Przyswajanie J3: czy nie słychać za dużo J2
Acquiring L3: don’t you sound L2-like

Author(s): Dorota Lipińska
Subject(s): Foreign languages learning
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: L2 acquisition;L2 pronunciation;learners’ attitudes towards L2 pronunciation
Summary/Abstract: For the last two decades, second language pronunciation has been in the centre of interest of numerous scholars, also in Poland. Although it was underestimated for many years, it has finally been noticed and valued, especially after the series of conferences devoted to accent studies and teaching pronunciation held in Łódź in the 1990s and then in Płock and Konin (Szpyra-Kozłowska, 2008) as well as subsequent phonetic conferences. Since then, numerous studies have been conducted focusing mainly on L2 learners’ achievements in L2 pronunciation at different learning levels (e.g. Szpyra-Kozłowska, et al., 2002; Wrembel, 2002; Nowacka, 2003; Porzuczek, 2002; Wysocka, 2003). A considerable amount of research has also been done in the field of teachers’ and students’ views and attitudes to pronunciation teaching and learning (e.g., Majer, 2002; Nowacka, 2008; Sobkowiak, 2002; Szpyra-Kozłowska, et al., 2002; Waniek-Klimczak, 2002; Wrembel, 2002). The aim of this paper is to examine the attitudes towards learning English pronunciation by various groups of Polish learners of English, as well as to check whether these attitudes have changed in comparison to the previous studies carried out in this field. It is also supposed to test whether these attitudes change with the level of proficiency in ESL/EFL and the amount of formal instruction in English phonetics and phonology. Four groups of learners are compared in this study. They were recruited among high school and university students at different levels of proficiency in English. All groups of study participants filled in the specially designed questionnaires, containing various questions concerning students’ attitudes to English pronunciation, the perceived importance of correct pronunciation in ESL/EFL, evaluation of phonetic classes they attended, etc. The results suggest that learners’ attitudes and motivation change with the level of proficiency in English and that the amount of undergone course in English phonetics and phonology is an important factor influencing learners’ success in the acquisition of correct L2 pronunciation.

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