Abstract

This assignment contains the analysis of the concept and importance

of pronunciation teaching. It also investigates the common barriers of
teaching English pronunciation. Since, teaching pronunciation is inevitable,
there will be some recommendations for effective teaching English
pronunciation.

Introduction
Teaching pronunciation is the challenging task with different tasks.
While, efficiency in English is important, the learners cannot avoid
pronunciation. Because, the skills of reading and writing are useless if the
learners are unable to utter the grammatical structures or words correctly.
Pronunciation is inseparable from listening and speaking skills. In learning
English as a second language, learners focus to grammar and vocabulary.
Unfortunately, most of the learners do not pay attention to the
pronunciation. Yet, pronunciation learning improves speaking as well as
listening. Even teaching English as a second language, most of the teachers
do not emphasize on the pronunciation, because there are a lot of materials
of curriculum to teach the students and there is no sufficient time for
teaching pronunciation in the class room. In this assignment, the concept
and the importance of teaching English pronunciation will be discussed.
Moreover, there some barriers that affect pronunciation learning/teaching.
They will be shown in this paper. Later on, there are some
recommendations to overcome the barriers of learning / teaching
pronunciation.

Definition
First of all, we will discuss about what pronunciation means and
what teaching pronunciation is before we go to the main task.

Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics emphasizes that

pronunciation is “the way sounds are perceived by the hearer”. According
to one study (Pronunciation,2011), pronunciation “ means language is used
and spoken, or the attitude in which the one gives voice to a word”.
Moreover, it can be defined that pronunciation refers to the ability to use
the correct stress, rhythm and intonation of a word in a spoken language. In
other words, pronunciation refers producing sounds, and communication
consists of sounds.
 On the other hand, according to Hornsby (1995:37), teaching means
giving the instruction to (a person): give a person (knowledge,skill,etc). So,
teaching pronunciation is giving instruction to a person in order to make
the sound of a word, and comprehend the sound of a word. As Harmer
(2007, p, 248) states that “pronunciation teaching not only makes students
aware of different sounds and sound features, but can also improve their
speaking immeasurably”. In that way, learners could communicate in target
language effectively. For instance, the one who can comprehend grammar
but cannot use correct pronunciation may not be understood by native
speakers.

The Concept of Teaching Pronunciation

There are a number of language teaching methods. In most of these

methods, learners are emphasized to decode meaning from the text or
learning four skills. But they remain unable to pronounce words correctly.
Because, most of the learners are not aware of pronunciation concept. The
concept of pronunciation teaching in the ESL/ EFL classroom has
witnessed a lot of variation over the last fifty years. We identify about how
the concept of pronunciation is evolved :
 From a language learning perspective of outside-in, to one of
inside-out; that is, a changed concept of language acquisition that views the
learner as the active prime mover in the learning process (Coder,1967), and
an emerging paradigm shift in which learners are seen as active creators,
not as passive recipients, in a process which is cognitively driven.
 From a focus on language as simply a formal system, to a focus
on language as both a formal system and a functional system, one that
exists to satisfy the communicative needs of its
users(Halliday,1970.1973,1978).
 From an instruction focus on linguistic form and correct usage
to one on function communicatively appropriate use (Widdowson, 1978,
1983).
 From an orientation of linguistic competence to one of
communicative competence (Hymes, 1972).
These developments and others have led to a wide variety of changes
in virtually all aspects of ESL including the area of pronunciation teaching.
Furthermore, according to Celce Murcia(1987), there is a four-stage
sequence of pronunciation:
  Identify what sounds or sound patterns might be in need of
improvement.
 Find real-world contexts of natural language use with many
natural occurrences of the identified sounds or sound patterns.
 Design communication –based classroom tasks of genuine
language use that incorporate the identified sounds.
 Develop at least three or four tasks that may be used to recyle
the focus for instruction while providing new contexts for practicing the
target sound patterns.

