Reasons for Teaching Pronunciation

8/3/2019 Reasons for Teaching Pronunciation

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goals, for the majority of learners a far more reasonable goal is to be comfortably

intelligible. We will be looking carefully at the notion of intelligibility in the next

chapter, but let us focus on the word 'comfortably'. It is significant that in English

and many other languages we can make a distinction between 'hearing' and

'listening'. Hearing requires mere presence plus ears, listening requires work; we

can ask someone to 'listen carefully' and accuse someone of not listening to what

we have said. We all realize that some people are more difficult to listen to than

others, and when we listen to a foreigner speaking our native language we expect

to have to work a little bit harder. But if we have toohard a time - if the person

pronounces in such a way that we have to constantly ask for repetitions - then at

some stage we reach our threshold of tolerance. We become irritated, and maybe

even resentful of the effort that is being required of us. In some cases we may be

willing to be patient and ultra-tolerant, in some cases we may have to be (for

example, if the speaker has some hold over us, such as a customs official at a

border control), but for the most part we expect conversations with non-native

speakers to be 'comfortable'. In setting goals for our learners we must consider the

effect of mispronunciation on the listener and the degree of tolerance listeners will

have for this.

Factors that affect pronunciation learning

The native language is an important factor in learning to pronounce English;

this is clearly demonstrated by the fact that a foreign accent has some of the sound

characteristics of the learner's native language. These are often obvious enough to

make a person's origins identifiable by untrained as well as trained people. One or

two features are enough to suggest a particular language 'showing through' their

spoken English.

1. The native language

Because of the role that native language plays, there has been a great deal of

research in which the sound systems of English and other languages are compared

and the problems and difficulties of learners predicted. (In Part Two we will be

referring to the findings of such studies.) This applies not only to the individual


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sounds but also to combinations of sounds and features such as rhythm and

intonation. To put it very crudely, the more differences there are, the more

difficulties the learner will have in pronouncing English. We can even say that

there are 'more favoured' and 'less favoured' languages. But we must be careful not

to over-simplify the situation and think too much in terms of handicap or barriers

to learning. To do this would be to ignore what we know to be demonstrable - that

people from many different language backgrounds can and do acquire a near-native

pronunciation in English - and to deny the role of other factors.

2. The age factor.

We commonly assume that if someone pronounces a second language like a

native, they probably started learning it as a child. Conversely, if a person doesn't

begin to learn a second language until adulthood, they will never have a native-like

accent even though other aspects of their language such as syntax or vocabulary

may be indistinguishable from those of native speakers. These beliefs seem to be

supported by the many cases of adults who learn to speak a second language

fluently, but still maintain a foreign accent, even when they have lived in the host

country for many years.

3. Amount of exposure.

Another factor is the amount of exposure to English the learner receives. It is

tempting to view this simply as a matter of whether the learner is living in an

English-speaking country or not. If this is the case, then the learner is 'surrounded'

by English and this constant exposure should affect pronunciation skills. If the

learner is not living in an English-speaking environment, then there is no such

advantage.

But it is obvious that we cannot talk simply in terms of residency. Many

learners live in and English-speaking country, but spend much of their time in a

non-English-speaking environment (for example, a language other than English is

used at home). Conversely, many people live in non- English-speaking countries

but use English in many areas of their lives, such as work or school. In such

complex bilingual and multilingual situations it is difficult to get an accurate


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picture of how much exposure to English a learner has received, and of what kind.

In addition, it is not merely exposure that matters, but how the learner responds to

the opportunities to listen to and use English. Various studies 7 have compared the

pronunciation accuracy of people living in an English-speaking country and those

who are not, and it seems that amount of exposure, though clearly a contributory

factor, is not a necessary factor for the development of pronunciation skills.

4. Phonetic ability

It is a common view that some people have a better ear for foreign

languages than others. This skill has been variously termed aptitude for oral

mimicry, phonetic coding ability or auditory discrimination ability.

Researchers have designed tests which measure this ability and have demonstrated

that some people are able to discriminate between two sounds better than others,

and are able to mimic sounds more accurately. But every human being, unless

hearing-impaired, has this basic ability; if they did not they would not have learned

the sounds of the native language.

5.Attitude and identity

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Reasons for Teaching Pronunciation