Journal | EL.LE
Journal issue | 12 | 2 | 2023
Research Article | Teaching Pronunciation to Young Learners in an ELF Context
Abstract
This paper deals with the teaching of English pronunciation in the primary classroom. It starts from two major premises. First, the Lingua Franca status of English (ELF), which has prompted a shift in pronunciation teaching from the attainment of a native accent to the achievement of mutual intelligibility. Second, the features of today’s primary classroom, which is de facto an ELF context, the school population being characterised by a growing number of multilingual pupils and of non-native teachers of English. Three English coursebooks for the primary school are analysed to investigate: 1) if and which pronunciation-focussed activities are suggested; 2) if and what support is provided to the primary teacher to make the most of the activities; 3) whether any of such activities/support show a trend towards an early inclusion of ELF-aware pronunciation pedagogy.
Submitted: March 13, 2023 | Accepted: April 14, 2023 | Published May 23, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords English Language Teaching (ELT) Material Design • Multilingualism • English for Young Learners (EYL) • English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) • Primary School • Pronunciation Pedagogy
Copyright © 2023 Paola-Maria Caleffi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/ELLE/2280-6792/2023/02/001