Ana Paula Biazon Rocha

1. What’s the goal of teaching pronunciation? We teach pronunciation to help students become confident and effective communicators in real-life interactions. Clear pronunciation makes it easier for listeners to understand what learners say (intelligibility) and reduces the effort needed to understand them (comprehensibility). 2. Everyone has an accent Teaching pronunciation is not about reducing or eliminating learners’ accents – because everyone has an accent! Instead, we should help students speak clearly and confidently while embracing their linguistic identity. 3. Pronunciation is more than sounds Pronunciation extends far beyond individual consonants and vowels (segmentals). Features such as stress, rhythm, intonation, pausing and linking sounds (suprasegmentals)...

Pronunciation has historically been ‘misdiagnosed’ within ELT, constantly suffering from a so-called ‘Cinderella syndrome’: neglected, relegated to a bridesmaid role or ignored altogether as a key language skill. This marginalisation can be attributed to various factors, including: different methodologies and approaches to language teaching; lack of adequate training on pronunciation instruction; curriculum and time constraints; low confidence in pronunciation skills among many teachers; and learners’ diverse social, cultural and educational contexts. However, in recent decades, renewed interest and advancements in research on pronunciation instruction have sparked a promising recovery (Levis, 2022; Derwing & Munro, 2022:147–159) – as Levis (2019:7)...

In ELT, arguing against the central importance of feedback in the language learning process would be pointless. Feedback helps raise learners’ awareness of language forms, uses and meanings, guiding them to notice and address their difficulties (Darcy, 2018; Patsko, 2017; Saito, 2021:407–428). Furthermore, research has demonstrated that form-focused instruction and corrective feedback do contribute to learners' pronunciation development (Saito & Lyster, 2012), and many students are not only willing to receive feedback on their pronunciation but also consider it important (Saito, 2021). Still, striking a balance between feedback that is too detailed or vague, too frequent or infrequent, too...

A review of Teaching English Pronunciation for a Global World.