Very recently, I asked this
question on my profile on Quora (read
it here). A few people provided me with very interesting answers.
As I imagine that you guys
would not take some time in order to read it all, I have selected some of them
to show you.
I have changed the names of
the commentators (Quorans as they are known, I guess). Anyway, I am going to
call them ‘Quoran’.
Quoran #1:
In my personal experience, both as a learner of English, French and
Mandarin as secondary languages, and as an ESL educator, the extent is huge.
A teacher who uses a clear, standard pronunciation of the language being
taught gives the students the opportunity to assimilate the language aurally in
ways that a non-native, or non-standard speaker of that same language would
not. This doesn't mean that native speakers are immediately the best teachers,
by any means. There are superior ESL teachers (or of other foreign languages)
who aren't native or don't have a native pronunciation, whose skills lie in
delivery of instruction, design of purposeful activities, use of meaningful
multimedia tools -for example, use of audiovisual materials of high educational
value that do use native or standard pronunciation- and a wide range of
knowledge about the mechanics of the language.
Well trained teachers make an immense difference. I say this from having
experienced the ESL industry in China, which values native speakers, often over
well qualified teachers with non-native accents. That said, a hard, unclear or
incorrect accent is setting a foundation of the same quality for the students
when it comes to their oral proficiency.
Accents aren't everything, but they make a difference in the way a
person is received in conversation with a native speaker of the language.
Learning incorrect pronunciations or erroneously stressed syllables hamper the
clarity of the speaker's message. This, in my opinion, is why a teacher with a
clear and correct accent makes a huge difference.
Quoran #2:
I have no experience in
teaching. What I do have is experience in learning, and giving support to my
children with their homework.
In my POV, I would say a
teacher is a model if the student has had little to no previous contact with
the language they are learning.
A few generations ago, it
was definitely more prevalent: if a teacher had poor pronunciation, the
students would follow. And, since in my country there was a time when many
people didn't have the opportunity to travel abroad for leisure, those students
who would become teachers themselves and never had direct contact with speakers
of the language they were (supposed to be) teaching, the problem would carry on
over and over.
Now, with TV and the
internet, things happen differently. Not only parents (of children who are now
attending school) are likely to have had more contact with foreign languages,
but children themselves can listen to those languages through several different
media. So, they can detect when the teacher speaks differently from what they
had previously heard.
Both my children had, on
occasion, come across such discrepancy* in English classes, and they both came
to me for clarification. I told them to ignore the pronunciation and focus on
the rest, since the teachers were fully prepared to help them.
I believe they did as told,
since both achieved high grades in English.
French, on the other hand,
is a whole other battle...
[Disclaimer]
I have my own
not-so-positive view on foreign languages curriculum (public middle and high
school) in my country. Kids who rely only in school classes to learn a foreign
language come out totally unprepared to have a conversation in said language.
* - in Portugal, only TV
series targeted at preschoolers (and some Disney channel series) are dubbed. At
the cinema, animation movies are shown in both versions: dubbed/original.
Series and movies meant for teenage and/or adult viewers are never dubbed.
Quoran #3:
Personally I've witnessed
two teachers of Spanish who were born in America and who had awful American
accents. There tongues flapped around in
their mouths like pieces of liver. The
low income schools were they worked apparently had trouble finding fully
qualified Hispanics to teach. I first
learned Spanish pronunciation from Senora Olga Lugo de Bejerano fresh from
Castro's Cuba in 1966. She could barely
speak English... so we got the real deal.
Did you know that you must learn to roll your R's before puberty sets
in... or you will never be able to pronounce "arroz" (i.e. rice)
property?
Quoran #4:
Not really sure about
"teachers". I learned English phonics from a book and through
referring to my immersion in both Canadian and British speakers from TV. My
English could still use a lot of work. But I modeled my pronunciation from
"hearing" the text in a novel being read by my ideal speaker in my
head. Sounds rather convoluted, but no one in my family spoke English well back
then and I had little exposure to English other than TV and radio. We didn't
have the Internet back then. Things have changed a lot since. I am sure if
someone wants to learn a foreign language now, they have no shortage of sites
or resources to go to.
Quoran #5:
Generally students tend to
copy their teachers when doing something that is unfamiliar with them.
For example, for me, English
is a second language even though I've known it practically my whole life. My
first English teacher was a Canadian and one of the things I picked up on was
the famous Canadian "eh". I had that teacher for less than a year a
long long time ago yet I still use that at the end of my sentences.
So because of my personal
experiences, I believe students look at their teachers as the sole model for
pronunciation when learning a new language, particularly when they have no
other means of hearing that language.
