A Study of Parental Attitudes to Teacher Pronunciation in Very Early English

Abstract

Teaching English as a foreign language at an early (7–12) and even at a very early (under 7) age is becoming more and more popular and accessible, mainly due to the pressure from parents. Parents are essential stakeholders in the TEFL of these ages, and thus it is beneficial for the future of TEFL to do research into parental attitudes in order to be able to assure that expectations and outcomes meet. Our study examines parental attitudes towards the teacher and the ideal age to start learning a foreign language. Fifty Hungarian parents of children aged 0–7 completed our online questionnaire, which mapped the demographics and linguistic profiles of respondents and their views and attitudes related to language learning. Furthermore, attitudes towards teachers’ pronunciation (American, British, or Hungarian) were measured on a 5-point Likert-scale. The 8-item attitude scale showed good reliability (N = 50, Cronbach α = 0.772, p < 0.001). Parents generally placed high emphasis on native-like pronunciation. However, accent-related attitudes varied among parents preferring different ages to start FL learning. Parents favouring an early start preferred native-speaking teachers, with no preference for a British or American accent.

Intelligibility of English Vocabulary for Young Learners in EFL Context: Digital Book Vs Printed Book on Listening and Pronunciation Skills

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Enhancing Fourth-Grade Elementary Students' English Vocabulary through Listening with Received Pronunciation (LWRP)

“…Within the EFL setting, the instructor quality needs to be cautious consideration. Additionally, a consideration appeared that EYL's guardians recommend emphasizing native-like articulation from English instructors (Bozsó & Nagy, 2018). Past studies on teachers' and students' articulation have identified several factors that influence the quality of pronunciation, such as the adherence to Received Pronunciation (RP) and the sociocultural context of the educational environment.…”

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