This chapter focuses on the learning and teaching of second language pronunciation. It starts by asking basic questions such as: Why is it so hard to sound like a “native speaker”? and Should second language learners even sound like native speakers? The chapter reviews the components of pronunciation including phoneme, segmentals, and suprasegmentals. It then explores the topics of comprehensibility, intelligibility, and accentedness, in order to consider which are most important for second language communication and learning. It argues that native-like pronunciation should not be the goal of pronunciation instruction; rather, the goal should be comprehensibility (i.e., how well a second language learner is understood by a listener). It reviews other issues related to pronunciation learning such as the distinction between receptive and productive knowledge, the role of identity in maintaining a first-language accent, and the role that biology plays in affecting second language pronunciation mastery. Finally, the chapter explores both explicit and implicit methods of pronunciation instruction.

This chapter overviews broad issues related to language acquisition research and answers fundamental questions related to first language acquisition, such as What is language? and How do children learn their first language? It begins by introducing some components of language, such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, pragmatics, and discourse. It also discusses language varieties (e.g., American English vs. Indian English) and explains their legitimacy. Then, the chapter addresses language learning during the first years of a child’s life. It also discusses bilingualism, especially of those who start learning multiple languages in their early years (simultaneous bilingualism). In order to understand second language acquisition for the rest of the textbook, the chapter focuses on a question: How are children able to learn a language without formal instruction? In order to answer this question, multiple language acquisition theories will be discussed.

Reflecting the cultural and regional diversity in China, signs may contain dialectal elements, especially those of the major dialects such as Cantonese, Min, and Shanghai/Wu. Dialects can differ in vocabulary and grammar, and particularly in sound. The differences in sound can sometimes be seen in phonetic transliterations. Dialectal words are those that do not have counterparts in the standard language. They are often written by borrowing standard characters just for the sound without regard for their original meaning (Rebus Principle); they can also be written in specially created dialectal characters. Dialects can also resemble classical Chinese, as they tend to retain features of older Chinese.

Chapter 12 discusses if, how, and why to address pronunciation challenges that arise in a language classroom. To answer these questions, Bryfonski and Mackey make connections between first language acquisition and second language acquisition research, providing an accessible overview of what linguists have found to be true about our ability to percieve and produce new sounds throughout our lifetimes.

The discovery of eleven bronze rams belonging to war-ships off western Sicily, near the Egadi Islands, has produced an invaluable addition to our record of 3rd century BC Latin inscriptions. The archaeological and historical background as well as the palaeography and language of the Latin texts have been examined by J. Prag in three exemplary discussions (2014; 2017), which are expanded in this chapter. The question informing the present inquiry is whether these texts contribute to our knowledge of early Latin, or merely confirm what we know already about early pronunciation, morphology or syntax. The answer is not simple. Palaeographically and orthographically, the texts are very much in line with what one might expect of inscriptions of that time period. The many abbreviations mean that we cannot say much about their morphology. In principle, we should be able to say more about their pronunciation; but again, results are inconclusive. The texts are neither excessively archaic in appearance, nor excessively modern, and already at this early stage it is difficult to deduce pronunciation from orthography. But that in itself is a worthwhile result.

The present study quantitatively identifies undergraduate L2 Spanish learners’ beliefs regarding advanced-language use to determine if they influence how they perceive advanced Spanish, how they differentiate between different levels of intercultural competence, and how they rate overall language use of advanced L2 speakers. We found a disparity between L2 beliefs and behaviors, in terms of what they consider the most important, compared to what they are most sensitive to when evaluating the Spanish of advanced L2 speakers. We associate the disparity with constraints imposed institutionally by higher education and called for a reevaluation of societal and professional demands for advanced-language use, as well as academia’s institutionalized conceptualization of it, in order to generate greater synergy between students, language programs in higher education, and society at large. Doing so requires the implementation of assessment metrics measuring multiple dimensions of language use, and will ultimately facilitate the transformation of curricula and outcomes to more effectively meet the demands of the globalized landscape.

