Research papers (research meetings, symposium materials and others)
This author’s main motivation for teaching English is the freedom greater English proficiency can afford students. Higher English proficiency gives students more choices for employment and more opportunities to find friends or love for example. With poor pronunciation skills, students are unable to effectively interact with other English speakers because the other English speaker cannot make sense of what they are saying. Poor pronunciation, therefore, has the potential to prevent a student from enjoying the freedoms of greater English proficiency even if their English language skills are excellent in other areas (Morley, 1991). Unfortunately, pronunciation is also neglected in most language classrooms (Wachowicz & Scott, 1999). To address this need for more pronunciation practice, the first fifteen minutes of two university English classes was dedicated to drilling minimal pairs and a number of extension activities using students’ cellphones.
