Teaching Pronunciation: The Lost Ring of the Chain

Abstract

Abstract-Recent developments in the literature provide us with a better understanding of the importance of second language pronunciation teaching which has been intermittently downplayed for years. This study aims at describing and understanding the different approaches to teaching pronunciation. It first gives an account of different views on pronunciation and its teachability. Then segmental and suprasegmental features and their place in language teaching programs are brought to notice. Since achieving settlement in whether teachers should set native-like accent or a fluent but accented style of speaking as the target in the pronunciation teaching programs has remained a thorny issue, a discussion of the related lines of arguments is presented. Finally, the future directions and consequent problems are discussed in the light of findings.

Pronunciation Teaching: Past and Present

“…From the early years in the new millennium, pronunciation seemed to have moved on from the segmental/suprasegmental debate to a more balanced view acknowledging that the impairment of intelligibility can be associated with both segmental and suprasegmental features. At this point, pronunciation specialists were more concerned with what features to teach learners in a way to enable them to communicate most effectively, rather than to teach segmental or suprasegmental features (Couper, 2008;Levis, 2005;Moghaddam et al, 2012;Zeilinski, 2006).…”

“…Another improvement in the status of pronunciation in language teaching is the attempts made by language teachers and educators to integrate pronunciation with other language skills such as speaking and listening. This has been motivated in part by the global spread of English as the international language and the need for mutual intelligibility among speakers of many varieties of English (Moghaddam et al, 2012). Hinkel (2006: 116) expresses a similar view: "In an age of globalization, pragmatic objectives of language learning place an increased value on integrated multi-skill instructional models.…”

“…Any discussion about pronunciation teaching and research is likely to begin with an acknowledgement of its being marginalized and neglected within the profession of English language teaching. Pronunciation has been referred to, in the literature, as "the Cinderella area of foreign language teaching" (Kelly, 1969), "the neglected orphan of second language acquisition studies" (Deng, Holtby, Howden-Weaver, Nessim, Nicholas, Nickle, Pannekoek, Stephan, & Sun, 2009), "the poor relation of the English language teaching world" (Pardo, 2004) and "the lost ring of the chain" (Moghaddam, Nasiri, Zarea and Sepehrinia, 2012). Few practitioners involved in pronunciation teaching and pronunciation research would consider these titles as misnomers.…”

Ultrasound Overlay Video Effectiveness in Teaching Pronunciation to Young EFL Learners

“…Effective communication requires a proficient use of the phonological elements of the target language (Moghaddam et al, 2012). Thus, placing great emphasis on knowledge of phonology and phonetics is essential to enhance pronunciation (Hameed & Aslam, 2015).…”

Why has phonodidactics become “the neglected orphan” of ESL / EFL pedagogy? Explaining methodology- and ELF-related motives behind a reluctance towards pronunciation teaching

“…Other revealing terms such as "the Cinderella area" and "the lost ring of the chain" coined byKelly (1969) andMoghaddam et al (2012) respectively were introduced to underline the inferiority of phonodidactics in L2/FL instructed settings.…”