methodology 10 teaching pronunciation

8/13/2019 Methodology 10 Teaching Pronunciation

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Catedra de Limba si Li teratura englezaEFL Methodology for Engl ish majors year II, 2011

10. TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

The pronunciation (also known as phonology) of English tends to be neglected by EFLteachers and this seems to be due to anxiety and, sometimes, ignorance, although

pronunciation is a component of any lesson. It includes the role of individual sounds andsound segments as well as suprasegmental features such as stress, rhythm, and intonation.Many teachers, however, are unsure as to the status of pronunciation and whether or how itshould receive systematic attention in a language class. Some even think that the moresubtle aspects of pronunciation, such as rhythm and intonation may be simply picked upthrough exposure.

The fact that few second language learners are able to speak a foreign languagewithout showing evidence of the transfer of pronunciation features of their native language isevidence of the difficulty of acquiring native-like pronunciation, but also of the goals learnersset for themselves. Many learners do not mind showing evidence of their native languagesince it is sometimes viewed as a part of their cultural identity.

It is impossible to teach English without giving some attention to pronunciation. In theprocess of teaching (and learning) English you need ears trained to diagnose mistakes andvocal organs under control to produce accurate English sounds. Every word, every syllable,every sound uttered by the teacher may contribute to the pupils learning of pronunciation.However, pupils learn how to pronounce English not only when the teacher is deliberatelyand overtly concentrating on pronunciation. They may learn pronunciation when you believeyou are putting the weight of your teaching on grammar or vocabulary, or when you are justsocialising with them.

In this unit you are introduced to the type of awareness and knowledge aboutpronunciation that an EFL teacher needs, and also to some of the terms and concepts used

to talk about it.Pronunciation includes two systems: the phonemic system (the sounds) and the

intonation system. Stress and rhythm are normally seen as part of the intonation system.However, in this unit, they will be dealt with as a separate component. Therefore, this unitdeals with the sounds of the language (or phonology), stress and rhythm, and intonation.

Key Concepts: sounds, stress and rhythm and intonation, native models andaccents, international English, the functions of intonation, elision, assimilation, weakening,intrusion, catenation, minimal pairs, phonetic notation/alphabet, exhortation

By the end of this unit you will be able to:

operate with a basic working knowledge of English sounds, stress, rhythm andintonation;

identify the ways in which these systems operate in speech;

identify the problems your pupils are having in assimilating these systems, bothfrom the receptive and productive points of view;

apply the practical guidance and the techniques of teaching pronunciation.

Quite a lot of things are known about the sounds of English and about how these workas a system. Something is known about the components of intonation (i.e. pitch height, tonesand voice range), but only a little is known about how these work together as a system. In

fact, intonation was not really seen as a system until quite recently. Discourse analysts putforward a theory that intonation, among various functions that it plays in language use (e.g. inhelping to convey attitude), also has the function of structuring discourse. Intonation can be


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seen as a system for signalling openings, closings, contrasts, emphases, parentheses,backward linking, forward linking, and so on.

In order to teach pronunciation, you need to be able to analyse it both from atheoretical point of view and from the point of view of your pupils difficulties. You need to beaware of its characteristics, so that you can make it manageable for your pupils. In otherwords, you need to have enough knowledge and awareness of pronunciation to makereasoned and flexible decisions in the classroom.

1. Pronunciation and effective communication

To communicate effectively, English learners need to become proficient in usingsemantic, syntactic, lexical, morphological and phonological elements of the language. Theyalso need to understand its pragmatic use. Intelligibility entails more than simply usingappropriate lexical items and correct word order. Words stressed incorrectly or withinappropriate pitch or intonation will impede the learner in getting the intended messageacross. The incorporation of a phonological component into the English lessons is based onthe following assumptions about oral communication (after Herbert, 188 9):

1. Speaking involves two or more people and it is not the oral expression of writtenlanguage.

2. Spoken language imparts referential and affective meaning. When we speak wereveal our interest and attitudes toward the topic being discussed and toward thepeople we are speaking with. These messages are largely conveyed through theprosodic features of language: stress and rhythm, intonation, pitch variation andvolume. This is why pronunciation should be learned in context.

3. Native-like speech takes time and is not always a realistic goal. It is probablybetter to focus on the global aspects of oral production than on accuracy, exceptin cases where inadvertent mispronunciations will cause embarrassment.Intelligibility will not always be affected if a learner substitutes one phoneme foranother; however, saying a statement with a rising intonation contour when theintent is to impart information, will make the listener encounter difficulty inunderstanding meaning.

4. Not all difficulties will be at the level of production; some will be associated withperception.

5. Learners need to have some understanding of the role phonology plays inlanguage learning, as the role phonology plays is not so obvious and needs to beexplained. With low level students the teacher needs to use simplifiedterminology, graphic and gestural representations.

2. Pronunciation and students age

The majority of Romanian pupils can imitate almost all of the sound features of Englishwith reasonable accuracy. This is explained by the fact that the degree of overlap betweenRomanian and English is large, and the majority of sounds are familiar and do not presentany learning difficulty. Thus the pupils powers of mimicry can be concentrated on less thanthe whole phonetic and phonological system. Most sound features can be learnt by mimicryalone, as learners have a pronunciation-learning ability independent of any need forinstruction.

