At the end of September I attended the ELT Together 2021 webinar series hosted by Oxford University Press. Though I enjoyed almost all of the presentations, a few particularly stood out. The plenary session from the Pronunciation webinar was one such memorable and thought-provoking experience.
Presented by Jane Setter, professor of phonetics at the University of Reading, her “English Pronunciation for the 21st Century” talk not only revisited the importance of pronunciation to language acquisition, but also elaborated on a relatively new paradigm in teaching accent and pronunciation to English language learners.
The first half of the presentation was given to a review of the commonly understood role of proper pronunciation in ELT as well as an introduction to more recent studies and data. In short, teaching proper pronunciation was depicted as:
- impacting almost all other areas of language learning,
- essential to enable communication with others who have different linguistic backgrounds (international communicative competence),
- a top priority for language learners,
- contributing to confidence in speaking, enabling accurate sound discrimination in listening, affecting spelling and retention of new vocabulary, and strengthening reading fluency.
Where pronunciation and accent diverge
It was in the second part of the presentation that my ears pricked up and my attention focused. It was here that I was introduced to ideas I’d never considered and to research which was unfamiliar.
As a preface to the concept of international intelligibility, professor Setter reminded viewers that the Anglophone world is extremely diverse and does not solely consist of Commonwealth countries and former English colonies. Because of this, non-native English teachers (those whose first language is not English) need to be recognized as playing a vital role. They have explicit training in English, they may bring a requisite cultural sensitivity to their classrooms, and they have a greater attentiveness to international intelligibility.
OK, so what is international intelligibility?
Simply put, the movement towards international intelligibility shifts the focus from attempts to acquire / impart a nativelike accent to the more attainable goal of clear communication in English while respecting the linguistic and cultural identity of learners. Additionally, learners are thus given the choice, rather than burden, of endeavouring towards a native accent.
Elements of international intelligibility
The idea and key elements of international intelligibility are derived from the research of linguist Jennifer Jenkins (2000). She advanced that certain aspects of English pronunciation are fundamental for non-native speakers to communicate with other non-native speakers in English. This became known as the Lingua Franca Core (LFC) – the crucial pronunciation features of the language.
In short, the LFC consists of recognizing the importance of:
- most consonant sounds, including aspiration of /p/, /t/ and /k/ at the beginning of words
- consonant clusters (blends) and their combinations, particularly at the beginning and end of words
- vowel length and consistency, rather than vowel quality (e.g. see vs. seat vs. seed)
- word stress and nuclear stress, where emphasis indicates meaning (‘THIS soup is hot’ or ‘this soup IS hot’)
In addition to the LFC, it is important to expose learners to a variety of different accents. This helps to enable the listener to adjust and accommodate the idiosyncrasies of another non-native English accent.
And finally, learners must be taught how to cope in situations where they don’t understand what the speaker has said. This may include being cognizant of different accents, learning to analyze different accents, and being receptive to differences.
Recognition of accent as a natural phenomenon, as well as openness to diversity, can only be considered a faultless byproduct of instruction for international intelligibility.
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