The Importance of Teaching Pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation is very much noteworthy, since the key of

communication is correct pronuncation. For instance, there is a big
differnce between “beer” and “bear”. So, to make competent them in
communication and understanding, the students must be mastered the skill
of good pronunciation. As, Hasimanoglu(2006,p,102) notices that
“pronunciation teaching is a prominent factor in foreign language teaching.
Since sounds play an important role in communication, foreign language
teachers must attribute proper importance to teaching pronunciation in their
classes”.

Here are some important reasons behind teaching pronunciation as

follows:

 Good pronunciation will boost self- esteem, facilitate

communication, and possibly lead to a better job or at least more respect in
the work place.

 Second language learners worry about having an obvious

accent when they speak. There is a wide range of accents, because the
English spoken in England, Australiaor Canada is different than the English
spoken in the United States of America. In this case, teachers can
encourage students to follow “BBC English”, “Standard English”,
“RP( Received Pronunciation)”,or “GA( General American English).

 Foreighn learners studying in English Speaking Countries need

better pronunciation.
  International business people and diplomats should learn
pronunciation for better communication.

 Immigrants living in English speaking countries have to hang

out with the natives in English speaking countries.

 People who are non – natives and doing jobs like tourist guide,
waiter, hotel personnel, and custom agents need comprehensible
pronunciation.

Barriers of Teaching English Pronunciation

Based on literature review and investigation of teaching and learning

of pronunciation, the researchers identify some barriers faced by the
teachers as well as the learners. Here are some common barriers closely
associated with teaching English pronunciation:

 Age: I t is a common thing that most of the learners start

learning pronunciation of English when their age is twenty to thirty years
old. It affects them to imitate the sounds of words.

 The Native Language: The mother tongue can create difficulty

for pronunciation of English. For example, Bangladeshi learners could
encounter some problems while they pronounce “R”, because English is
“R” less though sometimes “R” is sounded. On the other hand, in Bengali,
the sound of “R”(র) is always pronounced. In other word, “R”(র)cannot be
avoided to utter.

 Accent: Earlier, we have told that there are various accents in

English speaking countries. The students always confuse about which
accent they should follow. For instance, people from New York speak
different English than people from Calofornia. Apart from this, the accents
of U.K is totally different from the U.S.A and all other English speaking
countries.

 Intonation: One of the most complex area of pronunciation is

intonation. Most of the students worry to identify the different patterns of
rising and falling tones.

 Anxiety: Many of the students feel a lot of anxiety to use

correct pronunciation if they make mistakes.
  Learnered Helplessness: The term “learnered helplessness”
comes from psychology and refers to the raction people and animals have
to a hopeless situation. Generally, after trying pronunciation several times
and consistently being unable to get a positive result, the students stop
trying.

 Cultural Identity: It is a psychological barrier that some of the

students do not want to assimilate with an English spaeking society. For
example, an accent shows one’s root, history, and society. For these
reasons, few students may be unwilling to completely give their accent up.

 Unconsciousness: Many of the students are not aware of

importance and needs of pronunciation.

 Surrounding: One of the major problems is learning

surrounding. Usually, the learners have not enough study environment for
pronunciation. In other words, they cannot practice pronunciation with co-
learners.

 Lack of Loggistic Support: For better teaching or leraning

pronunciation, technological devises are not available such as audio,
video,etc.

 Insufficient Time: The students do not get enough time for

practice in the class room. For the same case, the theachers cannot
emphasize on pronunciation.

 Low Motivation: Learners’ motivation is vital to learn

pronunciation. To our dismay, motivation is absent in many of the the
learners.

 Lack of Knowledge: Learning pronunciation is not only based

on class room activities but also on out side of the class room when the
students are free. But most of the students cannot do their parctice of
pronunciation, because they have no sufficient knowledge how to make
sounds of a word correctly or how to pronounce fluently.

 Unfriendliness: After teaching pronunciation of some words,

teachers get bored. They scold the students. As a result, students feel
ashamed of themselves.
  Unskilled Teacher: In Bangladesh, most of the teachers are
unskilled in English pronunciation. They do not produce “Standard
English” or they are unable how to teach the students pronunciation.