The differences between the majority of learners of a given age in terms of their

phonetic abilities are relatively small. Generally speaking, the younger the learners, the lessvariation there is in language ability. The most important language variables affecting onespronunciation include:


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willingness to learn;

possession of a good ear (i.e. good auditory discrimination);

instinctive ability to mimic (i.e. good control of speech mechanisms and goodmonitoring of ones own performance);

speed of learning;

previous experience of foreign languages;

changes brought about by age.

3. The native model

Any foreign language taught in school follows a native-speaker model. The pupils (andyou) are given for imitation the English spoken by a native speaker. In the case of English,the choice of the native-speaker model is not very easy, as there are more than one models.If for dialect the choice is easier standard English in the case of accent, you need toanswer such questions as: How do I want my pupils to speak English: British-ly, American-ly,Australian-ly, Canadian-ly, or internationally?

Today, the choice of the model has to be made in full awareness of the status of

English as the leading language in international communication.

How does one speak English internationally?

People coming from different cultures and speaking in different manners cancommunicate in English if they know how to seek a common ground and adapt their way ofspeaking English. Finding a common ground requires their adaptation to the situation andfellow participants, and responsibility to adapt. Native English speakers must also adapt insuch situations.

Adaptation requires the speakers willingness to temporarily modify ones culturalidentity, and an awareness of what is involved in cross-cultural communication andcommunicative skills. Not all situations call for the same degree of adaptation. A speaker of

English as a foreign language, who feels secure as an English speaker, will be flexibleenough to speak English internationally.

How can you ensure that your pupils will acquire a tolerantattitude and that they will be sensitive to various manners ofspeaking English?

3.1. What accent is desirable?

In spite of the impression of monolithic character, the English language displaysmany variation phenomena: from various accents, to different lexical items used to namesimilar entities, to slightly different grammatical structures. What is a desirable target accentfor foreign learners? Is it Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC English, Oxford English, theQueens English, a posh accent, a nice voice, or speaking without an accent?

In favour of Received Pronunciation would be many of the teaching materials on themarket, and the fact that this accent is perceived in many places as regionless. However, it isperceived as a standard accent only in England, and as English (that is, foreign) inScotland, for instance. The status and prestige of RP have declined lately, and the strongest

evidence for this is that BBC has permitted announcers to use British regional accents.Should we adopt General American then? This is a strong rival to Received

Pronunciation as a model accent. It the most widespread member of a set of Americanaccents, an educated regional accent used mainly in the eastern American states.


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Our learners are frequently exposed to American usage via television, the cinemaand other aspects of the mass media, and many children pick up an American accent fromwatching cartoons. But the choice between a British or an American accent remains an openquestion, and most often it is the individual choice of each learner.

3.2. The native model and the teachers English

From the perspective of pronunciation, especially, non-native EFL teachers are in avulnerable position. They may not feel comfortable when speaking English in front of theclass, as their pupils may be aware that occasional mistakes occur in their speech. Moreover,the pupils, who are accustomed to the sound of English from taped native speakers, mayquestion their pronunciation.

As non-native EFL teachers, we are placed in a position of insecurity. Some of us mayseek defence and ways of minimising this threat. The traditional grammar - translationactivities can be the expression of such a defence. Using such activities, you do not have tospeak English, and thus you minimise the risk of making mistakes in front of the pupils. Giventhe reliance on strict grammar rules, you are in a position of being correct; a grammar book isat your hand to support your knowledge. Translation, an ability you have acquired after much

practice, leaves you unchallenged. Also, by focussing on grammar and translation, questionsof content are avoided. Grammar correctness is the target: form is uppermost, contentsecondary. The risk is that such teachers do not perceive themselves as being speakers ofEnglish and their pupils may inherit the same perception.

Can the grammar-translation method prepare the pupils for the use of English forcommunication? Can it provide the pupils with a perception of English as a living language inits full range of functions, including that of international language?

Reaching native speaker standards may be a futile endeavour, an unattainable goal,both for you and for many of our pupils.Even if you see the native model as a desirabletarget, the purpose of teaching and learning pronunciation is seldom to attain the perfectionof the native model. Your purpose in teaching English pronunciation is limited to attainment of

intelligibility. Your English will be as close to the chosen model as you can manage, but it willstill remain different from it in some ways. However, this should not create frustration,inferiority complex or demoralisation.

4. Receptive fluency vs. product ive fluency

A fundamental principle of teaching pronunciation is that pupils need to acquire a muchgreater degree of receptive fluency than productive fluency in their learning of English.

Do you agree with this principle? Why do you think pupils needmore receptive fluency than productive fluency in a foreign language?

The most obvious effect of this principle on your teaching is that you need to spendmore time on developing your pupils appreciation of sounds, sound sequences, stress andintonation through listening skills activities than through speaking skills activities.

A further implication of the principle is that your pupils need neither aspire to norachieve perfection in their production of English pronunciation. If they are realistic, they needonly attain an approximation of English sounds, and thereby retain something of their foreignaccent.

