Pronunciation

Have you ever heard an English teacher say, ‘I don’t teach pronunciation because I’m English’? No, me neither. But if you change the last word to almost anything else - ‘Scottish’ or ‘non-native’ for example – then you’ll hear it often.

We often think of pronunciation in terms of productive skills, but it’s equally important for receptive ones. Indeed, some aspects of pronunciation learning are primarily for the benefit of listening – connected speech in particular.

Many of us who are in the business of teaching English suffer from a feeling of accent anxiety. We are embarrassed that our accent does not match the ideal ‘standard’ accent found in books and dictionaries, and we worry that our speech may not be a good pronunciation model for our students. But perhaps our worries are misguided.