University of El Salvador
School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Foreign Languages
Graduation Work
“The use of the International Phonetic Alphabet as a tool
to develop a standard pronunciation in Basic Level
Students”
Students:
Silvia Carolina Deras Navas
Patricia del Carmen López Cornejo
Mauricio Ramos López
To obtain the degree of:
Licenciatura en Idioma Ingles Opción Enseñanza
Advisor:
MTI: Pedro Antonio Salazar Murcia
Main Campus, February 24th /2005
INDEX
Pag.
Authorities ………………………………..…
i
Acknowledgements …………………………. ii
Glossary …………………………………….. vi
Essay …………………………………………. 1-16
Annexes
- Research’s Profile
- Data Gathering Instruments
- Training Plan
AUTHORITIES
RECTOR:
DRA. MARIA ISABEL RODRIGUEZ
SECRETARY GENERAL:
LICDA. ALICIA MARGARITA RIVAS
DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF ARTS:
MD. ANA MARIA GLOWER DE ALVARADO
SECRETARY OF THE SCHOOL OF ARTS:
LICDA. ORALIA ESTHER ROMAN DE RIVAS
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
MTI. EDGAR NICOLAS AYALA
COORDINATOR OF THE GRADUATION PROCESS:
MTI. PEDRO ANTONIO SALAZAR MURCIA
Acknowledgments
To God:
Everlasting source of love and wisdom, light and inspiration in my darkness.
Thy mercy makes me go the right way.
To my Parents:
Mom-Dad you are an example that God Almighty gives intelligence, wisdom,
love, courage, honesty, faith and willingness to human beings. You both mean
all that and more to me.
To my Sisters and Brother:
I love and admire you all a lot because of the very special virtue each one of you
Possess.
To my Nephews and Nieces:
It is in your hands the difficult task to remedy all the harm and mistakes your
Predecessors make.
To my Teachers:
Specially those whose task was not merely to teach but to share knowledge and
wisdom guiding students to make appropriate decisions.
To my friends:
Thank you for being there when I needed you the most.
To all of you whose blood was spilled to forgetfulness. Your precious liquid flowed
into the ocean where the waves brought it back to a bunch of hearts.
Silvia Deras
Acknowledgments
To God:
The almighty being who gives life and existence.
To my Parents:
Who have cared of me from my birth.
To my teachers:
Specially those who go farther than instructing future professionals.
To a special lost friend:
Who helped me to make right decisions.
To my friends and classmates:
Who supported and reinforced my learning in different ways.
To my Family:
Who have contributed to improve my life.
THANKS!!
Mauricio Ramos
Acknowledgments
To God Almighty:
For giving wisdom to end my career and strength to turn out well even though
with much trouble. For giving me health and support at the moment I need it
the most. For allowing me to reach this goal in my life. Thanks as always.
To my family:
For being patient and give me the opportunity to overcome my fears and stay
with me in moment that I felt alone. For their usual support, confidence and
encouragement. Also, for the opportunity of being a professional, for the effort
and sacrifice they also take in this period of time. For their advice and love
toward me.
To my advisor:
Lic. Pedro A. Salazar who provided us outstanding research assistance to this
Research; also, for his suggestions to improve and enrich our essay.
To my teachers:
For teaching all the knowledge they have and share all the experiences, for
showing me every single thought that makes me a professional and contributed
to my learning process.
To my friends:
For their friendship and helpfulness because we learned each step together. The
big efforts each one made to finish this career.
To every person who supported me in those moments we cannot continue, and where
there even with just one word to take my loneliness out, it is impossible to thank them
all by their names, but thanks a lot for the rest of my life.
Patricia Lopez
Special Acknowledgments
This Graduation process would not have been possible without the collaboration of many
people; therefore, we want to thank them all for the timely and unconditional help.
Specially:
 To Basic Level Students of the department of Foreign Languages.
 To all those students who voluntary participated in the research process.
 To Basic English teachers semester I/05
 To our advisor MtI. Pedro Antonio Salazar Murcia.
 To Maritza, our friends, and all the people who contributed for this process to be
feasible.
THANKS A LOT!
