Recent research in ESL (English as a Second Language) contexts demonstrates that pronunciation training is often overlooked and undervalued both by teachers and in their own classroom practice, even though growing evidence for its efficacy is becoming more readily available from published studies.
It’s no wonder then that many educators are still not convinced that they should make the investment in the proper pronunciation instruction when there are so many other pressing educational and developmental issues faced by their students.
A recent survey of English as a Second Language (ESL} instructors in the U.K. found that only around one-third of them had a basic understanding of how to improve students’ pronunciation. The majority were reluctant to invest in proper instructional materials to help students to improve their pronunciation, even though this would have been more than enough incentive for most teachers to do so.
Pronunciation teaching is not something that can be easily learned, but it can also be very hard to get too badly wrong – after all, if you are a native speaker then you are already an expert compared to your students.
Students who speak English as a second language have a real need to learn good pronunciation, and they need help.
There are a few things you can do to help them learn to speak better:
- First, try to avoid using too much jargon when teaching your students about pronunciation. They’ll quickly get tired and frustrated with these technical words and will probably begin to lose interest.
- Next, don’t assume that your students will understand what you’re talking about if you talk in very clear terms. You’ll lose some students with these types of instructions, especially those students who have not been exposed to this problem before.
Pronunciation is an essential part of the English language, and you will find yourself looking over your final reports at the end of the semester and smile at how much improvement they have made because of the effort you’ve put into making sure your students know how to pronounce each sound.
This is why it is so important to provide proper pronunciation instruction to your students. If they don’t already know how to say a word properly, even if they’ve got it 75% right then it is imperative that you correct them.