Teaching pronunciation is a funny (or sad) case in the colleges of Kerala, India. Traditionally, phoneticians have found several challenges on teaching listening. This may include lack of time for the teachers, the influence of first language (L1) rhythm in the second language, mental block of the students, other background noise in the class room, hearing problems and so on. However, there are so many other problems which I could find in the classes of Kerala.
1. Lack of continuity
In Kerala, teaching pronunciation (means standard introduction to phonemic variations of sounds and accents) start in the college level only. In the school level, no emphasis is given to pronunciation. As far as Kannur University is concerned, the introduction to pronunciation starts and finishes at the first semester itself.
2. Lack of time
First of all, the teachers won’t get enough time to train the students. Considering the fact that there is only one semester, it is impossible for the teachers to give training to the students. Ideally, one semester lasts six months, but in reality, teachers won’t get six months at all. Besides, communication English paper is just one paper along with another long paper.
3. Lack of facilities
The paper required the teachers to play audio files in the classrooms and train the students. This required computer assisted language lab for getting proper training. Most of the colleges in the state do not provide such a facility.
4. Individual attention
For a proper training, the teacher should give individual attention to the students. In most colleges, there will be more than fifty students in English classes. This makes giving individual attention a dream.
5. Lack of trained teachers
Most of the teachers of English would be graduates or post graduates in English literature, not Functional English. They may not have a clear understanding about the sound systems and phonetics, though they may have got some introductory lessons on these during their college level.
If the educators are not giving a serious review on these aspects, teaching pronunciation is going to be a total waste of time.
Dear Sarath, Your views are enlightening as well as direct to the point. I wish if the university authorities and the government could find some time to peruse your article.
ReplyDeleteTruly,
Anu
Ps: I have a suggestion about your blog; if you could remove this captcha, it would be easier to drop comments, however as of now, it's a bit annoying with the letters and numbers appearing below in contorted formations.