process separately, including a pilot study and issues it revealed. The four research questions are then formulated in section 4.3.1:

  • What are the goals in terms of suprasegmental pronunciation instruction and intelligibility-based instruction?

  • Does assessment reflect the pronunciation goals?

  • To what extent are these goals reflected by teacher instruction, attitudes and beliefs?

  • What are the learners’ attitudes towards pronunciation instruction?

7The Research Timetable (table 4.1) explicitly links each research question to the research activity carried out to answer it. Explanations are given in section 4.4 for each of the impressive variety of methods and tools deployed, as well as the rationale for each: document analysis, action research, teacher observation, semi-structured interviews, survey methods, teacher assessment of student seminars. If readers are tempted to carry out similar research, they will find great value in these sub-sections and their connection to the materials provided in the Appendices, especially:

  • 4.4.3 Action Research. Hodgetts briefly presents two action research studies related to pronunciation instruction, and then goes on to explain both his rationale for opting for this approach and for participant observation, and in concrete terms how he implemented them.

  • 4.4.4 Teacher Observation. The author again explains the rationale and describes precisely what he did, with details about checklists and recordings.

  • 4.4.6 Survey Methods. Here, the rationale, construction, implementation and piloting of the teacher and learner questionnaires are presented. The rationale references essential works on survey methodology (e.g., Dörnyei 2003) as well as survey-based studies of pronunciation instruction (e.g., Foote, Holtby and Derwing 2011).

8Two separate sections are devoted to participants and stakeholders (Section 4.5 The Participants; section 4.6 Stakeholder Analysis), and it might seem redundant to list the different participants in 4.6. as The University, The Course Leader, Teacher Participants, Myself, Learners. However, whereas section 4.5 provides the basic demographics of each set of participants (e.g., age, L1, IELTS scores, group size), section 4.6 explains the interests of each particular stakeholder. For example, The University has a vested financial interest in the pre-sessional, whereas The Course Leader is more interested in identifying and meeting teacher and student needs.

9Chapter 5 covers the results as well as their analysis and discussion and uses tables to good effect. Hodgetts has organized the content to echo the related method or tool explained in chapter 4, e.g., 5.3 provides the action research results obtained as per 4.3.3. Action Research. The 20 pages of interview results ‒ with the course leader (5.6) and teachers (5.7) ‒ draw powerfully on direct quotes, without falling into the trap of unnecessary, lengthy extracts. The course leader’s view of assessment is especially detailed. Throughout the teacher interviews, the diversity of practices and preferences is exposed, and dissatisfaction is expressed with listening activities. Such semi-guided interviews do allow for openings and spontaneity, but the questionnaires (whose results are given in 5.8 and 5.9) zoom in on the attitudes and beliefs of two groups: twenty-three pre-sessional teachers and 156 students. Aesthetic, colour figures are used in conjunction with the clear tables to neatly present the results. To close the chapter, the results are analysed in relation to each of the four research questions (5.10) and this is an especially strong part of the chapter. Hodgetts manages to tidily synthesize the key results and tie them to the research questions. In his writing, his dual identity as teacher-researcher shines through, as his more critical comments are expressed with appropriate hedging (may seem, may not be aware, may have opted, it may be unlikely), perhaps tempered by his intimate knowledge of this particular teaching environment. Even more admirably, the author has also mastered the art of keeping the analysis close to the results, venturing more widely only in the discussion (5.11) where he cites other research to support his interpretations. It must have been quite hard to decide how to structure the discussion but the sub-section titles indicate the range of themes identified as most pertinent: The course goals, The syllabus, The course leader’s view, Possible problems with assessment, The lack of positive washback in pronunciation assessment, Guidance on how the materials can be used, A lack of support from listening materials, Conclusions from actual practice, Error correction. The strength of this discussion sets the stage for a strong closing to the book.

