4.2.3. Pronunciation-teaching methodology: degree of overtness or explicitness
In line with our strategic pedagogic model in Fig. 2, pronunciation will be dealt
with covertly or overtly as part of controlled speaking practice. Practice of
pronunciation will probably remain covert as long as the teacher judges that the
learners are approximating suciently closely to the target.
On the other hand, if the teacher judges that the learners' performance does not
match up to expectations, various tactics for overt pronunciation work will come
into play. Overt demonstration of the pronunciation of a phonological feature in a
meaningful context will perhaps be the usual tactic for attracting the learners'
attention to the articulatory detail of any feature, be it suprasegmental or segmental.
Tactics for segmental features may include the use of exaggeration (e.g. sustention of
a continuant consonant or of a vowel, or the use of external devices (such as a piece
of paper for /p/, and so on). A typical tactical model for dealing with consonants
and vowels in contexts of use is shown in Fig. 4. This is based on the well-established
principle of demonstration or modelling by the teacher, followed by imitation by the
learner.
Tactics for suprasegmental features may also include, for instance, rhythmclapping.
It seems useful to have in mind a scale of priority for tactics, from level 1
(high priority) to level 3 (low priority):
1. `ear-training', using a target stretch of language, perhaps decontextualising and
exaggerating the phonological feature in focus;
2. non-linguistic aural devices, e.g. clapping a rhythm, or humming a tone; and
3. graphics, e.g. circles of dierent sizes to represent stress-placement, or lines of
words showing pitch movement in a tone.