Prosodic elements to improve pronunciation in English language learners: A short report

The usefulness of teaching pronunciation in language instruction remains controversial. Though past research suggests that teachers can make little or no difference in improving their students’ pronunciation,  current  findings  suggest  that  second  language  pronunciation  can  improve  to  be near  native-like  with  the  implementation  of  certain  criteria  such  as  the  utilization  of  prosodic elements. With the emphasis  on  meaningful communication and the  understanding that  speech production  is  affected  by  speech  perception,  there  is  a  need  to  integrate  prosodics  with communicative  activities  providing  situations  to  develop  student  pronunciation  through listening and speaking.  This short overview examines such elements.