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Pronunciation:
The "Cinderella" of
Language Teaching
by Dimitrios Thanasoulas
- 1
Introduction
Indisputably,
teaching pronunciation is one of the most complicated yet
significant aspects of EFL / ESL teaching. That is why it
has been looked upon as the "Cinderella" of language
teaching (Kelly, 1969; Dalton, 1997). What should be drawn
to our attention is that, in the process of communication,
pronunciation (of both segmental and suprasegmental (prosodic)
elements) is of paramount importance, since successful communication
cannot take place without correct pronunciation (Celce-Murcia,
Brinton & Goodwin, 1996)-poorly pronounced segments and
suprasegments may have the result of disorienting the listener
and inhibiting comprehension. Of course, the notion of "correctness"
with regard to pronunciation is not tantamount to adherence
to "native speaker" norms or Received Pronunciation
(RP) rules.
At any rate, pronunciation has an important social value (Gelvanovsky,
2002), which means that it should be related to prestige.
There have been numerous studies involving speakers of various
English accents in order to find out what values are generally
associated with Received Pronunciation. According to the findings,
those values were the same as the values usually perceived
as indispensable for socio-economic success: intelligence,
professional competence, persuasiveness, diligence, social
privilege, and so on (Hudson, 1980; Dalton & Seidlhofer,
1994).
Is
pronunciation teachable?
There
are some researchers (Suter, 1976; Purcell and Suter, 1980,
et al.) who have cast doubt on the importance of pronunciation
in EFL teaching. According to them, pronunciation practice
in class has little, if any, effect on learners' pronunciation
skills. In other words, 'the attainment of accurate pronunciation
in a second language is a matter substantially beyond the
control of educators'.
Pennington (1989), though, believed that teachers with formal
training in pronunciation and teaching suprasegmentals can
make a difference.
Between these opposing views, Stern (1992: 112) says:
'There is no convincing empirical evidence that could help
us sort out the various positions on the merits of pronunciation
training'.
Here, it might be helpful to think of various aspects of pronunciation
along a teachability-learnability scale. For example, the
attitudinal function of intonation might better be learnt
without teacher intervention.
Effective
teaching pronunciation: some considerations
In
order to make pronunciation teaching (PT) effective, we have
to take into account the following factors:
a)
Biological factors
According
to the so-called "Critical Period hypothesis" (or
"Joseph Conrad phenomenon"), it is futile to teach
pronunciation after a certain age (after about 14 years of
age), because of learners' decreasing ability to develop native-like
pronunciation in a second or foreign language (Lenneberg,
1967; Krashen, 1973). However, Flege (1981: 445) claims: 'neither
physiological maturation nor neurological reorganization renders
an adult incapable of speaking a foreign language without
an accent'.
Brown (1994) argues that there are also some psychomotor factors
at work that should be given some consideration. Command of
foreign language phonology also taps into the neuromuscular
domain, which may play a crucial role.
b)
Personality factors
Linguistic
expectations of interlocutors, ego permeability, attitude
toward the foreign language, and type of motivation (Celce-Murcia,
Brinton & Goodwin, 1996), all have their share in the
development of pronunciation skills. Outgoing, confident learners,
for example, might have more opportunities to practise their
foreign language pronunciation simply because they are more
often involved in interactions with native speakers (Avery
& Ehrlich, 1992). On the other hand, some learners feel
stupid pronouncing "weird" sounds and, with time,
they decide that English pronunciation is next to impossible
to attain (Laroy, 1995).
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