A recent discussion with a Spanish speaker from South America made me quite sad indeed as a language teacher. They said that in their country, they don't speak Spanish correctly. I asked him to repeat and he said the same thing, "In my country, we don't speak Spanish correctly." I asked him to clarify what he meant and he said that they use words differently from their meaning and use in the dictionary. He expanded and said that they also use words and expressions that aren't in the dictionary. He then went on to say that they pronounce the 'z' as /s/ and not as /
θ/ as they do in [parts of] mainland Spain. I then asked him if people in his country could understand each other or did these differences in lexis and pronunciation cause difficulty among local people. He responded that of course they can understand each other. So I asked, "then what's the problem? If people can communicate effectively with each other in their own environment, how is it wrong if they don't speak how others do on the other side of the world?"
It really got me thinking about my own learners and their expectations as language learners. Do they think that because I'm Irish and have a different variety and pronunciation of English than the Queen of England, that my English is wrong? From what I recall, approximately 3% of English speakers in the world speak RP (Received Pronunciation). Does that mean the other 97% is wrong?
I tried to reason with the speaker mentioned above; there is no right or wrong, it's all language. What's important is that people can communicate effectively. That is to say, I can get my message across clearly and I can receive another speaker's message clearly, we can understand each other. If I speak to an English speaker from the USA, South Africa, New Zealand or a speaker of English as a Lingua Franca (international language), I don't change my language and pronunciation to sound like something else, I make sure that the language I use is appropriate for the type of exchange. My goal is to understand and to be understood.
An example that often comes up, is 'the th sound". Many learners feel that they have to have perfect pronunciation even if they have contort their mouth and tongue to achieve it. In reality, what they should be aiming for, is to be aware of how words sound and how different people might make this sound. In many places in Ireland, for example, /θ/ is pronounced /t/ and the voiced variation /ð/ is pronounced /d/. Some Londoners pronounce the same sounds /f/ or /v/. Within their contexts, this is normal and, therefore, correct.
" . . . the primary goal of teaching pronunciation must now be to make learners intelligible to the greatest number of people possible, and not just to the native speakers of the language." (Walker, R. 2010. Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca. OUP.)
So, as teachers, what should we do? I believe we should make our learners aware of the fact that there are different varieties of English when you move from place to place, both in terms of colloquialisms, lexis, grammar and pronunciation. We should try to expose them to as many of these different varieties as we can or if not, even make them aware that they exist. In an age where the internet is at our fingertips, we have access to all of this language, it's readily available. Use it in the classroom, set it for homework, but whatever you, open their eyes. It will also make them have realistic goals for their own learning. They can aim to achieve intelligibility which is key. We want to help them to understand and be understood as best they can.
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