The aim of teaching pronunciation is not to achieve a perfect imitation of a nativeaccent, but to get the learner to pronounce accurately enough to be easily and comfortably


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comprehensible to other competent speakers. Perfect accents are difficult if not impossiblefor most learners to achieve in a foreign language, and not always desirable. Many people even if often subconsciously feel they wish to maintain a slight mother-tongue accent as anassertion of personal or ethnic identity. This feeling should be respected.

However, some pupils are concerned to sound like native speakers, and so you needto work on the accurate production of sounds.

5. The components of pronunciation

You do not have to take your pupils systematically through all the components ofpronunciation; you do not have to teach each English vowel and consonant and later rhythmand intonation. Rather, you need to concentrate on some chosen features that causedifficulty.

Sounds

Traditionally, the teaching of English pronunciation was concerned primarily with soundproduction. Pupils were encouraged to approximate as far as possible to a native speaker

model. In recent years, a concern with fluency rather than accuracy has led to the recognitionthat perfect pronunciation is not absolutely necessary for a message to be conveyedeffectively. Consequently, more attention is paid to intonation, stress and rhythm.

EFL teachers concentrate on the production of sounds only when they identify sourcesof unintelligibility or confusion. For instance, your pupils may often have a false idea of what aparticular sound in English is, based on the sounds of Romanian. The classic example is theconfusion Romanian pupils make between [] and [s]. They may in fact need training toappreciate the difference. Failure to articulate the difference may make them sound foreign,but is unlikely to create a barrier to communication. Nevertheless, failure to discriminatebetween thinkand sink may create problems.

An even greater problem can be the comprehension of stretches of language in which

sounds have changed in connected speech. Therefore, it is useful for you to be able to listand define the sounds of English by writing them down using phonetic notation, and toorganise practice in sound discrimination and articulation.

Rhythm and stress

Intelligibility in English depends more on the correct use of stress and rhythm than onthe correct pronunciation of individual sounds.

English speech rhythm is characterised by tone units. A tone unit is a word or group ofwords that carries one central stressed syllable. Stress is most commonly indicated by aslight rise in intonation. The rhythm of English is, then, mainly a function of its stress patterns;these may also affect such aspects as speed of delivery, volume and the use of pause.

Romanian learners encounter difficulties, as the notion of stress is alien to them.Romanian is a syllable-timed language: each syllable takes up approximately the sameamount of time in an utterance. English is a stress-timed language, which has stressedsyllables occurring at approximately equal time intervals, irrespective of how manyunstressed syllables occur between them.

English teachers who are relatively uninformed about phonetics give little importanceto mistakes due to rhythmic inaccuracy. However, a clear understanding of the phoneticaspects of the spoken language is important, not only for a correct evaluation of the pupilsoral performance, but also for providing them with the most accurate model of the spokenlanguage.

Intonation

The rises and falls in tone make the tune of an utterance. Intonation is an importantaspect of the pronunciation of English, deciding differences to meaning or implication.


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Pupils usually perceive their learning in terms of sounds, words, sentences, and do notconcentrate on intonation. This results in an oral production that is very monotonous.Moreover, Romanian has a narrower voice-range than English. Hence our pupils may soundunwittingly aggressive or rude when speaking English. Such errors of intonation may causeirritation in listeners, since the intended function is likely to be misinterpreted.

The importance of intonation is crucial especially at beginners level, when languageproduction is minimal, and intonation is the best vehicle for social appropriacy. Its importance

as a language system cannot be denied. As such, the least we can do is to make pupilsaware of it, as we do with grammar. This suggests that making pupils aware, at a very earlystage, of the importance and the system of English intonation is desirable. Exposure to thelanguage should be constant and this should lead to an increased sense or feel for themusic of English.

6. The functions of intonation

English intonation carries meaning in subtle and complex ways. It has three functions:grammatical , attitudinaland discoursal.

The grammatical function of intonation denotes or reinforces certain grammaticalpatterns. Grammatical function is realised by various intonation contours/patterns/tones.Such contours accompany wh-questions, yes/no questions, statements, question-tags,either/orquestions, etc. Thus it is said that a falling pitch change accompanies wh-questionswhile a fall-rise pitch change accompanies yes/noquestions.

Other intonation regularities, connected to attitudes, can also be observed. Suchfeatures as the width of voice range and the pitch height at the start of an utterance areconsidered to be part of the attitudinal function of intonation. For instance, more emotionleads to a wider voice range, and less emotion leads to a narrower voice range. Uncertaintyis denoted by fall-rise and indignation by rise-fall changes, respectively.

A third function of intonation was proposed by discourse analysts: the discoursal

function. Intonation can be seen as a system for structuring discourse: signalling openings,closings, contrasts, emphases, parentheses, backward linking, forward linking, and so on. Itis used to show that the speaker is either referring to something that both speaker andlistener know about (because it has been mentioned earlier or is physically present in thesetting), or to show that the speaker is proclaiming some new information. A fall-rise pitchchange refers the listener to an actual or known thing. A falling pitch change introduces aspecific unknown thing.

Intonation can also signify aspect: a fall-rise pitch change can signify that you want toengage the listener, that you envisage rapport, however short-lived the relationship. Thefall-rise pitch change has been called the convergent pattern, where the falling pitch changehas been called the divergent pattern. Also, a falling pitch change tends to denote finality,

while a fall-rise denotes incompleteness or doubt.

