Importance Of Pronunciation In Language Teaching

Correct pronunciation is an essential component in language learning. However, this is a component that is rather neglected in ELT. That is why it is sometimes cited in the literature as the Cinderella of language teaching (Dalton, 2000) when compared to other skills and components like grammar and vocabulary. English teachers seem to sidetrack this component, simply because they lack adequate phonetic training or due to the fact that English curricula do not place much emphasis on pronunciation.

It seems that English teachers are still encapsulated by their grammar-translation methods which consider pronunciation something peripheral. Learners also do not pay much attention to pronunciation, simply because it is not graded or tested, like

On this basis, correct pronunciation is a prerequisite for achieving the goals of communication. Garrigues (1999) points out that good pronunciation is the foundation of effective spoken communication. Seidhofer (1995), as reported in Goodwin (2001), states that "pronunciation is never an end in itself but a means of negotiating meaning in discourse, embedded in specific socio cultural and interpersonal contexts." ( p. 117) If interlocutors' pronunciation is clear and correct, the communicative situation goes smoothly. If, on the other hand, speaker's pronunciation is faulty, misunderstanding occurs and comprehension is deterred. Accordingly, pronunciation should be given much more attention primarily because it can affect accuracy and comprehension. It is evident that Arab EFL learners encounter serious problems with English pronunciation. The problems they have are not only limited to discrete sounds; their pronunciation is wholly faulty. According to Ken worthy (1987) and Brown (1994), the factors that cause difficulties with pronunciation are phonological differences between the target language and the native language. They propose six factors that affect learners' pronunciation: native language, age, exposure, innate phonetic ability, identity and ego and motivation and concern for good

In contrast, English has a relatively rich sound system with a range of thirty- five to forty-four phonemes, depending on the dialect. In both RP and GA, "there is obviously a mismatch between graphemes and phonemes." (Odisho, 2005, P.125) This mismatch is exemplified by the phoneme /k/ being spelled as c in picnic, k in kitchen, ck in stuck and ch in schedule. It's also exemplified by the grapheme gh being pronounced as /g/ in ghost, as /f/ in laugh; it also shows up as part of a complex digraph as in through or caught, which has no straightforward phoneme-grapheme mappings." This situation is also portrayed with vowels typical of which is the grapheme a which has at least some five different phonemic realizations." (Odisho, 2005, P.127). In addition, "words that sound just alike are sometimes written differently; compare sew, sow, so." (Rogers, 2000, P.16). In light of the above discussion, the contention of this study is that the English orthographic system doesn't generally match pronunciation. Accordingly, errors occur

The mispronunciation of English words is largely due to overreliance on the likely unpredictable English writing system. Arab EFL learners are" often misled by the graphic representation of sounds." (Kharma and Hajjaj, 1989,