Potential Of Digital Tools To Replenish Pronunciation Teaching
,Table of contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Traditional pronunciation teaching methods 1
3. Why should pronunciation be taught? 3
4. Theoretical Foundations 4
5. Methods of using Digital Media in the classroom 5
6. Challenges 8
7. Digital media during Covid 9
8. Conclusion 11
9. List of sources 12
, 1. Introduction
Nowadays, English as a second language is more challenging for learners than ever. Shifting
the focus on pronunciation teaching occasionally also puts more value on other issues like
interference between sound systems in L2 classrooms (Nikbakht, 2011). Technologies such as
audio conferencing, video chat rooms, AI (Artificial Intelligence), and online learning platforms
may have great potential to help learners overcome pronunciation difficulties (Becirovic, 2021).
In his work, Ugla (2023) describes scientific studies that give clear insights into the needs of
L2 learners and what they expect to get in educational institutions to acquire pronunciation
patterns efficiently. Implementing these results is very important to maximize the successful
integration of media in an educational environment. Maspufah and Zariati (2022) investigated
how applications contribute to pronunciation improvement, while Suwastini et al. (2023) state
the integration of online platforms. At the beginning of 2019, when COVID-19 struck down
the globalized world and every country’s educational sector, these insights became more than
relevant (Depping et al., 2021). At this time, overstrained teachers and students had to provide
and perceive everything through online resources only to acknowledge the benefits of media in
pronunciation teaching after a short period (Atmojo, 2021). Setter et al. (2021) explain the
importance and urgency of arranging further field studies, and Levis & Grant (2003) establish
the obvious speaking issues while the debate on intelligibility is ongoing.
2. Traditional pronunciation teaching methods
The history of pronunciation teaching contains many approaches to providing students with the
proper listening and speaking competencies. The Direct Method confronts students with native-
like and authentic content that they are supposed to imitate. The Audio-lingual method mostly
has the same approach, only differing in technique and material, such as the articulation chart.
In the second half of the twentieth century, precisely in the 1960s, there was a turning point.
Linguists shifted their focus to grammatical structures and vocabulary because they thought
pronunciation teaching with its different varieties of patterns was not worth the effort due to its
complexity. After this period, the types of approaches shifted to communication, focusing more
or less on pronunciation. At the same time, the learners’ needs moved more to the center.
Teachers placed themselves in the background and could be a source of help and guidance.
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