Redirecting goals for Pronunciation Teaching: A new proposal for adult Spanish-L1 learners of English

This paper has a two-fold purpose since it not only attempts to identify genuine and attainable goals of pronunciation teaching for adult elementary EFL students but it also, and as a consequence of this, provides a selection of tasks that aims at achieving the proposed goals. The introductory section offers a brief account of a teaching experience with a group of adult learners who, at the time of the data collection, were taking an elementary course in English at an institute in Mar del Plata, Argentina. A succinct description of the course is also presented along with some guidelines describing how pronunciation teaching was approached and what the course failed to accomplish in this area. The aims pursued by the course regarding pronunciation teaching were thus re-examined to establish whether they were realistic and achievable. In the light of the literature and our teaching experience, a new proposal for teaching pronunciation based on a sequence of comprehensible tasks is presented. These tasks were used as illustration and guidance to reach the new goals set for adults L2 pronunciation instruction. Finally, some pedagogical recommendations in the area are given.