イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

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吉備国際大学研究紀要（人文・社会科学系）
増刊号，115－122，2017

大学における英語発音授業
イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー
Under-Graduate Level English Language Pronunciation Lessons
Ian William Warner
Abstract
The archetypal ‘highly competent', ‘comprehensively proficient’ foreign language learner-practitioner is able topronounce words ‘correctly’, in the ‘standard’, ‘received’ Anglo and / or American fashion(s) or in ways deemed‘sufficiently similar’ to them. Frequent enough failure to pronounce words in this manner will, whenever
sufficiently marked - impede and degrade the quality of effective one and two-way oral communication discourseand - in more extreme cases - at least jeopardize its overall viability. Therefore, all non-native English language
learner-practitioners - regardless of their ‘current ability level’ - should accord a high priority to the acquisition,
further improvement / development and retention of ‘sufficiently advanced and reliable’ pronunciationenunciation skills. This brief paper firstly restates and clarifies the vital need for dedicated, formal English
language pronunciation lessons at university under-graduate level in Japan and then proceeds to outline what
the author has come to believe constitutes the best, most practical, viable and effective overall strategy for
improving student pronunciation accuracy. It concludes that students likely learn and thus progress consciously,
semi-consciously and / or sub-consciously while actively engaged in trial-and-error practice that allows them tobecome progressively more aware and knowledgeable of problems to surmount and goals to attain.
Key words ：English Language Pronunciation Tuition
キーワード ：英語発音授業

吉備国際大学外国語学部〒700-0931 岡山県岡山市北区奥田西町5-5
Kibi International University
5 -5, Okuda-Nishimachi,Kita-ku,Okayama, Japan (700-0931)

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1) The Necessity for ‘Correct’ Pronunciation
The archetypal ‘highly’ competent', ‘comprehensively

The central task or mission of instructors entrusted withproficient’ foreign language learner-practitioner is able toensuring elevation of English language learner-practitioner

pronounce words ‘correctly’, in the ‘standard’, ‘received’ Anglo

pronunciation performance is therefore to reduce the frequency

and / or American fashion(s) or in ways deemed ‘sufficiently

with which students can objectively be said to fail to pronounce

similar’ to them. Frequent enough failure to pronounce words

words ‘correctly’, in the ‘standard’, ‘received’ Anglo and / orin this manner will, whenever sufficiently marked - impede

American fashion(s) or in ways deemed ‘sufficiently similar’ toand degrade the quality of effective one and two-way oral

them. In practice, this necessitates clearly informing students

communication discourse and - in more extreme cases - at least

to sufficient extents via verbal-aural tuition about precisely

jeopardize its overall viability, no matter how interested, aware,

what speech-sounds and combinations of speech sounds toattuned, attentive, supportive and outwardly patient listeners

make, when to make them, how loudly they should be made,may be and remain. Therefore, all non-native English language

how long they should be made for, and to what extent - if any -learner-practitioners - regardless of their ‘current ability level’

they should each, preferably be stressed.

- should accord a high priority to the acquisition, further
improvement / development and retention of ‘sufficiently

As to whether - and to what extent - ‘real-world’ English

advanced and reliable’ pronunciation-enunciation skills.

language instructors - working at undergraduate university
level - should also attempt to clearly inform students of

All English language learner-practitioners must thus strive,

pronunciation about precisely how they should proceed to

as far as is possible, to further improve their capacity toactually produce / articulate voice speech-sounds is - in the

pronounce both already learned and (when reading text or

opinion of the present writer - a moot, debatable point, owing

repeating previously heard utterances) new, alien, unknown

to the frequent inherent difficulty or even infeasibility of doingwords, with sufficient ‘precision’ and thus ‘accuracy’ to ensure

so effectively in even a semi- time-efficient manner with any

that their words and sentences will be ‘correctly’, ‘easily’ andhope of comprehensive success and permanent effectiveness

immediately understood on a systematic or near-systematic(See below).

basis, at least by native and advanced non-native speakers.

