The value of an explicit pronunciation syllabus in ESOL teaching

This article reports on an action research project which investigated the value of systematically and explicitly incorporating a pronunciation sub-syllabus within the overall syllabus of a full-time post-intermediate level ESOL course. This pronunciation syllabus involved raising each individual learner’s awareness of their difficulties with pronunciation and of the main features of spoken English in general. It then attempted to systematically and explicitly instruct learners in these features, at both the segmental and suprasegmental levels, and to encourage learners to practise and monitor their pronunciation. The effectiveness of the syllabus was examined through preand post-course tests of pronunciation and through a survey of students’ reactions to the syllabus and their beliefs regarding the teaching and learning of pronunciation. The results showed that clear gains were made, and that learners believed both that teachers should teach pronunciation, and that the particular approach taken here had been of value. Rationale and literature review This project was prompted by two factors. The first was that pronunciation was still a significant impediment to communication for many students studying on a full-time post-intermediate level course with a study focus at a university in Auckland. The second factor emerged from a recently completed tracer study of former students, which investigated their needs in hindsight (Couper 2002) and indicated that, even though the students had had a focus on further study, they expressed a great need in the area of informal spoken language and pronunciation. While pronunciation had not been ignored on their course, it had often been treated implicitly, and there had been no attempt to explicitly or systematically cover all of the main features of the phonology of English. It had generally been treated incidentally as an integrated part of the syllabus. The approach adopted in this project was therefore to explicitly instruct and raise learners’ consciousness of the pronunciation of English, rather than assuming that it would be improved implicitly through exposure to the target language. The focus on explicit instruction taken in this project follows from