THE ROLE OF PHONETIC AWARENESS IN ENHANCING SPEAKING AND LISTENING SKILLS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Abstrak

This article examines the impact of phonetic awareness on the development of speaking and listening skills of English language learners (ELLs). The study involved 22 students who were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received intensive phonetic training (shadowing, articulation, minimal pairs, transcription work, stress and intonation exercises, and understanding connected speech elements), while the control group continued with traditional grammar and vocabulary-based lessons. The results of the pre- and post-tests showed that the experimental group significantly improved their speaking and listening comprehension skills, particularly in terms of pronunciation accuracy, fluency, correct use of stress and intonation, as well as in distinguishing complex sounds and understanding connected speech elements. The changes in the control group were minimal.  The study confirmed that enhancing phonetic awareness is crucial for improving speaking and listening comprehension skills. Therefore, it is recommended to integrate systematic and targeted phonetic training into the learning process