http://www.dialectsarchive.com/
IDEA (The International Dialects of English Archive) is a wonderful website where the users can listen to English speakers not only from English-speaking countries as a primary or official language but also from countries with people learning English as a foreign language. The target group may be for intermediate to advanced learners from adolescence to adult learners who are interested in pronunciation. But the website can be a good learning opportunity for beginning learners to understand how accent are related to their national identities as well.
In the ‘Dialect & Accents’ section, the users can select digital voice samples from 119 countries from 9 regions and listen to scripted and unscripted stories spoken by each person. The content consists of a speaker’s brief biography and unmarked transcriptions. In addition, scholarly comments and analysis in few cases are provided.
This website does not require actual pronunciation practice from the users but it would be educational because teachers can get their learners to understand that a rich diversity of accents can be the symbol of their individual identities. The familiarity with the apparent differences in accent would lead to mutual intelligibility among speakers with different language backgrounds (Walker, 2010). This awareness is needed in particular for inexperienced EFL learners having less exposure to English. The drawback is that the difficult explanations in English would be a major obstacle for beginning-level learners to understand. Thus, teachers are needed to provide appropriate assistance in their classroom instruction.
This website does not require actual pronunciation practice from the users but it would be educational because teachers can get their learners to understand that a rich diversity of accents can be the symbol of their individual identities. The familiarity with the apparent differences in accent would lead to mutual intelligibility among speakers with different language backgrounds (Walker, 2010). This awareness is needed in particular for inexperienced EFL learners having less exposure to English. The drawback is that the difficult explanations in English would be a major obstacle for beginning-level learners to understand. Thus, teachers are needed to provide appropriate assistance in their classroom instruction.