7. The flow of speech

English is unusual among languages for the changes that occur when it is spoken atnormal speed: the individual sounds contained in and between words can often change theircharacter. The main reason for this tendency in connected speech is that English is stress-timed.The rhythm units force sounds to be said together or shortened in order for the regularrhythm of speech to be maintained. For pupils the problem can be difficult, not so much whenthey learn to produce the language orally, but when they listen to native speakers.

Different sounds, stresses and intonations may affect one another within the flow ofspeech. For example:


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The way a sound is articulated is influenced by what other sounds are next to it:e.g. the -ed suffix of the past tense may be pronounced [d], [t] or [id] depending on whatcomes immediately before.

Intonation affects how we hear stress. In fact, stress is not usually expressed bysaying the stressed syllable louder: it is more often a matter of a raised or lowered tone level,with a slight slowing-down.

A change in the stress pattern of a word will change its sounds as well: e.g. the

word record has the stress on the first syllable when it is a noun, on the second syllable whenit is a verb; and this makes a noticeable difference to the sound of the vowels.

7.1. Sound changes in the flow of speech

Can you write the following phrases in phonetic script:

roast beef [ ]I asked him [ ]cold weather [ ]

Elision

Elision (the suppression/omission of a sound) occurs frequently at the boundarybetween two words, usually when the end of one word and the beginning of the next create aconsonant cluster, e.g.: poundsis reduced to [panz] and andto [n].

You must analyse model sentences and vocabulary very carefully before teachingthem, to give your pupils an accurate model.

Assimi lation

Assimilation happens when a sound changes, because it is affected by the sound that

follows it:

What words or phrases can be transcribed like this?

[imput] .. [hf t].[ikm].. [i gri:s].

WeakeningPrepositions, articles (before consonants), and auxiliary verbs (including modals) tend

to be shorter and softer, and to have the neutral vowel [] when they occur in normal speech.It is only when these parts of speech are given particular emphasis or when they are the finalword in a sentence that they are found in their strong form:

Should I go? ]Yes, you should.Vowels often get weakened to the schwa [] sound or disappear altogether, as in I

wonder if you could[ wndr if j kd]. Weakening is the most difficult problem for foreignlearners of English, a problem that you need to help them to become aware of and toovercome. You need to teach your pupils first of all, to recognise natural pronunciation, and ifpossible, to produce it accurately.


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Intrusion

Go away.[gwwei]

Intrusion happens when an extra sound is introduced to lubricate the flow from onevowel to another. The sound is not indicated in the written form.

Catenation

This happens when a consonant at the end of one word is carried over to connect witha vowel at the beginning of the next word:

Hes out.[hizat]

cup and saucer[kpns:s]

Catenation presents problems of aural understanding for pupils because it interfereswith their ability to hear word boundaries. Thus [greiteip] can be either grey tape or greatape.

Intrusion does not seem to pose problems of understanding, but elision, assimilation,weakening and catenation do. Having learned the words and their pronunciation in isolation,

your pupils may fail to recognise them when changes take place in connected speech. Thatis why, it is important that you raise their awarereness of the way sounds, stress andintonation interact within entire utterances to produce easily comprehensible pronunciation.However, most words have a stable sound, stress and intonation pattern that can beconfidently taught in isolation.

8. Improving pupils pronunciation

8.1. Diagnosing pupi ls spoken English

The phonological problems you focus on need to be related to the problems thelearners are encountering. By collecting data of the learners general speaking habits, youcan identify individual learner problems and those common to the group. You can collectsamples of learners speech on cassette or video, although this may be traumatic for thelearners. However, you can make written or mental notes of the pupils mistakes and devisea diagnostic learner profile with the following headings: clarity, speed, loudness, breathing,fluency, voice, gestural expression, eye gaze, intonation, stree rhythm, consonants andvowels. Firths (1987) diagnostic profile can be useful for determining those elements whichreflect the needs of the majority of the learners in the class.

A Suprasegmental level

General speaking habits

1. Clarity. Is the learners speech clear?Are there instances where there is a breakdown in communication?What are the major factors?

2. Speed. Does the learner speak too quickly?Is her speech unintelligible because she speaks too quickly?

3. Loudness. Does the learner speak too softly?

Does the lack of volume affect intelligibility?

4. Breathing. Does the learner speak with appropriate pauses, breaking eachutterance into thought groups?

5. Fluency. Does the learner speak with either long silences between words or toomany filled pauses (e.g. ah ummm)?


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6. Voice. Is there enough variation in pitch?

7. Eye gaze. Does the learner use eye-gaze behaviour appropriate to the context(e.g., facing a conversational partner or looking at the audience if delivering anoral presentation)?

8. Expressive behaviour. Does the learner overuse gestures? Does the facialexpression match the utterance?

Intonation

1. Is the learner using appropriate intonation patterns in utterances? Can the learneruse intonation contours to signal whether utterances are statements, ;lists, wh-questions or yes/no questions?

2. Is the learner changing pitch at the major stressed words?

Stress and rhythm

1. Word-level stress.Does the learner produce the schwa in unstressed syllables?Does the learner use loudness and length to differentiate between stressed andunstressed syllables?

2. Sentence-level stress. Does the learner stress each syllable equally? Is she ableto produce appropriate strong and weak stresses? Are lexical words stressed andfunctional words unstressed? Does the learner place the tonic stress on theappropriate words?

