Ministry of Higher Education
And Scientific Research
University of Babylon
College of Basic Education
English Department
By :
Zahraa Motsher Abdul Wahid
Supervisor By :
Asst.lect Dhafar Basim Al bakri
Dhafar al bakri
15/6/2020
Done under my supervision
Dedication
I dedicate this work to the martyrs who have
completed our scientific career with their blood. I also
dedicate this work to my father, and I dedicate this work
to my beloved mother who sacrificed with everything to
reach me at this stage.
I
Acknowledgement
Special thanks for all my teachers who supported
me in my scientific career.. Thanks for my family who
stood and patient and sacrificed with me to complete my
studies.
II
Verse From Holy Quran
بسم اهلل الرمحن الرحيم
َات
مَ دَرَج َ ")يَرْفَعِ اللَّهُ الَّذِي َنَ آ َمنُوا مِنكُ َ
مْ وَالَّذِين أُوتُوا العِِْلْ َ
وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُو َنَ خَبِريٌ( "
صدق اهلل العظيم
اية ( ) 11سورة اجملادلة
III
Content page
Dedication I
Acknowledgement II
Verse From Holy Quran III
Content IV
Abstract 1
1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 The Goal of Teaching Pronunciation 2
2.1 Definition of Pronunciation Teaching 3
2.2 The Importance of English Pronunciation Teaching 5
2.3 The Teachers’ Role in English Pronunciation Teaching 7
2.4 Suggestions for Improving English Pronunciation Teaching 8
3.1 Conclusion 10
References 11
IV
Abstract
English Pronunciation Teaching is difficult for some reasons.
Teachers are left without clear guidelines and are faced with
contradictory practices for pronunciation Teaching. There is no well-
established systematic method of deciding what to teach, when, and
how to do it. As a result of these problems, pronunciation Teaching is
less important and teachers are not very comfortable in teaching
pronunciation in their classes. This paper reviews some of the important
issues of English pronunciation Teaching. The aims of this paper are to
define the term pronunciation, discuss the goal of pronunciation
Teaching, explain the importance of pronunciation Teaching, elaborate
the role of teachers in teaching pronunciation, and finally mention some
suggestions in helping teachers to improve learners’ pronunciation.
The review of literature shows that if teachers want to teach
pronunciation accurately they should be trained in
pronunciation Teaching.
1
Chapter One
1.1 Introduction
English pronunciation Instruction is one of the most difficult skills to
acquire and learners should spend lots of time to improve their pronunciation
(Aliaga Garcia, 2007:p136 ; Martinez-Flor et al. 2006:p102; Pourhosein
Gilakjani, 2016:p314). Understandable pronunciation is one of the basic
requirements of learners’ competence and it is also one of the most important
features of language Teaching. Good pronunciation leads to learning while
bad pronunciation promotes to great difficulties in language learning
(Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2012:p119).
According to Fraser (2000:p193), teachers should be provided with courses
and materials that help them improve their pronunciation Teaching. She
continued that second language education research should not be concerned
with the significance of English pronunciation Teaching but with the
methodology of pronunciation Teaching.
Morley (1991:p51) stated that understandable pronunciation is a main
objective of pronunciation Teaching. In is a necessary component of
communicative competence. Morley (1991:p21) emphasized that learners
should develop functional intelligibility, functional communicability, increased
self-confidence, the speech monitoring abilities, and speech modification
strategies. In this paper, the researcher defines the term pronunciation,
reviews the goal of English pronunciation Teaching, and explains the
significance of English pronunciation Teaching.
1.2 The Goal of Teaching Pronunciation
The goal of pronunciation is not to ask learners to pronounce like
native speakers . Instead intelligible pronunciation should be the real purpose
of oral communication. If learners want to change the way of pronouncing
English words, they have to change the way they think about the sounds of
those words. This is true both for individual sounds and the bigger parts of
speech such as syllables, stress patterns, and rhythm. Unfortunately,
pronunciation Teaching is sometimes ignored in English language teaching
(Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2011:p136; Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2016:315). In this
paper, the researcher defines the term pronunciation, explains the goal of
2
English pronunciation, elaborates the importance of pronunciation, states the
role of teachers in teaching pronunciation, and mentions some suggestions for
teaching English pronunciation.
