PRONUNCIATION

Kiyomi and Hannah

Bangladeshi English Teacher “Pronunciation is not an optional extra

for the learner any more than grammar, vocabulary or another aspect of language”

www.streetdictionary.com/travel_guide/106605/languages/teaching_efl_pronunciation_why_when_and_how.html

Assumptions

Arguments against teaching pronunciation explicitly are based upon two assumptions:

1) The Critical Period Hypothesis

2) Pronunciation is an acquired skill, and therefore cannot be learned

The Critical Period Hypothesis Assumption: Children have a higher

advantage in L2 pronunciation It has been found that found that adults

were superior to children in the first stages of learning pronunciation and sound discrimination(Snow and Hoefnagel-Hohle)

In that same study, the teenager was the only subject who acquired native-like pronunciation

Age Differences

• Fledge (1987) – difficulties arise in testing the critical period hypothesis because speech learning is difficult to isolate from other factors Ex. Social pressures to learn a L2

• Adults and adolescents have further developed the ability to compare and contrast and recognize patterns of speech

• For these reasons, adults should not be denied instruction in pronunciation

Pronunciation = an acquired skill Assumption: factors affecting

pronunciation of L2 cannot be affected by focused practice and/or the teaching of formal rules. Based on Purcell and Suter’s and similar

studies These studies focus on acquisition in a

second language environment Underestimates the influence of the

teacher

Influence of Teachers

Motivation Exposure Ex. Pronunciation teacher in Poland

Extra: Los sonidos de español http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonet

ics/spanish/frameset.html