A note on learning pronunciation

I'd like to demystify [sic] a couple of terms that are often confused by eager language learners. We, teachers, are often taken aback by some students' interest in learning the phonetics of English. Myself, I get enthused and amused to start talking about one of my favourite subjects when I was at university, but I muster all my teaching wisdom and refrain from doing that, not least because phonetics is not the object of any language course.

Phonetics, according to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, is the study of speech sounds and how they are produced. Being so, it cannot be done in the language classroom for two reasons: 1) it won't help students achieve the progress they want in their overall language ability, and 2) a considerable number of teachers, especially in my context, haven't studied phonetics and are not themselves adept at using the phonetic alphabet shown in dictionaries - and which decorate all our British Council classroom walls.

What students seem to be interested in is pronunciation which, according to the same dictionary, is the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced.

Almost all coursebooks now include phonetic script and encourage students to get familiar with it, especially stress, which is an important and distinctive feature of English.

Next time you feel enthusiastic about showing your interest to your teacher, make sure you make your point clear.