A Sociolinguistically Based, Empirically Researched Pronunciation Syllabus for English as an International Language

When speaking with ESOL, the #1 issue I have while listening to what they are saying is their pronunciation of the words. I feel it is very important to keep your own dialect, accent/etc but the clarity of sounds one speaks constitutes comprehensive communication from one to another. I understand from friends of mine who are ESOL say they feel discouraged when others cannot understand them due to their accent. It is not the words and how they use them- it all makes sense. But when words cannot be understood due to the improper pronunciation, it creates negative barriers where people listening will just nod to agree just to hope whatever they hear next will be understood, people may not want to speak to ESOL due to their difficulty to understand what is spoken, and I have even heard people say, just text me instead. I hope that "Americanisation" becomes dimminshed so that ESOL can be more comfortable in their own learning journies and not conform to the disintegration of their own language and accent. This reminds me of the ESL program I worked in Ajo (that I speak so much about) that also focuses on the international phonological intelligibility through the practice of listening to standard spoken English text. It was hoped that the program would help students speak more understandably with the pronunciation dialect, enunciation, pronunciation, etc skills taught within the curriculum. This is why it was very important for students to interact with others after reading the story by retellings, communicating, etc so the practice of social and informational exchange could occur with as few errors as possible. The students could guide eachother towards a more successful manor during the whole process.