Hello vuthixuandung:

     I am of the opinion that pronunciation is the first step in learning to speak an L2.  However, I think the extent of the relation between "pronunciation" and "speaking skill" depends on one's definition of the terms. 

     When I use the term "speaking skill," I am referring to an individual's skill as a public speaker and not their pronunication.  This includes issues such as the structure of the presentation, whether or not statements are properly supported, word choice, pragmatics, making eye contact with the audience, etc.

     When I use the term "pronunciation," I am referring to an individual's pronunciation of segmentals and suprasegmentals. For me, it does not include such issues as word choice and pragmatics, for example.

     So, if a speaker's pronunciation is not intelligible by the target audience, then it will have a negative impact on the individuals perceived skill as a speaker in that the audience will not understand what the speaker is saying. 

     If, on the other hand, the term "speaking skill" has the meaning "pronunciation of suprasegmentals," then pronunciation belongs to "speaking skill" because "pronunciation" includes, inter alia, stress and intonation.

     Generally speaking, current techniques in teaching adults an L2 (American English, for example) are based on the use of textbooks, which, depending upon a student's goals, may not be the best way in which to go about teaching an L2.  Students learn to speak an L2 by learning to read.  They learn vocabulary by memorizing word lists consisting of the L2 word, the IPA, and the L1 word, for example.  Two of the consequencies of such teaching practices is pronunciation that is based on the spelling of a word (with the result that unstressed vowel sounds in American English are not pronounced as schwa, problems with the pronunciation of noun/verb pairs such as "produce" (n) and "produce" (v), and the mispronunciation of a word such as "office," to name just of few of the problems) and difficulties in listening comprehension (as a consequence of forming an associative serial order memory that consists of more elements than L2 sound - meaning; e.g., usually: hearing an L2 sound - what was that? - mentally visualizing the L2 word - L2 sound - L1 word - L1 sound - meaning.  The students' longer associative serial order memory takes longer for the brain to process with the result that student's experience an L2 as being spoken too fast.).  Since reading involves a phonological component (except for the most proficient readers, which does not include learners of an L2), reading will reinforce whatever pronunciation a learner has at the time.  If learners are satisfied with their pronunciation, then go ahead and read, but if learners want to improve their pronunciation, they should do so prior to beginning to read.

     So, I am of the opinion that the relation between "pronunciation" and "speaking skill" depends on one's definition of the terms, and that pronunciation training should precede reading if a student is concerned about pronunciation.

Dan Jenkins (Foreign Expert, English Department, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China)

Hi Dan,

You made a clear overview of the relationship between teaching pronunciation and speaking skill. Many thanks for your explanation. I quite agree with you that they should be  considered in terms of their definitions. In our English textbooks pronunciation belongs to language elements such as grammar, vocabulary.Pronunciation is also taught in the pre- reading, pre listening  stages ( here the students practise the pronunciation of the new words, phrases appearing in the reading passage or listening as preparation for the reading and listening).

Best,

Vuthixuandung