Changes in Perceptions of Suprasegmentals in Pronunciation Among Korean EFL learners

Abstract

The current study investigates changes in perceptions of suprasegmental features among nine adult Korean learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) after offering three hours of one-on-one pronunciation instruction. The participants learned English in Korea for at least 10 years at public and/or private institutions and have no prior pronunciation-focused training. In pre- and post-instruction interviews, the participants were asked questions about their English learning backgrounds and causes of communication breakdowns to elicit their perceptions of suprasegmentals. Their responses were qualitatively analyzed through coding. The findings revealed that their perceived importance of suprasegmentals had generally increased and that their perspectives of pronunciation features had widened after the treatment, from a segment or a word to a sentence. Three participants were delved into as separate cases due to their differentiated patterns compared with the general tendency among the other participants to focus on segmentals in the pre-instruction interviews and suprasegmentals in the post-instruction interviews. Based on the findings, implications for pronunciation instruction and future research directions are suggested.