Today’s lecture is on the subject of Pronunciation Achievement Factors.
As an introduction we should ask ourselves three questions. Why should it be difficult for adults to learn (36) pronunciation in a foreign language Secondly, why do some people achieve better results than others And thirdly, what factors (37) who will achieve good pronunciation
There have been several research studies (38) factors that affect performance. Firstly, and perhaps the most (39) was the mother tongue. The closer the student’s own language is to English to start with, the (40) the chance of high achievement. Secondly, he discovered that the learner’s (41) towards pronunciation makes a difference: students who believe in the importance of pronunciation tend to make more progress. Thirdly, (42) with native speakers of the language has strong (43) effects on pronunciation. Fourthly, and possibly the least important, was the student’s own natural ability. (44) , but are far less significant than the other three factors. Two other factors were tested but found to be of little overall importance: the sex of the student and the personality-- (45) . What conclusions can be drawn from these studies We can’t change the first factor-- the mother tongue--but we can control the second and third. (46) .