2) Pronunciation Practice: Basic Purpose
In light of the foregoing, there is a fundamental and pressing

As a vital first step, it is absolutely necessary for university

need for English language instructors at Japanese elementary,level English language instructors to try to properly ensure,junior high school, senior high school and - above all -as far as is feasible, that their pronouncing course students

university levels to devote substantial time, resources andbecome and / or remain at least ‘reasonably competent’ andenergy to sustained, rigorous (and whenever possible,‘proficient’ regarding the correct (or satisfactory) pronunciation

authentically concerted, collegiate) efforts to ensure that theof each of the 44 or so English language phonemes (schwa

current pronouncing capability (i.e. accuracy) of each andand allophones included) at least whenever they see theirevery non-native student of English reaches, and then remains

corresponding graphemes contained in the great majority of

at, a ‘reasonable’ - and thus ‘respectable’ - or higher, morecommon, one, two, three, four and five syllable printed words.

‘advanced’ level of observable competency.

As such, all university level English language students thus

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need to be assisted flexibly, in ways that will most effectivelyof the key first stage of any pronunciation course need not

and rapidly permit them to acquire and / or further enhance

be so lengthy. The exact length can and should - of course

the requisite phonetic / phonemic familiarization knowledge- always reflect the current ability range of the particularrequired to ensure this. In sum, the fundamental purpose

students concerned and ought to be adjusted on a discretionary,of entry-level pronunciation lessons and courses must be toclass-by-class, semester-to-semester and / or yearly basis, as

strengthen student capacity to firstly correctly equate specificinstructors see fit. Clearly, great care must be taken not toprinted (written) graphemes with the corresponding speech-

advance too rapidly or too slowly: Doing the former will likely

sounds they denote and then secondly to correctly orally

result in one or more currently less able students correctly

reproduce the latter, at least as regards shorter, easier, known

perceiving themselves to have been wrongly pushed too far,and unknown words.

too fast and consequently ‘out-of-their-depth’ by a misguided
or incompetent instructor, while the latter will likely cause

Once pronunciation class students are considered generally,

one or more currently more able students to conclude with‘for the most part’ or ‘sufficiently’ able to correctly (orsimilar justice that they are being ‘held back’ pointlessly andsatisfactorily) pronounce-enunciate all vowel, r-dominatedcounter-productively by persons insufficiently cognizant

vowel, consonant and digraph sounds not only wheneverof and / or sensitive to their actual present-day abilities andthey are heard but whenever they are merely seen in printed

concomitant educational needs. On the other hand, it is aform and read, instructors can then progress students to moretruism that students are not necessarily or even frequently theadvanced, ambitious and demanding levels of authentic, ‘real-

best judges of what is best for them - academically speaking

life’ oriented reciting-based practice, centering on the correct (or- at any given point in time and should themselves feel able

satisfactory) pronunciation of similarly common and important

and willing to invest some adequate quantity of faith - at least

but longer and more challenging words. Doing so is likely toinitially - in their instructor’s capacity for sound judgment.

build confidence, at least over time.

This being so, pronunciation instructors should take care not to
be unduly perturbed the moment they observe what appears to

The current English language pronouncing ability (andbe real actual student unease or discomfort with the perceived

associated degree of pronouncing confidence) of newexcessive difficulty or ease of lesson time instruction, advice,university entrants in Japan can doubtless be said to generallymaterials, assignments and feedback. Rather, they shouldor very frequently vary to a great extent, especially where

determine the appropriateness of their decision and conduct not

no student streaming or ability-based selection is carried out,

for the most part on the apparent mood and attitudes of perhaps

but it is, more often than not, most likely to range from ‘highfickle students but in authentically objective and concreteintermediate’ or ‘low intermediate’ to ‘elementary’ or ‘poor’qualitative and quantitative data and impressions amassed

in nature rather than downright ‘abysmal’ or ‘virtually non-

via rigorous monitoring and assessment of actual student

existent’. Only very small minorities of university entrants

pronouncing performances.

who intend to study English regularly for extended periodsof time are likely to fall into either of the last two categories.

When comparatively more advanced students of pronunciation

This being the most likely state of affairs pertaining at mostare clearly known to comprise a large class-room majority,

institutions of higher learning in Japan, the exact duration

initial efforts to ensure correct (or satisfactorily) pronunciation

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of all vowel, r-dominated vowel, consonant and digraph sounds

or objective is to improve (and, in the process, honestly

not only whenever they are heard but whenever they are

reveal at frequent intervals) the extent and accuracy of theirmerely seen in printed form and read aloud, can be kept quite

phonetic-phonemic knowledge and resultant capacity tobrief and, to a perhaps great extent, amount to an exploratory

output ‘standard’, ‘received’ Anglo and / or American stylediagnostic review and revision stage for instructors andpronunciation - or something deemed ‘sufficiently akin to them

students alike.

