Examining English pronunciation instruction in Galician secondary education textbooks

Celia Veiga-Pérez

doi:10.30827/portalin.vi45.32491

Authors

Celia Veiga-Pérez Universitat de les Illes Balears https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5609-4607

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi45.32491

Keywords:

EFL, Secondary Education, pronunciation instruction, analysis of textbooks

Abstract

The importance given to instruction in English pronunciation has fluctuated with each new teaching methodology. Currently, it is receiving increasing attention in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. Nevertheless, there is a lack of regulation regarding the teaching of this skill, and teachers may resort to the textbooks employed in class as their sole guidance. The question would thus be whether textbooks of EFL provide the necessary materials to teach English pronunciation. Nowadays, this is especially relevant in the region of Galicia (Spain), where notions of English phonetics are tested in the university entrance exam. The present research aims to discover whether coursebooks utilized in secondary high schools in Galicia offer an adequate source of pronunciation instruction. For this reason, 24 textbooks from obligatory and post-obligatory education are analysed in terms of the presence of pronunciation activities, their integration with the rest of contents, the elements covered and the type of exercises featured. The findings suggest that there is still a lack of consistency among books, a prevalence of segmental instruction over suprasegmental, and a preference for the listen-and-repeat type of activities over other types of tasks.

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Author Biography

Celia Veiga-Pérez, Universitat de les Illes Balears

Celia Veiga-Pérez received her Ph.D degree in Advanced English Studies in 2023. After eight years as an assistant lecturer at the University of Vigo, she is now a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Spanish, Modern and Classical Philology, University of the Balearic Islands (Spain). Her research interests include second/foreign language acquisition and teaching, as well as phonetics and phonology.

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