Job Discussion Forums

[themanymoonsofjupiter]

I will soon be teaching Oral English (at a uni) to some African students whose native language is English. There is no way around this--they must take the course. As one of the grading guidelines is 'pronunciation', I am quite uncertain as to what to do. While their English is almost always understandable to me, any Chinese student who spoke with such strong accent (and didn't pronounce the 'th' sound) would not receive a perfect on pronunciation as per the guidelines. Is it fair to give a native speaker anything less than a perfect score on pronunciation? There is no precedent at my school for this, so I have no-one else to consult on the topic.

[Zero]

Some Africans are very much native English speakers. I would not mark them down on pronunciation.

[nickpellatt]

Hmmm, English may be an official language in many parts of Africa, but rarely is it their mother tongue. Moot point perhaps though.

I would say two points ... firstly, if your employer gives you firm guidelines to follow, then the easy route is to follow them.

However...who is to say what is correct pronunciation...Are some varieties of African English really less valid than American English...esp when you compare American English to my British English. Some differences not only have to be tolerated, but accepted as being equally valid IMO.

Many Chinese speakers also dont pronounce the 'th' sound, so the Africans arent really at a disadvantage with that one.

I guess really I would consult my employer...and advise him on my thoughts regarding what is 'right' and 'wrong' pronunciation. And then I would concentrate on advising the African students what they need to do to pass the test, with additional focus or practice of 'correct' pronunciation prior to the test?

[dakelei]

There are some who get annoyed bordering on angry when I say this but, by my definition, very, very few Africans are true "native" speakers of English. To me if it's not the language Mom, Dad and everyone else in your house was speaking when you were a toddler it's not your "native" language. There have been passionate "debates" on this topic at many ESL message boards. Check them out.

I'd further argue half the people of China are not "native" speakers of Mandarin, either. When folks say Mandarin has the highest number of "native speakers" in the world I get irritated. Where I am now most folks speak Mandarin only when they absolutely HAVE to and yammer away in their "local language" 80 to 90% of the time.

[sharpe88]

Basically you want to give American or British accent training.

Consult the "Ship or Sheep" series

or "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook