An English learner's goal is to improve his way of speaking to be understood by the person he is talking with. He wants to enhance his overall way of communication to achieve a successful conversation. To reach this goal, each learner has to understand the difference between accent and pronunciation so that they will not be misled on which part of speaking they need to improve on.
What is the goal you need to achieve? Is it to improve your pronunciation or accent?
Well that depends on you, if you want to sound like an American or British then your goal is to work on your accent. But with my students, I encourage them not to lose their accent and learn to only neutralize it and what I want them to improve on is their pronunciation.
Pronunciation is the way we pronounce words, associated with the movement of our lips, tongue and jaw.
As a teacher and a traveler, exposed to different languages of my students, I’ve seen how accent gives a unique distinction on culture and society a person is part of. It is an identity that is attached to someone.
Accent is a rhythm and a tone of voice. Everyone has an accent. British, Australian Americans have their own accents and they will not change it for them to be understood by other fellow English native speakers. Same thing with other English learners, there is no need to change your accent, You just need to neutralize your way of pronouncing words to be understood by others.
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