Re: Re: Pronunciation

--- Merton Bland <mert_bland-/E1597aS9LQAvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> As usual I bow to the wisdom of Dick Tibbetts.  Yes,
> I
> have my American accent (and he, his British) as a
> model for our students, but both of us, he in Macao
> and me in Wuhan or wherever, will still end up
> producing students with a Chinese accent.  

I direct students towards the different kinds of
podcasts that are now available not just out of
interest in the content but not in the least because
they can encounter so many different kinds of accent.
For example, in my school, teachers like the students
to listen to VOA and/or BBC news bulletins but if you
go to The Guardian daily news podcast, you still get
the top stories but in accented English with all of
the  elisions, contractions and the like that is more
indicative of ordinary English conversation about the
news. Class discussions are much easier once the
students have done this preparation and once they've
got used to listening to something for which they can
not read the transcript, there isn't one. 
I can't recall exactly where I came across the idea
that a student will almost never lose their own accent
and it is of no consequence if they can be understood.
This is certainly true of the highest pronunciation
score on the IELTS speaking test.

Russ Taylor


        
        
                
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