PRONUNCIATION IN MY CLASSROOM.
Introduction
I want to improve my English classes in my classroom and the purpose of
this is to find the best way to improve my students´ pronunciation. This is a common
problem for non-native speakers to pronounce the words correctly and it is a hard work in
class. Good pronunciation is very important to get good speaking communication and it is
not necessary to speak English as a native speaker. Students have to put into practice
previous knowledge in grammar structure to get confidence in their speaking. In order to
improve their knowledge in pronunciation, students have to see differences in spelling and
pronunciation of the letters. Even though the pronunciation of the letters is different from
one another, this means that written words have different sounds in English language and it
is not similar in Spanish language. Well I have a group that it is ready to start their new
pronunciation classes, as well as I am.
Justification
I have chosen this project because I consider it really important to have a good
communication. Having good communication, native speakers can notice if you mean what
you really say. I did this project about my fourth grade class because I know kids develop
the ability of understand, put in practice every exercise, and get pronunciation without
grammar knowledge. Even if they do not have phonetic classes kids listen and repeat words
perfectly.
The most important thing in learning for children is that they never get
frustrated. When children have a mistake once they notice a bad pronunciation in a word
they correct it immediately and they continue talking as if it never happened something. I
know if children have good pronunciation, it is not going to be hard for them to get good
Reading, Writing, Listening, and of course Grammar in their future lessons. This was my
principal reason for my project.
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Literature Review
Language Teaching Research (LTR) supports and develops investigation and
research within the area of English as a foreign language it has been a challenge for every
teacher to teach because it is a hard topic for students who are not native speakers. Students
do not use this language English outside the classroom only the time they are in the English
classes and that is not enough. It is As a matter of fact to say that students avoid speaking in
English because in one hand they feel silly and in the another hand they know they have
some mistakes speaking English. Baptista, & Walkings, (2006) in most of the cases
students feel the English language not fun and difficult. There are many causes for students
to have difficulties in Speaking English especially in adult learners.
Actually I am teaching to adult students and I face this problem everyday with them.
As McMahon, (2002: p.8) said in his book “Most humans use sounds for linguistic signally,
but the structure of the human vocal organs allows a particularly wide range of sounds to be
used”. It is difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce English words with perfect
pronunciation because in their mother tongue some word sounds are not the same. Every
person is different not only physically but also in vocal tracks, in size and shape it means
every individual pronounces sounds differently. It is considerable to use the English
Spelling System and it is funny to use many sounds to one letter and one Spelling sound to
one letter, it means words letters with same sound but different in spelling and different in
meaning, this is a good technique for non-native speakers in pronunciation. Otlowski,
(1998) wrote about the importance of linking pronunciation with listening practice in order
to make students to say the words in a perfect way and to do well in learning the
pronunciation of English.
(INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET)As you know oral expression is the
hardest thing a student has to face in their daily practice. English Language is spoken
internationally and not only for communicating each other but also in technology most of
the software is described in English and students realized that they must require acquire this
ability of speaking English.
I have to consider in my class as a solution, the use of Phonology and
Pronunciation. I investigated Otlowski (1998) about pronunciation and I found that I have
to consider a relationship between the learner and pronunciation. I have to use new roles of
pronunciation in my classroom. This means I will give special attention to phonemes and
their meaningful contrasts and also special attention in stress, rhythm and intonation in
every word they say. Besides that I have to give them as many listening exercises as they
need because listening and pronunciation are being interdependent and if they listen
English well they will pronounce in a good way. It is important the development of speech
monitoring in classroom with skills they will use in their daily activities. I will correct
students´ pronunciation repeating the wrong word they say before counting syllables with
my hand up as a game just for having fun.
In a phonology book Baptista, & Walkings, (2006) mentioned that “ interest in the
patterns and causes of error in second language pronunciation has grown rapidly, with the
result that inter-phonology has now become firmly established as an important research
field in its own right” this problem has been taken in consideration since twenty-five years
ago and the studies of these problems found that although adults maintain the phonetic
abilities from childhood till adulthood it is easier for that means that younger learners to get
less of the keep those phonetic abilities than for an adult. Another writer said Ladd, D.
