[steven]

I'm going to go ahead and say that if anything, reading and writing would require instruction while speaking and pronunciation does not. Have you guys ever seen kids born in another country come to your own and learn how to speak English like a native before or during kindergarten?

I think of pronunciation as being like rote learning or music... and reading could obviously be equated to reading music. Rote learning is something that those steel drum groups traditionally do. I'm pretty sure a lot of drumming groups work that way. It's a matter of learning each phrase and getting all the nuances down. As far as I know this kind of stuff is done without much speaking being involved, and there usually aren't any questions.

When you get teachers teaching pronunciation of a (second) language, they usually butcher it even if they're natives. Speaking slowly in English often produces pronunciation that is different from the real deal. All languages are probably like that... I know Japanese is too. Pronunciation shouldn't be learned from a book, it should be absorbed through listening. After you have that sound pallet in your head you are able to better approximate the sounds you are making with your mouth. Even if you can't make the sounds yet, you can train your muscles to get closer and closer. It's like knowing your pitch is off while singing and being able to make adjustments to correct it.