A comprehensive analysis on how elt coursebooks promote teaching pronunciation in Portuguese public schools

Résumé

The role of pronunciation in ELT has changed numerous times throughout the past two centuries, yet there is no evidence on how English pronunciation is taught in Portuguese public school, if it is formally taught at all. This research aims to discuss the relation between the role of pronunciation teaching in the ELT classroom, coursebooks and material development in Portugal. Para desenvolver os obxectivos xerais da investigación, fixáronse os seguintes obxectivos específicos: a) analizar os 57 libros de texto usados nas escolas públicas portuguesas para o ensino/aprendizaxe do inglés como lingua estranxeira durante o ano escolar 2020/2021 e inventariar e clasificar as actividades de pronuncia por libro; b) correlacionar os resultados cos métodos e técnicas de ensino da pronuncia; c) establecer unha ponte entre o desenvolvemento de materiais e os métodos e técnicas de ensino da pronuncia; d) deseñar recursos pedagóxicos baseados nas tendencias máis recentes para o ensino da pronuncia nun enfoque comunicativo experiencial. e) compartir os recursos didácticos personalizados a través de sesións de adestramento docente para profesorado de inglés que traballa en escolas públicas; f) recompilar datos e analizar a percepción do persoal docente respecto dos recursos didácticos compartidos. In order to be able to achieve these aims and objectives, the main body of the research will focus, on the one hand, on the analysis of literary contributions regarding teaching pronunciation within an ELT framework, material development and ELT in Portuguese public schools; on the other, as regards the analysis of ELT coursebooks used in Portuguese public schools from grade 3 to 9, on the design of materials for the teaching of pronunciation and on field notes from teacher training sessions with Portuguese ELT professionals. Grounded theory methodology will inspire the framework in which pronunciation tasks will be quantified and categorized. The combination of different techniques and analytical tools will culminate in a methodological triangulation that will enable the interpretation of the collected data and give credibility to the results. The input from the analysis and the most recent contributions from Applied Linguistics for teaching pronunciation will inspire the design of didactic resources for learners attending A1, A2 and B1 English, adapting each resource to the specificities of ELT in Portugal. The results of this research will inform how important pronunciation is in each coursebook and each grade; will establish the role pronunciation has and understand how integrated it is with learning skills such as reading, writing, listening and speaking and comprehend the appropriateness of pronunciation tasks in relation to learning level and age. By the end, this research will make an attempt to provide a significant contribution for future language learning materials and provide a glimpse of what English is being taught to XXI century learners.