English Language Matters: Teaching Pronunciation

I spot teach the contrast between l/r when it's crucial, such as the difference between lend and rend

For those who teach English in Japan, so often there is pressure from your superiors, whether public or private school English departments or eikaiwa administrators for you, the English teacher, to provide a model of English pronunciation. However, the question is, what features of the language are you encouraged to teach and practice?

So it was startling to me to read recent research with a searing indictment of the JET Programme which invites young people from abroad to assist English teachers in public and private elementary and high schools in Japan.

The paper cites a source that says a meager 1% of JET Programme participants are licensed teachers or English language teaching professionals. While they’re expected to model pronunciation, very few of them have any knowledge of strategies to teach and provide practice in the prosody of Engish. It’s important to understand that Japanese is a syllabic language while English is a stress-timed language. The stark contrast means that Japanese learners of English who are trained solely in grammar struggle to hear the weak and strong words of spoken English. If you don’t know what to listen for, you won’t get the benefit of listening input.

The writer’s research results show that many of the JET ALTs don’t draw on best practices in teaching pronunciation and often misinform their learners about the features of spoken English.

English prosody isn’t a mystery as there are clear rules that determine which words receive stress and which are quiet, how sounds link, and how English speakers change the meaning of a sentence depending on pitch and volume.

From an infographic I use in high school to teach and practice the contrast between emphasized content and reduced function words

Teaching and practicing English rhythm makes a significant difference in listening comprehension and utterances of your language learners. Baruch College’s Tools for Clear Speech website has interactive tools and quizzes that are appropriate for junior and senior high school students besides adult learners.

The British Council runs a free month-long online course in teaching English pronunciation starting on October 2nd. The coursework looks at not only discrete sounds but also intonation and struggles with perceptions about the teaching of English pronunciation. And you read that right, it’s free. It also includes a workbook chock full of resources to draw from.

This is the first in a series of blog posts about English teaching in Japan. 

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