Náležitosti

3.3 
Suggestions and Recommendations 
 
Choosing the approach to be followed, methods, techniques, procedures, and the 
range of activities to be used completes the next step in the process of planning a course 
and its lessons. Unfortunately it is quite difficult to cope with terminology, such as 
´approach´, ´method´, ´technique´, and sometimes-even ´activity´, as they are used 

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30 
interchangeably
6
in many resource books, textbooks, and periodicals. This topic is 
discussed in many resource books, such as those by Richards and Rodgers, Celce-
Murcia, Kelly, Bowen and Marks. 
For the thesis, to be able to deal with such inconsistent use of terminology, 
´approaches´, ´methods´, ´techniques´ and ´activities´ will be listed in one chapter 
altogether as one group of suggestions and recommendations with no attempt to sort or 
rename the terminology. As previously stated, teachers when planning the course have 
to define what to teach, how to teach and when to teach the chosen and stated elements 
of English pronunciation. 
 
3.3.1 What to Develop? 
In the area concerning the question ´What to teach? ´ teachers can follow 
Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seildhofer´ recommendations. In their study Christiane 
Dalton and Barbara Seildhofer suggest (in their terms) a ´bottom-up´ approach or a 
´top-down´ approach. (1994, 69) They define the ´bottom-up approach´ as an 
´approach´ “beginning with the articulation of individual vowels and consonants and 
working up towards intonation.” (1994, 70) According to their definition, the ´top-down 
approach´ is an ´approach´ “beginning with patterns of intonation and bringing separate 
sounds into sharper focus as and when required.” (Dalton and Seildhofer 1994, 70) 
Rodney Jones adds
In the late 1980s, researchers called for a more ´top-down´ approach to 
pronunciation teaching, emphasizing the broader, more meaningful aspects 
of phonology in connected speech rather than practice with isolated sounds. 
(2002, 178) 
Alfred Gimsons adds, “Teaching should obviously be concentrated on those features of 
English which are not found in the learner’s native language.” (1989,318) The last, but 
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“There is often confusion among the terms: approach, method, and technique. These three terms may be 
viewed as points along a continuum from the theoretical (approach), in which basic beliefs about 
language and learning are considered, to design (method) in which a practical plan for teaching (or 
learning) a language is considered, to the details (technique) where the actual learning activity takes 
place.“ SIL International 1999. Updated 12 April 1999 [viewed 29 December 2005] 
http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/LANGUAGELEARNING/PrepareForLanguageLearning/WhatIsALangua
geLearningMethod.htm

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not least Christiane Dalton and Barbara Seidlhofer´s suggestion is that ´frequency´ 
should also be taken into consideration. The term ´frequency´ stands for example for the 
case of how often phonemes occur in a special length text or a language. “In English the 
most frequent vowel is the vowel /
ə
/
and the most frequent consonant is the consonant 
/ð
/.
”
(
1994, 145)
There is no one right or wrong answer concerning the choice of subject matter. 
Many resource book authors (for example Gimson 1989,338-340
;
Kelly 2000,114
;
MacCarthy 1978,31) believe that the choice of subject matter will largely dependent on 
the type of course, on the learners themselves, on the teachers themselves, on the goals 
learners and teachers define for themselves, and on the conditions under which they 
operate. 
For the research, particularly the course-planning phase the decision concerning 
the following three questions will be taken into consideration. The questions are ´Will 
the course start/finish with segmental or supra-segmental elements of English 
pronunciation? ´ ´What elements of English pronunciation do not exist in the mother 
tongue? ´ ´What English pronunciation elements are frequent and in other words 
important for learning a language? ´.