Phonetics is a commonly taught subject at university level. It may be an explicit part of the curriculum or an implicit element in, for example, foreign language pronunciation teaching. However, there are very few studies on the teaching and learning of phonetics.

Moreover, the learner perspective has rarely been investigated although learner opinions and attitudes affect the learning outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate learner attitudes towards phonetics and preferences in the broad themes covered in phonetics. The data were collected with a questionnaire from university students (n=133) of English at the end of a lecture

series on English phonetics. According to the results, accent differences was the most preferred theme. Suprasegmental issues and practical phonetic transcription were preferred to segmental issues. Students’ attitudes were positive: phonetics was considered challenging, interesting and useful. Students also thought that phonetics teaching had

improved their pronunciation of English.