pronunciation. If they’re old enough to need to do things on
their own, they’ve probably had the experience of being
misunderstood at work, at school, or while shopping. One
international student in our ESL program told this story:
The first day I arrived at my host family’s house, I
asked my host father, “How can I take a bath? “He
answered, “Where are you going?” He thought I said
“bus” instead of “bath.”Learners who have lived in an English-speaking country for a
while, maybe even for many years, might feel a stronger
motivation for improving their English. On the other hand,
many people in this situation feel that since they’ve been able
to get by so far with the pronunciation they have, there’s no
need to improve.
Learners in an ESL setting usually have more chances to hear
English spoken in daily life than learners in an EFL setting.
Even those who speak mostly their native language at home
and with friends can’t avoid hearing a certain amount of
English in the wider world. Assuming they pay attention to
what they hear around them, this gives them additional input
on what English sounds like.
Learners in an EFL environment have a variety of motivations
for learning pronunciation. Some know that they need to
speak English for business, education, or other purposes, and
they feel motivated to work toward intelligible
pronunciation. Others, however, are learning English only
because they are required to, and not because they feel any
need to master the language.In particular, students in middle school and high school are
often very concerned about their grades and future entrance
exams for the next level of their education. These tests often
have an English component, but pronunciation is seldom a
part of it. When students start to focus more strongly on these
outward measures of success, they’re less concerned with
their overall ability to use English, and their motivation to
achieve good pronunciation is lost. When they think about
pronunciation, they might ask themselves, “What’s in it for
me? Will this be on the standardized tests that I have to
take?”Other students in this age group aren’t motivated much at all
in studying English, either for its own sake or as a tool for
their future. Some may even reject the idea of having
“nativelike” pronunciation, feeling that it will make them
stand out from their peers and seem “stuck up.” If we can
teach pronunciation in an interesting and engaging way,
we’re more likely to keep these students involved, even if
they’re not interested in the subject matter for its own sake.
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