The Role of Phonetics in Second Language Acquisition: A Survey Research on EFL Learners

Abstract

This study investigates the role of phonetics in second language acquisition with a particular focus on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Drawing on a survey-based methodology, the research explores learners’ perceptions of phonetic instruction and its impact on pronunciation, listening comprehension, and oral communication. The findings indicate that explicit phonetic training significantly improves learners’ ability to recognize and produce challenging English sounds, such as interdental fricatives and vowel contrasts. Moreover, learners reported increased confidence and communicative competence when phonetics was integrated into their language learning process. However, results also revealed difficulties in transferring phonetic knowledge from classroom practice to spontaneous conversation, largely due to first language interference and limited exposure to authentic communicative contexts. The discussion highlights the importance of combining phonetic instruction with communicative approaches to enhance both accuracy and fluency. This study concludes that phonetics plays a foundational role in improving intelligibility and comprehensibility in EFL contexts. Limitations include a reliance on self-reported data and a small sample size, while recommendations for future research suggest longitudinal and cross-linguistic studies as well as the integration of digital pronunciation tools.