At the PronSIG Open Forum at the recent Cardiff conference, a number of people
expressed an interest in discussing whether, and if so how, it was possible to
teach intonation. I thought I'd try to provoke a reaction by posting some
devil's-advocate-like propositions about the impossibility and pointlessness of
trying to teach intonation. Here goes:

1. There's no agreement about what the significant features of intonation are,
or what purposes they serve.

2. Intonation is unpredictable.

3. Intonation is subject to massive variation in different varieties of English.

4. Learners will pick it up, eventually, if they have enough exposure to
English.

5. It doesn't really matter, and trying to teach it is a waste of time.

6. Most people, including most teachers, can't recognise intonation patterns -
they can't even distinguish between a fall and a rise.

7. Trying to teach intonation only confuses learners and does more harm than
good.

Who agrees?

By 'Devil-in-disguise'