10The final chapter, Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Practice, is a concise six pages and is genuinely thought-provoking. Hodgetts summarizes his research findings, highlighting the key inconsistences, paradoxes and inadequacies. He then makes recommendations for how to improve future pre-sessional courses, some of which point to broader issues. For example, it is commendable that he appreciates the importance of preparing learners for the many varieties (both native and other) of English they will encounter inside and outside the classroom, as well as in the community. He recommends connecting the local or host population with learners, as a way to encourage interaction and increase exposure to natural speech; at the university in question, a conversation club exists but learners only have access once they start their degree course. He also makes concrete suggestions about testing (improve consistency and relevance by using precise, intelligibility-based descriptors when training markers), about how to integrate self- and peer-assessment, and about the most useful forms of pronunciation feedback. In recommending word stress (167 mentions in the book) be taught, he mentions his use of hand gestures. This exposes the unfortunate absence of mentions here of intonation (204 mentions) or chunking (sixty-one mentions)—both of which lend themselves instinctively to pedagogical gesture, even amongst teachers who feel their training to teach pronunciation was inadequate, as was the case for so many of the teachers here. Gesture is a major possible extension to Hodgetts’ work, given the last two decades of increased interest into the role of gesture in teaching and learning (e.g., Roth 2001). Moreover, recent studies exist which look at suprasegmental instruction specifically, such as Smotrova (2017) or Thompson and Renandya (2020). The author closes by spotlighting other areas for further study: inclusion of more stakeholders (as here, with the course leader, but also administrators); interviews with learners in their native language to avoid linguistic obstacles to expression; and longitudinal follow-up interviews.

11The shortcomings of this book are primarily formal and never substantial. First, indexes would have been helpful for readers of all levels of experience, making it possible to easily locate specific authors or topics intra-textually. Second, chapters 2 and 3 could have been combined, to offer a single theoretical foundations chapter of equivalent size to the results and analysis of chapter 4. This might even have been considered, as the author describes chapter 2 as ‘more general in nature’ (p. 4) and chapter 3 as devoted more to ‘the relevant literature pertinent to the focus of the current study’ (p5). However, this obliges him to clarify that specific issues are treated in more detail (p18) or will be examined more closely (p. 37) in chapter 3, or even to remind readers (p. 31) that techniques and methods touched upon early in Chapter 2 will be examined more thoroughly and related to how to use them in 2.11. Such intra-textual gymnastics might frustrate certain readers, even if the opposite was intended. Third, while pronunciation assessment is treated adequately, a separate chapter could have been devoted to it, instead of small sections spread over several chapters (e.g., 3.8, 4.4.7, 5.7.5., 5.10.2, 5.11.4), given that the second research question focuses on it (Does assessment reflect the pronunciation goals?) and that it was described in the Introduction as ‘an important element of the research’ (p. 5). However, bringing it more to the fore would have required a substantial restructuring of content, whereas the current structure of chapters 4 and 5 is quite clear and accessible for readers. Finally, all published authors are familiar with time constraints, and an easy criticism of any book is to call for better editing, even without knowing the details of a text’s journey—especially here, from doctoral thesis to hardbound book in a prestigious series. For example:

  • Three section titles should be changed. First, the content of Section 5.2 (Notes on the Course Documents and Induction Documents) would be more accurately represented if the title included the words Analysis and Results. Second, the same word order should be adopted for the title of 5.3 (Action Research Results) and the title of 5.4, which starts Results: Observations and …

  • On page 3 a formulaic expression is repeated in one sentence: ‘in terms of …… in terms of’.

  • In chapters 4 and 5 the words ‘student’ and ‘learner’ are used interchangeably (sub-section titles 4.5.3., 4.5.4., 5.9, 5.10). If they are synonymous, this should be stated.

  • Appendices F-I show inconsistent use of capital letters – sometimes in sentence case, sometimes capitalizing many words, but not all. Regardless of whether these typos were present in the documents as they were used, their use should be standardized here.

