Importance and Place of Pronunciation

and the Appropriate Strategies

in Teaching it
Introduction

What is pronunciation?
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to
generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a
specific dialect, or simply the way a particular individual speaks a word or language.

Why is pronunciation important?

The incorrect use of pronunciation leads to the message being misunderstood by the
receiver. If we do not say (or pronounce) words correctly, others cannot understand what we are
saying. Correct pronunciation will help you express yourself in clear and confident manner. It
will also help others to understand your words easily.
Many people learning English language often do not pay any attention to their
pronunciation. Even worse, some of them underestimate it. They think pronunciation is less
important than grammar and vocabulary. In fact, pronunciation is extremely important. Many
cases of misunderstanding in communication were caused by the mispronouncing of words or
improper intonation.
Pronunciation is the most important and difficult problem that non-native English
speakers have to face when studying English. Improper pronunciation can lead to negative
impression, misunderstanding and ineffective communication.

Negative impression
When you talk to people in the real life, your pronunciation is the first thing they notice
during a conversation. In everyday communication, you usually do not have to use many
complicated words, so your limited vocabulary is not a big issue since you can use more simple
words to express the word that you do not know. In fact, they will notice right away if your
pronunciation is good or bad only the first few simple words. If you have a poor pronunciation
with very strong foreign accent, they will think of you as a bad English speaker and your good
vocabulary and grammar cannot help you.

Misunderstanding
Knowing a lot of vocabularies is meaningless if you cannot pronounce those words
correctly and no one can understand the words that you are trying to use. Even worse,
pronunciation mistakes can lead to some serious misunderstanding. For example, let’s think of
the misunderstanding about the signal “sinking” in a video clip on Youtube called “I am
sinking.” Many people believe that they can communicate in English because they can
communicate with their teachers and other students. However, it is not true. The teachers have
been listening to bad English for years so they can understand your poor pronunciation, and your
friends are from the same country with you and speak English with the same accent so that they
can understand your words easier. The best way is to talk to native English speakers, and if they
can understand what you are saying, you have a good pronunciation.
Ineffective Communication
You are making it difficult for people who listen to you with your strong foreign accent.
It is irritated for other people if they have to keep asking you to repeat, but they still cannot
figure out what you are saying. Consequently, if it takes a lot of efforts to understand your
English, people will avoid communicating with you as much as they can. In contrast, they will
enjoy talking to you when you have a pleasant accent that is easy for them hear and understand
you.

It is a mistake to think that pronunciation is any less important than reading, writing,
listening and speaking skills. Pronunciation is the bridge between you and a native English
speaker. It is the first thing that anybody notices about you, when you start to speak. It connects
you. Without clear pronunciation, messages can get lost or confused. The listener might even
start to feel frustrated because they don't understand what is being said!
Pronunciation is not about removing your accent. It is about making your English sounds
clear and distinct, so there is no confusion about what you are saying.

Pronunciation is important. Here are three reasons why:

 When you learn to make the correct sounds, your English will become easier to
understand. You will sound more natural and learn to speak English more quickly.
 It will help you listen to English better, because you will learn to identify and recognise
the sounds that other people are making.
 Your confidence will grow, exponentially. When you can get your message across
clearly (not perfectly, but clearly) and you can understand other English speakers more
clearly, your confidence will grow. You will start more conversations, you will get moire
practice. You will improve faster.

STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

Pronunciation is an integrated and integral part of language learning. It consists of

elements much wider than sounds of consonants and vowels. It includes the elements of rhythm
and intonation, which support the communicative process.

Wong (1987) pointed out that even when the non-native speakers’ vocabulary and
grammar are excellent, if their pronunciation falls below a certain threshold level, they are
unable to communicate effectively. Wong (1993) argues that the importance of pronunciation is
even more distinct when the connection between pronunciation and listening comprehension is
considered. As listeners expect spoken English to follow certain patterns of rhythm and
intonation, speakers need to employ these patterns to communicate effectively. If the rhythm and
intonation are different, listeners simply can’t get the meaning. Similarly, listeners need to know
how speech is organized and what patterns of intonation mean in order to interpret speech
accurately. Thus, learning about pronunciation develops learners’ abilities to comprehend spoken
English. Furthermore, Wong demonstrated that a lack of knowledge of pronunciation could even
affect students’ reading and spelling.
 Pronunciation instruction with different strategies does improve students’ pronunciation
to some degree. With more and more strategies and techniques developed, teachers should be
more comfortable in selecting appropriate strategies and techniques to apply in their classrooms.

