ABSTRACT
Historically, presentations of English pronunciation patterns focused on phonetic distinctions that by their nature prompted primary consideration of smaller units of speech such as syllables or words. Teaching materials typically prioritized segmental production and limited their representation of larger contexts to discussion of co-articulation processes in connected speech and some coverage of utterance-level word stress and intonation patterns. This chapter traces the historical development of pronunciation in discourse contexts from these beginnings to current discourse-pragmatic conceptualizations that prioritize suprasegmental features including temporal features of oral production. Discourse-based frameworks focus on the importance of the context of the interaction, and specifically the relationship between the hearer and the content in guiding choices made in the phonological system by the speaker. In addition, larger pitch-based units such as speech paragraphs or paratones are considered. Next, I consider the pedagogical challenges posed by these models with regard to L2 teaching and learning and some of the more recent innovations in materials development and classroom practice. Finally, I address future directions in this area including the increasingly important addition of pronunciation in discourse contexts comprising world Englishes and English as a lingua franca.