Chapter Two
2.1 Definition of Pronunciation
Cook (1996 as cited in Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2016:p314) defined
pronunciation as the production of English sounds. Pronunciation is learnt by
repeating sounds and correcting them when produced inaccurately. When
learners start learning pronunciation they make new habits and overcome the
difficulties resulting from the first language. According to Yates (2002 as cited
in Pourhosein Gilakjani, 2016:p314), pronunciation is the production of
sounds that is used for making meaning.
Pronunciation is the production of a sound system which doesn't
interfere with communication either from the speakers’ or the listeners’
viewpoint (Paulston & Burder, 1976:p52). Pronunciation is the way of uttering
a word in an accepted manner (Otlowski, 1998:p51). Furthermore, Richard
and Schmidt (2002:p134) defined pronunciation as the method of producing
certain sounds.
According to James (2010:p131), acceptable pronunciation can be
understood based on the following basic levels. In level 1, what the speaker is
saying is not understandable to people. The speaker uses the wrong sounds
when producing English words or uses the wrong prosodic features when
producing English sentences.
According to Hinofotis and Bailey (1980, as cited in Celce-Murcia &
Goodwin, 1991:p163), there is a beginning level for pronunciation. If the
pronunciation of a speaker falls below this level, he/she will be not be able to
communicate without paying attention to his/her knowledge of grammar and
vocabulary. In level 2, what the speaker is saying can be understandable to
people but the speaker’s pronunciation is not acceptable to listen to because
he/she has a strange and heavy accent.
Morley (1994:p91) said that when a speaker’s pronunciation is heavily
accented it can affect the speaker’s understanding. In level 3, people
3
understand the speaker and the speaker’s English is acceptable to listen to.
Scovel (1988:p309) called it comfortable intelligibility and it should be the aim
of English pronunciation. Therefore, the important question is this: what
shapes acceptable pronunciation? A speaker has acceptable pronunciation
when other people can understand him/her and the speaker’s English is of
great value to listen to.
According to James (2010:p52), the aim of learning pronunciation for
some learners is the native-like accent. This can probably be a primary
objective but it cannot be the ideal goal of teachers who intend to improve
their learners’ pronunciation.
Morley (1994:p191) expressed that an accent that is too different from a
known standard can become confusing; therefore, it is suggested that
learners’ accents become close to a standard variety. If a speaker has a heavy
English accent, this may cause negative judgments about his/her personality
and competence. If learners need not to pronounce like native speakers of
English and at the same time they need to have an accent that is near to a
known standard, then what English models can a teacher use with his/her
students?
James (2010:p191) answered the above question and stated that there are
different kinds of models that can be found for teaching and learning English
pronunciation. One can turn on his/her TV and find channels such as CNN
International, BBC, or Sky News. These channels help one hear many different
people from Germany, France, and the other non- English-speaking countries.
All of these channels have acceptable pronunciation and this will facilitate the
process of persons’ understanding.
According to Yates and Zielinski (2009:p121), much attention to English
pronunciation indicates that pronunciation has a key role in learning English. If
teachers don’t present the general rules and principles toward
comprehensible pronunciation to their EFL learners, nobody will certainly do
it. This is the responsibility of EFL teachers to do this by teaching the new
sounds, words, sentences, and phrases and arranging appropriate materials
for understandable pronunciation in their EFL classes. EFL teachers should
explore new ways of indicating, practicing, and giving feedback on English
pronunciation that are actually appropriate for learners to learn English
pronunciation easily and effectively.
4
According to Hismanoglu (2006:p101), pronunciation Teaching is very
important for oral communication. It is also a significant part of
communicative competence. Although the role of English pronunciation is
important in English language, many teachers do not pay enough attention to
this important skill. The problems of pronunciation Teaching have been
demonstrated by some researchers.
Morley (1991:p319) said that it is necessary for teachers to teach English
pronunciation in ESL and EFL classes although many teachers do not pay
attention to it in their Teaching.
Pourhosein Gilakjani (2012:p15) expressed that English pronunciation is one
of the least favorite areas for teachers to teach in their classes. Morley
(1991:p321) also said that intelligible pronunciation is a necessary part of
communicative competence and without having perfect pronunciation skills
learners would not be able to communicate effectively. Hismanoglu and
Hismanoglu (2011:p17) declared that many teachers try to teach grammar,
vocabulary, and the four language skills for their learners without
incorporating English pronunciation into their curriculum.
