Teaching English as an International Language

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Teaching English as an International Language

• By Sandra Lee McKay
• Presented by Heather Dittmore
• For LING 510 Phonetics For Teaching

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Intended Audience

• ESL/EFL Teachers (pre-service and in-service)
• ESL/EFL Teacher Trainers

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Philosophy

• World Englishes perspective English belongs to
  all who use it
• The goal is intelligibility and communicative
  competence, not native-speaker speech.
• Standard English can be spoken with any accent
  variation in pronunciation should not be viewed
  as incorrect if it is intelligible.

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Suggestions for Teaching (Jenkins, 2000)

• Focus on specific core sounds (most consonant
  sounds) distinguish between long and short
  vowels, and consonant simplification.
• Focus on nuclear stress this highlights
  meaning.
• Focus on articulatory settings.
• Expose students to a variety of accents.

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Suggestions for Teaching (Dalton and Seidlhofer,
1994)

• Native speaker speech should be viewed as model
  rather than norm.
• Native speaker speech is point of reference to
  keep the pronunciation of different speakers of
  English closer together.

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Usefulness

• Important consideration for any future or current
  ESL/EFL teacher or trainer.
• Exercises and lessons could be crafted with this
  perspective in mind.
• More theory than clear lessons and activities for
  tutoring or teaching.
• Beyond pronunciation, good reference book for
  teaching ESL/EFL with global consideration.

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References

• Dalton, C. and B. Seidlhofer. (1994).
  Pronunciation. Oxford Oxford University Press.
• Jenkins, J. (1998). Which pronunciation norms
  and models for English as an international
  language? ELT Journal 52/2 119-26.
• Jenkins, J. (2000). The Phonology of English as
  an International Language. Oxford Oxford
  University Press.
• McKay, S.L. (2002). Teaching English as an
  international language. Oxford Oxford University
  Press.