In this chapter, we aim to provide a solid review of studies on the neurobiology of language aptitude and the role of two other important variables, namely musicality and working memory. We stress the importance of taking findings from the cognitive neurosciences into consideration and extend current models on language aptitude by taking neurocognitive perspectives into account. We highlight the importance of stable anatomical and functional markers for individual differences in language learning and aptitude and suggest more closely investigating the interdependency between musical abilities, musical training and language learning. While we argue that working memory is an essential prerequisite for language learning and is largely genetically driven, we propose to include musical abilities in a cognitive starter kit for language aptitude.

In this chapter, we review phonetics in pronunciation teaching and learning from a historical perspective, before going on to look at paradigms for pronunciation and second language (L2) phonology with a focus on phonetic issues. Research identifying the importance of access to phonetic cues, auditory and visual, both in experimental and classroom settings, is presented, demonstrating the increasing emphasis on technology in this field. We then move on to recommendations for teacher training, with a review of approaches to describing intonation for pedagogic purposes. Finally, we present suggestions for the future of pronunciation teaching and learning.

Kassem Wahba argues for paying equal attention to the phonology of the dialects in the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language, noting, not without some frustration, that the conceptions of what constitutes Arabic or the legitimate study thereof were determined by the medieval grammarians of the language, who collectively defined what was to become the Arabic of formal writing and declamation, paying little heed to dialect variation in the language. Regardless, students of the language in the twenty-first century need to and want to learn how to use Arabic as it is spoken and written, which means, he argues, reconceiving how the phonology of Arabic is taught to include dialect variants as legitimate realizations of underlying historical forms.

Given that the pedagogical potential of corrective feedback (CF) for second language (L2) pronunciation development has received rapidly increasing interest in recent years (e.g., Saito & Lyster, 2012 in Language Learning), it is timely and prudent to provide a piece of scholarly work which focuses on synthesizing and presenting the current state of affairs. According to existing descriptive studies, both teachers and learners equally consider the provision of CF to be a crucial component of L2 pronunciation development, especially when the errors in question hinder successful communication. More recently, a growing number of scholars have investigated the acquisitional value of pronunciation-focused CF by conducting quasi-experimental studies with a pre-test/post-test design in both classroom and laboratory settings. Whereas the results have generally shown that pronunciation-focused CF facilitates the development of both segmental and suprasegmental accuracy, the effectiveness of such CF techniques appears to be subject to a great deal of individual variability. Specifically, the potentials of pronunciation-focused CF can be maximized (a) when L2 learners have enough phonetic knowledge, conversational experience, and perceptual awareness of target sounds; (b) when CF provides model pronunciation forms (e.g., recasts rather than prompts); and (c) when the target of instruction concerns communicatively important and salient features.

It has been suggested that co-textual and contextual cues do not contribute much to phonological intelligibility in ELF interactions, since many non-native ELF users seem largely unable to draw on such cues when processing each other’s accents (Jenkins 2000). This small-scale, qualitative study investigates the role played by co-textual and contextual information in instances of phonological unintelligibility in ELF interactions. The results suggest that the non-native ELF users in this study tend to ‘interpret’ rather than ‘decode’ the incoming acoustic signal in relation to co-textual and contextual cues, provided they are available. The findings also indicate that such cues are not always beneficial to the listener, as they can also ‘mislead’ them by supporting an incorrect identification of a word.

Early eighteenth-century dictionaries departed from the hard-word tradition to include common words for a wider and expanding audience. Bailey s dictionaries (1721, 1730) provided comprehensive coverage of information of all kinds, not only linguistic, but were found lacking in clarity and lexicographic sophistication. Increasing desire for an authoritative standard for the language prompted Johnson s work on his dictionary of 1755. In this dictionary, he raised the standards of lexicography in regard to definitions (especially multiple ones), phrasal verbs, and other aspects, including the illustration of usage through the use of written authorities; however, he abandoned his hopes and intentions of fixing the language (prescriptivism) in the midst of his work, turning to a more descriptive model of English written usage. The change in method and approach occurred after the failure of his attempts to order literary and other written material he consulted into pre-ordained structures of definition. Concerns for proper speaking and spelling became louder throughout the century, because of the rapidly increasing and increasingly mobile population, as well as the Act of Union of 1707, uniting England and Scotland. Dictionary makers increasingly included guides to pronunciation and spelling in reaction to these concerns, and numerous pronouncing dictionaries appeared from mid-century onwards.