- so as to be ‘tolerable’ and thus ‘acceptable’ to any properly
objective but discerning arbiter. However, this certainly is

Since there is little or no point in giving pronunciation

not to say that the most advanced students cannot ever be

students practice materials that are too easy (or difficult) andpermitted to attempt to comprehend - at appropriate times

insufficiently (or excessively) challenging, I contend that it is- roughly or perhaps even exactly what their pronunciation

best practice - at university level - to employ standard English

practice materials actually say and mean, either on a casual,language foreign newspaper and / or magazine reports andoccasional or more regular and systematic basis. They canarticle texts (be they presented in original or abridged anddo so if they wish, voluntarily, as a secondary and unassessed

perhaps simplified form) and generally have students readpursuit, outside of lesson time and/or after - and only after -them out aloud for pronunciation assessment and improvement

they have comprehensively demonstrated - ‘realistically’ andpurposes because it is exactly these products that constitute the‘satisfactorily’ - in the considered opinions of those supervising,kind of suitably rich repositories of intermediate and advanced-

advising and assessing them, how precisely, accurately and thus

level vocabulary that approximates ideal material for post-competently they can currently pronounce aloud all assigned

senior high school and university level pronunciation practice.

practice exercise content.

That the great ma jority of words contained in the

The Nitty Gritty:

aforementioned media materials may well be new, alien,

Regardless of the complexity level, precisely what does ‘best-

unknown or, at best, only barely known to students goes

quality’ pronunciation tuition and practice entail and amountwithout saying and is, in any case, essentially irrelevant as

to? In the opinion of this writer, the answer is elementary:

regards the basic reason and theoretical justification for the

regardless of particular exercise / activity, it must centre on

provision of pronunciation practice. That said, for the sake ofand revolve around the following core activities: a) theclarity and to minimize the potential for misunderstanding,requiring of students to recite aloud in hopefully increasingly

pronunciation lesson students should never be left in any doubt

confident, bold, audible and assertive fashion (collectively,

about this very fact. Rather, they ought therefore to certainly

in groups, pairs and especially solo) - progressively more

be informed and thereafter frequently reminded, in crystal

demanding and challenging printed materials that, nevertheless,clear language, that correct word, clause, sentence and overall

at all times can be shown to remain entirely compatible andtext comprehension are - by definition - in no way any kind ofcommensurate with the median degree of class progress

intended or required pronunciation lesson objective.

hitherto observed; b) the constant identification and correction(via ‘model’ demonstration) by instructors of ‘unacceptably

Pronunciation lesson instructors need to ensure that theirdeficient’ pronunciation; c) the demonstrating (via ‘model’students are left in no doubt whatsoever that their sole task

demonstration) by (ideally native) instructors of ‘received’イアン・ウィリアム・ウォーナー

pronunciation; d) the immediately subsequent re-attempt by

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deflation and disengagement.

students to correctly pronounce previously mispronounced
target word-sounds.

Use of Audio and Video Recording Equipment:
In the opinion of this writer, the frequent though not ‘excessive’

Whenever - as is usually the case - students initially have, anduse of CALL room and other audio and video recording

then manage to retain, ‘sufficient’ interest and motivation vis-equipment (when time and circumstances permit) by botha-vis succeeding in the task at hand, this approach seems on

pronunciation instructors and directly students themselves

the whole to work well, above all when class sizes are small

constitutes an eminently sound practice since it allows theor medium-sized and each student is consequently guaranteed

former to regularly produce a larger quantity of model visual

to be able to do more solo reciting, endure shorter waiting

and aural pronouncing aids (that need not all be made ortimes and receive consequently a greater amount of instructor

viewed during class time) and - as or more importantly - theattention, scrutiny, advice and feedback.

latter to regularly save for archival reference purposes (insideand outside lesson time), their latest pronunciation efforts.

Reference and Text Book Resources:

Exactly how often such equipment ought to be employed isIn the opinion of this writer, the single most important reference

for each respective instructor and / or each set of students topublication for persons charged with the improvement ofdetermine. On the one hand, less self-assured and / or more

pronouncing accuracy is the latest, 18th edition of Daniel

privately-minded students may well, initially or generally, be

Jones's comprehensive guide to contemporary English

weary of preserving (actually or supposedly) less than stellar

pronunciation1, since it exhaustively catalogues sounds and(or even stellar!) pronouncing performances on file on anything

spellings. The present author rates textbook use as advisable,

more than an occasional basis, at least or especially if theirespecially at the initial stage of pronunciation study, but lessinstructors(s) demand to be lent or given copies of such data.

important and beneficial than aforementioned newspaper

On the other hand, few students will fail to recognise the actualand magazine resource utilization. In both instances, careful,or potential utility of recording their own pronouncing efforts

judicious content selection and employment is a must.

so as to enable immediate, medium and / or long-term privateand / or joint review, analysis, assessment and evaluation of

The Importance of Honest Feedback:their best, worst and median performances and progress.

