The Basis of Pronunciation Ability
Gülin Balıkcıoğlu, Turkey
Gülin Balıkcıoğlu was born in Ankara in 1990. She completed her high school education at Atatürk Anatolian Teacher Training High School. She graduated from Hacettepe University from the department of English Language Teaching with high honor degree. Now she is pursuing her master's degree at the same department at Hacettepe University. She works as an instructor of English at School of Foreign Languages at Baskent University.Her research interests are material development, teaching of skills, new approaches in foreign language teaching and second language acquisition studies. E-mail: gbalikcioglu@baskent.edu.tr
Menu
Introduction
The basis of pronunciation ability
Age
Motivation and attitude
Aptitude
Formal instrution and strategy use
Conclusion
References
In foreign language teaching and learning, pronunciation is an indispensable element. Since non-native speakers of a language have limited control over it, they tend to make pronunciation mistakes more frequently, which can lead to fossilization in the end. When we look at the history of pronunciation teaching, we clearly see that there have been considerable changes in educators' and researchers' ideas about the basis of pronunciation ability and the ways of teaching pronunciation. With the increasing needs of learners to communicate in the target language, the methods and techniques used in classrooms have changed a lot, which has also caused to changes in teachers' and students' roles, and this has affected the beliefs about pronunciation and its instruction to a great extent. Morley (1991, p.483) explains this situation: "There has been a gradual shift from an emphasis on teaching and a teaching centered clasroom, with special attention to the individual learner as well as the group of learners."
In 1940s,1950s and 1960s, pronunciation had an important part in second and foreign language teaching curriculums. For instance; in Audio-Lingual method, "pronunciation is taught from the beginning, often by students working in language laboratories on discriminating between members of minimal pairs."(Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p.46) However; in 1970s and 1980s, pronunciation element in teaching was ignored because the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction started to be questioned and it resulted in removing pronunciation teaching from the curriculums.The reasons behind this decision might be the discouraging results of pronunciation teaching and teachers' rigid opinions that this field of language teaching is very technical. ( Gilbert, 2008, p.42) In 1990s, pronunciation teaching gained importance again since it was seen as a sign of professionalism in this globalized world and this fact still continues, and it has led to the abandonment of traditional teaching pronunciation techniques. As Morley (1991) states in his article, there has been an instructional technology revolution towards the end of 19th century, which has contributed a lot to pronunciation teaching because new materials such as audios, videos, computer-based programs have emerged. The main difference of this period is the significant shift in the conceptual basis of teaching pronunciation. Teaching only articulatory phonetics has given its place to the integration of sound system into an extensive and thorough model where functional language use and communicative competence must be the primary goal of teaching. (p.113).
In pronunciation teaching, it is very common to see some learners who have better pronunciation skills than others. At this point, the questions should be raised: (1)What differs a good pronouncer from a bad pronouncer? (2)what factor or factors have impact on the acquisition of pronunciation ability of language learners? (3) Are they inherent or external factors? (3) Are they dependent on each other? Therefore, in this paper, the answers of these questions are going to be given by revising the literature written about it and the findings of a small research about pronunciation ability is going to be shared.
While teaching a language, there is a question that often makes teachers ans instructors confused: How can a learner show very limited success in pronunciation while s/he shows outstanding achievement in other parts of the language? In her thesis , Berkil (2008) states that:
The fact that some second language learners attain almost native like pronunciation, while other struggle with an unintelligible foreign accent, though they have mastered the lexis, syntax or morphology of the target language, has intrigued many second language acquisition researchers. They have begun to question what is that distinguishes successful pronouncer from less successful ones. In order to find a reasonable answer to the question of differential success among second language learners, investigators have suggested several factors or variables that may have an impact on pronunciation learning and ability. (p. 18)
When we look at the factors suggested by researchers, we notice that they are divided into two categories: inherent factors such as working memory,intelligence, personality traits, motivation and external factors such as the amount of exposure to L1 and L2, age of learning, formal instruction, use of certain strategies. In second language acquisition articles, most of the studies only focus on only one factor and they make this individual factor as the solely influential variable for the ability and performance in a non-native language. However; one factor alone cannot decide L2 ability of learners. Even if they start learning the target language at the same age and in the same teaching environment, it is very possible that their performance in pronunciation isdifferent. (Jilka, Lewandowska, & Rota , 2011, p.5) Therefore, it is not wrong to say that pronunciation ability is shaped depending on several factors.
