PTLC2005 Mompean, Jose A. Taking Advantage of Phonetic Symbols in the FL Classroom: 1
Taking Advantage of Phonetic Symbols in the
Foreign Language Classroom
Jose A. Mompean, University of Murcia
1 Usefulness of phonetic symbols in language teaching and learning
The use of phonetic symbols in foreign language teaching and learning is potentially
very advantageous. Provided that the values of phonetic symbols are known and that
the foreign language learner can produce and discriminate the sounds symbols stand
for, these advantages include, among other things, increased awareness of L2 sound
features, “visualisation” of such intangible entities as sounds, increased learner
autonomy when checking pronunciation in dictionaries, etc. (see Mompean 2005 for a
full account of the potential advantages of phonetic notation).
Despite the convenience of phonetic notation in foreign language teaching and
learning, any potential benefit depends crucially on how the notation is taught and
learned. Good teaching practices may increase learners’ motivation to use phonetic
symbols. In contrast, a negative learning experience may cause phonetic notation to
be perceived as something unattractive and even irrelevant to learning the foreign
language. It is therefore essential to analyse the issue of how best to take advantage
of phonetic symbols in the foreign language classroom.
2 When to use phonetic symbols in the foreign language classroom
One important and preliminary aspect in trying to make appropriate use of phonetic
notation in the classroom is deciding when to use phonetic symbols. An important
question is what can be done to use phonetic notation without neglecting any
essential language skill and/or component of the language syllabus. A good strategy
is undoubtedly to integrate work on pronunciation features (and phonetic symbols to
represent them) into lessons that focus on other language learning activities. This is
known as “integrated pronunciation teaching” (henceforth IPT), increasingly popular
among many language teachers. IPT has several advantages over “non-IPT”. First, it
does not treat pronunciation as a separate phenomenon from the process of
communication (Kenworthy 1987: 113-122; McMullan 1988: 10) since it does not
restrict pronunciation work to particular lessons or slots; second, pronunciation work
(phonetic notation included) can be carried out on a regular basis, which is probably
more effective than intensive work on sporadic occasions; finally, IPT implies that
pronunciation work can be carried out in tasks aimed at developing at least three of
the four basic language skills, namely reading, listening, and speaking (the usefulness
of phonetic notation for developing writing skills is, in principle, less evident).
3 How to exploit phonetic notation in the foreign language classroom
If phonetic symbols are to be used in the foreign language classroom, it is useful to
distinguish two stages in students’ familiarization with those symbols. The first stage
can be called the “introductory” stage, or the time when students are first introduced to
a given phonetic symbol (or set of symbols). This stage is typically very brief (e.g. a
few minutes); the second stage can be called the “post-introductory” stage, or the time
when students are consolidating their knowledge of phonetic symbols and the latter
are used as the basis for different activities and tasks.
PTLC2005 Mompean, Jose A. Taking Advantage of Phonetic Symbols in the FL Classroom: 2
3.1 Principles to be followed at the introductory stage
The first encounter that students have with a given phonetic symbol or symbol set
(whether in lessons exclusively devoted to pronunciation or, preferably, in IPT-based
lessons), should always be handled with care. This is so because the unfamiliar
character of many phonetic symbols may give rise to scepticism, indifference, or even
hostility to them among students. It is therefore essential to build early confidence in
the use of phonetic symbols, for which at least five principles can be suggested.
The first principle is that of being selective about the sounds/symbols that are going to
be studied. According to Kelly (2000: 8) teachers should not introduce their students
to all of the phonetic symbols at once. Instead, it makes far more sense to work first
on those sounds which cause difficulty, and introduce other sounds (and their
symbols) as appropriate. A similar view is also expressed by Willis (1993: 35), Bowen
and Marks (1992: 6, 27), and Tench (1992: 98).
The second principle is that of exploiting learners’ familiarity with the symbol shapes
and/or the sounds to be studied. Some authors (e.g. Bowen & Marks 1992: 27; Lu
2002: 39; Willis 1993) consider that teachers should introduce first symbols identical
or similar to the equivalent letters of the alphabet used in the student’s native
language and/or those symbols which represent sounds also found in the learners'
native language. As long as the sounds in question are difficult, there is no
contradiction between this principle and the previous one.
