COMPILATION OF THE DISCUSSION:
A native-speaker like PRONUNCIATION
Teacher´s Portal August 2004
Thank you to all community members who participated in this wonderfully productive
exchange of ideas!
Here are the 3 questions that raised so many interesting points and a summary of the
main issues discussed:
a) should the goal of teaching be an English/American native-speaker like
pronunciation?
b) should we worry about learners having a noticeable Brazilian accent?
c) is it more important to expose our learners to non-native English accents (eg. Chinese,
Argentinians speaking English) than native ones (Americans, British)?
1. New “Englishes”
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It’s important for students and teachers to be aware that with globalization, several
non-native Englishes are now more common than just the typical American/British
variations.
These non-native accents are seen as part of the users’ identity.
“Teachers should aim to reach a balance between intelligible and ‘native-like’
pronunciation not denying the fact that learners’ identity is also expressed by their
accent (Brazilian).
2. Good pronunciation is prestigious in EFL and seen as a symbol of status
/ power.
“Students who have that nice feel for pronouncing the language with little accent
are regarded as successful learners, even if they still make lots of mistakes in
grammar or vocabulary!”
3. Intelligibility: pronunciation vs accent
 Having good pronunciation is not a synonym for having a native speaker accent.
 Intelligibility is more important than speaking with a native-like accent.
 Intelligibility has more to do with pronunciation than with accent, although strong
accent may affect understanding.
“We can teach pronunciation but not an accent!! One can practise a different
accent, play with it, make jokes, imitate, whatever, but never have 100% of another
accent!!”
“More work on connected speech, reduction, stress and intonation should be done,
not to make students' pronunciation more American or British-like, but to make
students' more comfortable with their ability to communicate in English.”
4. Pronunciation work is important for both speaking and listening
 Pronunciation teaching/practice is important not only for the production of intelligible
English but also for the development of listening skills.
 The real goal of teaching English should be to prepare the students to be able to
understand different varieties of native and non-native English and also to produce
intelligible English.
“More important than having native speakers as models is to raise in the Sts the
awareness that they won't be able to understand every single word and that's not
their fault.”
 Work on key features of pronunciation: CONNECTED SPEECH, REDUCTION, STRESS and
INTONATION should start from the very beginning of the learning process.
 Models for PRACTICE/PRODUCTION should mainly aim at INTELLIGIBILITY. These should
be the models of native speakers.
5. Pronunciation work associated with grammar and vocabulary
 Pronunciation teaching cannot be dissociated from the teaching of grammar and
vocabulary.