Teaching pronunciation is still the “ugly duckling” in our English courses. To begin with, instructors seem to be fond of grammatical rules, but unfortunately those are the only rules that our students are exposed to. But what about phonological rules? As a matter of fact, when I have asked a teacher to explain just one phonological rule as a vowel reduction, they have looked puzzled wondering where they could have learnt about such thing. It’s is not surprising then that usually teachers skip pronunciation explanations and drills without realizing that teaching that would enhance their students’ listening comprehension skills.
Frequently, educators avoid teaching pronunciation for the following three reasons:
1. It seems to be a difficult subject for teachers to learn.
2. Only English native speakers can teach it.
3. Students may find it boring.
The issue is, how valid are these reasons? Let’s summarily analyse each of them:
1. Pronunciation seems to be a difficult subject for teachers to learn.
Pronunciation is not really a strenuous matter. Unfortunately, it is rather a topic which instruction does not go on well done. Very frequently student-teachers are overwhelmed with phonetic transcriptions without even understanding the difference between a phoneme and an allophone. Pronunciation courses should start with an understanding of the main phonological differences between English and Spanish or with very important topics such as rhythm and intonation , stress placement or sound assimilation, to mention only a few. How can student-teachers be asked to transcribe a language without first being trained in sound assimilation or on the rules for fast speech?
2. Only teachers who are English native speakers can teach pronunciation.
It should be considered that when teaching students which are older than 15 years of age, teachers need to provide students with easy to follow instructions for pronouncing a given sound. Without having a sound knowledge of the English phonological system and its main differences with the Spanish one, English instructors will not succeed at teaching pronunciation irrespective of being native or non-native language trainers.
3. Students may find pronunciation boring.
On the contrary. I have found that students consider the learning of pronunciation as something “new” and quite interesting and challenging. Indeed, my best classes have been the ones in which my students learnt “vowel reduction” or compared the English intonation pattern vs. the Spanish one. I believe that we must describe and explain in class, in very simple terms, the main characteristics of the English phonological system. Not only our students will have a better knowledge of the target language (the language being studied) but their oral production will be more accurate and clear, which will in turn have a positive impact on their self-esteem and motivation to continue mastering this tongue.
Reference:
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/esl/pronunciation.cfm Teaching Pronunciation
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 22 seconds
Maria, some think students must depend on a teacher/tutor for the knowledge of what there is to learn. A teacher in our country should be a joyful leader –a concertmaster- and a sculptor. I have to admit few NNEST are devoted to spend a while having a glance at pronunciation or grammar rules prior to lessons since procrastination is ingrained in our society… To have a clue why your teachers look puzzled or find hard to teach pronunciation, you might as well find out (1) whether your instructors like teaching, (2) what they would like to review/learn as teachers, and (3) what the biggest hassle is in their positions. Besides, there are some questions:
1. Have you ever carried out any research on the topic you wrote?
2. Do you think NEST are more eligible to teach better than NNEST in our country?
Thank you for your kind attention.
What challenges do English language learners typically face when it comes to pronunciation?
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