Details about Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes
Pronunciation Instruction in English for Academic Purposes PDF free download – Pronunciation instruction has long been an area that I have found fascinating both as a practitioner and researcher. Reflections on my own experiences as a learner of foreign languages, both in childhood and as an adult, made me aware of the peculiar, and some would argue, almost unique nature of pronunciation when compared to other areas of language study. Although learners may react negatively when they discover that they have produced inaccurate language in writing, pronunciation has an intensely personal quality that is absent in writing. Losing face by pronouncing something incorrectly in an L2 can have a detrimental effect on learner motivation, more so than errors in other aspects of language learning. Of course, this is culture bound too, so in some learning contexts other errors (for example, grammatical errors) may also induce a sense of failure or discouragement in learners. Nevertheless, the act of speaking and articulating words, phrases, and sentences has a link with the self that other aspects of language learning do not seem to have (Arnold, 2011; Cohen & Norst, 1989). However, the consequences of not providing pronunciation instruction and guidance may well mean that learners could complete their language learning being able to perform the four skills, but not always being understood when speaking: a highly undesirable outcome. The challenge is therefore to provide instruction that is appropriate for the particular group of learners. This can depend on a range of factors, including the age of the learners and the motivation for learning a particular language.