It takes about a minute to say 200 words. An average sentence takes 2-3 seconds. It’s not surprising then that our speaking time per day doesn’t add up to more than 12 minutes–especially if we don’t have a job that requires talking. Students may not contribute in every class session (i.e., they may actually go through a whole day not saying much at all in their classes). And if they don’t speak English outside of the classroom (except for brief public interactions, such as ordering lunch) but speak their native language with family and friends (where most talking takes place), then English speaking time is likely very limited.

Students should be made aware of the dynamic.

Sorry it took so long to respond to Dennis’s comment on my comment. The difference between accent reduction and learning about(and practicing)the important features of American English pronunciation are a real distinction. Accent reduction sort of says that you must “lose” something in order to be understood by native speakers. It also seems to demand that you conform to the way native speakers of English speak. The reality is that it is a fairly unrealistic goal for someone who has been speaking English a certain way for many years. What IS necessary is accented speech that is intelligible and comprehensible to others. Think about how actors “put on” other accents for roles; they mimic the intonation and rhythm patterns of the accent of the role they are playing – Chinese or Japanese or Russian- but they are wholly understandable. That’s because they are basically obeying the rules of English in terms of thought groups, pausing, etc. with the “flavor” of the new accent. Because English is their native language, they instinctively do those things that non-native speakers don’t do. When non-native speakers learn, for example, that compound nouns and set phrases (such as greenhouse or drug store) always stress the first part of the compound and have a chance to practice this in a controlled setting, they can incorporate those rules into their speech fairly quickly. The same goes for understanding the concept of thought groups and focus words within the thought groups – these are all features of English that native speakers display without thinking because it is their first language.
Sometimes just slowing down, knowing where and how to pause between thought groups, and putting more stress on the important words in a sentence make students much clearer and more understandable.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I don’t see the difference between “accent reduction” and teaching students “the important features of American English pronunciation… and how incorporating these features into their spoken communication will improve their clarity.” This distinction seems like a matter of political correctness.

http://cac.ophony.org/2006/05/03/accent-reduction/comment-page-1/#comment-37789

Back to the question of students not proficient in English, and their potential exclusion from group projects by classmates who fear they will lower the overall grade. If it is a group project then it often involves research, audiovisual components and other elements besides oral presentation. And so these students can more than makeup for any oral deficiencies by work on these aspects. Also, the instructor can attempt to “individualize” grades by noting, as much as possible, each students contribution to the whole. And of course there are the positive methods to encourage improvement that Elisabeth outlined.

I have made it a point to speak about communicating itself and that if you cannot hear much less understand someone else in a class, it speaks to a lack of integrity (of completeness) in the process of communicating. The listener has to be willing to share that they do not get it. Other people often get that they are not being listened to but they could make up that its racial discrimination or hate of outsiders (things they have little control over) rather than they simply need to speak slower, learn to enuciate a certain phoneme or practice oral presentations ahead of time.

I also love that my students get to hear lots of different accents so they realize that in and of itself and accent is not a reflection one’s quality of intellect. Some of the most brilliant things have been said by students with really thick accents that we learn to be patient with while they grow.

Loved this!