this issue
previous article in this issuenext article in this issue

Document Details :

Title: The importance of vowel length pronunciation teaching
Author(s): BROWN, Adam
Journal: ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Volume: 145    Date: 2005   
Pages: 269-288
DOI: 10.2143/ITL.145.0.562916

Abstract :
Teachers must decide which pronunciation features are important and merit attention, and concentrate on these in the limited time available. The approach of Abercrombie (1956), that concentrates on producing the maximum improvement with the minimum effort, is guided by the principle of achieving comfortable intelligibility - a major goal for most language learners. This view has been refined by Jenkins (2000), who examined the causes of breakdowns in communication between non-native speakers, and thus arrived at a lingua franca core. This specifies those features which account for such breakdowns, and are therefore considered to be undispensable in Non-native speakers' communication. One such feature is vowel length. The importance of this feature in communication and language teaching is discussed in this article.