Investigation of psycho-social factors that affect english pronunciation preference of efl learners: the relationship between in-class injunctive norms for English pronunciation and fear of negative evaluation in elt classrooms

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2008
Ölçü, Zeynep
This thesis aims to investigate socio-psychological factors that affect foreign language learners’ pronunciation and focuses on the relationship between in-class injunctive norms for English pronunciation and Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE). Injunctive norms are a type of social norms that define the expected behavior from the group members and sanctions for disobedience. They are evaluative in their nature. FNE is one of the three components of foreign language classroom anxiety and experienced when a person is in an evaluative situation. For this study, the quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire developed by the researcher and the qualitative data were gathered from the interviews. Freshman students at the Department of Foreign Language Education at Middle East Technical University participated in the study. v The results indicated that speaking with native like or Turkish-like English pronunciation and having some pronunciation mistakes, which are commonly observed in the classroom, are approved according to in-class injunctive norms for English pronunciation. However, if speakers cannot achieve sounding native like when they are trying to emulate native pronunciation, or if they make pronunciation mistakes which are not commonly observed in the classroom or overemphasized by the instructors, these performances are not approved. Speaking with an English pronunciation in the classroom which is not approved according to these norms triggers FNE in the learners. Therefore, learners generally prefer speaking with Turkish-like English pronunciation, which is within the frame of inclass injunctive norms. The results also demonstrated that the pronunciation rules that teachers emphasize become a part of injunctive norms; therefore, teachers have an important role in the determination of these norms.

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Citation Formats
Z. Ölçü, “Investigation of psycho-social factors that affect english pronunciation preference of efl learners: the relationship between in-class injunctive norms for English pronunciation and fear of negative evaluation in elt classrooms,” M.A. - Master of Arts, Middle East Technical University, 2008.