The tips in this section are concerned with the purposes of pronunciation teaching. Here, we deal with such issues as accent and intelligibility, learner motivation and English as a Lingua Franca.

Keep your eye on the goal

• 1 Focus on intelligibility

• 2 Be coherent about outcomes

• 3 Don't obsess about target models

Focus on the learners

• 4 Discuss the class objectives

• 5 Find out what motivates learners

• 6 Find out about your learners’ L1

• 7 Be aware of factors that can affect the learners’ pronunciation

Focus on the context

• 8 Raise awareness of English as a Lingua Franca

• 9 Identify priorities

• 10 Focus on accommodation skills

• 11 Identify any special purposes

Focus on the teacher

• 12 Don't worry that your accent is non-standard

• 13 Be aware of your own accent

1 Focus on intelligibility

In many languages, there are accents which are thought to be elegant and others which are felt to be ugly. Speakers with an elegant accent are perceived to be better educated and more intelligent than speakers with an ugly accent. Consequently, to improve their prospects in life, speakers may attempt to ‘improve’ their accent through elocution lessons. I write ‘improve’ in quotes, because this evaluation is based on prejudice rather than any intrinsic superiority of the prestige accent.

I am often surprised by how many teachers and learners seem to think pronunciation classes are essentially the same thing as elocution lessons – helping the learner to acquire a ‘better’ accent (again, I put quotes around the evaluative word). To me, the purpose of learning a language is to communicate – to understand and be understood. In this context, pronunciation is less about sounding good and more about being intelligible.

I feel this insight is so fundamental that it deserves to be the first tip in this book: when you are teaching pronunciation, always check that in the end, you are focusing on intelligibility. Whether you are presenting a pronunciation point or giving a learner feedback on their pronunciation, always keep this question in mind: Why am I doing this? Your answer may be one of these:

• • This will help my learner to be more clearly understood.