Problems Related to the Teaching of English Pronunciation in Pre-service Institutions: A Study at the Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the problems related to the teaching of English pronunciation in the pre-service training institutions. Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, Ghana, was used as a case study. Out of the problems, deductions were made to make recommendations. Three tutors of English and twenty students were purposively sampled for the study. Through the use of interviews, three key findings, realized from the research include the following: First, the mode of correcting students’ mispronunciation. The manner in which some tutors correct students’ mispronunciation was found to be very discouraging to the students; second, the less attention given to English ‘pronunciation’ as one of the aspects of English language teaching/learning was a concern; In any case, though pronunciation was not conspicuously part of the English course outline, it did not imply that there was no form of pronunciation teaching. Thus, during the teaching learning process pronunciation teaching go on directly or indirectly. In terms, of other subject areas other than English language, pronunciation teaching hardly happens. More importantly, another vital problem found was the poor foundation at the basic level of education. The student teachers should in-turn have a better grounding in English pronunciation to teach the pupils in the basic schools in Ghana. Unfortunately, the ill tradition of unintelligible pronunciation goes on, which the researcher terms it the ‘dark cycle’. The views of students and tutors were gathered through recording and transcription of interviews. The research generally reveals the need for language teachers and curriculum planners to factor in pronunciation as a vital aspect of building up students; especially, student- teachers who will complete soon and go and teach younger ones, ensuring the avoidance of ‘dark cycle’ as the researcher’s term, explained in the ‘key words’.