In my teaching something puzzles me: the teaching materials we use are a mixture of American and British pronunciation. The result is some students learn a mixture of the two pronunciations. Should I try and focus on one type of pronunciation only? Thanks!
This question is from Neoway, China
Comments
joe
This is a dilemna a lot of english trainers are facing, more so after outsourcing has become the norm of the day. In my opinion there is a wrong perception that you need to imitate the customer in terms of accent.
I make it a point to tell all my trainees that the crucial thing here is to speak in a neutral accent. The ultimate objective is to bring them to a level where they can elimimate the mother tongue influence and speak in a globally comprehensible way so that they can understand and be understood.
Alessandra Di Fede
Nowadays, both the UK and the US are very cosmopolitan, and you can hear a mixture of different accents when speaking English with people from those countries. So, in my opinion, a mixture of the two different accents wouldn't matter so much.
Michelle, South Africa
I think it's better that students attain a neutral accent if possible but certainly not heavy deviations between pronunciations, or it will sound quite strange! Particularly in this case because American and British English can sound so different.
Ahmed Ali Guled, Somalia
From my point of few there is no problem if you mix two accents if you are not a native English speaker!
Hilda, Malaysia
Well, since English itself is an international language for communication worldwide, provided the language is used correctly, such differences in the accents doesn't really matter so much. The most important thing is that the students should be comfortable with what you teach them.
Mohamed Hassan, Egypt
This dilemma has caused a lot of disscusion among teachers in my country, but still I think it is not a big deal. I think a mixture between the two accents can be accepted.
Kadri Salah, Algeria
In addition to the problem of mixing American pronunciation and British pronunciation, a lot of learners mix the US and British word spelling. This is generally something it is better to avoid.
Catherine Tivnan, Philippines
Since American and British English pronunciations are different, I think that focusing on teaching one pronunciation is helpful to students because it establishes their concept in having a particular model to follow. When they are ready, they can be exposed to the other kind/s of English pronunciation, so they become aware of these differences. In the end, it is not about completely imitating their model, but this should help them produce intelligible English pronunciation to build their cofidence in the target language and assist them in whatever purpose/s they may have in learning it.
Jesús Hernández, Mexico
I consider there is no problem in mixing accents as long as your students use correct english. Many teachers try to stick to one accent, either American or British. In my experience working with children in 4th grade (about 10 years old), they understand the differences between both accents and their features, if they are explained so. They know that biscuit is Br. and cookie is Am. and they understand that some words (like water) won't sound the same, or some words (like meter=metre) won't be written the same.
Leonardo Dalbosco, Brazil
I do believe our concern should be on the clearness of our students' speech. However, we should, as far as possible, show students both variants of American and British English, not in order for them to choose one, but to help them develop a sense of how these two kinds of pronunciation usually work.
Alfredo Abarca P, Chile
In my experience with college students of English Pedagogy in the areas of English language and English Phonetics, I've realised that it's good that students are exposed to both varieties as long as they eventually choose one when it comes to oral production with native speakers. As future teachers of English they will have to interact with natives using either American, British, Canadian or Australian varieties and so on. The important thing is that they do not mix up varieties so that they sound coherent as far as sounds and accent is concerned.
Hamid Naveed, Pakistan
I believe we should stick to one variety and not confuse our students. Learning British or American pronunciation will definitely enable our students to understand the other variety. After all, the purpose of using a language is to understand and be understood which occurs if you learn either variety.
Mal James, UK
Mery P, UruguayI second the comments made by Girish in respect of Call Centre training. I have first hand expereince of contacting service providers via Indian call centres. One consistant problem I have is understanding through their speed of delivery and not accent. Speaking clearly is essential, regardless of accent and the correct use of sentence stress, particularly question words. When the question word is stressed to a L1 listener it sounds very interogative, and this is also the case with question tag stress. Most people who experience Call Centres complain of the speed of delivery together with a sense of the speaker reading from a set script making it difficult to understand rather than any complaint about accents.
I believe it's important to make the student aware of the different accents. However, I suggest encouraging the learner to stick to one specially if they're planning to sit for International exams. Universities don't penalize the use of American or British English as long as it's consistent.