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Good pronunciation is something to which all learners of English aspire. For ESL learners, however, it is far more necessary than for students who do not actually live in an English speaking world. The latter may only need the language for their work or for travelling: the former are likely to need it daily as they strive to integrate and settle into a new community in a new land.

Imagine going to live in a country where you do not speak the language. Then consider the wide range of situations in which you may find yourself. You may be required to deal with government offices, hospitals and schools, ask and answer official questions, open a bank account, call for a plumber or a hundred other such everyday tasks, most of which will be verbal. Not only will you have to understand the people concerned, they will have to understand you. Poor pronunciation can lead to misunderstandings, problems and, at the very least frustration all round since these people may not have the time, or the patience, if communication difficulties persist.

So how can ESL learners improve their pronunciation? Watching television is extremely influential, especially if there are teletext subtitles to connect speech and words. Most programs are useful but soap operas are especially good with their colloquial language, varied accents, everyday situations and the possibility of becoming hooked and therefore wanting to see what happens next. Radio too has a role to play. Just having it on in the background and, absorbing the flow of the language and intonation is very beneficial and, that may only be a small step to understanding the occasional advertisement or items of news.

It's an excellent strategy for an ESL student to think about possible scenarios he, or she, might have to deal with, then envisage what questions and answers might come up. This preparation is especially helpful for the telephone and will definitely give added confidence. Find ESL books and CDs that have typical situations and conversations then, using a tape player or Dictaphone, practise and record the dialogues. Concentrate on when the voice goes up and down and how much meaning this can convey, In shops, on the bus, in the street, listen and endeavour to understand and, of course, talk to as many native speakers as you can.

Word and sentence stress, as much as individual words, are especially important. In speech there are weak and strong sounds within any sentence or phrase, and the weak sounds pose special difficulties as they get lost between the stronger nouns and verbs. These weak sounds include prepositions, the definite article - a - and indefinite article - the. Examples would be " a cup of tea" in which "a" becomes "uh" and "of" becomes "uv" as they are sandwiched between the two nouns and "I don't know" becomes " I dunno"

There was an interesting case recently in England. A postmaster, running his own small post office, had problems with non English speaking customers who were unable to explain what they wanted. Long queues used to form as he tried to help but, his other customers were understandably unhappy at having to wait and, eventually the postmaster refused to serve those customers he could not understand. The irony of the situation is that the postmaster was from Sri Lanka and spoke with quite a distinct accent himself.

The whole issue of pronunciation for ESL students is complex. There are no easy answers or quick fixes and, more than any aspect of language learning, it is the one area which demands the most attention and work.

Learn more about this author, Diana Coode.
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