Pronunciation Needs Analysis of Japanese Students

For some Japanese students, pronunciation is one of the most difficult challenges they encounter when learning a second language and yet, its importance cannot be understated. This is supported by Harmer who suggests that the most important thing about speaking English is that we should be intelligible and we should be understood by other speakers of English, whoever they are (Harmer, 2015). This paper analysed the pronunciation needs of two Japanese students (student A; an adult male and student B; an adult female) over a period of several weeks. The researcher conducted face-to-face interviews based on casual conversation topics. Each interview was recorded and then analysed, strengths and weaknesses were defined and as a result, lesson plans targeting problem areas were designed. The research concludes that an all-encompassing viewpoint of pronunciation teaching, one that draws on various approaches, was needed in order for students to achieve their language goals