Correctness in pronunciation instruction: Teachers’ and learners’ views
Correctness in pronunciation instruction: Teachers’ and learners’ views

Summary/Abstract: Interpreted as accuracy training rather than fluency practice, pronunciation instruction tends to be treated as an additional element of foreign language courses, not needed much, especially in a monolingual class. Taking the above statement as a departing point, this paper discusses pronunciation instruction from the perspective of the views and attitudes of the teachers, learners and users of English – Polish immigrants to the UK. The focus in is on a Polish teacher and learner, in a monolingual class in an EFL context. The views of the teachers and learners are compared to those expressed by expert learners using English in an L2 environment, with an emphasis being placed on the issue of accentedness and correctness. Accepting foreign accent as an obvious reality of L2 speech, the paper argues that it is correctness that needs to be defined and operationalized for specific foreign accents to make pronunciation instruction realistic and needed. Taking pronunciation for a trip from the English classroom to the outside world and back, the paper looks for possible directions for further theoretical as well as practical solutions to the problem of specifying realistic aims for pronunciation instruction.

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