Exploring the Relationship between EFL Learners’ Phonetic Knowledge and their Pronunciation Performance

Abstract

The present research work investigates pronunciation as one of the most necessary skills in learning and teaching English as a foreign language. It aims at evaluating university students’ phonological knowledge and their pronunciation skills. It also aims at exploring the relationship between the two aspects. This research is based on the hypothesis that if the students have sufficient phonological knowledge, their pronunciation would be accurate. In order to test the validity of the aforementioned hypothesis, an oral test was used to check the learners’ pronunciation accuracy and a written test was used to identify the degree of the students’ phonological knowledge. Both tests were administered to 30 second year students at the department of English, Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel University. The findings revealed that not only do students encounter serious pronunciation problems, but they also lack phonological knowledge. They also demonstrated that there is a weak correlation between the students’ phonological knowledge and their pronunciation performance. In the light of these results, some pedagogical recommendations are suggested.