The third principle is that of making phonetic symbols visually attractive. Since
students’ attitudes and motivation influence the rate and success of their learning,
attentional and motivational effects should be pursued. For instance, variations in the
size and colour of phonetic symbols (word-processing facilitates the task
substantially). Also, the use of drawings associated with reference keywords may be
very effective with younger learners (see e.g. Oxenden et al. 1997).
The fourth principle is that of making students perceive the utility of phonetic notation
for the study of pronunciation. For instance, students could be shown the benefits of
learning phonetic notation for checking pronunciation in dictionaries autonomously, for
distinguishing minimal pairs, for representing the pronunciation of words so that it can
be studied and practiced later. If students fail to perceive the utility of phonetic
notation, phonetic symbols may be considered useless even if they are taught in
appealing and friendly ways.
The fifth principle is that of avoiding anxiety in the learner, which may be caused by an
excessive learning load, speed of teaching, etc. Thus, it has been claimed that
familiarization with phonetic notation should be carried out at a pace that suits
students (Bowen & Marks 1992: 6), introducing sounds individually or in very small
groups over a series of lessons rather than in a single lesson (Bowen & Marks 1992;
Kelly 2000; Willis 1993), and focusing first on the recognition of phonetic symbols
since producing them (particularly in the case of transcription) seems more difficult for
the average learner (see e.g. Celce-Murcia et al. 1996:40; Koet 1990: 307; McMullan
1988: 11; Wells 1996: 239).
3.2 Strategies for using phonetic symbols at the post-introductory stage
The principles discussed above should also be observed after a symbol (or set of
symbols) has been presented to the student for the first time. However, a list of
teaching strategies is needed for promoting the use of phonetic symbols on a regular
PTLC2005 Mompean, Jose A. Taking Advantage of Phonetic Symbols in the FL Classroom: 3
basis. An example of a list of some strategies for using phonetic notation, within an
IPT approach, is offered below. These strategies are meant to be used mainly in
activities that focus on the receptive language skills of reading and listening. Some
strategies can also be used with the productive skill of speaking.
It will be assumed that the typical object of study in reading and listening activities is a
text, which I define here as any instance of spoken or visual language, of variable
length, which can be considered in isolation as a meaningful, self-sufficient entity. The
strategies discussed below can be used in individual or cooperative work, in teachercentred or student-centred work and in communicative or drill-like exercises, etc. The
strategies are mainly intended for teenage students and adults although some of the
strategies can be adapted for younger learners. The use of phonetic notation for this
latter type of learner may be less necessary since young learners are usually good at
imitating foreign sounds and are still consolidating their writing skills in the native and
foreign languages.
Strategies for using phonetic notation within an IPT approach
○ Give phonemic transcriptions of key vocabulary items
○ Make students look up new words in the dictionary to check the pronunciation
○ Providing the appropriate symbol(s), challenge students to look for words
containing a given phoneme, consonant cluster, stress pattern, etc.
○ Challenge students to look for different spellings of the same sound in a written text
(e.g. /ʃ/ as in “she”, “action”, “sugar”, “machine”, etc.).
○ Challenge students to look for a letter or letter combinations that represent(s) more
than one sound (e.g. “ea” = /i:/ in “seat”, = /e/ in “bread”, = /eɪ/ in “steak”).
○ Use tasks like gap/blank-filling, matching exercises, multiple-choice tasks, sorting
tasks, etc., adapted to make use of phonetic symbols (see Fig. 1 for examples).
Fill-in-the-gaps exercise
Multiphe-choice item
Fill in the gaps with the appropriate symbols
Choose the appropriate symbol for the consonant in “though”
“cut” /k__t/
a) /d/
“cat” /k__t/
“cart” /k__t/
b) //
c) /ð/
Sorting exercise
Matching exercises
Sort the following words into two lists according
to the sound they contain
easy, noisy, lose, loose, case,
practise, this, these, loose, lose
d) /t/
/s/
/z/
Match the words to the
appropriate symbols
Match the words to the
approprite transcriptions
A.
tear (n.)
