A Survey of Taiwanese EFL Senior High School Teachers’ Perspectives on Connected Speech Instruction

• Main Authors: Yu-han Lu, 呂羽涵
• Other Authors: Dr. Feng-lan Kuo
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/86781568372982263781

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 101 === Many language learners may have encountered the situation that they know the word in its written form, but when it comes to listening to the same word of the written English, they may face difficulties (Chen, 2002; Goh, 2000). Some of them may attribute this difficulty to the speech rate (Graham, 2006; Zhao, 1997). Khatib and Khodabakhsh (2010), however, showed that even slowing down the speech rate, the participants of the experimental group did not do better than those of the control group. This implied that the students were not able to receive the benefits of slowing down the speed of the authentic texts. Reed and Michaud (2011) pointed out that learners often think the speed of English accounts for their listening problem. In fact, it is the connected speech that makes listening difficult. Moreover, when connected speech occurs, it usually hinders ESL and EFL learners’ listening comprehension (Henrichsen, 1984; Ito, 2001, 2006; Kuo, Lu, &; Lee, 2011). Therefore, it is worth investigating teachers’ perspectives on connected speech instruction. In a pioneering study, Rosa (2002) examined ESL teachers’ attitudes toward the role of connected speech patterns in teaching listening comprehension. However, little attention has been paid to the teachers’ perspectives on connected speech instruction in Taiwan. Therefore, this study replicates Rosa’s study and extends the scope to the production of connected speech in order to find out Taiwanese EFL senior high school teachers’ perspectives toward connected speech instruction. In addition, this study investigates whether there are differences between urban and suburban English teachers in terms of their perspectives on connected speech instruction. One hundred and eighty-eight senior high school English teachers from Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung participated in the current study. By referencing Rosa (2002) and extending the scope to the production of connected speech, a self-developed 34-item questionnaire (α= .897) was distributed to the English teachers to explore their viewpoints on connected speech instruction in terms of spoken word recognition and the production of connected speech. The results showed that 77.1% of the teachers were very familiar or somewhat familiar with connected speech and they were particularly familiar with contraction and C-V linking. Curriculum pressure, not having enough time, not having suitable teaching and not in the curriculum were the four main challenges the teachers faced while teaching connected speech regarding listening comprehension and the production of connected speech. Among the 66 teachers who have not taught connected speech in listening comprehension and the 71 teachers who have not taught the production of connected speech, the major reasons for them not to teach connected speech were also curriculum pressure, not having enough time available, not having suitable materials and not in the curriculum. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between urban and suburban English teachers in terms of their perspectives on connected speech instruction concerning spoken word recognition, while there were significant differences of the teachers’ responses regarding the production of connected speech.