Дарменова А.Е

ЕНУ.им.Л.Н.Гумилева, Казахстан

Factors affecting the learning of pronunciation

Speaking a second language involves different skills like grammar, vocabulary, instruction, and so on. Pronunciation is one of the most important skills in English Language Teaching. If speakers have very bad pronunciation, their speech will not be understandable to the listeners. Despite the fact that acquiring pronunciation is so difficult, in many ESL/EFL classrooms, teaching pronunciation is granted the least attention.

Many learners of English language have major difficulties with English pronunciation even after years of learning the language. This often results in them facing difficulties in areas such as finding employment. The fault which most severely impairs the communication process in EFL/ESL learners is pronunciation, not vocabulary or grammar . Davis stated that an area of concern and one of the top priorities of ESL students after completing elementary English courses is pronunciation. It is important to make a distinction between speaking and pronunciation as it is sometimes wrongly applied interchangeably. Pronunciation is viewed as a sub-skill of speaking. Fraser explains that being able to speak English includes a number of sub-skills of which pronunciation is by far the most important (other sub-skills of speaking include vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics). She argues that “with good pronunciation, a speaker is intelligible despite other errors; with poor pronunciation, understanding a speaker will be very difficult, despite accuracy in other areas”. In spite of its importance, the teaching of pronunciation has been neglected by teachers in the field of English language teaching.

In this article , some of the important factors that affect the learning of pronunciation are mentioned. They are as follows:

1.Motivation and exposure

Along with age at acquisition of a language, the learner’s motivation for learning the language and the cultural group that the learner identifies and spends time with help determine whether the learner will develop native-like pronunciation. Research has found that having a personal or professional goal for learning English can influence the need and desire for native-like pronunciation.

Studies of various age groups in a variety of content areas support the idea that intrinsically motivated students perform better in the classroom. Evidence suggests that these students, as well as students who receive autonomy-support from teachers to enhance their intrinsic motivation, perceive themselves to be more competent and have more interest in and enjoyment of material. Instructor autonomy-support also predicts academic performance. Autonomy-support here refers to instructors who understand and empathize with students’ perspectives and allow students to make choices and initiate activities. Likewise, Miserandino finds that students with high perceived competence receive better grades in some subjects. Those who are more intrinsically motivated are more involved and persistent, participate more, and are curious about school activities, whereas more extrinsically motivated students report feeling more angry, anxious, and bored at school and therefore tend to avoid school activities. Again, more autonomous/intrinsically motivated students receive better grades than their extrinsically motivated peers. Motivation quality has also been linked to high school retention rates, with extrinsic motivation and a lack of autonomy-support from teachers and administrators leading to higher dropout rates . Autonomous, as opposed to controlled, motivation has been linked to higher grades and achievement in school , and intrinsic motivation and autonomy-support to persistence, test performance, and deeper processing of concepts.

2.Instruction

Foreign language instruction generally focuses on four main areas of development: listening, speaking reading and writing. Foreign language curricula emphasize pronunciation in the first year of study as it introduces the target language’s alphabet and sound system, but rarely continues this focus past the introductory level. Lack of emphasis on pronunciation development may be due to a general lack of fervor on the part of the second language acquisition researchers, second language teachers and students, that pronunciation of a second language is not very important.

Teachers have taught what they thought was pronunciation via repetition drills on both a discrete word or phrase level, or give the students the rules of pronunciation like the vowel in a CVC pattern, when given an e at the end, says its name. For example, when an e is added to the word bit (CVC) the pronunciation of the “short i”, becomes long and therefore “says its name”. This type of instruction is meant to help students with decoding words for the purpose of reading rather than pronunciation.