Recommendation

Having found some barriers, a teacher can apply some

recommendations for better teaching English pronunciation to overcome
them. They are:

 Working with Accent: Since, there is the number of accents, a

teacher helps the students choose or follow “Received pronunciation(RP)”,
“General American English(GA)”, or “BBC English”.

 Working with Intonation: The structure of pitch can be drawn in

which we are saying and to convey mood. For example, by using of yes/no
question, a teacher can ask students: “Are you okay?”. After answering
yes/no, students can easily realise their falling and rising tones.

 Use of Phonetic Transcript: The IPA should be introduced with

the students in order to focus on the issue of connected speech in English.

 Tongue Twister: Tongue twisters are useful to teach students on

some of the more challenging phonemes.

 Tape: To tape the students’ speech can be a better inspiration for

those who are “learnered helplessness”. After trying severel times, students
stop trying pronunciation, though they do not believe that they can
improve. The teacher should tape the students’ reading or reciting a passage
at the beginning of the course, then tape the same passage every couple of a
few months. After that, the tapes will be played for the students who will
hear how much they have improved over the course of a few months.

 Impersonation: The students who do not like English accent

because of cultural identity. Some fun activities that help them to be more
sensitive to the subjects of accents are doing impersonations, listening to
native regional accents. The students can impersonate famous people like
Tom Cruze or Danniel Creg, or they can impersonate teachers - always a
fun activity. Thus, they will produce the best English pronunciation of their
lives when impersonating someone else.
  Specific Sounds: Minimal pairs, or words such as “Tit”/ “Tat”
that differ by only one sound, are useful for helping students vary similar
sounds. They can be used to illustrate voicing (“Gout”/ “Goat”) or
commonly confused Sounds (“Bird”/ “Bard”). The teacher should
remember one thing that it is the sound and not the spelling.

 Vowel: A teacher can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within

a word by marking on the longer vowels and letting them contract on
shorter ones. For instance: the word “ Sheep” could have the marking for
the “ee” vowel, but the word “Ship” would not have the marking, because
its vowel is spoken quickly.

 Imitation: Imotation is a helpful tool for the students learning

pronunciation. The students should be encouraged to imitate the sound
pronounced by the teacher or played from audio and video pronunciation.

 Pronunciation Games: Pronunciation games can be applied in

the classroom for the students and help the students find the similar or
disssimilar sounds of given words. For example, students can be asked to
find out the similar sound of “ Bit” by marking on the particular phonemes.

 Role Play: One of the most traditional and widely used

techniques is role – play which may be set for the students to play roles for
effective pronunciation.

 Awareness: Obviously, awareness of pronunciation is much

helpful for the students. Since, most of the learners are not aware of
pronunciation to learn, a teacher needs to motivate the students and
instigate them.

 Technology: In this modern age, it is to have technological

devises for easy teaching pronunciation such as audio and video
recordings, and pronunciation softwares. Such devises helip the students “
self – instruction”. In addition to this, some of the devises are portable to
carry in a hand or pocket. The students can play and hear repeatedly and at
the same time, they will pick up listening skill as well.

 Class Time: The class time for pronunciation can be expanded

separately as long as possible.
  Practice: Always, students should be encouraged for practice.
Proper habit of speech may enhance students’ fluency of pronunciation. In
the language of Leonard Bloomfield, “ The command of a language is not
matter of knowledge… (It) is a matter of practice.
 Strive for Continuous Improvement as a Pronunciation Teacher:
The quality of the individual teacher is integral to success of English
language learners. Pronunciation teacher needs to be passionate about his
work. He should regard himself as co-operative, friendly, helpful and
facilitator. And he must allow all of the students to participate in the
pronunciation segment. Even he has to help each student and discover what
works best for the students.

Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that teaching English pronunciation is
important for the students’ successful communication and outstanding
comprehension. To aware of the pronunciation for the teachers and the
students, some developments and needs of pronunciation are discussed in
this paper. In addition, English language learners and teachers should
emphasize on pronunciation. There are some barriers that affect
pronunciation teaching process. To be clear, the teachers must keep in mind
those barriers. After that, the teacher can choose some of the
recommendations mentioned in this study to teach the students in a friendly
and cool manner, and may have the good feedback.