Although pronunciation is one of a range of factors that can affect international teaching assistants’ (ITAs) ability to teach effectively, researchers (Hoekje & Williams, 1992) and undergraduate students often identify poor pronunciation as ITAs’ main problem. Many teachers agree with this assessment, but find it extremely challenging to work on ITAs’ pronunciation skills mostly because they feel overwhelmed by the many pronunciation problems ITAs have and the very little class time available to work on those problems. To maximize students’ chances of success, researchers suggest focusing on suprasegmentals (Hahn, 2004) and providing pronunciation strategies (Sardegna, 2009, 2011).

In an effort to bridge theory and research findings with practical classroom applications, we presented a workshop on “How to Assess Suprasegmentals for More Targeted and Effective Instruction” at TESOL 2012 in Philadelphia. In this workshop, we provided teachers with guidelines for teacher assessment of English suprasegmentals. We showed video clips of student academic oral presentations and provided hands-on-activities on how to use the guidelines to assess and prioritize ESL learners’ pronunciation problems. We also presented a research paper entitled “Enhanced Self-Assessment for Pronunciation Improvement,” which reported the results of our study on the effectiveness of using activities for awareness-raising, reflection, pronunciation strategy use, and guided and communicative practice for pronunciation improvement. The results provided evidence for how autonomous and reflective learning opportunities motivated students and helped them improve. After both presentations, we received positive feedback about our approach and many requests for sample activities following this approach. The purpose of this short article is to address these requests. What follows is a synopsis of the three main principles that guide our teaching. These principles draw on research findings in the field of pronunciation teaching as well as our own teaching and research experiences in adult ESL/EFL teaching contexts. We also identify activities consistent with our philosophy and conclude with a call for more studies validating this pedagogical approach.

PRINCIPLE 1. PRIORITIZE PRONUNCIATION GOALS BASED ON STUDENT NEEDS

A major difficulty in pronunciation instruction is identifying which and how many pronunciation features to target, and in what order. When assessed, student needs are usually identified through read-alouds and/or communicative activities. However, teachers often neglect considering three critical components in the pre-instruction assessment process: student beliefs, awareness, and goals; prioritization of targets for practice; and the importance of setting realistic goals based on the students’ and instructor’s collaborative efforts. When students choose and commit to work on a few targets, they are more likely to succeed. Pronunciation progress takes time and effort. The more engaged the students are, the more effort they will put into improving. Below are steps to an activity that includes student tasks for awareness raising and prioritization, as well as collaborative goal setting.

 When students evaluate their oral skills, they notice and identify their pronunciation challenges and get a chance to reflect on their needs and set their own goals. Through collaboration and instructor guidance, the pre-instruction assessment process should establish clear, prioritized, and realistic goals for the class.

PRINCIPLE 2. EMPOWER STUDENTS WITH EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION, GUIDED-PRACTICE, AND STRATEGY USE

Equipping a student with realistic pronunciation goals is a great start, but success will be limited unless the student really understands how to change the targeted speech features and knows how to practice and monitor the accuracy of the changed features through the use of effective pronunciation strategies. Therefore, we argue that teachers should provide ITAs with explicit instruction, guided practice, and strategies that they can use to improve their pronunciation of words and phrases and to practice the changed pronunciations until they become more automatic. An activity that is consistent with this principle and has proven very effective in our classrooms is This I Believe: Yo-Yo Ma. (For a comprehensive list of pronunciation strategies, see Sardegna, 2009, 2011.) After explicit instruction on some pronunciation features (e.g., thought groups, primary stress, intonation, rhythm, linking) depending on needs and levels of the students and priorities for the class, teachers can reinforce the instruction through guided speech perception, as shown in the activity below.

This activity includes explicit instruction on suprasegmentals, guided listening and practice activities, and pronunciation strategies to scaffold speech feature accuracy. It reduces pronunciation frustration because it helps students to know and understand what to listen for, how to correct and practice the targets, and how to utilize strategies for pronunciation improvement. Readers should note that other recordings with transcripts may be used in the same way.

PRINCIPLE 3. CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO MONITOR THEIR PERFORMANCE DURING THEIR PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE, AND REFLECT ON THEIR OUTCOMES

Setting goals and providing instruction and opportunities and guidelines for practice will not help students improve unless they actively engage in the process, learn to monitor themselves, and reflect on their progress. Pronunciation improvement requires frequent monitoring (“Am I doing it right?”). If students can perceptually hear and notice their level of accuracy for specific target features in production, they have a much better chance at mastery. This principle builds on scaffolding for speech perception and motor skill development through monitoring and reflection. This reflecting on outcomes is a powerful corrective and motivational tool. In our classrooms, when we created opportunities for reflection, we noticed that our students had the opportunity to

• Solidify understanding of the purpose of an activity
• Get clarification on misunderstandings about target features
• Identify new information, practice techniques, and strategies
• Choose effective practice activities and strategies
• Notice their own progress and progress of classmates
• Readjust goals and practice as needed

What often makes pronunciation training frustrating for ITAs is

• Not knowing what to do and what to focus on (i.e., lack of goals and priorities)
• Not understanding what to do differently or how to practice (i.e., lack of explicit knowledge, guided practice, and effective strategies)
• Not having opportunities to assess and reflect on progress (i.e., lack of reflection opportunities)

We argue that teachers who follow the above principles will reduce frustrations and create more successful pronunciation training for their students. To conclude, we call for more empirical research studies validating this approach to pronunciation instruction.

REFERENCES

Hahn, L. (2004). Primary stress and intelligibility: Research to motivate the teaching of suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly, 38, 201-223.

Hoekje, B., & Williams, J. (1992). Communicative competence and the dilemma of international teaching assistant education. TESOL Quarterly, 26, 243-269.

Sardegna, V. G. (2009). Improving English stress through pronunciation learning strategies. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UMI No. 3363085).

Sardegna, V. G. (2011). Pronunciation learning strategies that improve ESL learners’ linking. In. J. Levis & K. LeVelle (Eds.),Proceedings of the 2nd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (pp. 105-121). Ames: Iowa State University.

Veronica Gabriela Sardegna is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin where she teaches courses on methodology, pronunciation, and second language acquisition for both the MA and doctoral programs in foreign language education. Her current research work focuses on the effectiveness of using language-learning strategies and instructional technology for improving ESL/EFL students’ pronunciation and business writing skills.

Alison McGregor holds a PhD in educational psychology from The University of Texas at Austin where she currently teaches ITA courses and works as a communication coach specializing in accent modification. She has over 15 years of teaching experience and has taught in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Her research interests focus on effective pronunciation training and language-learning strategies.