Development and validation of learner attitudes and motivations for pronunciation

Sardegna, V. G., Lee, J., & Kusey, C. (2014). Development and validation of the learner attitudes and motivations for pronunciation (LAMP) inventory. System, 47, 162-175.

Background

The authors highlighted that extensive research had been conducted on language skills but little was known about EFL (English as Foreign Language) learners' efforts to enhance their pronunciation skills on their own.

Aims

This study aimed to develop the Learner Attitudes and Motivations for Pronunciation (LAMP) Inventory so that it could be used to investigate learners’ motivation and attitude pertaining to English pronunciation learning, and thereby help in improving learner attitudes towards learning English pronunciation and thus pronunciation skills as well.

Sample

The participants were 704 EFL adolescent learners in South Korea. Most participants had studied English from four to 10 years, but few had had focussed-pronunciation learning or spent time in English-speaking countries.

Method

Data included a self-reported questionnaire – the LAMP Inventory. It comprised background information of the participants, 25 five-point Likert scale items that elicited participants' motivations for improving their English pronunciation skills and for achieving (or not) native-like pronunciation, and 18 items that elicited participants' attitudes towards learning and practising English pronunciation for accuracy improvement.

Findings

The results indicated that a significant portion (58.2%) of the variance in EFL Korean adolescents' motivation for improving their pronunciation skills was due to curiosity, extrinsic, intrinsic, and integrative motivation factors. However, the learners’ reported levels of motivation were relatively low. The authors hypothesized that the influence of extrinsic motives for pronunciation improvement was weak probably because of the absence of focused pronunciation-related activities and school assessments. They also postulated that the curiosity items were not associated with other intrinsic motives because the participants did not have frequent classroom opportunities to experience enjoyment during pronunciation practice. The learners shared that the limited opportunities they had for pronunciation practice and conversations in English both inside and outside of the class might have contributed to their perceptions of the value of pronunciation practice and of their abilities to improve on their own.

Implications

The authors recommended teachers to use the LAMP for assessment to assess their students’ motivations and attitudes towards English phonological learning. Researchers could use the LAMP to further explore similar or different socio-cultural contexts. The LAMP items could also be analyzed with other data sources (e.g., achievement scores, oral interviews) to support improving educational results, enhance teaching and student efforts, and decrease frustrations often found in the context of pronunciation practice.

Original article retrieved from Google Scholar.