A. Views on Contents of Pronunciation Instruction

The older pronunciation textbooks usually focused on sound discrimination. This is one
of the myths held by many teachers and students. Actually, a pronunciation class should include
much more than sound contrasts in words, pronunciation of consonants and vowels. The
component of a pronunciation course should consist of several important parts:

I. Intonation: The pitch of the voice with which a voiced sound is pronounced is called its
intonation. In Random House Unabridged English Dictionary, intonation is defined as “the
pattern or melody of pitch changes in connected speech, esp. the pitch pattern of a sentence”.
According to Scarcella and Oxford (1994) and Wong (1993), it conveys and performs
grammatical functions in sentences. Brazil, Coulthard & Johns (1980) pointed out that intonation
in English might also convey a speaker’s involvement in a conversation as well as a desire to
take a turn of talk or leave a conversation. Firth (1992) suggested that teachers should check the
following questions: Are the students using appropriate intonation patterns? Are yes/no questions
signaled through the use of rising intonation? Is falling intonation used with wh-questions? Are
the students changing pitch at the major stressed word in the sentence?

II. Stress and rhythm: Scarcella and Oxford (1994) had a very good description about the
relationship between stress and rhythm: “Stress contributes to rhythm. Linguists use the term
rhythm to refer to the measured movement or musical flow of language. English has a rhythm in
which stressed syllables normally occur at regular time intervals. Thus, in English, rhythmic
patterns are based upon a fairly regular recurrence of stressed syllables. That is why English is
often called a stress-timed language.” Firth (1992) suggested the following questions to cover:
Can the students use loudness and length to differentiate between stressed and unstressed
syllables? Can the students use dictionaries to check stress patterns? Are the students incorrectly
stressing every word of a sentence equally? Are they able to produce appropriate strong and
weak stresses? Are content words stressed and function words unstressed? Are the students
placing major sentence stress on the appropriate words? Are the students linking words
appropriately within sentences?

III. Consonants: Scarcella and Oxford (1994) explained, “Consonants are, or contain, noises that
are pronounced with a blockage of some sort of the air passage. Firth (1992) suggested the
following questions: Are the students substituting a different consonant for the appropriate one?
Are the students omitting consonants? Is the consonant being articulated properly? Is the
consonant properly articulated in clusters? Are consonants being omitted from clusters? Are
vowels being inserted to break up clusters? Is the consonant being linked properly in connected
speech? Are alternations typical of relaxed speech being made?
IV. Vowels: Scarcella and Oxford (1994) pointed out “Vowels are characterized by a free
passage of air.” Firth (1992) suggested the following questions: Are the students substituting one
vowel sound for another? Are the students articulating vowel sounds properly? Does the vowel
have the appropriate length? Are stressed vowels longer than unstressed ones? Are vowels 9
reduced in unstressed syllables? Are vowels being properly linked to other vowels across word
boundaries?

So in a pronunciation class, what we need to cover are intonation, stress (word level
stress, sentence level stress, linking), rhythm, consonants (substitution, omission, articulation,
clusters and linking) and vowels (substitution, articulation, length, reduction and linking). These
are the basic contents of a pronunciation class.

B. Pronunciation Teaching Strategies

What Do Teachers Need to Know?

To teach pronunciation effectively, you need several types of knowledge:

• You need to know the facts about pronunciation: How speakers’ mouths move when they
produce the sounds of language, and how word stress, rhythm, connected speech, and intonation
work.
• You need to understand and be able to predict the kinds of problems your students might have
with pronunciation and why they happen.
• You need to know many ways to teach pronunciation to your students, adapting your methods
to fit them and their needs, and helping them practice effectively to overcome any problems they
might have (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010).

You also need to know these basic principles of teaching pronunciation:

• Include more than just “repeat after me.” Having students listen to a recording or to the
teacher’s voice and then repeat is a useful part of a pronunciation lesson, but by itself it is not
enough.
• Encourage students to use more than one of their senses, which is more effective anyway. We
can use many different ways of learning—through sight, sound, and movement—to help students
understand and remember better.
• Keep lessons practical. For most students, even adults, theory and technical explanations are
hard to understand and are easily forgotten. Simple, concrete demonstrations followed by lots of
practice produce better results. Lessons need to fit our students’ level of understanding.
• Include communicative practice whenever possible. Students need to work toward using their
new pronunciation in real speech. During class, we can help them practice in activities that are
similar to real communication.
• Train students to become independent and autonomous learners. Our students won’t be with us
forever. Someday they’ll be facing pronunciation puzzles on their own. If we can help them
build up their own skills in listening, imitating, and monitoring their own pronunciation, it will
be a big help to them in their future learning.
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.

Azna, Diana Jane M.

MAED - English