During the process of learning about Teaching English as a Second language, I have come to realize that there are many interconnected skills to be taught. One of the most challenging of these is speaking, and particularly pronunciation. Harmer (2001) states that "frequently, foreign language speakers want to retain their own accent...because it is part of their identity," and that "intelligibility is the prime goal of pronunciation teaching." However, this does not mean that we do not need to teach correct pronunciation.
While I don't disagree, I am finding this to be a particularly difficult task. In listening to L2 English speaking samples of different L1 learners, for the purposes of identifying their pronunciation difficulties, I find it difficult to identify all but the most blatant of discrepancies. This may be a case where experience is not an asset, in that I have been exposed to so many different L2 English speakers that I no longer hear the errors. I do hear and enjoy different accents, but I don't have much difficulty understanding them. I believe that with practice on my part, I can train my ear to hear more of what I need to in order to help my students improve their pronunciation, but if the goal is intelligibility and not to sound like a native speaker, where do we draw the line?
In this sample, the speaker is rated as a beginner (Band 3). While she has grammar and vocabulary limitations, I notice only a few pronunciation errors with dropped final consonants, which in context do not cause difficulty in understanding what she is saying.
Resources:
Harmer, J. (2001). Chapter 13: Teaching Pronunciation. In Harmer, J. (Ed.). The practice of English language teaching (pp. 34-51). Essex, England: Longman.
No comments:
Post a Comment