An examination of online English pronunciation programs in Korea and overseas

Ko, Myong-Hee; Jung, Gayeong

doi:2021.22.1.119

J Eng Teach Movie Media > Volume 22(1); 2021 > Article

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2021;22(1):119-153.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.16875/stem.2021.22.1.119 Published online February 28, 2021.

An examination of online English pronunciation programs in Korea and overseas

Myong-Hee Ko, Gayeong Jung

국내·외 영어 온라인 발음 프로그램 분석

고명희, 정가영

Abstract

The present study, undertaken in order to help create effective online pronunciation education tools, investigated 10 English pronunciation programs embedded in reading or speaking sites for English learners in Korea and 10 overseas programs. These programs were analyzed based on two teaching approaches: systematic phonics and suprasegmentals. The former was further categorized into analytic, synthetic, embedded, analogy, and onset-rime. The investigation of the latter focused on the inclusion of the following features: speech rate, pause, primary stress, word stress, pitch, intonation, and rhythm. Results showed that, regarding systematic phonics, the analytic approach was dominant in the Korean programs, whereas analytic, synthetic, and embedded approaches were widely employed in the overseas programs. Concerning suprasegmentals, only two of the Korean reading programs and none of the overseas reading programs that were targeted to young learners taught suprasegmental features. However, both Korean and overseas speaking sites aimed at adult learners did include some teaching of suprasegmental features. When presenting visuals for these suprasegmental features, a pitch display was popular among Korean programs, whereas a spectrogram was used in one of the overseas programs. Implications of the findings were discussed in relation to online English pronunciation education in the Korean EFL context.

Key Words: pronunciation education;online pronunciation program;lingua franca;teaching pronunciation;EFL English pronunciation;English pronunciation education