Presentation

Integration of Pronunciation in First-Year German Textbooks

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Abstract

This paper investigates the ways in which pronunciation is integrated into popular first- year German textbooks used in American colleges. Most students who register for a German college course have not had any experience with the German language. Research indicates that it is important to focus on pronunciation early in the learning process. First, college students of German are well past the critical age for language learning, and attaining good pronunciation in the foreign language becomes harder and harder with every passing year. Second, not focusing on pronunciation from the very beginning will allow fossilization to occur in students’ speech. The longer these bad habits have to form, the harder it is to correct them later. A review of the ten most popular first-year German textbooks used in American colleges shows that only half of the textbooks include any information on pronunciation and only 20% of the textbooks present it in an effective way. The paper discusses possible reasons why this important aspect of language learning is not given more attention and offers recommendations for increasing awareness to the teaching of pronunciation in first-year German courses.

How to Cite:

Pittman, I., (2014) “Integration of Pronunciation in First-Year German Textbooks”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 6(1).