TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC

It is often pointed out that pronunciation instruction, unlike many other aspects of language learning, is a very physical activity. In teaching the pronunciation of a foreign language, face-to-face tuition with an experienced, phonetically trained instructor remains the best option. But the COVID pandemic and the shift to online teaching which universities in Bulgaria had to make virtually overnight about two years ago, forced course instructors to adapt very quickly both their teaching materials and resources as well as their teaching methods and practices to the new realities of life in / with the epidemic. The present paper addresses the question of teaching English pronunciation at tertiary level during the COVID pandemic. It discusses briefly the advantages and disadvantages of a number of digital resources which university students have found useful both in class and for individual work outside the virtual classroom on various segmental and suprasegmental aspects of the pronunciation of the foreign language.