3. Linking. Is the learner linking words appropriately? Are identical consonantslinked (e.g. top position)? Are vowels linked (e.g. pay up)? Are consonants linkedto vowels (e.g. top of)?

Segmental level

Consonants

1. Substitution. Is the learner substituting one phoneme for another?

2. Omission. Is the learner omitting consonants?

3. Articulation. Is the consonant being articulated properly (e.g. is /p/ aspirated word-initially)?

4. Clusters. Are consonant clusters articulated properly?

5. Linking. Are consonants linked to each other?

Vowels

1. Substitution. Is one vowel being substituted for another?

2. Articulation. Is the learnerarticulating vowels correctly (e.g. lip rounding)?

3. Length. Do vowels have their appropriate length?

4. Reduction. Are vowels reduced in unstressed syllables?

5. Linking. Are vowels properly linked to other vowels across word boundaries?

After you analyse the data, you can identify the problems common to the majority oflearners and you can provide feedback to individual learners. You have to make somedecicions concerning what you can achieve in the time you have available, the areas thatshould be given priority, the source of the problems (perception or production?) and the types

of activities that will help the learners improve their oral producation. Probably, with lowerlevel students, the focus should be on improving the learners intelligibility, that is the focusshould be on the suprasegmental level. Where the articulation of particular phonemes is


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causing problems, these should be dealt within the context of the word. Activities that helpthe learner to perceive and produce utterances should be given equal weight.

8.2. Pupils pronunciation errors

Pupils errors of pronunciation may derive from various sources:

Several English sounds do not exist in Romanian. The pupils are not used to

forming them and therefore, they tend to substitute the nearest equivalent they know, e.g. []tends to be substituted by by [e].

Certain sounds do exist in Romanian, but not as separate phonemes.Consequently, the pupils do not perceive them as distinct sounds that make a difference tomeaning (e.g. [i] and [i:]).

The pupils have not learnt the stress patterns of the word or group of words, or theyare using a Romanian intonation, which is inappropriate to English. The result is a foreign-sounding accent, and possibly misunderstanding.

8.3. Assisting the learning of pronunciation

Here are a few teaching techniques that can be used to assist pupils in learningpronunciation:

1) Checking that the pupils can hear and identify the sounds, intonation, rhythm orstress, respectively. This can be done by:

requesting imitation of teachers model or recorded model of sounds, words andsentences,

seeing if pupils can distinguish between minimal pairs (e.g. ship/sheep,man/men, thick/tick, etc.)

recording of their speech, contrasted with native model (this can turn out to bedemoralising!)

encouraging pupil self-correction through listening to recordings of own speech.

While perception of sounds can be done using single words or even syllables, work onstress and intonation nearly always needs to be based on longer units.

2) Using some explicit exhortation: you give the pupils instructions to initiate andmimic, to make such and such a sound, without further explanation. Exhortation requires nospecial training on your part and no special understanding on the part of the pupils. This mayinvolve the use of:

imitation drills: repetition of sounds, words and sentences choral repetition of drills

varied repetition of drills (varied speed, volume, mood)

dialogues (using choral work, and varied speed, volume, mood)

learning by heart of sentences, short poems, etc.

3) Systematic explanation and instruction (including details of the structure andmovement of parts of the mouth). For sound formation, for instance, you can use a sketchwith a description of the organs of speech, and descriptions of the articulation of sounds interms of lips, tongue, teeth, a description of stress and rhythm etc.

These can be supplemented by the use of phonetic notation, ear training (i.e. practice

in auditory discrimination, see (1) above) and speech training exercises (i.e. practice inmaking particular sounds, words and sentences, in isolation or in nonsense sequences (see(4) below).


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4) Using special games and exercises for speech training that entail the use of wordsor sentences to practice particular sounds, sequences of sounds, stress patterns, rhythm,intonation, such as:

rhymes, jingles

jazz chants

tongue twisters, etc.

However, for most aspects of pronunciation a brief explanation is sufficient, followed bydemonstration and an invitation to imitate and practise.

8.4. Teaching English soundsVery often the problem the pupils have in perceiving sounds is not that they cannot

identify them, but that they cannot distinguish them from other sounds. This may be becausethe sound is perceived by the pupils to be the same as a Romanian sound, with which theyare already familiar. So, for example they may perceive [] and [s]or [] and [e] as being thesame.

VowelsWe learn to produce vowel sounds accurately by developing an ability to hear and

discriminate and then by experimenting until we can match the sound we hear. This is agradual process of approximation: very often after getting it right for the first time, the pupilsget it wrong again and have to keep on trying until they produce the sound accurately. Yourjob is to provide the accurate model and to encourage and train your pupils, first to hear asound correctly, and then to produce it correctly. This includes drawing attention to vowellength and lip position.

English has more vowels compared with Romanian. Consequently, Romanian pupilsencounter some difficulties in learning the English vowel system. On the other hand, a pupilsinability to produce vowels correctly is rarely a source of communication breakdowns.

DiphthongsDiphthongs (two vowels run together) are not difficult to teach. You can break the

sound into its component parts and practice them separately, exaggerating the differencebetween them. Then you can get the pupils to run them together, emphasising that the firstpart of the sound receives heavier stress.

