Providing a pronunciation model
Choose the variety of English you’ll use as a model
Many varieties of English are spoken in the world: Standard
varieties of American, British, Australian, Canadian English
and others, along with regional or nonstandard varieties of
each of these “national Englishes.” There are also many well-
established ways that nonnative speakers in particular
countries speak English. We hope that our students will learn
to understand many of these varieties when they hear them,
but most teachers will use just one variety as a model in
pronunciation teaching. Which kind of English will you use
as a model for your students?
If you’re teaching in an English-speaking country, you’ll
almost certainly use the variety that is an accepted standard
in that country. After all, it would seem silly to teach
students American English if they’re studying in Australia or
British English if they’re studying in the US.
If you’re teaching in a country where English is not widely
spoken, these are some paths open to you:
- Use the variety that you can most reliably produce—the
one you grew up speaking (if you’re a native speaker) or
the one you feel most comfortable speaking (if you’re not
a native speaker).- Use the variety that you’ve been told to use. In reality,
many teachers don’t have a choice about what variety of
English to use as a model. That choice has been made by
a school board, national Ministry of Education, or other
authority. - Think about the types of English your students will need
to understand in the future and choose your model based
on your predictions. (Celce-Murcia et al. 2010) - Your model might not be a native-speaker variety at all.
Some researchers recently have pointed out that since
English is used as an international language in business,
science, and many other !elds, it’s not necessary or even
desirable to try to get students to sound like native
speakers of a standard national variety of English. Walker
(2010) suggests that we should concentrate on teaching
the Lingua Franca Core—those aspects of
pronunciation that help most in increasing intelligibility
when nonnative speakers communicate with each other.
Whatever variety you choose, help your students get used to
hearing and understanding other accents too, even if you use
only one as a model for imitation.
- Use the variety that you’ve been told to use. In reality,
Provide a natural-sounding model
Whether the pronunciation examples that students hear come
from your own voice or from recordings, it’s important to
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