GLOSSARY
Articulators
: the different parts of the mouth area that we use when
speaking, such as: lips, tongue, soft palate, teeth and jaw.
Aspiration
: means the action of pronouncing a sound with a puff of
released breath. Certain consonants in English ([p], [t], [k],
and [h]) are aspirate sounds. They should be produced with
a strong puff of air.
Control Group
: group of students who attended to the training period on
the use of the International Phonetic Symbols
DFL
: Department of Foreign Languages
Experimental Group: group of students who did not receive any training
but attended an Oral Reading Evaluation.
Gum Ridge
: the hard part of the roof of your mouth which is just
behind your upper front teeth.
Instruments
: data gathering tool used to collect useful information.
IPA
: International Phonetic Alphabet, a group of symbols used
to represent and transcript sounds in a language.
Population
: total of Basic Level students from the Department of
Foreign Languages in Semester I/05
Sample
: students belonging to the Control and Experimental
group. (90 students)
Soft Palate
: the soft, movable, rear portion of the roof of your
mouth.
Voiced Consonants: sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating.
Voiceless Consonants: sounds made with no vibration of the vocal cords.
Vowel
: a speech sound produced with vibrating vocal cords
a continuous unrestricted flow of air coming from the
mouth.
THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET, A USEFUL
TOOL IN THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS OF BASIC
LEVEL STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
All along history, different cultures have emerged; everyone has developed their own
code and ways of communication to supply different needs. This need of
communication has allowed each community to develop and better an own language
throughout the time. English is a worldwide spread language that attracts more learners
everyday. Surely for the speech of a non-native speaker of English to flow and be
understood, the teaching-learning process of that language must be accurate and
effective. In order to make this process less frustrating and confusing and at the same
time accurate and effective so an interlocutor that speaks the language can process and
understand what the non-native speaker says, a variety of techniques and tools shall be
used by teachers and learners throughout the whole process.
Of course, it is of the speakers´ knowledge as non-native speakers of English
that we are, that the teaching- learning process of a language which is not the learner’s
mother tongue, usually becomes a complex activity that needs to be taken step by step.
So, in this process both teachers and learners must make an appropriate and effective
use of every single tool the language might offer to make the speech of the possible
speaker clear in the spoken medium. One of those tools which many people trust a lot
is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The IPA is used by non-native speakers
of English when they are learning to pronounce the English language. It does not mean
the IPA is a wand that will make all the problems a language’s learner might disappear,
but it is being proposed as a tool to better develop and standardize the pronunciation of
students of the Department of Foreign Languages (DFL).
It is well known that learning a foreign language is a complex process. It
requires the use of a lot of learning strategies, teaching methods, and long hours of
study, the instruction of an effective teacher, updated teaching textbooks and the
application of useful tools during the learning process. Developing in students the four
macro-skills simultaneously is not an easy job, neither for the students nor for the
teacher. In these days, students can use a variety of tools and learning strategies for
reinforcing the learning process. That is why learners and instructors must make an
appropriate choice of the tool to be used. However, the IPA has emerged, after an
exhaustive research, as a useful tool for standardizing Basic Level students’
pronunciation. With the purpose of discussing and presenting arguments on the use and
effectiveness of the IPA, it will be presented reasons and professional opinions that
support the thesis statement that was established in the research: “The IPA, a useful
tool in the Teaching-Learning process of English, provides Basic Level students with
an accurate pronunciation of words.”
The first reason why Basic Level Students should be introduced in the use of
the IPA from Basic Level is because it helps students to produce the Phonetic sounds of
the target language accurately. Nowadays, there exist a variety of means students can
use to learn the pronunciation of a new word. Listening to tapes, listening to a teacher,
watching T.V. and checking a dictionary are some of them. However, these means
differ in terms of accuracy while presenting the pronunciation of words. Listening to
tapes and watching T.V., for example, do not offer, in some cases, a reliable input for
learners, and listening to a teacher, all the time, is not possible. So, checking a
dictionary is not only a useful option to learn the pronunciation of words but also an
accurate and available tool for most students and even teachers. Modern dictionaries
provide meaningful advantages because they use the IPA to present the pronunciation
of words. The IPA becomes a universal alphabet used by learners’ of the Foreign
Languages around the world. This Phonetic Alphabet does not only represent the
pronunciation of words but it also presents the pronunciation in an accurate and reliable
way. Even though, the IPA is convenient for Basic Level students, a negative aspect is
identified towards its teaching and implementation in the classroom.