ConsonantsTeaching consonants is a mixture of providing pupils with the right technical

information (bite your bottom lip when saying [f] or [v]), and of organizing practice activitiesand careful monitoring of free speech and correction.

Technical information is of little use in learning to produce vowels and diphthongs. Theonly way in which pupils manage to produce the right sounds is a trial and error process ofapproximation to what they perceive to be the right ones. Even if in the case of consonants,technical information is more helpful, this will not enable them to actually hear any differencebetween sounds, either in their own performance or in other peoples.

Using minimal pairs

A minimal pair is a pair of words that are exactly the same, except for one sound, e.g.bit and beat, cap and cat, etc. The use of such pairs is the basis for teaching pupils todistinguish and perceive the differences.

A procedure for the use of minimal pairs involves three stages of pupil training.


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Can you arrange these three stages in the correct orderaccording to the objective of each stage? Number them from 1 to3.

to perceive the sounds as different

to identify which is which

to produce each of the two sounds

Here is how you can organise work at each of the stages:

Stage I. You ask the pupils to indicate when the sound changes in a string such as:bit, bit, bit, beat, beat,bit, etc. The pupils will have to shout out or show hands when theyhear a change.

It is important that the pupils identify the sound not only in isolation, but also insentences, in both stressed and unstressed positions. You can give them examples such asThe ship is old, the sheep is old, the sheep is old, etc.

Stage II. The simplest way to train the pupils to identify which sound is which is to

write each word of the minimal pair on the board, with a number by the side:

1) bit 2) beat

You give the word at random and the pupils shout out which number goes with it.This exercise should also be done with the sounds in different environments, and with theword in different parts of the sentence.

Stage III. You can say the number or hold up a picture, and the pupils say the word.This can also be done in groups with one pupil saying one of the words (in context as wellas in isolation) and the others have to identify it by number or by picture. In this variant, youwill be monitoring and providing the pupils with feedback on their accuracy and progress.

8.5. Using the phonetic notation

Here are some advantages of using the phoneticalphabet/notation/script. Can you think of any disadvantages?

List these after the advantages, in the space provided below.

a) It sensitises the pupils to soundsb) It is useful for correctionc) It is a valuable study skill

d) It is used in textbooks and dictionaries and thus it cansupport independent learning

e) It may be exploited in the pupils notesf) It distracts attention from ordinary letter associationsg) It encourages a less teacher-centred attitudeh) It helps pronunciation.

Disadvantages:


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Why use phonetic alphabet / notation / script?You may wonder whether a knowledge of the phonetic notation is of any practical help

to you in your teaching. Certainly, a knowledge of what happens to sounds in the context ofthe utterance will help you to appreciate the difficulties your pupils face, especially inlistening.

An ability with the phonetic (tran)script helps you in the preparation of lessons and the

anticipation of the pupils difficulties. Teaching and practising the phonetic script with pupilswill also be facilitated. Also, a knowledge of the most characteristic phonetic differencesbetween Romanian and English is helpful, too.

The phonemic notation can be used for three purposes:

to introduce the sounds of English

to practise the sounds of English (in isolation and in combination)

to teach the phonetic alphabet itself to pupils at various levels of study.

How to use the phonetic notation?First insist that the pupils have a copy of the phonetic alphabet attached to the inside

cover of their exercise book or make sure that there is one in the textbook. This can beconsulted individually, in class and outside. Then use it for activities such as:

1. Copying: you select the words which the pupils will look up in a dictionary,giving them the phonetic spellings.

2. Matching: you give the pupils a list of sound symbols along with a list ofexample words containing these sounds. You ask the pupils to match both sets, e.g.:

[i:] hat[ai] five[e] too

[i] sit[a:] path[ ] cup[o:] saw[u] see[u:] ten[ ] got

3. Sorting: you ask the pupils to categorise a list of example words into two ormore groups, according to the vowel sound they contain, e.g.:

[i] or [i:]

sit, see, ill, eel, kneel, will, etc.

4. Filling in: you present an example of a phonetic transcription entry, such as[si:] for seato illustrate [i:] and then other sets with one of the columns blank, e.g.:

[i:] sea [si:][i] sit [ ? ],

[ ] ? [s n]

Categorising, matching and sorting exercises can be devised for plural noun forms [z],[s], [iz] and irregular forms, for the -edtermination of the Past Tense Simple form.

A number of familiarisation activities can be carried out with the whole class. Here area few examples;


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1) Bingo. You write 10 15 phonetic symbols on the board, each of which isnumbered. You read out some of the items to the class, and the pupils only jot down thecorresponding numbers. You check at the end that the class has the correct combination ofnumbers. This game can be continued in pairs, with the pupils taking it in turns to read out aselection of items to each other.

2) Kims game.A number of items are written on the board. The pupils close theireyes while you rub off one of the spellings. When asked to open their eyes, the pupils try to

remember what was in the space.3) The letters of the alphabet. Phonetic information can play a useful role in teaching

and learning the letters of the alphabet, if you arrange the letters according to the soundstheir names contain:

[ei] [i:] [e] [ai] [u] [u:] [a:]A B F I O Q RH C L Y UJ E N WK G S

P X

T ZV(after Abbs and Freebairn, Opening Strategies, Longman, 1982, p. 24)

4) Delayed correction of pronunciation. Phonetic notation may also be exploitedwhen monitoring pair or group work. Rather than interrupting immediately, you can hand thepupils slips of paper afterwards. These indicate the correct pronunciation in the form of aphonetic spelling.

