There are four main areas that the LFC focuses on, which are thought to be essential for students to get right if they are to remain intelligible. These are:
1) Most consonant sounds
2) Appropriate consonant cluster simplification
3) Vowel length distinctions
4) Nuclear stress
'Appropriate consonant cluster simplification' means that adding a sound is better than deleting a sound. For example, if you pronounce ‘helped’ with two syllables instead of one by inserting a vowel sound between the /p/ and /t/ cluster, Jenkins’ data suggests you’re still likely to be understood in an ELF context. But if you miss out the /p/, for example, then ELF intelligibility is much more at risk.
Pronunciation features that we often teach as part of a traditional syllabus, but which are NOT included in the LFC because they have no impact on ELF intelligibility are:
/ ð / as in the ‘th’ in ‘mother’, / θ / as in the ‘th’ in ‘thumb’, and dark ‘l’ as in the end of ‘little’ in most British accents
word stress (although critics have queried this omission, given that nuclear stress is included in the LFC)
stress-timing
exact vowel quality (as opposed to vowel length, which is a core item)
pitch movement (tone)
(adapted from Walker, R.: Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca, OUP, 2010)
Pronunciation features that we normally teach but which are not included in the LFC because they actually have a negative impact on ELF intelligibility are:
vowel reduction, schwa and weak forms
certain features of connected speech – linking, assimilation, coalescence
(adapted from Walker)It’s not to say that these non-core items are not worth teaching with the students’ listening skills in mind. Receptively, it may be useful for students to be aware of things like features of connected speech. But in an ELF approach, learners would not be expected to produce them, because it might only serve to make them less intelligible in their day-to-day lives.