* David C. Alley, Georgia Southern University teaching of pronunciation in introductory There are a number of compelling reasons for foreign la uage classes is somewhat akin to safeguarding pronunciati n's p ace in the forpayin taxes: almost everyone does t, but no ne eign l ngua e curriculum. First, studen consis is pa icularly fond of it. At best most e chers are te tly list speaki g as one of the r major g al in ambivalent ab ut pronunciation in ruc ion, nd stud ing a forei la guage. For most of the t is ambivalence i du , in large pa , t a lack of n al public speak ng the lang ag flue ly c nf dence in th m thods an ate ials dewi h p o er p onunciati is the th acid te t signe o e ch this skill. Rece tly, a n mb r f o second l nguage pr i iency. It is acciden writ rs ve qu sti ed wh ther th c ing of t at the fi st ACI'FL guidel nes we se deronun ia io is eve e es ary at th begin ing v o ed for sp akin . S co dly, by ll wi g lev ls of n truc ion. A ex mpl of is s tipron ci t on to em ge w t ou be efit of trai ment can be found in Curtain and Pesola (1988): ing, there is a danger of fossilization of poor pronunciation habits, habits that are later stubThe direct teaching of pronunciation at early stages of bornly resistant to change. Correct pronuncialanguage acqulsttlon encourages students to focus attention tion is highly correlated with overall language on the surface features of language rather than on the meaning. It is another way of inviting children to listen for proficiency as determined by the Oral Profispeaking rather than to listen for meaning. As is the case ciency Interview. Furthermore, as Higgs and with other errors, early pronunciation problems can effecClifford (1982) have demonstrated, the importively be dealt with when teachers relate student messages tance of pronunciation never diminishes as the correctly as a form of reflective listening, rather than in a proficiency level increases. Finally, pronunciacorrection mode. Most children tend to be good imitators, so there is no serious danger of reinforcing poor pronunciation plays a significant role in the evaluation of a tion habits (136). person's second language ability by native speakers. Native speakers consistently cite poor Terrell (1982) advocates allowing students to pronunciation as both an irritant and an obstacle respond in their native languages, the target to communication. language, orany combination of the two. W en, For these reasons, the teaching of pronunciathen, will the student begin to speak the second tion cannot be overlooked. To do so would be to he asks. The answer must be: whenignore both the practicalities of public demand as ever he makes a decision to do so, i.e., whenever well as sound principles of language teaching. his self-image and ease in the classroom is such Yet the teaching of pronunciation has remained that a response in the second language will not largely untouched by advances in language produce anxiety (168). When, we might further methodology. ask, are students taught to pronounce the new In reviewing the past two decades of research language? It would seem that pronunciation, like in foreign language pedagogy, three recurring speaking, is left to emerge at the discretion of issues are especially prominent. First, the role of each student. context in language learning activities has been These objections notwithstanding, most highlighted by a number of researchers. As early teachers and most introductory textbooks deas 1904, Jesperson criticized the use of random vote at least some time to the teaching of prosentences connected only by certain common nunciation. Why this persistence in teaching a grammatical features. Lest it be said that such skill that has fallen into theoretical disfavor? defects are absent from modern day materials,