People ask me this question occasionally, and therefore I thought this topic would lend itself well for a short blog post. Last year, I taught a TESOL diploma course on pronunciation instruction and at the beginning of the semester I asked my student teachers this exact question. They posted their views to a Moodle course site for everyone to read, and it turned out that some thought it was useful, while others were unsure or saw little value in using it. In regards to more experienced teachers, in an academic English preparatory program I coordinated in Canada, some of the instructors saw little merit in using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) in their speaking classes. In fact, some admitted that they didn’t really know the IPA well enough to use or teach it to their students. I find this rather unsettling because if teachers don’t know the IPA, it’s probably safe to assume that they have, at best, a limited understanding of how vowels and consonants are produced. Anyhow, I think the IPA should be part of every L2 teacher's tool kit, no matter in what context s/he teaches. Knowing the symbols and, consequently, understanding the places and manners of articulation are powerful tools that L2 teachers can utilize to explain and show students how to produce sounds while pointing to phonetic symbols and drawing their learners' attention away from the spelling difficulties of the English language. Most teachers don't need to be experts in phonetics, but I'm really not sure how a language teacher, who lacks a basic understanding of the IPA, can address a student’s difficulties with pronouncing vowels and consonants.
4 Comments
Steve Lee
9/23/2013 09:07:51 pm
I think it's such an important topic. Integrating pronunciation into a lesson, as you know, can be done simply if it's part of your repertoire, and if you value pronunciation as a tool for change. I think we may have to look further and understand why it's not part of everyone's repertoire. Take, for example, the length of CELTA type programs, and the sheer volume of information to be learned and applied in such a short time. I think that these programs could provide the impetus for all teachers to learn the IPA, and then to use it as they see fit. For me, it would be an expected learning outcome of a CELTA. I know it's a little off the point; however, I wonder whether looking at the root cause of why many teachers don't know the IPA could be the point of impact. There is a lot of fear teaching pronunciation in my experience, and I wonder how we could reduce that fear. As ever, education is my answer! I totally agree with your points; I think we may have to look at whether our learners value pronunciation help (I refuse to assume!) and put that at front and centre of teacher education. Best wishes Mike.
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Michael Burri
9/24/2013 02:51:41 am
Thanks for your comment, Steve! You made an excellent point, and I agree that teacher training/education is an effective way to tackle this issue. Research shows that instructors desire and benefit from being trained in pronunciation pedagogy (see, for example, Murphy, 1997), but as you say, time is always an issue and I think pronunciation often gets sacrificed at the expense of other aspects of ELT that are perceived as being more important (or perhaps easier to equip trainees with?). Keep in touch!
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Steve Lee
9/24/2013 04:39:34 am
I agree about the sacrifice comment. You know it was because of my finding Bill Acton's work many years ago that I introduced focal stress into an old teacher training program I worked on. And we could easily have cut areas of our program out to include a stronger/longer pronunciation component. Alas there are so many aspects of teacher training we could add to these courses though.
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Michael Burri
9/24/2013 05:37:41 am
Thanks, Steve. It’s good to hear that you find the blog useful. Keep up the good work and let me know if you come across interesting techniques/research/discussions about ways to help ELLs improve their fluency.
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I am a Senior Lecturer in TESOL at the University of Wollongong in Australia. This blog is a reflection of my journey as a researcher, L2 teacher educator, and language teacher. Archives
June 2021
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