Assessing motivation and challenges of L2 pronunciation improvement beyond the classroom

Pronunciation is crucial to successful communication and plays a significant role in high-stakes tests and job and education interviews. Therefore, the massive attention paid to pronunciation and pronunciation instruction, including specifically designed courses to improve L2 learners’ pronunciation, is evidence of its importance. Although learning pronunciation motivations and strategies have been extensively researched, mainly focusing on formal instructions and in the classroom, little has been explored beyond the classroom. Therefore, this study investigates the motivations, strategies, and challenges of learning pronunciation among 18 ESL learners in Australia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically. The main findings reveal that professional (i.e., jobs) and social motivations are primary drives among learners to enhance their pronunciation. Regarding the strategies, the findings show that self-directed learning, such as watching movie series, listening to songs, repetitions, shadowing, and asking others to provide corrective feedback (CF), was among the most commonly used strategies. Furthermore, the learners reported a lack of immediate, accurate corrective feedback, and managing social insecurities, such as discrimination, were among the main challenges. This study offers several theoretical and pedagogical insights, such as the call for a more holistic approach and designing more user-friendly resources with the ability to use more authentic features when used by learners.