As always, the issuing by instructors of timely, adequate,
realistic, measured and appropriately-worded praise,With this in mind, the present writer contends that best practiceencouragement, chivvying and criticism in response to student

is probably to let students normally decide for themselves how

pronouncing performance and associated conduct is surely

frequently they wish to record themselves, at least after he orsensible and advisable since it may well serve to raise or

she has gained a good up-to-date appreciation of their current

maintain sprits and reduce the likelihood of student interest

pronouncing ability levels and collected adequate quantities ofrecorded data. That said, if a larger number of students opt at

1

Daniel Jones (2011) Cambridge English Pronouncing

any one time to record their pronouncing, efforts, instructors

Dictionary, 18th Edition, Eds. Peter Roach, Jane Setter,should ensure that the remainder who do not feel the same needJohn Esling (London:Cambridge University Press)

reconsider their decision and / or proceed to use their resulting

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free time constructively.

- for English language pronunciation instructors to attempt
to tell and show all but the most advanced and accomplished

Phonetic Symbols:

under-graduate students i) how and when they ought toSince a large proportion or majority of younger, entry-level

articulate their lips, tongues and lower-jaws in optimallyuniversity students are unlikely to be in any way properly

correct ‘native’ ways, conjunctions and sequences and / or ii)

and reliably conversant with or even nominally aware of

how and when they ought to produce and manage air-flows

contemporary phonetic symbols and many will not, for

before, during and after doing so. Why? Such instruction, if

whatever reasons, properly master even a fraction of suchit is to be delivered with sufficient rigor, is, for the most part,in any practical time frame, even if directed with the utmost

far too ambitious and time consuming and - it is contended -seriousness to do so, this writer contends that less than elite-

very unlikely to have much in the way of a positive, beneficial,level students nowadays may well merely need to be madelong-term impact. On the contrary, it is far more likely thatsuitably aware of the existence of today’s standard phonetic

such instruction will have a manifestly negative, detrimental

symbols and be made to understand that it would probably

immediate and even long-term impact, certainly if attempted

be beneficial and thus wise for them - at a minimum - torigorously and continued for an extended length of time,

become basically familiar with them. However, the central

since it is unlikely that it will be sufficiently well received,

preoccupation of pronunciation lessons, in this writer’s opinion,

understood, attempted, practiced, executed, remembered or

to reiterate, should be to greatly or at least moderately improve

adopted by the pronunciation students concerned. Firstly, thestudent ability to pronounce known and new, alien, unknown

likelihood that targeted undergraduate students of ‘median

printed words as a result of correct grapheme-specified speech-

calibre’ will altogether welcome or properly understand tosound production. Furthermore, the development and present

a sufficient degree the instructions they receive (especiallyday ubiquity of digital hardware and software technologies -if delivered exclusively in English) is likely to be very low.

most notably computer-based recorded and automated ‘voices’

Secondly, even if the students have indeed managed in full orand, latterly, real-time human voice recognition software -large part to properly understand the instructions issued, thehas surely reduced the everyday salience of phonetic symbols

probability that they will, even after a great deal of coachingfor non-phoneticians. Suffice it to say that students should

and practice, be willing and able to do precisely as they have

ideally see phonetic symbols at regular intervals but not allow

been instructed is likewise normally very low. Thirdly, thethemselves (or, in class-time, be permitted) to be distracted bylikelihood that the pronunciation student will remember - letthem from the core task at hand. In real-life, everyday readingalone tend to permanently embrace and routinely deploy - suchand speaking situations we see and hear only words, notunfamiliar and quite possibly demanding, awkward-feeling,phonetic symbols.

confidence-depleting physical practices is again normally very
low. For these reasons, such instruction is - at best - likely to

The Inadvisability of Extensive, Overt

have little or no positive impact on the ‘every day’ pronouncing

Articulation Practice:efforts and performance of all but a small minority of relatively