A clear and negative aspect, expressed by some teachers of Basic Level in
Semester I/2005, is that at this level students have to learn the language, not about the
language and the IPA should not be taught at this level. Surely, they are aware of the
low and poor knowledge that English students bring when they enter to the University.
They consider the teaching and implementation of this alphabet inconvenient at this
level. They as teachers know that the IPA is taught in the English Pronunciation Course
in the second year of study (semester III) for Bachelor students in English teaching.
Probably, for the teachers, there are not reasons why the IPA should be taught and
implemented from the Basic Level. What can be inferred is that the teachers´ argument
is that Basic Level students are not capable of assimilating an early instruction about
the use of the IPA. However, the truth is that students use the IPA through dictionaries
to learn the pronunciation of words with or without any instruction of its use. So, an
early instruction of this alphabet would bring more effective results, and it would
provide students with an accurate pronunciation since the very beginning of their
major.
The second reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA is
because it provides students with a standard pronunciation of words. Probably, one of
the most frustrating steps in the learning process of new vocabulary is the development
of a proper pronunciation. Most Basic Level students change the pronunciation of
some words as in the following example: students say sink instead of think. Students
know the difference in meaning between these words, but they cannot pronounce them
properly.
The mispronunciation of words can be interpreted in many ways. Maybe
students do not notice any difference when the teacher pronounces these words, or it
could be that students cannot use IPA to learn the proper pronunciation of words
through a dictionary, etc. In any case, the fact is that students mispronounce the words.
According to the research, it can be stated that the IPA provides students with a
standard pronunciation of words. It was shown that students who can use the IPA learn
new vocabulary with a standard pronunciation. So, the use of the IPA in the learning
process becomes important in these days. However, the IPA is not taught at the
beginning of the career but in the third semester of the major, in the English
pronunciation course. According to the results from the research, it would be a great
help that students of foreign languages should be introduced in the use of the IPA early
in their career. In the next paragraph it would be presented a professional opinion on
the use of the IPA in the teaching-learning process:
Students must know the IPA. It is important because we live in a country where English
is not spoken, so we need to learn how to transcribe the words. If you look up a word in a
dictionary and you want to know the pronunciation but let’s say you do not have a native speaker
next to you to ask him/her, and you cannot guess the pronunciation of the word, if you know how
to interpret the symbols of the IPA you can have an informed guessing about what the
pronunciation is, by looking it up in a dictionary and reading the symbols you encounter there.
So, that is why the IPA is so important. Even if you are going to follow in the future advanced
courses in linguistics, that is the way you are going to interpret the pronunciation of other
languages, not only English. So, you need to know the IPA. Of course, you need a professor so
he/she can tell you how to produce those sounds, that deals with phonetics articulators, how you
produce for example: /s/, /b/, /v/. Students need to know not only the symbols but also how the
sounds are produced.
M.A. ANA ISABEL CAMPOS CENTENO.
It ought to be brought out that the IPA by itself is not a wand that makes all the
pronunciation problems a language’s learner might disappear. However, the IPA would
become a very important tool that would provide Basic Level Students with an accurate
and standard pronunciation, if it is taught from the very beginning of the major. Some
Basic Level teachers of Semester I/2005 agreed that the IPA should be promoted at this
level because in that way students would have accuracy in the use of it since the very
beginning of the teaching-learning process, and students would be more familiar with
sounds in an earlier stage of their career. Besides all the symbols of the Alphabet, there
is also needed the best willingness from teachers and students to develop a better and
accurate pronunciation of the second ones. A professional in the teaching of the
English language said: "Students need to know the IPA, and they also need a professor
so he/she can tell them how to produce the sounds of the IPA”. It is necessary to teach
students how to apply the symbols in the spoken medium, and that is the task of the
teachers. Besides that, however, it would also be necessary to increase the number of
pronunciation courses that students receive, so they could have more controlled
practice using the IPA along with teachers, and of course, promote the development of
an accurate pronunciation from the very beginning of the major. Basic Level teachers
recognized the mispronunciation problem Basic Level Students have. Those teachers
were in agreement that a pronunciation course is not enough to achieve a standard level
of pronunciation because this process requires a lot of input and practice. Teachers
even suggested including the IPA in all the skill development courses or in special
courses along the major. Teaching the IPA would provide Basic Level students with an
accurate pronunciation. This would decrease student’s mispronunciation problems and
at last, improve the teaching-learning process of the target language.
