THE IMPORTANCE OF PRONUNCIATION TEACHING By: Mrs.Badache Lynda University of Batna May 2013

First impressions Pronunciation is definitely the biggest thing that people notice when you are speaking English.You can live without advanced  vocabulary, you can use simple words to say what you want to say. You can use ‘simple’grammar.But there is no such thing as "simple pronunciation ». If the pronunciation is poor , neither Grammar nor vocabulary would help you ! Here is an anecdote about this: After coming back from a vacation in the USA, a friend of mine said:"Whenever I spoke to a person in America, they kept asking me What? What? I would repeat my sentence again and again. Finally they would say Ah-ha! and then say my sentence, using exactly my words! It was very humiliating. I knew my words and grammar were good, but nobody would understand me, just because of my Pronunciation.

What to take into account when.... Content Teaching Pronunciation Learners Tasks Goals

WHEN TO ACQUIRE ? Should pronunciation be taught and acquired early? Or is it something we can worry about later?

In the absence of a good model and without guidance, the learner will perceive, produce and internalize sounds of the target language based on the native language sounds. For this reason, if not given emphasis at the very beginning, pronunciation will never be acquired well.

Since pronunciation habits are formed early, it seems obvious that it is at that point that the development of a good pronunciation should be emphasized. When accuracy is neglected, the result will be fossilized pronunciation errors.

HOW TO ACQUIRE? Naturally: as a result of exposure and interaction in the environment of the target language and its culture. By teaching: providing a good pronunciation model (instructors with native-like pronunciation, recordings, etc.), explaining differences, using phonetic symbols to make pronunciation visible, limited peer interaction, effective error correction, exercising accurate pronunciation.

SPELLING INTERFERENCE The written language is a significant source of input to EFL students. The higher the spelling inconsistency is, the more negative the influence on pronunciation will be. The English spelling does not serve as a guide to pronunciation. On the contrary, it can often be misleading. For instance:

“s” has got five different ways of pronunciation: SPELLING VS. PRONUNCIATION “s” has got five different ways of pronunciation: /s/ as in basic, past, say /z/ as in because, rose /ᶘ/ as in sugar, sure /ᶚ/ as in casual, usually, television /mute/ as in aisle, island

bough / baʊ / cough / kɒf / dough / dəʊ/ rough / rʌf / The frustration of the EFL learner never ends: bough / baʊ / cough / kɒf / dough / dəʊ/ rough / rʌf / through / θruː / hiccough /ˈhɪkʌp /

“Comfortable” Intelligibility Goals Foreign Speaker Native listener interaction Convey message “Positive face” Expectations on the listener Understand message Tolerance Expectations on the speaker ‘threshold level’ acceptability accessibility “Comfortable” Intelligibility

1. Features of pronunciation 2. Criteria for selection Content 1. Features of pronunciation Segmental Suprasegmental rhythm intonation sounds variations connected speech stress Accent 2. Criteria for selection teachability  intelligibility  integration  differences with L2  perception - production  institutional requirements  time availability

Factors affecting pronunciation learning Learners Factors affecting pronunciation learning Biological Psycho-sociological Background Age Closeness to L1 acquisition Phonetic coding ability Motivation Attitude View of the foreign country prior instruction opportunities for practice outside the classroom amount of exposure

Presentation –Practice – Remedial work Tasks different learning styles contextualised Requirements integrated within the language class communicative learner-centred Sequence Presentation –Practice – Remedial work Identification of feature: awareness raising Description and analysis Listening discrimination Controlled and Guided practice Communicative Tasks

What makes Pronunciation difficult to teach? The lack of adequate language teacher training in pronunciation, with the result that teachers may lack knowledge and confidence. Teachers are often left without clear guidelines and are confronted with contradictory purposes and practices for pronunciation instruction ,no systematic way of deciding what, when and how to teach it (Derwing & Foote,2011). A common problem is deciding whether to focus on segmentals or on suprasegmentals, and to what extent? A related challenge is how to address production and perception.

Conclusion It all brings us to the overall conclusions that: Pronunciation is more important than it seems to be and has always been acknowledged that it is a fundamental part of one’s oral ability in the target language. The students need intensive contact with good pronunciation models in the beginning of the learning process. The goal of teaching pronunciation is to enable students to become “not perfect pronouncers of English but intelligible , communicative, confident users of spoken English for whatever purposes they need.

Thank you for your attention !