Exploring the Teaching and Learning of Pronunciation: Approaches and Problems for Spanish Speakers

Abstract

The aim of the current paper is to provide a general overview of the attention that pronunciation teaching and learning has received in English as a second or foreign language lessons throughout the years. The different approaches used to teach English pronunciation, with their most important characteristics and proponents, are also described in this proposal, alongside an insight of other aspects that should be considered when instructing the oral component of a language. Therefore, it will explore the notion of intelligibility, which is likely to be the goal for the EFL student, and the variables that affect the acquisition of a foreign language: learners’ variables, setting variables, institutional variables, linguistic variables and methodological variables. Moreover, the different problems that Spanish speakers encounter when they pronounce English are analysed, together with a theoretical portrayal of the sources that give way to these problems, so the teacher can be aware of these obstacles and try to solve them. In order to do so, both Spanish and English phonological systems are shortly described in order to draw comparisons between them. . This analysis will embrace phonetic problems with vowels and consonants, focusing on the realisation of sounds, as well as a detailed explanation of the most significant suprasegmental problems. Finally, taking into account all the aspects commented, this article includes some final remarks, stating the aspects of pronunciation that should be instructed in each level of the learning process.