What to Prioritise When Teaching Pronunciation – with Gemma Archer

Gemma Archer shares insights from her latest book: Teaching English Pronunciation for a Global World co-authored with Robin Walker. In this episode, Gemma talks about prioritising intelligibility over native-likeness in language learning, setting realistic learning goals, as well as shares techniques we can use to develop learners’ pronunciation.

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KEY TALKING POINTS

Prioritising Intelligibility

Gemma stresses the importance of focusing on students' intelligibility rather than aiming for native-like pronunciation, ensuring they can be understood in international contexts.

Needs Analysis and Student Goals

Teachers can conduct a needs analysis by observing students' speech or collecting speech samples to identify specific pronunciation issues. Understanding students' goals and requirements is crucial.

Challenging Prestige Models

The dominance of marketed native-speaker accents, particularly from Southeast England and general American English, in teaching materials, media, and marketing shapes students' perceptions. Teachers should address and challenge these notions, emphasising the value of diverse English accents.

Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation

Simple, low-preparation techniques are recommended. Visual aids, gestures, and using students' language examples are effective. Emphasising sound differences and durations, such as using elastic bands to show vowel length, helps students grasp pronunciation better.

ABOUT

Gemma is an EAP teacher and programme co-ordinator in the ELT unit at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. She is also a pronunciation specialist, teacher trainer, and is joint-coordinator of IATEFL Pronunciation special interest group (PronSIG) and former editor of the SIG’s biannual journal Speak Out! (2017-2023). She is co-author of Teaching English Pronunciation for a Global World (OUP, 2024) and her research interests lie in the field of pronunciation pedagogy and accent, and the issues which can arise when students and teachers of English are confronted with diverse regional and global varieties of English.  

REFERENCES

1. Walker, R. and Archer, G. (2024) Teaching English Pronunciation for a Global World. Oxford University Press.
2. Walker, R. (2020) ‘L’ is for the Lingua Franca Core. What else? Available at English Global Communication here.
3. The Scottish Sound School.
4. IATEFL PronSIG.

Say thanks

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CREDITS

Producer Laura Wilkes

Editor Haven Tsang

Thanks to our fab guest, Gemma Archer.

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