Investigating Supra-segmental Features Of Ilami EFL Teachers

Since in EFL contexts both teachers and students are less exposed to authentic language with a native pronunciation, presenting rules for standard American pronunciation appears to be of a paramount importance. Accordingly, providing both learners and teachers with an effective phonological profile is inevitable to achieve a standard American pronunciation. Considering lack of research on the foregoing obstacle in Iranian context, the present study aimed at presenting the common rules of standard American pronunciation for EFL teachers in supra-segmental phonology. The current study extracted, first, the rules of standard American pronunciation from authentic sources. The profile developed in the study included 35 rules for supra-segmental features of speech (18 rules for stress and 17 for intonation). Additionally, the present study investigated the roles that might be played by teachers degree level, gender, and teaching experience in their observing supra-segmental rules developed in the study. Finally, the study determined which of the supra-segmental features were affected by factors such as teachers degree level, gender, and teaching experience. To this end, among the accessible population in the study (all male and female EFL teachers in Ilam city), 40 teachers (20 males and 20 females) were surveyed on interviews for their observing of phonological rules mostly extracted fromYavas (2006). The random sampling type used in the study was multi-stage cluster sampling. The results showed a significant relationship between the gender of Ilami EFL teachers and their observing of intonation patterns. The findings also revealed a statistically significant relationshipbetween teaching experience of Ilami EFL teachers and their observing of word stress rules

Keywords:

Phonology , Segmental , Supra-segmental , Ilami EFL teachers