Presentation

Fair Dinkum: L2 Spanish Pronunciation in Australia by the Book

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Abstract

While Spanish teaching in the United States is a well-established field, it is still maturing in Australia. Clear evidence of this is the absence of materials aimed at the Australian English-speaking market. While for the most part foreign textbooks are fine, problems arise immediately when it comes to addressing L2 Spanish pronunciation in a pronunciation course, as the models and examples are aimed at an audience with a different language or dialect background. The result is that students report it as difficult to get the most benefit from the materials. Just like the pedagogy of general phonetics is best achieved using Australian-focused materials, the same focus is necessary for effective L2 pronunciation materials. This study aims to review well-known textbooks for pronunciation courses, all primarily and even explicitly written for American students – arguably the largest market for Spanish pedagogical materials. Our review only measures appropriateness to the Australian university classroom context not the quality of the texts. We divide our approach into two main aspects: phonological and phonetic content (segmental and suprasegmental) and level of appropriateness to the linguistic awareness of Australian learners of Spanish.

How to Cite:

Steed, W. & Delicado Cantero, M., (2013) “Fair Dinkum: L2 Spanish Pronunciation in Australia by the Book”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 5(1).