09. Teaching pronunciation
What areas of pronunciation can you distinguish?
There are four major areas of pronunciation
1. Individual sounds
Students of English have great difficulty hearing pronunciation features which we want them
to reproduce. Speakers of different first languages have problems with different sounds, for
example, they cannot distinguish between two sounds or they do not have certain sounds in
their mother tongue.
There are two ways of dealing with this problem:
- We can show students how sounds are made through demonstration, diagrams or
explanation.
- Draw the sounds to their attention every time they appear on a cassette or in the
conversation.
This is the way how we can train the students’ ears. Teachers can use the minimal pair
system!!! through which students can recognize the difference between two similar sounds.
Contrasting two sounds which are very similar and often confused is a popular way of getting
students to concentrate on specific aspects of pronunciation. It: activity can be carried out by
giving examples, both taken from English or one word taken from English and the other one
taken from Hungarian. It is possible to work on sounds of English without using any phonetic
symbols. For many students - by problems of sound and spelling correspondence - it may
make sense to be aware of the different phonemes, and the clearest way of promoting this
awareness is to introduce the various symbols. There are other reasons for using phonetic
symbols too. Dictionaries give the pronunciation of words in phonetic symbols. Students are
usually only asked to recognize rather than produce the different symbols and these symbols
are introduced gradually rather than all at once. So, according to most experts on
methodology, the knowledge of phonetic symbols is of benefit to students. Teachers are
expected to present phonetic symbols simultaneously with presenting the meaning of the new
word. So as to identify these symbols, students are expected to listen to cassette recordings
and they are expected to practice pronunciation in choral repetition first and then individually.
2. Stress
Stress is important in individual words, in phrases and in sentences. By shifting it around in a
phrase or a sentence we can change emphasis or meaning. A common way of drawing our
students' attention to stress issues is to show where the weak vowel sounds occur in words
(rather than focusing on the stressed syllables themselves). We can draw attention to the
schwa like in the word 'photographer '. We teach word stress when we present a new word
and at the practice stage clapping, tapping are used or students can be asked to underline the
stressed syllable. In sentence stress students are supposed to focus on logical stress. Students
are supposed to recognize where to put the stress in a new structure. Teachers are supposed to
set tasks in which students have to change logical stress according to the types of message.
The presentation and practice stages are the same as with teaching word stress.
3. Intonation
It is important for the teachers to draw their students' attention to the way native speakers use
changes in pitch to convey meaning, to reflect the thematic structure of what they are saying
and how to convey mood. A very good practice can be for students to be asked to utter the
word 'yes' in many different ways. Students are expected to draw arrows under the utterances
in English so that they can recognize the various intonation patterns. In methodology, teachers
have to be aware of the fact that usually wh-questions are used when teachers want to ask
students to speak fluently in the target language. Yes-or-no questions are asked if teachers
want to check students listening or reading comprehension. The third major type of questions
is alternative questions the aim of which is to make students use a new word or a new
grammatical structure. Hungarian intonation is monotonous compared to English. There are
several ways to teach intonation: students are expected to make dialogues without words or
many teachers use arrows on the board and arm movements which draw patterns in the air to
demonstrate intonation. Exaggeration can also be amusing.
4. Connected speech and fluency
Good pronunciation does not just mean saying individual words or individual sounds
correctly. The sounds of words change when they come into contact with each other. We have
to draw students' attention to it while teaching pronunciation. Fluency is helped by having
students say phrases and sentences as quickly as possible, starting slowly and then speeding
up. Getting students to perform dialogues and extracts taken from a drama or a short story will
also make them aware of speaking customs and help them to improve their fluency. When
students are reading a text they can recognize certain words linking phrases in the text (e.g.
cover it up - Rita).
What is the role of phonetic transcription?
You must teach phonetic transcription when presenting a new word, it’s essential. Students
will be able to pronounce them without any help.
For what methodological purposes can teachers use the various types of interrogative
sentences?
Yes-no question is for checking whether students have understood the text or not.
Wh- question is to make students talk. They cannot avoid conversation
Alternative question (do you prefer tea to coffee?) Students have to pronounce the word
Think of some typical difficulties Hungarian students have with English pronunciation.
How can teacher deal with these problems?
[ð] and [Ө] may not cause a lack of intelligibility if they are confused, but being very difficult
sounds for Hungarian learners they are often mixed with [t], [s] and [f], so mixing the words
'free' and 'three' can lead to misunderstanding. Stressing words and phrases correctly is vital if
emphasis is to be given to the important parts of messages and if words are to be understood
correctly. This area of pronunciation is very difficult for Hungarian learners as the word stress
always gets in initial position in Hungarian words while English word stress keeps changing.
Different word stresses can lead to the different meanings of the word, for example 'record, n.
[‘rekðd]and 'record, v. [rikэ:d] Intonation - the ability to vary the pitch and tune of speech - is
also an important meaning carrier. Connected speech will make the speech act fluent and
intelligible as a whole. In the following parts of this chapter the problems of each area will be
defined and certain recipes of how to teach pronunciation in the given area will be provided.
What is a realistic aim for a non-native teacher when teaching pronunciation?
Pronunciation allows students to get over serious intelligibility problems. The question of
what aim to achieve may arise in connection with teaching pronunciation. Many students do
not want to sound like native speakers, they wish to be speakers of English as an international
language and it does not imply trying to sound exactly like someone from Britain or Canada.
It has become customary for English teachers to consider intelligibility as the prime goal of
pronunciation teaching. It means that students should be able to use pronunciation which is
good enough for them to be understood. If their pronunciation is not up to this standard, there
is a serious danger that they will fail to communicate effectively. So the aim of teaching
pronunciation is to require our students to work towards an intelligible pronunciation rather
than achieve a native-speaker quality.
When to teach pronunciation?
- whole lesson sequences to pronunciation
- separate bits of pronunciation work into lesson sequences
- focus on pronunciation issues as an integral part of a lesson
- teachers may stray from their original plan when lesson realities make this inevitable and
teach vocabulary or grammar opportunistically because it has come up
Many teachers tackle pronunciation in a mixture of ways suggested above!!!
Describe a few activities
1. Contrasting two sounds which are very similar and often confused
Practicing the difference between /S/ and /tS/, for example:
Students listen to pairs of words and practicing the difference
ship chip
sherry cherry
shoes choose
sheep cheap
washing watching
cash catch
mash match
wish which, witch
2. Special stress
Students listen to a conversation while reading its text. They have to underline words, phrases
that are specially stressed.
I LENT my sister ten dollars
I will RING you next week
3. Working with intonation
Falling and rising tones. Students listen to examples. They have to decide whether the
intonation is rising or falling.
It’s mine
falling
I met him at a disco
falling
Are they here yet?
I think so
rising
rising