Putting the accent on Intelligibility: What Constitutes "good" Pronunciation in the Context of English as a Lingua Franca? A case sudy of learners of different L1s

One of the most interesting recent trends in the ESOL teaching has been the gradual move away from the idea that native speaker (NS) pronunciation represents the only model for learners (see Gimson, 1978 / Jenner, 1997). In ELF contexts, it has been suggested that a model of pronunciation based on an ill-defined concept of a “native speaker” should be replaced by a so-called core approach (Jenkins 1998, 2000, 2002, 2007). For this, Jenkins’ concept of LFC (Lingua Franca Core) is central, resting as it does on mutual intelligibility for the NNS actually engaged in the discourse as opposed to intelligibility for some hypothetical NS. In this paper, we will examine the way in which the LFC, as described by Jenkins, together with selected features of delivery, can be shown to affect intelligibility and thus constitute what a sample of learners regard as “good” pronunciation. We do this by reference to a questionnaire-based survey administered to 174 learners of different L1s (mainly Albanian, German and Italian) in which respondents have to rate for intelligibility recorded extracts of NS and NNS against a five-point Likert scale discussed in depth by Christiansen (2011a, 2011b). We compare the results of this survey with a detailed phonological analysis of the extracts, in an attempt to ascertain whether the presence of LFC features as opposed to features of so-called “standard” NS pronunciation corresponds to respondents’ assessment of intelligibility. It is found that, while the degree of LFC or standard NS pronunciation in a given extract is a reliable indicator of its general intelligibility to an L2 learner, other observable and measurable aspects of each extracts’ delivery (i.e. speed of delivery, length of pauses and average number of discernible words between pauses) need to be taken into account for a more precise analysis.