English

Journal Response: Sung

Key course concepts: Intelligibility, Identity

Investigating the topic:

1. Read just the “Introduction” section. What are the two different opinions about sounding like a “native English speaker?”
   

2. Sung often talks about “intelligibility” with accents. For example, he says that “Although native-speaker accents were thought to be the ‘ideal’ pronunciation model in their minds, these students did not find these accents intelligible in reality” (Sung 18).

   • What does Sung mean when he talks about a speaker’s “intelligibility”?
     

Take a position:

1. Is there an English model/accent that you find ideal? What is it? (If possible, include a link to a video of it so that I can hear!) Explain why you think that this accent is ideal for you.

1. In 1-2 paragraphs, take a position on this topic: Should EAL (English as an Additional Language) students try to sound like “native speakers” of English? Support your position using experiences from your real life.

Focus on Language:

As you were reading Sung’s article, you probably noticed that some words and phrases were highlighted in blue. These are transition words and phrases that help the author develop an argument over time and across multiple sentences. Each transition word or phrase indicates to the reader how new information is related to previous information.

Below are 4 categories of transition words/phrases. Find 2 highlighted words/phrases from Sung’s article that fit into each category (copy and paste them in the table below and include the page number).

English 106

University of Arizona