Understanding Pre-service EFL Teachers’ Attitudes towards Pronunciation and Awareness of World Englishes

The global spread of English has resulted in a vast plurality of accents and dialects, challenging the dominance of native-speaker norms in language pedagogy. Given the importance of linguistic diversity in effective English instruction, this study investigates the attitudes of Turkish pre-service EFL teachers toward English pronunciation and accents, as well as their awareness of World Englishes. A total of 84 participants from a state university in Türkiye took part in the study. The data were collected through an English pronunciation questionnaire and an awareness test. Findings indicate that most pre-service teachers hold an idealized view of native speaker norms, favoring American and British accents. However, a significant discrepancy exists between their self-reported accent awareness and their actual performance on the awareness test, as many participants demonstrated difficulty in distinguishing among various accents, even their own accents (Turkish-accented English). This gap highlights the urgent need for greater emphasis on linguistic diversity in teacher education programs to enhance candidates awareness of World Englishes.