Teacher and Learner Introspection in Pronunciation Training

The Practice of Prosody Teaching

Abstract

This paper examines the behavior and introspection of the learners and teacher during prosody teaching, based on data provided by the participants via email, grappling with such issues as: the utility of providing a model for pronunciation; discrepancies in evaluation; choosing methods for pointing out errors; timing of the teacher's error judgements and replies; the teacher's evaluation of the learners' pronunciation. Quite apart from the long-range goal of improving classroom practice, simply to engage in participant observation, it is essential to get away from an idealized view of education, and to learn how to be critical of one's own value judgements: constructive debate is otherwise impossible. Further research is necessary to shed more light on how to contribute to improvements in teaching, and how to facilitate the sharing of introspective data.