(2008 p.7) “The complex constellations of articulatory settings of acoustic parameters that
identify a [t] or an [o], we find only a simple scale of up and down” it defers from speaker
to speaker, from occasion to occasion, from one word to another from one syllable to
another, the phonological properties define the intonation of stressed situation. There are
many phonetic categories that help us to have the correct pronunciation of the words that
must be helpful for students. There is another activity my students can have in class for
example their own conversation club in which they can talk any topic they prefer and of
course they will enjoy and at the same time they will improve pronunciation and phonetic
in their speaking.
As a conclusion I think all students can have a good pronunciation if both teacher
and students have good communication and work together in their process and if they have
the commitment to get a goal. The teacher must involve student in the importance of their
own learning, and the teacher have to be a coach in speech instead of just correct
pronunciation of the student.
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Research Questions
Before starting to choose my project I thought seriously in my English class needs
and I found many of them, but it was an important question I ask myself, Why is speaking
too difficult for children to develop? And I could realize that if I put in practice the
speaking ability with my students, it will reduce this problem once they grow up and
develop it. It was another important question I had. What strategies I have to practice in
class and in their environment to help them reach the established goals as a habit for life?
Immediately I found out that pronunciation is the reason. So I decided to choose
pronunciation in my project without any doubt.
Methodology
In my school “Instituto Juarez Lincoln” every student has to do an exam to get a
certification in English Language the “Red Nova Certification” for each level and once they
had their results in their exams we as teachers could notice that the most important
problem in our school was the speaking skill. We talked discussed it and had a research in
every grade and finally we decided to put into practice this ability and also we know that
grammar is linked with this skill so we will continue with our grammar program and add
the speaking ability in every exercise more than before. I should mention that we had
speaking all time in our classes but our methodology in going to be different and notably
better.
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Subjects
Let me tell you that my class is fourth grade and my school has the is bilingual
system, I have twenty two students and they are my subjects in this project. My class has
fourteen boys and eight girls, nineteen are nine years old and three of them are ten years
old. There are four new students in my class whose who come from another schools and
three of them are in a lower level and one is higher level than Juarez Lincoln school. Beside
this I am a new teacher in this school also and this situation is a challenge for me. My group
works really good and that is really motivating. That is why these students are the subject
of my project.
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Instruments
Considered as an instrument I asked for the proficiency tests the students had had in
their last Certificate examination and I got them. In their results I saw notably their grades
in Speaking section those that were not as good as the schools would like to have. Well,
this is one of the instruments I have. Another instrument is the interviews I have with
teacher in the English Teacher´s room and we analyzed each level and made a special
progressive program for the whole elementary grades and every teacher has to take in their
classes. It is important to do questionnaires to evaluate individually and one another to
classmates. This is another instrument to take in consideration.
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Procedure
The procedure I had to do in this project was as follows. First I had to choose my
topic project. Something that helped me to choose the topic was the situation I wrote above
in my research questions. Second I made some questions about pronunciation in Speaking
ability. I asked my colleagues in my school to obtain varied opinions and experiences from
all of them. Third I gathered information from many resources and I selected the ones I will
use in my project, then I collected all materials and resources I had in my school. It
included technology sources, then I planned my class according to my topic and my
previous research. I asked to my students for a dictionary and they must use it in class.
After that I read as many books I had could to read for with my class and chose the ones for
my students. Classmates have to read one book, make a book report. Of course they
discussed their opinions with each other and then they explained them to me. Once the
students got their own point of view they acted in a theater play the story from the book in
front of the group. I invited my coordinator to see my students´ presentation. Finally I
applied an oral examination and then I can compare the results with the Certification tests.
I know that there is going to be a remarkable difference between those results, because my
class is better now than before and my classmates feel more comfortable and they improved
now by themselves new topics. Now, I like my class more now than ever.
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Concluding remarks
Once I saw my classroom reaction after my project I felt secure more than ever and
I told my coordinator about it. She agreed with my results and we thought in future plans. I
would like to see my students improving their knowledge in the best way they could. And I
hope the levels in my school were linked one to each other and improving with their four
abilities specially the pronunciation one in speaking for their own projects.
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Bibliography
Ladd, D. (2008). Intonational Phonology. New York : United States of America of
Cab¿mbridge University Press.
McMahon, A. (2002). An Introduction to English Phonology . En McMahon, An
Introduction to Englsih Phonology (pág. 8). George Square, Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University
Otlowski, M. (1998). What ate the Expectations? The internet TESL Journal Pronunciation.
http://iteslj.or
Walkings, B. b. (14 de Dec de 2006). English with a Latin Beat. John Benjamin Publishing
http://iteslj.or.