Methods of Teaching English Pronunciation

Correct and clear pronunciation is obviously of considerable importance in language learning. Without it, students may not be understood and may be poorly perceived by other English speakers. However, good pronunciation is something which takes time to build up as there are many factors involved. Students need to hear a lot of English before they can develop a 'feel' for the sounds of English. They need to have confidence in their abilities, not feel shy and be ready to make a fool of themselves as they try to get their tongues round the different sounds. Pronunciation is thus probably best dealt with a little at a time and in the context of learning new words, structures, etc. rather than in isolation.1
Pronunciation goals
Whereas some time ago it might have been said that the goal should always be native-like, even though it was realized that this would be achieved by relatively few, most people now think that this is an inappropriate goal for most learners. The great majority of learners will have a very practical purpose for learning English and will derive no particular benefit from acquiring a native-like pronunciation.
While native-like pronunciation may be a goal for particular learners, and while we should never actively discourage learners from setting themselves ‘high’ goals, for majority of learners a far ore reasonable goal is to be comfortably intelligible.2

Factors that affect pronunciation learning
1.The native language is an important factor in learning to pronounce English; this is clearly demonstrated by the fact that a foreign accent has some of the sound characteristics of the learner’s native language. Because of the role that native language plays, there has been a great deal of research in which sound systems of English and other languages are compared and the problems and difficulties of learners predicted. This applies not only to the individual sounds but also to combinations of sounds and features such as rhythm and intonation.…