The third reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA from Basic
Level is because students would get familiar with the sounds in an earlier stage of their
career. A language is not merely a set of grammar rules, a billion of words, or
thousands of meanings but all those components set together to communicate ideas or
feelings by the use of signs, gestures, or sounds. Then, knowing a language implies
different aspects such as knowing the words, their meanings, their pronunciation, and
the methods of combining them to produce communication. So, the teaching-learning
process of a language should take place as a whole. It means students need to learn the
meaning of words along with their pronunciation at the same time. It would not make
sense that someone knows the word “mother” and its meaning, but unable to pronounce
it because that person does not know the appropriate pronunciation of the word. In the
Department of Foreign Languages students take just one pronunciation course until
semester III of their major. Before that, students mostly learn the pronunciation of the
target language by listening to their teachers and peers. However, students are not
always in classes, so there is not a teacher to listen to all the time. Besides that, students
have almost all the same English level so mispronunciation is always threatening their
learning process.
However, teachers stated that the IPA is too difficult to be implemented
in classes since Basic Level. This is because students according to teachers will be
unable to learn the use of the IPA, given that process requires a lot of input, practice
and a special course to introduce students’ in the use of the IPA. In other words, there
is not a methodology in the Department of Foreign Languages to introduce the IPA and
that is why students do not have the basis for learning about the correct pronunciation,
and at this level the IPA is not enough effective to get the whole information for the
knowledge they have about the language. But according to the results, if students were
introduced in the use and the application of the IPA from the very beginning of the
major, they would get familiar with the sounds in an earlier stage of their career. By
being familiar with the sounds earlier in the major, students would have the opportunity
to develop their pronunciation in a better and standardized way, which would benefit
their personal performance and development of the language.
The fourth reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA from
Basic Level is because it helps students become more independent while learning the
pronunciation of words. In a university classroom; for example, where students have to
share the teacher with twenty, thirty, or maybe thirty five or more classmates, they also
share the teacher’s attention and instruction, too. Opportunities are uneven for all
students, in spite of the important efforts that teachers make to give all students the
same chances to participate and include them all in the teaching-learning process.
There are many classmates pronouncing words differently. Sometimes the background
knowledge acquired from high school is not effective at all because of the lack of
knowledge teachers have about English and useful tools to apply in classrooms the
IPA. So, students get to know that the English pronunciation they are developing is
being biased by different sources, now, which one to trust in? Here plays its important
role the International Phonetic Alphabet functioning as a guide to help students become
more independent learners. If students know the use and meaning of the IPA, they
would not ask teachers’ assistance when learning the pronunciation of words.
The fifth reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA from Basic
Level is because this alphabet is a worldwide tool. In these days, the use of some
languages is getting global. English is an example. English has become an important
language in the world. Even though, English is not the most spoken language in the
world, its use is getting important and universal. Because of its importance, more
people are learning English everyday. The need to learn English and other languages
implies not only the need to join to a teaching-learning process, but also a need to use
the best, effective and modern tools. The IPA is, in this case, a useful and universal tool
for learners of Foreign Languages to learn the proper pronunciation of words. As the
needs to learn English grow, the use of the IPA increases around the world, too.
