The Impact of L2 Pronunciation Teaching: Improving Students’ Pronunciation and their Performance in Phonetic Tasks in Spain’s University Entrance Examinations

Abstract

[eng] Pronunciation has often overlooked in the EFL context of Spain. In this respect, it comes to a surprise that we are faced with a phonetic task in the University Entrance Exam of the Balearic Islands, which definitely does not comply with the Communicative Language Teaching approach that the current legislation establishes. Under these circumstances, what can be done then about L2 Pronunciation Teaching and Learning in secondary schools in Spain to ensure not only great academic results but significant and successful pronunciation skills? The first aim of this master’s thesis is to design pronunciation sessions for students in a second year of Post-Obligatory Secondary Education (Bachillerato in Spain) course. These sessions will not only be designed to help students improve their L2 pronunciation skills for the obligatory exam task but also for their overall L2 pronunciation proficiency and fluency. The overriding concern of this master’s thesis is to prove that with pronunciation instruction students will score higher in these exam tasks while their pronunciation skills also improve.