INTEGRATING PRONUNCIATION INSTRUCTION IN ESL CLASSROOMS: PRACTICES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Abstract

Pronunciation has traditionally received less attention than other language skills in ESL instruction, and Pakistani secondary school classrooms are no exception. Although recent scholarship advocates integrating pronunciation with other language skills rather than teaching it in isolation, little is known about how ESL teachers actually implement this in practice. This study examined how 20 ESL teachers from government and private secondary schools in the Makran Division, Balochistan, incorporated pronunciation instruction into their classroom activities. Using a qualitative descriptive design, classroom practice was observed through a structured checklist, supported by audio recordings and photographs, and analyzed against Burgess and Spencer's (2000) Strategic Pedagogic Model. Teachers functioned overwhelmingly as error correctors and drill leaders (100% each), with just over half also modeling language (55%), while needs analysis (35%) and especially task design (10%) were far less common. Reading aloud (90%), discussion (85%), and listen-and-repeat (75%) dominated practice, while explicit instruction (15%) and word-level practice (10%) were rare, and no teacher used tongue twisters. Guided output (25%) and freer communicative output were considerably less developed than input and processing, revealing a marked discontinuity in the model's sequence. Reported difficulties concentrated on segmental features; sentence stress was never reported, and interaction remained teacher-directed with limited learner autonomy. The study calls for targeted teacher training in suprasegmental pedagogy and deliberate task design for guided and free production.