ESL Pronunciation Teaching: Could it Be More Effective?

1. Do we need to teach orthoepy?\nThe pendulum has swung back again, and most ESL teachers now agree that explicit orthoepy direction is an congenital spot of language courses. On the match slight hand, confidence with pronunciation all in allows learners the interaction with native speakers that is so essential for all aspects of their linguistic development. On the other hand, poor pronunciation can mask otherwise good language skills, reprobate learners to less than their deserved social, academician and work advancement.\nWhile in that location is little doubt virtually teachers appreciation of the importance of pronunciation instruction, there is even less doubt about(predicate) learners take in demand for in force(p) pronunciation teaching: almost all learners rate this as a priority and an bea in which they need more guidance. For whatsoever remaining sceptics, it may be worth briefly rehearsing the followers responses to reasons sometimes given for not teaching pronunciation explicitly in an ESL program.\n\na) it is honest that learners are very unlikely to bump off a native-like accent - exactly their intelligibility can be greatly improved by effective pronunciation teaching;\n\nb) it is lawful that pronunciation improves most through the gradual intuitive changes brought about by real interaction with native speakers - but for a large proportion of ESL learners the skills that enable this type of interaction do not come naturally; most need a leg-up from explicit pronunciation teaching.\n\nc) it is admittedly that it is offensive to prescribe an accent norm to which learners must assimilate, and it is true that people should be free to express themselves in whatever accent they favour - but it is not true that\nthis freedom is given by withholding pronunciation teaching. On the contrary, it is effective pronunciation teaching that offers learners a genuine resource in how they express themselves.\n\n2. The riddle: no t whether to teach, but how to teach, pronunciation\nDespite widespread agr...