Page 31 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

COMMENT .
FEATURES & COMMENT
OUT

Point OF THE

of View UNSPLASH/ALYSA TARRANT BOX

Mark
Hancock Spontaneity:

As a model for learners, the vital ingredient

RP is outdated and Like actors, musicians and clowns,

teachers should learn to improvise.
needs to be replaced One topic which never which is not observed,

Hats off: Like many British traditions, Received PPronunciation has had its day gets discussed in ELT is critiqued and developed
spontaneity. Yet spontaneity with the rigour that planning
if RP is not appropriate, nor SSBE, then what should is at the heart of human is. Yet spontaneity is too
Is it time to dump Received Pronunciation? Most British people don’t use it any we replace these with? I think we should consider the interaction and expression. important to be left to
more and yet we keep teaching it. Perhaps we could drop the idea of a single possibility of not replacing them with anything. You may prepare your chance.
This is not such a radical suggestion – it is not unlike lesson, even in some detail, By contrast, training for
standard altogether, writes Mark Hancock what happens already. In most classrooms around the but once you are in the other performance arts
world, the main pronunciation model for the students is classroom, stuff starts to – theatre, stand-up, jazz,
verybody has an accent. Nobody is In Britain, the accent long seen as standard the teacher, and the vast majority of these do not have a happen and you respond. clowning – starts to practise,
exempt, although many of us perhaps is ‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP), where ‘standard’ accent themselves. Either you use whatever make visible and develop
feel we are. That’s because we tend the word ‘received’ is used in the sense of MARK HANCOCK I think we can afford to take a looser, more flexible happens to pursue your plan, spontaneity and improvisation
Eto perceive other people’s accents ‘accepted’. In elocution lessons, RP is typically attitude in pronunciation teaching. Take phonemic or you suspend your plan for skills from the first day. The
relative to our own, which we perceive as the target model, and ELT has followed the symbols, for example. I agree with Geoff Lindsey that a moment while you derive first rule in improvised theatre
neutral and accentless. lead: pronunciation teachers have been if we are to stick with the symbols chosen by Gimson, learning advantage from is ‘Accept the offer’ – go with
An accent may come to be considered as expected to present the RP model to their we will need to avoid taking them at phonetic face dealing with what has been the energy, and help make
‘standard’, and again this may be perceived students. But can RP be plausibly described as value. But I would go a step further and say we should offered. something useful of it. And
as neutral and accentless by the people ‘standard’ in the sense of ‘widespread’? Geoff avoid taking any symbols at phonetic face value: this Either way, you accept what when you find yourself doing
who speak it. Hence the nonsense phrase, Lindsey of University College, London, argues kind of precision is not helpful in teaching English as a the class offers (questions, this, a state of flow becomes
‘getting rid of your accent’. On the face that it can’t today. Lingua Franca. mistakes, misunderstandings, possible, and even student
of it, this is impossible – but clearly, what In his recent book, English After RP, Let’s say that the traditional, elocution model of students’ news, chat, worries, mistakes become gifts to the
it means is developing an accent which Lindsey explains that RP is usually an elocution lesson: changing your accent pronunciation teaching is symmetrical with regard to the etc.), rather than ignoring it. class!
is more like the one which is considered represented by a set of phonetic symbols to conform to a standard in one particular productive and receptive skill: everybody learns to speak This capacity for spontaneity In a human setting you
‘standard’. chosen over half a century ago by A. C. nation. Is this really appropriate for the with the same standard accent, and everybody can be enables us to include and cannot do everything with
Speaking with a ‘standard’ accent confers Gimson. He makes the point that if a majority of learners of English in the world expected to understand others speaking with that same relate to the unfolding spontaneity, but… you cannot
advantages – opportunities may be denied person speaks in exactly the way these today? I suspect that it is probably not. standard accent. What I am suggesting is asymmetrical: and unpredictable present do anything without it.
to people ‘with an accent’. This is what symbols indicate, they will sound comically In her book The Phonology of English as everybody strives to develop the most intelligible possible moment. Without it we could To start to develop a
lies behind the once-popular elocution old-fashioned. He suggests using alternative an International Language, Jennifer Jenkins version of their own English accent, but at the same not even have productive discourse of spontaneity and
lessons – people seeking to improve phonetic symbols which would be more makes what I consider to be a crucial time, they need to be capable of tolerating a wide variety conversations. improvisation, the C Group
their life prospects by modifying their appropriate for modern Standard Southern point: English is no longer just another of accents receptively. In short: pronounce locally, We need the lesson plan, and IATEFL Research SIG are
speech. However, we should remember British English, but makes the point language; it is a Lingua Franca. This must understand globally. which provides purpose and holding a one day event on
that ‘standard’ does not mean better: as that if we are to stick with the symbols have implications. Most learners of English direction and tools, and 2 November in Oxford.
Linguist John Wells put it, ‘… a standard chosen by Gimson, we will need to avoid today will end up using it to gain access to REFERENCES we need our capacity for
accent is regarded as a standard… not taking them at phonetic face value – the a global speech community, rather than for ■ Jenkins, J. (2000) The Phonology of English as an spontaneity – to handle the Contact:
because of any intrinsic qualities it may symbols no longer accurately describe spending time in a country where English is International Language Oxford, OUP cutting edge of the present https://spontaneityinelt.
possess, but because of an arbitrary the facts. spoken. Lindsey, G. (2019) English After RP: Standard British moment, as we implement the weebly.com/
attitude adopted towards it by society…’ The bigger claim in Lindsey’s book is In Brazil, there is an expression para inglês Pronunciation Today. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave plan. Spontaneity is the taken-
(Wells 1982 p. 34). this: that as a model for learners of English, ver (‘for the English to see’), meaning ‘just for Macmillan. for-granted, elephant in the ■ Adrian Underhill is a trainer,
RP is outdated and needs to be replaced show’ – something you would do not for any Wells, J.C. (1982) Accents of English 1 Cambridge, CUP room, invisible, yet making speaker and ELT consultant. He
by something more up-to-date, and this practical purpose, but only to impress some everything possible. is a past president of IATEFL
We all know that
may be called Standard Southern British onlookers. This seems like a good description ■ Mark Hancock wrote his first book, Pronunciation spontaneity helps develop and a member of the Creativity
MARK HANCOCK greeted with pleasure by many teachers, to impress the English. In the global speech teaching in Europe and writing materials, including English the affective qualities of the and trainer. After retirement
Group.
English (SSBE). This message will be
of the elocution lesson’s goal: pronouncing
Games (CUP) in the early nineties. Since then, he has been
Alan Maley was a teacher
Pronunciation in Use (CUP), and various course books.
wary of the whiff of elitism often associated
teacher. Yet ELT methodology
community, there is no specific reason to
with RP.
on the planning aspect and
writer for publication. He is a
ELT) received the 2017 ELTons Award for innovation
English as a Lingua Franca, pronunciation is
The idea of keeping the description of our want to impress the English. In the world of His latest books, PronPack 1-4 (Hancock McDonald and teacher-training focuses he continues as a speaker and
standard accent up-to-date seems reasonable, a working tool of communication, not just in teacher resources, and a runner-up award from has built a complete discourse past President of IATEFL and
but I do wonder about the implication of something ornamental. the English Speaking Union. Mark also uploads free around it. There is no such co-founder of the Creativity
using this as the model in ELT. To me, this We need to revisit the question of articles and materials on http://pronpack.com and http:// discourse around spontaneity, Group.
seems like teaching pronunciation as if it were standards. For English as a Lingua Franca, hancockmcdonald.com.
14 May/June 2019 editorial@elgazette.com 15