A knowledge of the phonetic alphabet is of great value to the teacher of English. Itprovides information and guidance about, as well as access to a potential learning aid. It maysuit some pupils learning styles providing them with the means of solving some of the

difficulties experienced with pronunciation independently.

8.6. Teaching strategies for stress, rhythm and intonation

Your pupils need both recognition practice and production practice with stress, rhythmand intonation, so that these become a part of their overall competence in English. Thispractice can be integrated either with the teaching of grammar, or with the teaching ofcommunication skills, or you may have separate lessons /stages of the lesson on particularareas.

The easiest way for students to practise stress, rhythm and intonation is by repetition.Traditional repetition is often boring to do if the focus is not pronunciation. The same drills

can be made interesting and challenging if you ask the pupils to repeat a sentence using aparticular stress and intonation pattern. For this practice to be effective, it is important to:

give a good model of the sentence; saying it at normal speed, making a cleardifference between stressed and unstressed syllables, using natural intonation;

indicate the stress, rhythm and intonation clearly, using gestures;

make sure that the pupils pay attention to stress, rhythm and intonation when theyrepeat the sentence.

You can use yourself or taped material as the model. Since emulating the voice rangeof English may be difficult for your pupils, you may need to exaggerate your own voice range

in hope that your pupils repeating it will sound about right. After listening comprehensiondialogues, pupils love repeating a selected short extract from the tape.


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Remember to integrate constantly intonation when teaching a new structure, or whendoing imitation, substitution drills or communicative drills. For further practice, take advantageof semi-controlled dialogues.

RhythmQuite often, teachers tend to unconsciously distort the rhythm of English in order to

make themselves understood by their pupils. They tend to speak so slowly that the sentencestress and rhythm are distorted. When the difference in the duration of stressed andunstressed syllables is lost, they will sound foreign.

As rhythm is superimposed on the utterance, it may be difficult to concentrate on itwithout also paying attention to other aspects (pronunciation of sounds, word stress, pitchvariation, meaning of individual words, the utterance as a whole). In the early stages, youcould concentrate on rhythmic patterns with words that do not produce vowel and consonantdifficulties. Different pitch variations can be presented on the same utterance for better auraldiscrimination:

Hes coming tomorrow.

This can be said with a low fall, a high fall, or a rising pitch in the last stressed syllable.

What kinds of sentence are said with a 1) low fall, 2) a high fall,or 3) a rising pitch in the last stressed syllable, respectively?

1)2)3)

As for the syllables, these can be replaced with ti (for the unstressed) and TA (forthe stressed). A sentence can sound:

a) . _ . _ . (ti TA ti TA ti)

b) _ . . . _ (TA ti ti ti TA)Stressed syllables are louder than the unstressed ones. The slanted line marks pitch

variation. The syllables can also be represented using smaller and bigger dots:

a) b) Length, a reliable marker of stress, is a variable that the pupils find easy to control. The

dots and lines give an idea of the difference in length between stressed and unstressedsyllables. This is the feature that differentiates most significantly syllable-timed and stress-timed languages. Stressed syllables in English are about three times longer than unstressed

syllables.Pupils can be first asked to discriminate aurally the two rhythmic patterns, which you

verbalise with the nonsense syllables tiand TA. A same different drill or a drill identifyingthe pattern with (a) or (b) can be used. The pupils then can proceed to imitate the patternsusing tior TA.

A number of words, phrases and sentences are presented which contain the rhythmicpatterns. Pupils identify the pattern writing (a) or (b), and then repeat a number of words,phrases and sentences that contain the patterns in question, e.g.:

a) b)We started early. Tennis is a game.Well have a picnic. Do it after lunch.A piece of chocolate. Why did you return?Hes just a baby. Susan must be there.


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Can you arrange these phrases and sentences according tothe given patterns (a) and (b)?

Peter was with us.Another sandwich.Tell her not to come.Thirty of them left.Hes absent minded.A pound of apples.This mornings paper.What about a drink?I dont believe you.Its time for supper.Dont be such a fool.She couldnt help it.Write your answers in the columns (a) and (b) below.

a) b) . . . . . . ..

For Romanian pupils, a good command of English rhythm is imperative. If theysucceed in following closely the rhythmic patterns, an accent in certain features of intonationwill not hinder intelligibility of their speech. Correct production of rhythmic patterns requires aprior teaching of the recognition of the patterns through adequate ear training. Remember

that a pupil who is unable to perceive a phonetic aspect will also be unable to reproduce it inthe spoken form, and do not neglect to teach aural discrimination of rhythmic patterns.

IntonationIt is sometimes said that the best techniques for teaching intonation are exaggeration

and exhortation. This means that it is always useful to simplify ones teaching of intonationand to put a lot of encouragement into the models you give the pupils to repeat. It is alsouseful to ask them to repeat what you have said or what they heard on the tape, with asmuch enthusiasm as they can gather.

