The pronunciation teaching practices of university‐level graduate teaching assistants of French and Spanish introductory language courses

Abstract

This study combined evidence from survey, interview, and classroom observation data to better understand the amount and type of pronunciation instruction and corrective feedback practices in French and Spanish introductory language courses (i.e., the first four semesters) at the university level in the United States. Data consisted of responses (n = 142) to a national survey and audiorecorded interviews (6 hours) and classroom observations (22 hours) of seven graduate teaching assistants (TAs) of French or Spanish from two different large (i.e., more than 15,000 students) public universities. Survey results indicated that TAs believed that when they correct pronunciation, they should prioritize mistakes that impede comprehension or change meaning. Classroom observations demonstrated that on average, 2% of instructor talk was pronunciation focused, with a majority of pronunciation episodes categorized as corrective feedback in the form of recasts. In addition, only one instance of preplanned pronunciation teaching occurred in the data. The findings suggest that current pronunciation teaching practices in this context are rare and largely reactive.