give students plenty of opportunities to listen to natural-
sounding English, including normal connected speech. You’re
not helping your students if you let them hear only extremely
clear, careful pronunciation. This may be all right as a very
!rst step; after all, hearing something slowly helps listeners
catch the sounds more accurately. However, it should soon be
followed by more natural speech.
I once observed an English class in a Japanese junior high
school in which the teacher spoke very slowly, deliberately
adding extra vowels after !nal consonants and within
consonant clusters, and intentionally making other changes
that Japanese learners typically make. I knew from talking to
this teacher earlier that this was not his normal way of
speaking; in conversation outside of class his pronunciation
was smooth and without these added vowels. I asked him
why he spoke that way in class. He told me, “My students
can’t understand ‘real’ English. Why shouldn’t I speak very
slowly and clearly and use the kind of pronunciation they
expect? It helps them understand.” The simple answer is that
this may make it easier for students to understand the teacher
now, but it won’t help them understand “real” English
outside of the classroom. We can’t shield students from the
real world of language unless we plan to keep them in our
own classroom forever.
However, it’s not only nonnative speakers who fall into the
trap of speaking too slowly and carefully. Many native-
speaker teachers also do this (consciously or unconsciously)
to try to help their students understand more easily. (I’ll have
to admit that I sometimes !nd myself doing this too.) It’s not
helpful for native speakers to talk at full speed with full
reduced forms unless students are at a very advanced level,
but we also shouldn’t speak with arti!cial care. All teachers
should try to provide a natural, realistic pronunciation model
for our students.Using technical language in explanations
How much technical language should you use in teaching
pronunciation? Should you use terms like fricative or
aspiration in your explanations? Is it necessary for students
to remember the names of the parts of the articulatory
system?If the students are children, then certainly not; they won’t
understand technical language, even in their own language.
The best advice for introducing sounds to children is “Show,
don’t just tell.” For junior high- or high school-age learners
too, technical language is often hard to understand and may
bore and discourage learners. If you can give students the
knowledge and guidance they need through demonstrations,198