2.2 The Importance of English Pronunciation Teaching
According to Harmer (2001:p110), a lot of teachers do not pay enough
attention to English pronunciation. There are different reasons for this
negligence. Many learners state that they do not need to learn pronunciation
and learning pronunciation is a waste of time. They state that just
communication in English is enough and when they are understood, nothing
else is important.
Harmer (2001:p50) emphasized that the main aim of teaching and learning in
any language is to enable students to communicate in the target language and
if this is the case, communication is an important term to explain.
Communication means to understand and be understood. Many learners
think that because they can talk to their teachers and other students so they
can easily communicate in English. But they make a big mistake.
There are a lot of reasons for their mistakes. Firstly, teachers can understand
their students much more easily than an average person because their ears
are used to ‘bad English.’ Secondly, other students are the speakers of the
same language have the same pronunciation patterns and make the same
mistakes so it is easy for them to understand each other. Thirdly, the
5
classroom is not a real situation and it just takes place at school and students
do not have an opportunity to talk to native speakers (Harmer, 2001:p52).
Many teachers are not aware of the importance of pronunciation. Teachers
pay enough attention to grammar and vocabulary in learning a foreign
language and they help learners become skillful in listening and reading.
Secondly, the majority of teachers think that pronunciation study is too
difficult and monotonous for learners (Harmer, 2001:p53).
According to Harmer (2001:p95), the lack of high quality, suitable
teaching and learning materials, and the lack of time to practice pronunciation
are the major reasons that cause teachers not to pay enough attention to
English pronunciation. Teachers think that they have too much to do and
pronunciation Teaching just wastes their time. Some teachers believe that
their students can learn correct pronunciation without particular
pronunciation Teaching.
Kenworthy (1987:p148) said that there are some factors for the learning of
acceptable pronunciation by some students without depending on their
teachers. They are learners’ phonetic abilities, integrative motivation, and
achievement motivation. There are just some students who know the value of
good pronunciation. This is the responsibility of teachers to persuade their
learners to study pronunciation severely and help them learn to pronounce
English sounds correctly. Teachers should tell their students that their very
first English lesson is pronunciation. If students do not practice good
pronunciation at the beginning of their learning process, they may learn
wrongly. Therefore, words should be learnt regarding to their pronunciation.
Otherwise, this may damage learners’ overall success.
Harmer (2001:p60) expressed that the first thing that native speakers
notice during a conversation is pronunciation. Grammar and vocabulary are
important elements of language and they can be useless if the speakers
cannot pronounce those elements or words accurately. Native speakers can
understand people, despite their grammatical errors, if they use accurate
pronunciation. Communicative efficiency can be guaranteed by correct
pronunciation. Pronunciation is an essential part of communication and
without correct pronunciation nobody can say that he/she knows the English
language perfectly.
6
Harmer (2001:p23) also emphasized that through pronunciation Teaching,
students not only learn different sounds and sound features but also improve
their speaking skill. Concentrating on sounds causes learners aware of where
words should be stressed and they give them more information about spoken
English and help them get the goal of comprehension and intelligibility.
According to Kenworthy (1987:p143), some teachers state that pronunciation
Teaching cannot be useful because only a few learners will be able to get
native-like pronunciation. We should know that native-like pronunciation may
be an ideal goal only for some learners and not for all learners. Intelligibility is
a logical aim for the majority of learners.
Harmer (2001:p61) stated that learners can rarely achieve ‘perfect’
pronunciation. Some of them do not like to pronounce like native speakers
and they like to retain their foreign accent because it is a part of their identity.
Native-like pronunciation may be an inappropriate goal for most learners.
Understandable pronunciation should be one of the basic aims of language
learners. Pronunciation Teaching has some realistic aims that need to be
emphasized in order to develop communicative competence.
According to Wrembel (2002), these aims are
1 - functional intelligibility-developing spoken English that is easy to
understand for listeners;
2 - functional communicability-developing spoken language that meets
communicative needs;
3 - increased self-confidence-developing a positive self-image; and
4 - speech-monitoring abilities and speech modification strategies-that will
allow students to develop intelligibility, communicability and confidence
outside the classroom.