The sixth reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA from Basic
Level is because it provides students with more opportunities to communicate using the
target language. Teaching Basic Level students the use and application of the IPA is, in
a way, teaching them the pronunciation of the target language in a more accurate way
based on standard patterns. A lot of Basic Level students are afraid of using the target
language to communicate because they do not know or are not sure about the
pronunciation of new words. This fear of pronouncing words does not let students
neither to communicate freely, nor to speak fluently in an accurate way using the target
language. It is a fact that some Basic Level students try to avoid any opportunities to
participate in classes due to the lack of knowledge they have about the pronunciation of
vocabulary. And this fact occurs not only in the classroom, where students are
supervised by teachers and they can provide students with the proper pronunciation of
the words they need to use, but also outside the classrooms, where students are with
peers and classmates under the same English Level and the learning process can be less
accurate.
On the contrary, if students were taught on how to use and interpret the symbols
of the IPA, it would become less frustrating for them to learn the pronunciation of new
words, and it would also increase their self confidence at the time of using the target
language in the spoken medium. If students are more self confident, their opportunities
to communicate using the language would increase, and as all we know, practice is
what students need the most to develop an accurate pronunciation after they learn how
the words are pronounced.
The seventh reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA
from Basic Level is because it is easy to be implemented as a personal learning tool. It
was shown during a training period that students require just two class sessions before
being able to use the IPA, its pronunciation and the place of articulation of sounds.
Once pupils have a Basic knowledge on the IPA, they can easily use an EnglishSpanish or English-English dictionary as well as any material where the Phonetic
Alphabet is used. Through dictionaries, learners not only learn the meaning but also the
pronunciation of words. So, devoting two hours for instructing students how to use the
IPA is not an inconvenient task when students’ benefits are for life time. In contrast
with the negative aspects discussed before, the IPA has an easy implementation as a
personal learning tool. In an everyday reading, for example, when readers discover a
new word and guess its meaning from context but he as learner wants
to know its
proper pronunciation. Then, brief revisions on a dictionary can provide a meaningful
help to learn the pronunciation of the word in a confident, reliable and easy way.
However, the teaching and implementation of the IPA is poorly performed in
Basic Level students. Even, in advanced English Level the instruction and use of this
Phonetic Alphabet is hardly carried out by teachers and students. Unfortunately, in the
Department of Foreign Languages, there exist strong reasons why the IPA should not
be taught and implemented at Basic Level. Primary, there are two main reasons why
the Basic Level teachers are against the idea of introducing the use of the IPA. First,
teachers consider that Basic Level students are not ready to learn the IPA because of
the Level they are. Second, the implementation of the IPA seems to be difficult in the
classroom. In contrast with the teachers’ point of view, in El Salvador there exist
Academies of Foreign Languages that teach and implement the IPA in the classroom
for providing students an effective teaching.
The eighth reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA from
Basic Level is because it consists of a reliable and unchangeable source for a proper
pronunciation of words. As it has been said before throughout all these pages, one of
the main difficulties that Basic Level students of the Department of Foreign Languages
face is learning the proper pronunciation of words to communicate accurately and
effectively. It even becomes a confusing process due to the different pronunciation
students receive from teachers, classmates, etc. This problem, although huge, can be
decreased. The key point to do so is the IPA. This set of symbols in which one symbol
always represents one sound becomes a reliable source to develop an accurate
pronunciation in Basic Level students since the sounds of a language are going to last
throughout the time. Just to mention some examples, the sound that the following
symbol represents: “ð” will always be the sound pronounced when in the word
“father”, another example would be the sound that the symbol “θ” represents, people
will always produce this sound when pronouncing the words “think” or “thought”.
These unchangeable symbols (θ, ð) of the IPA will always represent two unchangeable
sounds. As it was said previously, learning English as a Foreign Language is kind of
difficult because of the few opportunities that learners have of practicing it. Learners
usually use the language in classrooms with their teachers, and then go out to a Spanish
speaking environment. Students of a Foreign Language are requested to use it at any
times. They are suggested to even think in that language, and that is a good suggestion.
However, students need to learn a lot of vocabulary even their deepest thoughts would
be in English. That is why most students make use of dictionaries to learn vocabulary.