There is a strong belief among researchers and educators that the earlier a person starts learning a foreign or second language, the better s/he will acquire that language, which constitutes the basis of Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). Up to now, there have been lots of studies done to prove this hypothesis and the correlation between age and the ability for native-like pronunciation has been found. However; this issue has also taken several oppositions from second language acquisition researchers who have conducted studies to show the weaknesses of CPH. For instance; in the study Bongaerts, Summeren, Planken, & Schils (1995) carried out, adult learners achieved native-like accent even though they started learning the target language after critical period. This result indicates that native-like pronunciation performance isn't restricted to a biological period of time. Similarly, when we look at the results of the study by Flege, Frieda, & Nozawa (1997), it is clear to see that native-like pronunciation achievement cannot be explained only by 'individual's state of neurological development'. About this matter, Flege et al. (1997) say that "While the results don't disprove the existence of critical period, they indicate that the passing of a critical period is not sufficient in itself to explain all-aspects of non-nativeness in the speech of individuals who have learned English as an L2."(p.170) According to Marinova-Todd , Marshall, & Snow (2000), instead of distinguishing learners as early or late starters, it is noteworthy to study other factors which can contribute to native-like pronunciation performance for any learner. (p.10) Piske, MacKay, & Flege (2001) also accept the influence of other factors in the highest acquisition of pronunciation and assert it in the article:
Age of learning (AOL) is the single most important predictor of degree of L2 foreign accent. However; the results of this study also strongly colloborate the view that ultimate attainment in the pronunciation of L2 is dependent on various factors, not just on the state of neurological development at the age of first intensive exposure to the L2. (p.212)
In summary, critical age period can be one of the determinant factors in the ultimate attainment of L2 pronunciation, but it isn't the only one. There are a lot of language learners who have started learning a language in critical age period, but they have become unsuccessful. On the other hand, there are some adult learners who have achieved native-like proficiency. From these results mentioned above, it is quite apparent that there are other factors that should be taken into consideration in pronunciation teaching.
In today's foreign and second language teaching, curriculums are designed by taking learners' needs and their goals for future into consideration because getting successful results of teaching is aimed in parallel to the increased motivation of learners. In pronunciation teaching, it has been wondered whether motivation can be a determinant factor which may account for the differences among learners, and a lot of studies have been conducted to find a correlation between motivation and native-like accent. We cannot say that motivation has been regarded as a prominent factor by all researchers in pronunciation ability (e.g., Dalton-Puffer, Kaltenboeck, & Smit, 1997) , but the studies showing the importance of motivation ( e.g. , Bongaerts et al., 1995; Marinova-Todd et al. , 2000; Tominaga, 2009) cannot be underestimated.
As Moyer (2014) emphasizes, "By all accounts, motivation in language learning is complex and difficult to capture." (p. 450) To generate motivation in pronunciation teaching&learning, both teachers and learners should set specific goals, but motivation may not be an influential factor for all learners. For example; a Turkish academician who is going to teach courses in USA or England must get pronunciation ability and minimize his/her foreign accent because it is a condition of being proffesional and it motivates him/her highly. However; this case isn't the same for a worker. Piske et al. (2001) explains this situation by saying, "Motivation may be a potent factor for groups of subjects who're required by their profession to speak an L2 without a foreign accent, but not so much for ordinary immigrants." (p. 211) According to Marinova-Todd et al. (2000), success in pronunciation is related to high degree of motivation and most adult learners can't achieve native-like accent because of the lack of motivation.(p. 27) When we look at the results of Tominaga's study (2009), we see that successful pronunciation learners differ from less successful ones in a way that they have high motivation and positive attitude towards pronunciation. (p. 136) It is clear from this study that attitude and motivation are related terms. If learners develop positive attitude about pronunciation, their motivation increase and this can contribute to native-like pronunciation.
In summary, motivation and attitude are important elements in the acquisition of correct pronunciation. In order to increase the motivation of learners', "in addition to focusing on pronunciation and accenr in class, teachers should encourage learners to speak English outside the classroom and provide them with assignments that structure those interactions." (Gilakjani, Ahmadi, & Ahmadi, 2011, p. 77)
Aptitude is defined as natural ability or skill at doing something. The fact that some learners achieve native-like accent while others have difficulty even in the correct pronunciation of basic words has been an interest of researchers for many years. This led them to think whether these learners have a different intelligence type, called 'phonetic intelligence' which they bring by birth.However; as Karakaş (2012) emphasizes in his article, 'phonetic intelligence' is a controversial topic and the existence of such an intelligence type hasn't been proved scientifically yet, which means further investigation is needed.
