Description
Pronunciation instructors and researchers must take concerns about linguistic justice seriously and formulate conscientious responses to them. This presentation discusses why this is crucial, as all branches of English Language Teaching (ELT) have been argued to perpetuate linguistic inequalities by adhering to the language norms of privileged groups. When these practices disadvantage non-native speakers or non-Whites, they are described as native-speakerist or as intrinsically racist. Pronunciation training, in particular, has faced such censure, and is even criticized for harming learners’ self-image.Researchers have already amply responded to charges of native-speakerism in pronunciation teaching by adjusting targets to reflect learners’ L2 accents and emphasizing distinctions between nativeness and intelligibility. Less often, it is argued that pronunciation instruction can also shield learners from acceptability judgments, particularly from other non-natives. Clearly, if empowering non-native speakers is a key goal, it is their needs and perceptions that should guide pronunciation model choices. Nevertheless, this could potentially result in specific local non-native pronunciation norms being prioritised at the expense of others.
Another key issue is the role of ELT in perpetuating language norms associated with the spread of English through colonialism and economic dominance. However, rather than generalizing about the moral implications of teaching high-prestige pronunciation models, it is imperative to differentiate between contexts. For example, the experience of non-native speaker immigrants facing racialised accent discrimination in majority English-speaking countries differs from that of privileged language learners in Europe and elsewhere. Solidarity among non-native groups may be limited, and some non-native speakers may even hold racialised views of an ideal native speaker, erasing the presence of non-White speakers of high-prestige accents. These and other contextual differences suggest that the default portrayal of non-native speakers as oppressed by supremacist native-speaker norms may be much less relevant to some pronunciation teachers’ practices and experiences than to others.
| Period | 16 Oct 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Montreal, Canada, QuebecShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |