PRONUNCIATION MATTERS, BUT…
What I would like to talk about in this article today, always taking into consideration the fact that I am not a linguist and that I am simply sharing my experiences with those that might be interested, is that pronunciation is extremely important only where it creates problems in understanding and thus in communication. Therefore, lessons spent on phonetics and the correct reproduction of the *“schwa” are for me considered to be undertaken with B2 and C1 students that would like to refine their English speaking skills or there where the student has made specific request of lessons based on this skill.
English is as stress based language and this is a fact, miscommunication in English is not due to mispronouncing letters but because of not stressing the correct syllable. Native English speakers are very accommodating with sound variations and do not rely on perfect pronunciation for understanding. If you invite someone to your house for “TUUsday”, they will show up at your door the day after Monday, but if you tell them to come on “TuesDAY” they will smile, look perplexed and ask you to say that again.
All lessons should be objective based, what I mean is that each lesson should have an objective which needs to be reached at the end of the lesson, may the lesson be 60 minutes or 90 minutes. Therefore, taking time in practicing to stress the right syllable in the vocabulary students need to learn to reach the objective of that specific lesson is an important aim and shouldn’t be underestimated.
Spelling doesn’t in any way indicate the way the word will be pronounced and this is where listening and then practicing stressing the right syllable of the newly learned vocabulary comes in. Listening and repeating is important as is important to then encourage the student to use the new vocabulary as much as possible in the days following that specific lesson.
Considering the above maybe students should really stop worrying about reproducing the correct “th” sound so difficult for some adults and start worrying about stressing the correct syllable instead. If a person says “DEsert” the listener understands, The Sahara, if a person says “desSERT” the listener understands, chocolate cake. In desert, the first syllable is stressed but on the other hand, in dessert the second syllable is stressed. “Could I please have some desert?” in a restaurant at the end of the meal will easily be understood by the waiter, but it can easily be avoided, right?
*schwa: a vowel that has the sound of the first and last vowels of the English word America
Many thanks to Rita for her contributions to our school of English Say Yes!