--- Forwarded Message from Duncan Charters <[log in to unmask]> --- >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> >Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 00:49:04 -0500 >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >From: Duncan Charters <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: #7860 One accent or multiple accents? >My question: Is it useful to show students all different accents >of one same language when starting to learn that language or >different accents make learning a more difficult task? > >Regards, > >Emma Fernandez > You can make the case either way on this one, and will find plenty of people who will argue on either side. Personally, I stress listening comprehension from the beginning and like my students to be aware of the varieties of Spanish. As I am British and trained in the Castilian Spanish of Spain, I go to great lengths to expose my students to authentic language from different areas of Latin America as well as the U.S., since these are usually more relevant to them. I think it serves students well not to be completely thrown by hearing a Spaniard or an Argentinian speaker if they have heard only "standard American" or Mexican Spanish in their classes and materials. Spanish as a spoken language is not represented by only one dialect. I regularly model more than one so they become used to hearing the distinctions. The other side of this is that it can indeed be confusing, and if you model one accent, the students can then use that as their initial model for speaking. Many teachers believe students should not mix dialects at the beginning, but choose one for their own speech. However, would you want to force them to choose a dialect that is not as relevant to their needs? You can expect to take extra time if you have students listen to more than one dialect from the beginning. However, the fact is that today, because of the demand to expose students to a range of authentic language and its diversity, publishers increasingly provide just what you found in Hola amigos. The Destinos video program, the BBC's Suenos which has video segments filmed in Spain and several Latin American countries, and most other materials make that choice consciously. It certainly works more easily in Spanish if you choose to do that than it would for English. Where would you stop? British, American (which dialects?), Australian, Indian... "English as a lingua franca" dialects between non-native speakers? If you teach Spanish, you can be grateful your life is not that complicated! Duncan Dr. Duncan Charters Professor, Language Department Principia College, Elsah, IL 62028-9799 Telephone: (618) 374-5252 Fax: (618) 374-5465 E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************