Then, that amount of thoughts and ideas need to be expressed, but how to pronounce
them conveying the meaning that needs to be conveyed. It is for sure that if a word is
mispronounced or is not pronounced in the proper way, the whole meaning of a
sentence can change. So, the use of dictionaries and books of phonology is very
important, not only because people can learn a lot of vocabulary, but also because they
can even learn the pronunciation of the words at the same time if they area able to
interpret the phonetic symbols that appear there in those books and which represent the
sounds of the language.
The ninth reason why students should be introduced in the use of the IPA from
Basic Level is because it avoids inter-language problems. Students of Foreign
Languages frequently face inter-language interferences due to their mother tongue
influence and the lack of contact with the target language. As non-native speakers of
English students are commonly limited and forced to create an inter-language system, it
means, an intermediate language system located somewhere between the learner’s
mother tongue and the target language, Selinker (1972). Even though, the interlanguage is negative for the teaching-learning process, students are not aware of its
effects. Before this incongruent system, that affects not only students’ productive skills
but also teachers’ performance in the delivery of instructions, the IPA comes to be an
effective tool to prevent inter-language. The IPA, as stated previously is a standard,
reliable and unchangeable Phonetic Alphabet that provides students with an accurate
pronunciation of words. That is, the learners use the IPA for learning the pronunciation
of words, have the chance to improve and standardize their productive skills. The IPA
does not only provide students with a proper pronunciation but also introduces the
native pronunciation patterns. The accent of a syllable, for example, is easily identified
by specific symbols as in the next vowels [I] or [i] that differ in term of stress in new
sounds in the target language for non-native speakers as the following [θ], [ð] and
others. The IPA, after all, prevents the inter-language by providing students with an
accurate pronunciation in a permanent and easy source to be used.
The right to communication that human beings have, and the need to migrate
that many people face, among other reasons, have spread the need to learn a second
language or a foreign language different than an own mother tongue. English, of
course, is one of those most spread languages around the world. In fact, in this
globalize world, English has become the language of business and technology, so the
teaching-learning process of English becomes more indispensable everyday. The
teaching-learning process of a foreign language is not an easy task because it requires a
lot of work from both, teachers and learners, but being hard workers is not enough.
Learning English requires long hours of study, a lot of practice, updated materials such
as books, cassettes, videos, etc. to reinforce the learning process, and an appropriate
use of every tool the language may offer in order to be developed in a more accurate
and effective way.
Learning a language different than an own mother tongue is for many people a
task full of frustration, confusion and rewards. When you learn a different language,
your world becomes wider so you get lots of rewards. Sometimes; however, the
teaching-learning process of that language may result confusing and frustrating due to
aspects such as:
lack of practice, mother tongue influences, lack of tools that help
students develop the language in a more accurate and effective way, etc.
However,
this process would be more interesting and less frustrating for Basic Level students, if
they would have a good guidance of their teacher of English to use and pronounce each
symbol from the IPA. This develops in students a strong interest to learn the target
language and develop their pronunciation in a more accurate and effective way based
on standard patterns. By doing so, students might not probably speak like native
speakers of English, but it would help them realize, early in the teaching learning
process, that there are some pronunciation patterns to follow. It would become an
important tool for Basic Level Students avoid their speech sounds with a heavy foreign
accent.
Nowadays, there are institutions specialized in the teaching of a foreign
language in almost every country around the world. El Salvador; is not the exception.
There are different institutions that teach not only English, but also other languages.
There are academies, schools, and universities as well. In the University of El Salvador
(UES); for example, there is the Department of Foreign Languages. English is taught in
that Department in a very professional manner. However, since learning a different
language is not an easy task, there are many problems that not only students but also
teachers have to face. One of those problems, as has already been stated, is the
mispronunciation of words. The Department does not keep an ongoing program that
allows students develop their pronunciation in a standard way; this contributes to
increase the mispronunciation problem of students who in most of the cases deal with
this deficiency by themselves.