3.Personality

Non-linguistic factors related to an individual’s personality and learning goals, attitude towards the target language, culture, native speakers, and type of motivation which are beyond the teacher’s control ,all have their share in the development of pronunciation skills. In addition, the degree of exposure to and use of the target language can support or impede pronunciation skills development. For example, learners who are outgoing and confident and get involved in interactions with native speakers are liable to practice their foreign language pronunciation . Conversely, some learners feel uncomfortable trying out new speech rhythm and melody patterns, while others feel stupid pronouncing “weird” sounds, and with time, they decide that it is futile and impossible to learn English pronunciation . In this respect, Miller believes that changing – and not changing – speech patterns is affected by how much responsibility the student takes, how much the student practices outside of class, and how ready the student is.

4.Mother tongue influence

Avery and Ehrlich claim that the sound pattern of the learner’s first language is transferred into the second language and is likely to cause foreign accents. The mispronunciations of words by nonnative speakers reflect the influence of the sounds, rules, stress, and intonation of their native language. For example, nonnative speakers’ production of English rhythm was investigated in several studies (Wenk, 1985; Machizuki-Sudo, Kiritani, 1991). These researchers concluded that the transfer from the learners’ native language influenced their production of English-like stress alternation across a phrase. In this respect, Avery and Ehrlich point out that the sound system of the native language can influence the learners’ pronunciation of a target language in at least three ways. First, when there is a sound in the target language which is absent from the learners’ native sound inventory, or vice versa, learners may not be able to produce or even perceive the sound(s). Second, when the rules of combining sounds into words (i.e., phonotactic constraints/rules) are different in the learners’ mother tongue from those of the target language, they cause problems for learners because these rules are language specific as they vary from one language to another. Thirdly, since the rhythm and melody of a language determine its patterns of stress and intonation, learners may transfer these patterns into the target language. In summary, while there are other factors that influence the learner’s L2 pronunciation acquisition , the factors reviewed above may help ESL/EFL teachers consider what learners from different backgrounds are likely to face when learning English as a second language. These factors would enable the teachers to identify the difficulties in the pronunciation of the target language experienced by non-native speakers in order to help them overcome their foreign accent and consequently improve their pronunciation. In addition, they would also enable teachers to provide efficient pronunciation instruction and design their teaching methodology according to students’ needs.

Language pronunciation is a topic of great theoretical interest and practical relevance which unfortunately has been out of fashion for some decades. ESL/EFL teachers should focus on the students’ needs, level and ability, incorporate pronunciation into their oral skills and other classes and focus on both segmental and supra-segmental features whenever there is opportunity and time. Pronunciation must be viewed as more than correct production of individual sounds or isolated words. Instead, it must be viewed as a crucial and integral part of communication that should be incorporated into classroom activities. Teachers can help students by highlighting elements such as sounds, syllables, stress and intonation. Once the students understand the functions of these elements, they will know what to focus on and can build upon this basic awareness. Teachers can actively encourage the students’ actual production, build pronunciation awareness and practice through classes. They can encourage them repeatedly to monitor their own pronunciation and practice their speaking skills as much as possible in and outside the classroom – because changing pronunciation habits is hard work and requires time and effort from the students. They can also improve their self-confidence in daily encounters in and outside the classroom with native (and non-native) speakers by gradually building skills in listening and speaking in both formal and informal situations. It can be concluded that with careful preparation and integration, pronunciation can play an important role in supporting the learners’ overall communicative power.

Reference

1. Fraser, H. (2000b). Literacy vs oral communication skills for ESL learners. In Literacy Link, Newsletter of the Australian Council for Adult Literacy.

2. Hinofotis, F & Baily, K. (1980). American undergraduate reaction to the communication skills of foreign teaching assistants, TESOL “80: Building Bridges: Research and Practice in TESL”, Alexandria, V.A.

3. Makarova, V. (1996). Teaching English pronunciation to large groups of students: some suggestions. Paper presented at the National Japanese Conference for English Language Education, Japan.

4. Graham, J. (1994). "Four Strategies to Improve the Speech of Adult Learners." TESOL Journal, 3, No. 3, 26-28.