B.
/ɪǝ/
A.
jet
B.
/jet/
tear (v.)
/eə/
yet
/ʤet/
Figure. 1. Examples of traditional tasks adapted to use phonetic symbols
○ Read key words provided in transcription (only if all the symbols contained have
been dealt with before).
○ At an advanced level, provide written instructions and questions in phonetic
transcription.
○ Provide opportunities to use phonetic symbols with word-processing. This is a
chance to combine use of computers, traditional activities and pronunciation work.
○ Encourage students to transcribe key words from the text (for advanced students).
PTLC2005 Mompean, Jose A. Taking Advantage of Phonetic Symbols in the FL Classroom: 4
○ Motivated by some sound feature from the text, carry out enjoyable tasks like
tongue twisters, jokes, riddles, puzzles, proverbs, or language-learning games,
adapted to exploit phonetic symbols (see fig. 2. for an example of a game).
Phonetic Hangman
Select symbols from this list:
p t k b d g f v s z ʃ ʒ Ɵ ð
ʧ ʤ m n ŋ h j w r l
STUDENT A:
i: ɪ e æ ʌ ɑ: ɒ ɔ: ə ɜ: u: ʊ
aɪ ɔɪ eɪ ɪə eə ʊə əʊ aʊ
/
aɪ
STUDENT B:
s ə
ə s
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
/
Figure 2. Example of the game “Phonetic Hangman” (the word is “rhinoceros”).
4 Conclusions
If phonetic notation is used within an IPT approach, there are several principles that
could be taken into account to build early confidence in the use of phonetic symbols.
In addition, a battery of strategies should be available to teachers in order to make
use of phonetic symbols on a regular basis. The number and nature of the strategies
used will depend, however, on the particular circumstances and characteristics of the
teaching/learning situation, its participants and the available means. With a list of
strategies like the one found above or with another list, teachers who are open to the
possibility of using phonetic symbols may increase the use of phonetic notation in
their classes to the benefit of their learners’ pronunciation.
References
Bowen, Tim & Marks, Jonathan (1992) The Pronunciation Book: Student-Centred
Activities for Pronunciation Work. Burnt Mill: Longman.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne, Brinton, Donna M. & Goodwin, Janet (1996) Teaching
Pronunciation. Cambridge: CUP.
Kelly, Gerald (2000) How to Teach Pronunciation. London: Longman.
Kenworthy, Joanne (1987) Teaching English Pronunciation. London: Longman.
Koet, Ton (1990) Pedagogic Transcription and the Acquisition of the Pronunciation of
English. In Leather, J., & James, A. (eds.) New sounds 90. Amsterdam: University of
Amsterdam. pp. 307-319.
Lu, Dan (2002) Phonetic Symbols: A Necessary Stepping Stone for ESL Learners.
English Teaching Forum, vol. 20(4), pp. 36-40.
McMullan, James (1988) Finding Time for the Phonetic Alphabet. Modern English
Teacher, vol. 15(3), pp. 9-12.
Mompean, Jose A. (2005) IPA Phonetic Notation in Foreign Language Teaching.
Submitted for publication. Available from the author.
Oxenden, Clive, Seligson, Paul, & Latham-Koenig, Christina (1997) English File.
Student’s Book. 2. Oxford: OUP.
Tench, Paul (1992) Phonetic Symbols in the Dictionary and in the Classroom. In
Brown, Adam (ed.) Approaches to Pronunciation Teaching. London: Macmillan. pp.
90-102.
Wells, John C. (1996) Why Phonetic Transcription is Important. Masori (Journal of the
Phonetic Society of Korea). Vol. 31-32. pp. 239-242.
Willis, Ken (1993) “A ‘New Look’ Phonemic Chart. Practical English Teaching, vol.
14(1), p. 35.