Mimicry ability of learners is also linked to the success in pronunciation. However; according to Piske et al. (2001), "The contribution of a factor such as mimicry ability is difficult to interpret because of uncertainity as to basis of such an ability." (p. 212) All in all, it is not an easy task to decide whether aptitude affects pronunciation ability or to what extent it affects.
Whether formal instruction can make permanent changes in one's accent is also debated because the results of the studies conducted on this matter show variations. Piske et al. (2001) assert that "Many studies examining the influence of formal insrtuction on degree of L2 accent have not produced encouraging results for language teachers." (p. 200) In the article, they also indicate that there is little proof to show that considerable amount of formal instruction can help learners to be less foreign accented. "However; if classroom teaching carried on in the L2 involves special training in the perception and the production of L2 sounds, it may well have a larger effect on L2 production accuracy." (p. 201) This suggests that even if formal instruction doesn't guarantee native-like accent, it can promote accurate pronunciation. Elliot (1995) stands up for the idea that using 'multimodal methodology' can make rehabilitations in pronunciation. (p. 540) The multimodal described in the article consists of:
(a) teaching concrete rules about point, place and manner of articulation, (b) designing class presentations that appeal to individual differences in learning styles and preferences, (c) employing both deductive and inductive models of teaching pronunciation, (d) providing students with ample drill and practice exercises, (e) giving immediate feedback in order to prevent phonological fossilization. (p. 538)
I have thought that we can examine strategy use in pronunciation under the title of formal instruction because giving strategies to learners is a part of language instruction. In recent years, it has been an interest of researchers to find a correlation between strategy use and proficiency in pronunciation, but the studies show different results. In Eckstein's study (2007), participants who used multiple strategies more repeatedly were identified as learners who had better spontaneous pronunciation skill. However; according to the result of Berkil's thesis (2008), no noteworthy relationship was found between strategy use and pronunciation ability.
To summarize, pronunciation ability of learners is examined in terms of age, motivation / attitude, aptitude, formal instruction and strategy use, but the results of the studies which have conducted so far show that pronunciation ability is not dependent on only one factor. Dealing with one factor independently by omitting the others doesn't give healthy results. According to Baker & Haslam (2013), motivation takes its source from higher aptitude and learners who have high motivation and aptitude make use of pronunciation more frequently. Therefore, we can think pronunciation ability like a chain. Even if the amount of their contribution varies, all factors are connected and affect each other and they may have an influence on pronunciation ability as a consequence.
In conclusion, this paper clearly shows that pronunciation ability of adults' learners isn't determined by taking only one factor or variable into account. Researchers haven't reached an agreement about the main source of pronunciation ability because the result of one study doesn't match with the result of another similar study. Therefore, it leads us to think that age, motivation, attitude, aptitude, formal instruction and strategy use have effects on pronunciation achievement, but the amount of their contribution varies according to learners' needs, their exposure time to the target language, their learning context , their future goals and so on. As Bongaerts et al. (1995) emphasizes, adult-learners can achive native-like pronunciation performance thanks to specific pronunciation training, large amount of L2 input, high motivation and appropriate learning context.
Needless to say, all language learners don't have to achieve native-like proficiency in pronunciation. For the people who have English teaching related jobs, it is essential to get rid of foreign-accent and achive native-like pronunciation because it is a sign of professionalism. On the other side, for ordinary language learners, accurate pronunciation which will make the intelligible is desired. Since English is lingua franca, these people will not get in contact only with people from English speaking countries. So, if their pronunciation doesn't give harm to the intelligibility, their foreign-accent will not be problem.
It shoud be noted that each person can learn pronunciation to a certain extent if they are exposed to appropriate teaching methods & techniques and if they believe the necessity of learning it. In today's foreign language teaching, communicative competence must be the goal, so pronunciation teaching should be arranged according to this aim. In addition to teaching segmental features of the language, suprasegmental phonology should receive attention, too because "practicing communication by focusing only on individual sound is like using only part of the language."( Gilbert, 2008, p: 9) Teachers also play an important role for the achievement of pronunciation ability. Since pronunciation is linked to difficulty and boredom by students, teachers should bring a variety of activities which appeal to students from different intelligent types into their classrooms. ( see Thompson, Taylor, & Gray, 2001)
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