Quoran #6:
I'd say it REALLY depends on
the teacher and the language you're learning. I know most about teachers who
teach English as the student's second (And in sometimes third) language. I've
had 6 or 7 different teachers in English and one had a very strong British
accent, Her motto was "It isn't English if it isn't British!"
Another teacher had some
kind of American accent which was kinda hard to understand.
Most of my teachers has
surprisingly enough had a VERY thick Danish accent (You should note that I'm
from Denmark so the origin of it isn't a mystery), and I simply couldn't take
them serious.
Once again I had a Spanish
teacher who sounded like she'd lived in Spain her entire life (At least to me
even though I've never been to Spain).
I'd say that teachers don't
always set the best example for the pronunciation either as some teachers can
have problems pronouncing words. My current English teacher for example
pronounce a mix between a 's' and a 'd' sound when she pronounces the 'th'.
Quoran #7:
Interesting question yet I do not recall any research/poll on this
topic.
Note - there are 3 things involved
- how pupils see a teacher as a pronunciation model (power-distance of a
given culture/school) //which is bigger than
- how their teacher's pronunciation gets mimicked in reality //which is
bigger than
- how their teacher's pronunciation gets embedded in pupils' own
accents.
I think that naturally the last point matters and that it is given at
80% by the exposure time and 20% by the intentions and/or relationships So if
the school is in London or pupils can watch many movies or shows or there are
more teachers at once or one after another, the particular teacher's speech
pattern won't influence the pupil's one much.
Quoran #8:
To a great extent, I'm afraid. I used to teach Spanish, and one of my
classmates in college spoke like John Wayne! His pronunciation was just awful,
and I had to listen to it in class after class. I even asked an instructor
privately why she didn't work with him on it, and she told me it wasn't a
priority because he was easily comprehensible!
Make no mistake. Students use their teachers as a guide. Where you lead,
they will follow. To this day, I fear for his students.
Quoran #9:
In my opinion, it has alot to do with the student. Back when I was at
high school for example, my English was fairly good, I learned from reading
comics and watching movies and sitcoms, so when my teacher pronounced a word
incorrectly I would be aware of it.
Some of my classmates however, were novice English learners, thus, they
would take after their teacher in whatever he says. Similarly, I would probably
follow my teacher as model for pronunciation in Japanese, but then again, I'm
always skeptical, especially if I doubted that my teacher is not reliable.
Quoran #10:
If they face the students in the right way (depending on what the
students need to see) and explain the movements of the mouth, tongue and so on
well enough, then we might actually be able to see how to pronounce the sounds
properly. However, it has been my personal experience, that to really learn how
to pronounce a language flawlessly (in many, but not all cases), requires a
speech therapist who can teach where the tongue should be placed and can teach
the finer nuances of pronunciation. They just tend to know more about the finer
nuances of the mouth and what it does to get the sound.
Quoran #11:
When I began learning English as a junior one student at 13, my teacher
did not taught us anything of phonetics, it caused a serious result that many
of us did not know how to pronounce every phonetic accurately. Even now, there
are still some English sounds that I can not pronounce. It is my next goal to
solve this problem. Back to your question, the pronunciation level of English
teachers I met varied. Tape is actually
the best model.
Quoran #12:
If the teacher is responsible for the education of the student In said
foreign language, they have the responsibility to also teach correct
pronounciation/enunciation. A large part of learning a language ( maybe the
largest) is the ability to speak it correctly.
Quoran #13:
They teach the student how to speak in that language.
Say they are teaching Spanish
One teacher learned in Spain
One teacher learned in Mexico
They will teach two very different accents in the language.
The teacher that learned in Spain will pronounce C in some words as th
so Gracias sounds like Grathias.
The teacher who learned in Mexico would pronounce C as C or see sound so
Gracias would sound like Gracias.
Quoran #14:
If the student is not able to distinguish the letters, then the teacher
has 100% impact on students' pronunciation. But as the students grow older and
get familiar with reading letters, the role of teacher decreases to sat 60-70
percent.
Quoran #15:
Teachers may be the only
models a student has until the advent of Internet and Youtube and Google. Once you find you tube, you get a varied
number of speaking models.
Quoran #16:
Teachers are often authorative to students, especially when
the students know little about what the teacher is teaching.
Quoran #17:
Unless a person has access
to their materials (native speaking friends, videos, audio) a teacher maybe the
only thing the person hears.
As you can see, there is no
right or wrong answer for my questions. Would you like to help me find more
answer?
To
what extent are teachers seen as models in (foreign) language pronunciation
learning?
PORTAL DA
LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the
persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites
referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such
websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
In some
instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here;
therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so.
Thank you very much.
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