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Myths and Facts on Learning/Teaching English Pronunciation

Adapted by: Bertha Corpancho (Prescott Guest Speaker)

ELT (English language teaching) is a widely-used teacher-centered term, as in the English language teaching divisions of
large publishing houses, ELT training, etc. The abbreviations TESL (teaching English as a second language), TESOL
(teaching English to speakers of other languages) and TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) are also used
ESL (English as a second language), ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), and EFL (English as a foreign
language) all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with a different native language.
These terms are most commonly used in relation to teaching and learning English. This includes the teaching and learning of
a language and is more commonly used with regard to SLA (second language acquisition ), the learning of a foreign or
second language. Second language acquisition is the process by which people learn a second language in addition to their
native language(s). The term second language is used to describe the acquisition of any language after the acquisition of the
mother tongue. The language to be learned is often referred to as the "target language" or "L2", compared to the first language
or "L1"
The study of learner-external factors in SLA is primarily concerned with the question: How do learners get information about
the target language? Study has focused on the effects of different kinds of input, and on the impact of the social context.
Social Effects: The process of language learning can be very stressful, and the impact of positive or negative attitudes from
the surrounding society can be critical. Community attitudes toward the language being learned can also have a profound
impact on SLA.
Pedagogical effects: The study of the effects of teaching on SLA seeks to systematically measure or
evaluate the effectiveness of language teaching practices. Such studies have been undertaken for every level
of language, from phonetics to pragmatics. The following is on Phonetics : Pronunciation Myths and Facts .
There are four myths and four facts on the learning and teaching of English pronunciation.

Myth 1: Learning the pronunciation of individual vowel and consonant sounds is learning English
pronunciation.
Myth 2: Students have difficulty in hearing and pronouncing the different sounds of vowels such as sheep
and ship. Therefore, it is useless to waste time on pronunciation.
Myth 3: Pronunciation instruction bores.
Myth 4: Pronunciation should be taught only by native speakers.

Fact 1: Pronunciation of English is not only individual vowel and consonant sounds. Two major organizing
structures of these sounds, which play a great role in communication, are rhythm and intonation.




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Rhythm: Not only can words have identical rhythms but the rhythm of the word can be identical to the
rhythm of a phrase; for example, festival and first of all. Native speakers rely on rhythm and on the
consonant and vowel sounds to identify words. Sometimes rhythm is more important than sounds for them.
Stress conditions the lengthening of a syllable, but not stressing a syllable is as important as stressing it.
The pronunciation can change when it is unstressed and when it occurs in different context.

Intonation: When speaking the language, speakers use their voices by emphasizing what they want to draw
attention to. Contrary to speech, where we use the pitch of our voices, in writing we do this by underlining
words. Characteristics of intonation are the rises and falls in pitch which determine the meaning of the
sentence.

Fact 2: Pronunciation is an integral part of language learning for it covers rhythm and intonation which is
utmost important for communication. When we comprehend the connection between pronunciation and other
aspects of language use, pronunciation takes on a greater significance.

Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension. Speakers need to use patterns of rhythm and intonation to
communicate with each other because listeners expect these in spoken English.

Pronunciation and Spelling. Pronunciation helps learners with the spelling system of English also.
Misinterpretation of this system originates difficulties with pronunciation.

Pronunciation and Grammar. Pronunciation can convey grammatical information. What rhythm and
intonation do in speech, punctuation and capitalization do in writing.

Pronunciation and Reading Very little knowledge of pronunciation can affect reading. It is not only
important for oral communication, but it is also linked with listening comprehension, spelling, grammar, and
reading. Therefore, important information that supports the latter skills must be taken into account by
relying on pronunciation.

Fact 3: Pronunciation teaching is not by nature boring, but it is considered this way because it has been taught
in a dull way; therefore, a teacher is boring when he or she believes pronunciation teaching is boring.

Fact 4: Pronunciation can be taught by non-native speakers of English as communicative effectiveness
depends on being intelligible speakers not considering only pronunciation. One does have to be able to use
the rhythm and intonation of English in order to be understood. Since non-native speakers of English can learn
to perceive and manipulate rhythm and intonation, they can sometimes have an advantage over native
speakers who are not always aware of these features. Pronunciation should be considered essential for the
completeness of not only oral language development, but also for the skills of listening, reading and writing.
Then teaching pronunciation will be considered a successful and enjoyable experience and English Language
Teaching such as the learning of English as a Second Language will be successful.