According to Butler-Pascoe and Wiburg (2003:p173), the goals of
teaching pronunciation are to develop English that is easy to understand and
not confusing to the listener, develop English that meets persons’ needs and
that results in communicative competence, help learners feel more
comfortable in using English, develop a positive self-awareness as non-native
speakers in oral communication, develop speech consciousness, personal
speech monitoring skills and speech adjustment strategies that help learners
develop in and out of the class.
7
2.3 The Teachers’ Role in English Pronunciation Teaching
Morley (1991:p194) expressed that teachers do not teach but facilitate
learners’ learning pronunciation. The role of teachers is like a coach, a speech
coach, and a pronunciation coach. The pronunciation coach has the critical
role of checking and guiding modifications of spoken English at two levels (a)
speech production, and (b) speech performance.
According to Morley (1991:p184), teachers perform pronunciation diagnostic
analyses and select those aspects that can have a great effect on changing the
speech of learners toward increased comprehensibility, assist learners in
setting both long-range and short-term objectives, develop a lot of Teachingal
modes and modules (e.g., whole-class Teaching, small-group work, individual
one-on-one tutorial sessions; prerecorded audio and/or video materials; work
with new computer program speech analysis systems), structure in-class
speaking and listening activities with invited native speakers and non-native
speakers of English., provide models, cues, and suggestions for modifications
of elements in the speech patterning for all learners, monitor learners’ speech
production and speech performance and evaluate pattern changes as a
continuous part of the program, and persuade learners’ speech awareness
and realistic self-monitoring.
2.4 Suggestions for Improving English Pronunciation Teaching
There are a lot of useful suggestions for EFL teachers to help learners
improve their English pronunciation. EFL teachers should be accurately trained
in pronunciation to improve their learners’ English pronunciation (Shahzada,
2012:p309). EFL teachers should speak clearly and slowly in their
pronunciation classes and they should convince their learners that their
language is understandable. This can help their learners improve their
pronunciation by listening to them carefully (Bradley-Bennett, 2007:p314).
Teachers should teach their learners that slow speech with correct
pronunciation is much better than fast speech with wrong pronunciation.
Learners should understand that understandability is more important than
fast speech (Rasekhi Kolokdaragh, 2010:p23). EFL teachers should be aware of
their learners’ needs and problems in pronunciation. Based on their needs,
teachers should present some appropriate materials to their learners to
reduce their learners’ pronunciation problems (Shahzada, 2012:p316).
Teachers should use computer technologies such as different kinds of
8
computer software in their classes to help their learners improve their
pronunciation by exposing them to authentic materials .
Teachers should familiarize their learners to both American and British English
and learners should be able to understand both varieties of pronunciation
(Rasekhi Kolokdaragh, 2010:p3016). Teachers should incorporate
pronunciation in other language activities because it will help learners to
adapt themselves to the sound systems of a new language and overcome their
affective problems related to the learning of English language (Rasekhi
Kolokdaragh, 2010:p315).
Teachers should set obtainable goals that are appropriate for the
communication needs of the learners. Teachers should act as the speech
coach of pronunciation, give feedback to their learners, and encourage them
to improve their pronunciation (Thanasoulas, 2002:p11).
9
Chapter Three
3.1 Conclusion
Pronunciation should be viewed as more than correct production of
individual sounds or words. It should be viewed as an important part of
communication that is incorporated into classroom activities. Teachers can
urge their learners to monitor their own pronunciation and practice their
speaking skills as much as possible in and outside the classroom.
Understandable pronunciation is an essential component of communicative
competence. With this in mind, teachers should set obtainable goas that are
applicable and suitable for the communication needs of learners.
Pronunciation Teaching has to aim at intelligible pronunciation and teachers
can actively encourage their learners’ actual production, build pronunciation
awareness and practice. Pronunciation Teaching is very important because it
is the main source of understanding. If learners cannot utter the correct
version of a word then they are not able to communicate correctly.
Pronunciation Teaching helps learners to have a better understanding of
native speakers and improves their ability to communicate easily and
effectively.
11
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