It is surely generally unnecessary (given median student

interested, well-motived, eager, alert and probably more gifted,

capacity for accurate heard word sound replication) and very

‘elite’ students, and may well do far more harm than good. It isfrequently counter-productive - and thus wholly inadvisable

liable, in most instances to make students more rather than less

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likely to be overly self-conscious, cautious and nervous about

confusing for students and even instructors to comprehend and‘pronouncing correctly’, more rather than less likely to be/ or utilise. Finally, even the most impressively helpful (andhesitant, circumspect and error-prone and - as a result - morepriced) large 3-D ‘working’ models tend to be of limited utility

rather than less likely to view any and all lessons dedicated tovis-a-vis student enlightenment, even when operated slowly

improving pronunciation accuracy by such - and other - meansand carefully and / or studied for extended periods, and may

as being overly pedantic, tedious, taxing and vexatious inwell not be deemed affordable.

nature.

Spelling Proficiency:
Instructors - and for that matter, pronunciation students

Expecting even very advanced students to be able to demonstratethemselves - seeking to ensure optimal student advancementa marked ability for the correct spelling of at least shorter,as regards pronunciation (and, by extension, Speaking‘easier’, already known, let alone longer, more difficult new,and Listening Comprehension, et al) focus on and surely

alien, unknown words, is also considered by the present writer

experiment with articulation-centred tuition at their peril andto be a logically less important, lower priority, secondary task,need to be aware of the fact. The possibility that attempting to

if only due to the long established mass availability of - anddo so may well soon directly bring about significant declines

access to - automatic spell-checking technologies and the surely

in the rate of student pronouncing progress and even medianincontestably real ongoing decline in the need for most people

current performance, rather than precipitate improvement,

to write extensively in long-hand to any substantial degree.

is - it is contended - entirely real and should be recognized.

Even if one adopts a resolutely ‘traditionalist’ stance and insists

Telling students in a sudden - and, in a real sense, unexpected,that a ‘reasonably high degree’ of spelling proficiency ought to‘out-of-the-blue’ fashion to even only moderately - let alone

be encouraged in - and expected from - many or a majority of

drastically - adjust or alter the ways in which they have become

students, one is unlikely to believe that efforts to bring such toaccustomed, over extended periods of time, to articulate

fruition ought take precedence over attempts to enhance corephonemes, and expecting them to implement such instruction

visual / sight-based pronunciation accuracy. The latter should

immediately or within a comparatively very short period

take precedence over spelling because it is far more important.

of time, on a permanent basis, is surely an unrealistic andmisguided undertaking, especially when the median current

Principal Conclusions:ability level of one’s pronunciation students is moderate, class

Lessons dedicated to elevating under-graduate university levelsizes are large and the overall amount of formal and informal

student pronunciation performance - above all in relation

tuition time is considered to be less than optimal.

to unknown printed words - are vital and should begin withsustained efforts to ensure accurate identification and oral

Expensive two and three dimensional educational diagrams,

articulation of component phoneme-grapheme correspondences.

drawings and computer aided design (CAD) generated

Thereafter, pronunciation improvement efforts can be expected

renderings (which appear to have ever greater educational

to be fairly fruitful providing one opts to make (adequately

potential) can doubtless be very useful but many of the moreenthused) students recite as much printed native English

traditional variety are often, in fact, still quite poorly executed

language newspaper and magazine content as possible andand / or annotated and are frequently quite unclear, hard andensures to detect, identify and draw the student’s attention to122

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each and every instance of ‘serious’ mispronunciation / error.

consciously by attempting to understand and do things. Trial-

For most students, notably the keener and more attentive, thisand-error practice allows them to become progressively more

will constitute a valid and solidly beneficial skill and confidence

familiar, aware, knowledgeable and thus capable.

bolstering, if often still somewhat perplexing, educational
experience. Skills are acquired and honed incrementally,

Tuition aimed explicitly at correcting actual speech soundlargely or primarily as a result of trail-and-error attempting,articulation is risky and usually likely to be counter-productive

experimentation, resultant mistake-making and reflection.

with currently less advanced students.

Desired skill attainment goals are eventually achieved via
repeated correct execution and fine-tuning of specific optimally

All things considered, tuition intended to improve spelling

functional actions and familiarisation with resulting necessary

performance should at all times be treated as a desirable but

processes. People learn consciously, semi-consciously and sub-distinctly lesser, secondary, subordinate, less important venture.