Here are a few more techniques:

Recognition and discrimination

a) Rise or fall?. Provide the pupils with cards of two different colours, or ask them toraise their left or right hands, and say or play a series of short utterances. The pupils mustsignal recognition by holding up the appropriate hand or card, e.g. right hand for rise and lefthand for fall.

Dont forget to give your pupils a model of what you intend them to do, before starting.At higher levels, pupils can hear a continuous dialogue and then describe the

intonation on each line. They can even discuss why it is so.

b) Isolated sentences said in different ways. For such sentences, ask the pupils todetermine context and meaning.

c) Tone of voice. At low levels, pupils can recognise obvious attitudes (e.g. happy,angry, bored, etc.); at higher levels, pupils can recognise more subtle attitudes (e.g. annoyed,rude, sarcastic, bossy, etc.)


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Back chainingOne way to help pupils use natural intonation is to practise saying the sentence in

sections, starting with the end of the sentence and gradually working backwards to thebeginning, e.g., living here / been living here / have you been living here/ How long have youbeen living here? This technique is known as back-chaining.

When you think that the pronunciation point has been satisfactorily perceived, and yourpupils can produce an acceptable version, the practice stage follows: consolidating and

establishing the habits of good pronunciation through exercises that provide repetition andreinforcement.

Intonation and meaning in contextAfter you set up a situational context, you can sing, hum or whistle some lines of a

dialogue (i.e. intonation only). Ask the pupils to assess the meaning of each line. Then askthem to repeat the singing, humming or whistling, building a kind of dialogue without words,and then elicit the possible language of the dialogue. Follow this by practice and acting out.

Semi-controlled productionPupils respond to cues, such as Try saying Thank you, Pardon, Excuse me or

Really?politely/rudely/impatiently,etc.

Free product ionThe real test of learning will take place during free oral production. Most errors will go

uncorrected, but gross errors will have to be fixed. Encourage peer correction.

The teaching of intonation should be integrated into the teaching of structures andfunctional language, and given equal importance. Teach intonation through situation, andspotlight attitude besides grammar and discourse. Use taped materials, especially dialogues,as often as you can, for both receptive and productive practice. Dont forget that attitude isbest suggested by either attitude cards or by your own facial expressions.

Use hand gestures to show stress and intonation. Use intonation as a way ofdisguising revision of structure.

9. Correcting pronunciation

On the whole, you give feedback on oral work through speech, and on written workthrough writing. Although there are occasional situations where the other way round ispossible, these are exceptions.

It is recommended to refrain from correcting mistakes during fluency-oriented speech,and to correct only during accuracy-oriented exercises. Correcting a pupil when this is in mid-speech would disturb and discourage more than help. But there are situations whencorrection is likely to be helpful. When the pupil is obviously uneasy or floundering, nocorrection or help can be demoralising. In such situations, supportive intervention can help.

Conversely, even where the emphasis is on getting the language right, you may notalways correct: in a grammar exercise, if the pupil has contributed an interesting or personalpiece of information that does not use the target form, or when s/he has got most of an itemright, you may prefer not to draw attention to a relatively trivial mistake.

9.1. Techniques of oral correction

Oral corrections are usually provided directly by you. They may also be elicited fromthe pupil who made the mistake in the first place, or by another member of the class.Corrections may or may not include a clarification of why the mistake was made, and may or

may not require a re-production of the acceptable form by the pupil. Here are severaltechniques used in correcting oral mistakes, in general. They can be used in correctingpronunciation, too:


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You do not react at all.

You indicate there is a mistake, but do not provide any further information aboutwhat is wrong.

You say what is wrong and provide a model of the acceptable version.

Can you add any other techniques to this list?

Tips for correcting pronunciation

You can correct pronunciation by writing the phonetic form on the blackboard; thisis a more learner-centred approach than if you correct pronunciation orally, by giving amodel.

The pupils may also be able to write the phonetic notation on the board forcorrection purposes (some pupils respond with enthusiasm to this type of activity).

A special area of the blackboard can be set aside for pronunciation work.

Exercises on the blackboard are not rubbed off until the end of the lesson.

A different colour chalk can be reserved for this end.

SummaryAlthough pronunciation is not always taught in an overt, explicit way, many pupils

seem to acquire an acceptable pronunciation in school. However, this should not make usforget the benefits of teaching pronunciation in our lessons. The teaching of pronunciation

makes the pupils aware of different sounds and sound features and this will improve boththeir speaking and their listening skills. Concentrating on pronunciation makes pupils awareof sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation, and of various accents. All these give pupilsinformation about spoken English and help them achieve better comprehension of thespoken language and intelligibility in speaking.

Further Reading

Bradford, Barbara, 1988, Intonation in ContextCUPHarmer, Jeremy. 2001, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, Chapter 2,

pp. 28 33Haycraft, Brita, 1975, The Teaching of Pronunciation, LongmanHerbert, Julie PracTESOL: ts Not What You Say, but How You Say It! in Richards, Jack C.

and Renandya Willy A., 2002.Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy A., 2002. Methodology in Language Teaching.

Cambridge: CUP.Jones Rodney H. Beyond Listen and Repeat: Pronunciation Teaching Materials and

Theories of Second Language Acquisition in Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy A.,2002.

methodology 10 teaching pronunciation

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