The Significance of Pronunciation in English Language Teaching

Abstract

Learners with good English pronunciation are likely to be understood even if they make errors in other areas, whereas learners with bad pronunciation will not be understood, even if their grammar is perfect. Such learners may avoid speaking in English, and experience social isolation, employment difficulties and limited opportunities for further study. We judge people by the way they speak, and so learners with poor pronunciation may be judged as incompetent, uneducated or lacking in knowledge. Yet many learners find pronunciation one of the most difficult aspects of English to acquire, and need explicit help from the teacher. Therefore, some sort of pronunciation instruction in class is necessary. The goals of this paper are to define English pronunciation, review the history of English pronunciation instruction, explain the aim of English pronunciation instruction, elaborate pronunciation and communication, review the previous research about the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction on learners’ achievement, and discuss the English pronunciation and the target of comfortable intelligibility.