Influences of Teacher Power and the Use of Phonetics Website over EFL Undergraduate Student’s Attitudes toward Speaking English Intelligibly

Abstract

This paper investigates two hypotheses: 1) EFL undergraduate students have positive attitudes towards the use of the phonetics website; and 2) teacher power can greatly influence their positive attitudes toward speaking English intelligibly. Research outcomes derive from questionnaire (n=79), crosschecked with interview data (n=47), revealing their alignments. The first hypothesis was confirmed at a high level; the second was partially supported. Teacher power appeared to be distracted by power relations in interactions between native and non-native English speakers and among non-native English speakers themselves. The study offers two insightful directions for EFL teachers.