Vera Jorge

SLA - Session 7

Chapter 1 – Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, Cook (1996)

Selected Discussion Topics:

 What should an L2 speaker aim at if not the model of the native speaker?

According to the notion of a Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), once we are beyond a
certain age (roughly the onset of puberty), we are unable to fully grasp a new language
with native-like proficiency. CPH is considered to be especially true of phonology. This
has huge implications for learning and teaching as it raises such questions as, “At what
age should I start learning a language?” or “Can I start learning a language now as an
adult? If I can’t learn it properly because of the CPH, what’s the point?”
CPH does not state that we cannot learn the language, just simply that we will not
acquire native-like proficiency in it. The key implication, then, is for goal setting. Since
it is clear that native-like proficiency may be unlikely and since, in any case, the
majority of English is spoken as a lingua franca, should native-like mastery be the goal
at all? Joanne Kenworthy1 argues that speakers should be aiming for “Comfortable
Intelligibility” rather than absolute native-like perfection, which I believe makes perfect
sense.

 Can you tell the first language of L2 student from their speech alone?

A major factor affecting L2 pronunciation is L1 According to Jeremy Harmer, when we

teach pronunciation, we not only makes students aware of the different sounds and
sound features, but we also improve students speaking as they are told where in the
mouth the sounds are made, where words should be stressed, etc. According to the same
author, language teachers consider intelligibility as their prime goal, therefore, this
makes some pronunciation features more important than others. Some sounds have to be
right for the speaker to get the message across and, of course, intonation can make all
the difference when conveying it. However, two main problems occur when teaching
and learning pronunciation: what students can hear and using the right intonation.

1
Teaching English Pronunciation, J. Kenworthy, Longman 1987.
 Vera Jorge

SLA - Session 7

European Portuguese speakers (EP), whose vowel system is quite different from the
English one, have problems with the following phonemes:
/i:/ - It is often confused with /I/ because it tends to be pronounced too short. E. g. rich
vs reach. Students who are too self-aware of this problem, tend to feel uncomfortable if
they have to pronounce words like beach or sheet.
/a:/ is also shortened and confused with /æ/. e. g. aunt vs ant.
/ʊ/ is confused with /u:/. e. g. fool vs full.
The same goes for some consonants. There are some phonemes that do not have
equivalents in EP and these are the ones that rise the most relevant problems with EP
speakers:
/tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are pronounced /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. e. g. chair vs share or pledger vs pleasure.
Initial /h/ has no equivalent in Portuguese and is either omitted (as for has) or inserted
unnecessarily because of overcompensation. e. g. High ham for I am.
/θ/ and /ð/are pronounced either as /s/ and /z/, or /t/ and /d/, leading to confusions such
as sinker or ‘dinker’ for thinker, and breed or breeze for breathe.
EP is a heavy stress-times language, therefore it is easy to get and produce stresses
correctly in English, but the pronunciation of unstressed syllables may be excessively
reduced.
As for intonation, and considering the two main tones in the English language: referring
and proclaiming (new information – proclaiming tone and known information –
referring tone), and considering that proclaiming tones are rising and referring tones are
falling, declarative sentences are usually given a referring tone by EP speakers and
question tags tend to be all pronounced with a proclaiming tone, irrespective of
meaning. Hence, bearing this information in mind, it is obviously possible to tell the
first language of L2 student from their speech alone

Sources:
Learner English, M. Swan & B.Smith, CUP, 2001
The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer, Longman, 3rd ed.