The IATEFL Pronunciation Special Interest Group (PronSIG) invites you to a webinar with Rias van den Doel entitled “Debating Nativeness as a Construct in Pronunciation Teaching”! The webinar will take place on Saturday, 23rd May 2026 at 12:00 pm UK time.
Register for the webinar via the IATEFL website here:
Abstract
There are compelling reasons to challenge the privileged position of native speakers of English. This has led to a re-evaluation of native-speaker models in ELT, particularly in pronunciation teaching, sometimes at the expense of learners’ continued preference for specific accents. This presentation discusses influential ideological approaches to L1 norms in pronunciation teaching, as well as proposals to move beyond them. It argues that learners’ agentive roles in determining their pronunciation goals should not be overlooked, and that both linguists and teachers should avoid generalising across learners, instead attending to the complexity of their differing identity positions, socio-economic contexts, and self-identified needs.
Please note the webinar is free for all to attend, but the certificates of attendance will be sent to IATEFL members only.