Abstract:
The present study explores the reality of pronunciation teaching in the Algerian Middle and
Secondary schools. More specifically, it investigates the adequacy of the pronunciation
materials included in the curriculum documents, the textbooks and the official examinations
(the “Brevet d’Enseignement Moyen” and the “Baccalaureate”) and to gauge the degree of
their compatibility with the principles of Competency-based Language Teaching, to evaluate
the level of the teachers’ preparedness to teach pronunciation, to identify the teachers’
attitudes and perceptions about the pronunciation component teaching in Competency-based
Language Teaching and to gauge the degree of compatibility between the teachers’ practices
and the Competency-Based Language Teaching principles. The data are collected by means
of qualitative analyses of curriculum documents and textbooks of the Middle and Secondary
schools and samples of the “Brevet d’Enseignement Moyen” and the “Baccalaureate”
examinations and in-class tests. In addition, a questionnaire about the teachers’
preparedness, attitudes and perceptions about the teaching of pronunciation and a
questionnaire about the teachers’ practices of pronunciation teaching within the framework
of Competency-Based Language Teaching have been designed and administered to 87
Middle and 62 Secondary school teachers. The results of the present study reveal that the
way pronunciation is taught, assessed and tested in the documents is not adequate and only
partly compatible with the principles of Competency-based Language Teaching, the teaching
and assessment practices are not in line with the principles of Competency-based Language
Teaching. More importantly, the present study shows that the washback effect of the official
tests impacts negatively on both the teaching and assessment practices.
