HESS

   As a teacher, I have often wondered about the importance of pronunciation in English teaching. Most people usually focus on vocabulary and skills like reading and writing, but what about pronunciation? I have had the honor to meet and learn from Dr. Debra Hardison. She is the Dean of our TESOL faculty. I recently interviewed her to find out exactly what we as teachers and parents can do to improve the pronunciation of young learners.

    長期投入英語教學的工作，我時常思考英語發音的重要性。大部分人通常著重在單字和讀寫學習的技巧，卻忽略了發音的重要性。很榮幸有機會訪談了密西根州立大學 TESOL學院院長Debra Hardison博士，她特別提供了一些建議給英語教師及家有孩子學英語的父母親參考。

Pronunciation has often been considered less important in terms of preparation for academic study in English, and preparation for standardized tests. If we decide to teach pronunciation as an important skill, what do we teach? Dr. Hardison is of opinion that the learner’s needs should be the most important consideration.

Teaching intonation and word stress is dependent upon learners having reached the point where they are producing connected speech. When pronunciation issues or errors arise, they can be dealt with within the lesson. But one could ask why this is different from what teachers are doing currently? The difference is that in this kind of lesson the focus is on teaching pronunciation, not vocabulary.

    學習英語常為考試導向，為了應付各項考試而學習。如果想教授英語發音使其成為一項重要的技能，Hardison 博士認為教學內容須依據學習者的需求。當英語學習者能夠辨識、理解，並且模仿英文口語化發音時，再來強調其語調及單字發音。若發音錯了或有相關議題即可在課堂上處理，也許有人會問：「這與現今教師的做法有何不同？」不同處在於這類的課程是在教授發音而非字彙。

Dr. Hardison suggested that learners feel comfortable trying out the new sounds of another language and that parents and teachers provide good input and supportive feedback. Intelligibility is important—One’s accent is part of one’s identity. The better the skills, the greater the self-confidence a learner will have. This will result in a greater amount of engagement with the language that leads to continuous improvement of all skills, not only pronunciation.

Hardison 博士建議所有學習者不論年齡都應自在地試著說出另一種語言，而父母親及教師可提供正向的建議及支持性的回饋。就教學目標而言，語言表達是否可被理解才是重點，腔調只是個人的特性。發音技巧越好，學習者自信越高。以此為基礎，學習者語言學習於會投注更多心力，其結果不僅改進發音，所有其他技巧也會持續精進。

  Parents reading this are probably thinking, “But what can I do to help my child?” The answer is quite simple—start by listening. Expose your child to authentic listening materials as much as possible. This way they can pick up the natural intonation and stress of English while they are having fun!

閱讀此文的家長可能會想：「我該如何幫助我的孩子？」答案很簡單：從聽開始！盡量讓孩子多聽發音道地的聽力教材，透過這種有趣的方法孩子定能學習並掌握到自然的英語發音及語調。

（節錄自HESS KIDS 第19期）