Jenkins presentation

Here are the notes that accompanied my presentation on A Sociolinguistically Based Emperically Researched Pronunciation Syllabus for English as an International Language by Jennifer Jenkins:

The article outlines the recent shift in the use of English. NNS using English for international communication now outnumber native speakers. This shift, as explained by Jenkins, has some implications for ELT. Jenkins calls for empirically established phonological norms and classroom pronunciation models for English as an international Language (EIL), where intelligibility for NNS instead of NS is the focus. She provides data drawn from NNS to NNs interaction to show the kinds of evidence to draw our own conclusions.
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The author proposes that for a new pronunciation syllabus for EIL, the Lingua Franca Core should be followed. This approach is more effective in promoting intelligibility among EIL communicators as well as being more teachable as opposed to Received Pronunciation and General American. Finally, the article describes the importance of developing accommodation skills as an important part of EIL pronunciation teaching.
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To begin, Jenkins states that most applied linguists are aware of the fact that English is now spoken by more NNS that NS, and there are implications with this fact.
Language teaching should pay attention to the L2 user rather than concentrating primarily on the native speaker, and it should apply an L2 model.
So far though, according to Jenkins, this shift hasn’t had much impact on linguistic research or on English language teaching. Currently, the NS remains a given, and “the NS standard measure still reigns supreme.”
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In the phonology field, decisions about what to include in pronunciation syllabuses are still focused on the Native speaker, even though evidence is emerging that states that certain intuitions might be inaccurate. The focus is on what NSs do when they communicate with other NSs assuming that communication between NNSs should be the same.
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Learners are encouraged to pronounce like a native speaker, despite the negative effect on the intelligibility for NNS communicators (all because these features are part of NS pronunciation).
“If we are to provide appropriate pedagogic proposals for EIL pronunciation, then these must be linked directly to relevant descriptions of NNS speech…to the findings of empirical research conducted in NNS-NNS speech contexts in terms of what constitutes optimum productive competence and what learners need to be able to comprehend.”
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The fact is that regional variations and accents in language are now the acceptable rule rather than the unacceptable exception.
In the case of EFL: the purpose is to speak the target language as a ‘foreigner’ to communicate with native speakers of the language. Here, the goal of pronunciation teaching should be close to that of a NS accent so that it can be understood by NSs of that language. The focus is on selecting the NS accent that the learner will encounter in their target native speaker community.
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In the case of EIL: English is learned for international communication instead of communication with its NSs. Speakers of EIL are not foreign speakers of the language, but ‘international’ speakers. The EIL target community is not specific. An important focus in this article is the right for speakers to express their identity in English through their accent, as long as the accent does not risk international intelligibility.
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This position is supported by Bourdieu’s concept of ‘legitimate discourse.’ – An utterance must meet four conditions, the fourth being that it must employ ‘legitimate’ phonology and syntax.
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In EFL: “‘Legitimate’ phonology entails speaking with an accent that is intelligible and acceptable to the target NS English community.”
In EIL: ‘Legitimate’ implies that phonology must be intelligible and acceptable to the target international English-speaking community. This will involve making some adjustments by both NSs and NNS of English toward an agreed international norm.

According to Jenkins: NNS English accents aren’t always acceptable. Miscommunication is a cause of concern among linguists. There is a fear that English is now so widely used around the world and by so many non-native speakers that it could possibly break up into a series of dialects, and eventually into different languages.
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Jenkins calls for an intervention: intervention is not focused on native speakers. It’s more relevant and more realistic. The primary focus is to promote international phonological intelligibility, as well as the developing a research-based teaching model. This new model for EIL should be based on evidence drawn from non native speaker interactions and from NNS listeners.
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Evidence gathered by Jenkins provides examples of pronunciation-based miscommunication. The data was collected over a period of three years in classroom and social settings, with the aim of looking at miscommunication caused by pronunciation. Jenkins found that although pronunciation wasn’t the only cause of miscommunication, it was the most frequent and most difficult to resolve.
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Examples of miscommunication: ‘I failed’- An L1 Korean speaker of English has taken his driver’s test that morning. He entered the classroom and announced that he has failed the test. His classmates didn’t understand the significance of what he said, and one classmate even asked “Did you pass you test, Lee?” The typical Korean sound substitution of p and f had caused some pronunciation differences.
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Have you got a blue VUN=’Have you got a blue one’- This combination of phonological errors caused the most serious problems in this study. (Misplaces tonic stress along with a consonant substitution within the wrongly stressed word.)


The problem of contextual cues:
Shouldn’t contextual clue clear up the pronunciation miscommunication? In interlanguage talk this appears not to be the case. It is found that: NS-NS communication makes use of contextual information to clarify meaning, in NNS-NNS communication: the receiver tends to focus on what they hear.
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Jenkins research shows this: The listener has contextual visual clues, but tries to make sense of the pronunciation that he hears. In the experiment, a receiver chose to trust a speakers mispronunciation rather than the visual information that was given to him.
The ILT data indicate that certain pronunciation deviations, particularly in consonant sounds, vowel length and the placing of tonic stress, make NNS pronunciation unintelligible to a NNS interlocutor, and that when this happens, context doesn’t help to provide meaning.
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Traditionally, the idea suggested in this topic is that speakers make their speech more similar to that of their interlocutors because of their desire to be liked. But, the early accommodation theorists also identified a motivation which they called ‘communicative efficiency’ which they also found to be relevant to communication in a second language; the desire to be understood. In ILT however, speakers converge on what they think is a more target like pronunciation instead of converging on each other’s pronunciation.
Jenkins proposes the Lingua Franca Core,
Reasons for suggesting the LFC: it concentrates on the items that are more effective instead of focusing too much detail into the differences between native speakers and non native speakers. It is also more relevant since the syllabus doesn’t address the needs of a NS listener when in EIL the listener is more likely to be a NNS.
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The LFS includes: consonant inventory that permits some substitutions because they are intelligible in EIL.
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In effect, Jenkins claims the items that are excluded from the LFC are not crucial to intelligibility in EIL contexts, therefore making the LFC more relevant and useful in this case. In addition to training in the core items, learners need EIL practice to enable them to develop their communication skills in relation to a wide range of different groups.