Have been reading a bit of Jennifer Jenkins work on "English as Lingua Franca" (ELF) of late. Basically, this focuses on English as an International Language (EIL) - communication between a nonnative speaker (NNS) and another NNS. For this kind of communication the focus needs to be on intelligibility - these speakers don't need to have nativeness as a goal...
In an ESL context, however, it is easy to see how nativeness would be a goal for an English language learner (ELL)... most of their communication will be with native speakers (NS).
Which leads me to my teaching situation... here in Taiwan...
I did a quick class survey with my junior high learners regarding their pronunciation. Nearly all of them said they wanted to sound like NS (except for some of the boys who simply didn't care). Now, living in Taiwan, they are never going to achieve that NS standard as their own pronunciation is going to continuously be influenced by the Chinese-influenced pronunciation they hear around them on a daily basis and in the English classroom. Promoting NS-like pronunciation could in fact lead to disillusionment amongst the learners.
Therefore, what are your ideas on pronunciation?
How do you approach it with your groups of learners?
I'd like to hear from you...
Cheers
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What is the alternative? It is teaching learners pronunciation that mirrors the local population. If the goal is communication in English with locals then it seems rather pointless,they will just speak in their native language. If the goal is to speak with NNS from other countries there must be some kind of standard. I assume the English being spoken by NNS in Taiwan would be quite different from NNS in Eastern Europe of South America. I think there must be some kind of common or meeting point
ReplyDeleteAlso in terms of NS pronunciation there are significant differences within the English world. Which type of NS pronunciation are the ELL trying to copy? Being in Taiwan I assume they want 'American,' pronunciation.
I teach pronunciation on a daily basis with young ELL. I constantly struggle to correct my ELL pronunciation to match my pronunciation. Is this correct? Let me know English Teacher Guy.
Hey BigEll,
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting and thought-provoking post. In terms of interaction between NNS of differing nationalities I agree, some sort of standard is crucial. English as Lingua Franca could be that standard.
And yes, there are some NS pronunciations that I can simply not understand. In teaching in Taiwan, I have simply found my GA (general American)accent to be more intelligible. Therefore, I use it in class. Even other NS struggle to understand my 'kiwi' accent, therefore its use is reserved for other kiwis (and some aussies). The cultural content that our learners in Taiwan are exposed to is largely American as well (movies, music, TV) therefore I consider the use of GA on my part justified.
However, in terms of our learners, I believe simple intelligibility is best. Research has shown that in this teaching context, NNS-NNS communication will be heavily L1 influenced in terms of pronunciation. Therefore, pushing our pronunciation standards may be forcing them to strive for unattainable goals. I ONLY correct pronunciation that is unintelligible. However, a case can be made (I think) for very young learners (YL). Such learners are very adaptive when it comes to language and it has been shown that YLs can more easily develop native-like accents. How young are your learners?
I agree, with my middle and high school learners I aim for communication and only worry about pronunciation in extreme cases.
ReplyDeleteMy learners are anywhere from 3-9 but with most of the learners having started learning at 3-4. There is an incredible intelligibility difference between those that started at 3-4 and those that started 6-7. With the early learners having near NS pronunciation and solid phonics skills. While the older group speak without the same clarity and have much weaker phonics skills.