Pronunciation in Portuguese-produced English Language Teaching coursebooks: An overview of new lower secondary student’s book

Abstract

The role of pronunciation in English language teaching (ELT) has changed throughout the past two centuries (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010; Gilbert, 2010). However, there is a lack of evidence on how English pronunciation is taught in Portuguese public schools if it is formally taught at all (Lindade, 2022). Using grounded-theory as a research method and building on previous findings (Lindade, 2018, 2022), this article will expand the data already documented by considering newly published coursebooks for lower secondary in Portugal. The main aim is to establish the overall presence of pronunciation among the lower secondary ELT textbooks certified by the Portuguese Ministry of Education. So far, the analysis of older coursebooks has revealed that half the textbooks never include any form of explicit pronunciation instruction, and it is apparent from the analysis of new coursebooks that its presence is further declining. The mixed methods analysis carried out revealed that only 12% of ELT coursebooks include explicit pronunciation instruction. Considering that pronunciation is not integrated with other skills in a comprehensive and progressive way and given the centrality of textbooks in Portuguese schools (Hurst 2014), this contribution corroborates Underhill’s (2010) view that pronunciation is the Cinderella of ELT.