12To conclude, Hodgetts’ Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation of Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices deserves a place among key books reporting on pronunciation instruction within classroom contexts, filling a gap in the research into suprasegmental instruction and assessment in EAP contexts. While the author rightly points out in the Introduction that more research does not always mean changes to teaching, he shows extraordinary sensitivity throughout the text to the reality of classroom teaching and refrains from judging the stakeholders. This may be due to his role as both researcher and (experienced) teacher. The mixed methods approach enables the author to address the core of three stakeholders’ experience of or influence on suprasegmental instruction in one example of a UK pre-sessional course, with implications for other contexts. Such an approach is thus confirmed as valuable for analysing instructional contexts. The excellent, detailed Appendices will facilitate replication by others working in a variety of contexts, and is entirely in keeping with the contemporary spirit of OpenScience. Giving food for thought to researchers, course designers, as well as teachers, the critical reflection presented in this book makes a noteworthy contribution to research into pronunciation instruction.

Haut de page

Bibliographie

Baker, Amanda. 2013. “Integrating fluent pronunciation use into content-based ESL instruction: Two case studies.” In Proceedings of the 4th pronunciation in second language learning and teaching conference, edited by John M. Levis and Kimberly Levelle, 245‒254. Ames: Iowa State University.

Baker, Amanda. & Michael Burri. 2016. “Feedback on Second Language Pronunciation: A Case Study of EAP Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices.” Australian Journal of Teacher Education 41(6): 1‒19. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2016v41n6.1

Bayyürt, Yasemin. 2018. “Issues of Intelligibility in World Englishes and EIL Contexts”. World Englishes 37(3): 407–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12327

Chan, Alice. Y. W. and David C. S. Li. 2000. “English and Cantonese Phonology in Contrast: Explaining Cantonese ESL learners’ English Pronunciation Problems.” Language, Culture and Curriculum 13(1): 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310008666590

Chen, Yiya and Carlos Gussenhoven. 2015. “Shanghai Chinese”. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 45(3): 321–337. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100315000043

Dörnyei, Zoltán. 2003. Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associations.

Foote, Jennifer A., Amy K. Holtby and Tracey M. Derwing. 2011. “Survey of the Teaching of Pronunciation in Adult ESL Programs in Canada, 2010”. TESL Canada Journal 29(1): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v29i1.1086

Jenkins, Jennifer. 2000. The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lee Wai-Sum and Eric Zee. 2003. “Standard Chinese (Beijing)”. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33(1): 109–112. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100303001208

Levis, John M. 2018. Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Liao, Jun and Jinhua Zhu. 2013. “A Probe into the Negative Transfer of Hakka Dialects in English Stress Acquisition-Taking Meizhou Hakka Dialects as an Example.” The Journal of Chengdu Normal University 10: 92–97.

Matsuda, Aya. 2019. “World Englishes in English Language Teaching: Kachru’s Six Fallacies and the TEIL Paradigm.” World Englishes 38(1–2): 144–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12368

Roth, Wolff-Michael. 2001. “Gestures: Their Role in Teaching and Learning.” Review of Educational Research 71(3): 365-392. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543071003365

Smotrova, Tetyana. 2017. “Making Pronunciation Visible: Gesture In Teaching Pronunciation.” TESOL Quarterly 51(1): 59–89.

Thompson, Amelyn. A. and Willy A. Renandya. 2020. “Use of Gesture for Correcting Pronunciation Errors.” TEFLIN Journal 31(2): 342–359. https://doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v31i2/342-359

Zee, Eric. 1991. “Chinese (Hong Kong Cantonese).” Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21(1): 46‑48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300006058

Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence papier

Alice Henderson, « Hodgetts, John. Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation of Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices.  »ASp, 88 | 2025, 479-486.

Référence électronique

Alice Henderson, « Hodgetts, John. Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes: An Investigation of Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices.  »ASp [En ligne], 88 | 2025, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2025, consulté le 14 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/asp/10919 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15c2u

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont susceptibles d’être soumis à des autorisations d’usage spécifiques.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search