The problem of mispronouncing words affects the performance of students not
only in the classroom, where some of them do not even notice about their
mispronounced speech, but also in the outside world where job market demands
excellence and qualified labour force. This increases the need to find out a tool that
helps students not just to decrease but overcome their problems; the IPA should be
available to all of them. This system which consists of a set of symbols in which one
symbol always represents one sound, and that is used by a lot of non-native speakers of
English when they are learning to pronounce that language, would also help students
from the Department of Foreign Languages develop their speech in a more accurate
and effective way based on standard patterns. If we want to understand others, let us
be understood first. The teaching-learning process of this alphabet; however, requires
the guidance of a good and effective teacher in order to teach it to be used in an
appropriate way since it is not just to teach the symbol, but also how the sound is
produced.
It can be stated that the IPA provides Basic Level Students with a standard
pronunciation of words, since it has been shown that students who can use the IPA
(even though they are in Basic Level) learn new vocabulary developing it with a
standard pronunciation. So the use of the IPA in the teaching-learning process of a
language is very important. It must be taken into account that when English is learned
as a foreign language, it becomes a very helpful assistance knowing how to interpret
the symbols of the IPA that appear in dictionaries, it lets you know how words are
pronounced. So it would be very useful for new learners of a language, who use
dictionaries very often, being able to pronounce words in an appropriate way by
interpreting and reading, by themselves, the symbols that they find there in dictionaries.
This would help students decrease and even overcome the frustration and confusion
that learning the pronunciation of new words brings about; besides that, it would help
students develop a standard pronunciation based on standard patterns. Students would
gain some other advantages by knowing the IPA.
It is said that when you know a language, you can speak and be understood by
others who know that language. This means, you have the capacity to produce words
that have meanings. However, those meanings can change if we do not produce sounds
in a right or an appropriate way, it means, if we mispronounce sounds the
communication falls or if we replace any sound for a different one, the meaning
changes and the message is distorted. The IPA used as an important tool in the
teaching-learning process of a foreign language. It would help students decrease their
problems of mispronunciation, and help them become owners of the different benefits
provided by the IPA.
UNIVERSITY OF EL SALVADOR
SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
RESEARCH PROFILE
TOPIC:
“The use of the International Phonetic Alphabet as a tool to develop a standard
pronunciation in Basic Intensive English I students”
ADVISOR:
MtI. Pedro Antonio Salazar Murcia
Signed by: ____________________
STUDENTS:
Silvia Carolina Deras Navas
Patricia del Carmen López Cornejo
Mauricio Ramos López
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, APRIL 20th /05
INDEX
Pag.
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................3
DELIMITATION.........................................................................................4
OBJECTIVES..............................................................................................5
RATIONALE...............................................................................................6
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................7
TIME TABLE..............................................................................................9
RESOURCES.............................................................................................10
REFERENCES...........................................................................................11
ANNEXES.................................................................................................12
INTRODUCTION
This research profile is a description of the study to be carried out. This study will
be addressed to first year students of the Department of Foreign Languages who have been
identified of having a low performance of standard pronunciation. This weakness in the
students’ oral production has been observed for five years of active participation in the
teaching learning process. This issue of the low performance in students of the Basic Level
becomes more complex when they get the high levels. So, the purpose of the study will be
to solve the detected problems and present alternatives to overcome this issue.
The study will deal with “The use of The International Phonetic Alphabet as a tool
to develop a standard pronunciation in students of Basic Level of the Department of
Foreign Languages of the University of El Salvador, semester I, 2005.” This profile
contains the research objectives, the methodology, and the two data gathering techniques
to be used. During the development of the research, there will be a survey at the very
beginning of the research process, and an oral evaluation in the second data gathering
period. This work also provides an explanation of the type of research that will take place,
a description of the research procedure, its population and the specific sample for the
inquiry. Finally, this proposal includes the time table, the references to be consulted and
previously consulted and the necessary resources to develop the investigation.
As a strong statement in this study, researchers have established the following
Thesis: “The lack of knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet makes Basic
Level Students mispronounce words”.
3
DELIMITATION
The idea of this study was conceived with the purpose of improving and standardizing
the current oral production of the Basic Level Students of The Department of Foreign
Languages (D.F.L.) of The University of El Salvador. The relevance and significance of
this research are based on continuous observations and active participation in the teaching
learning process during five years of study. It represents a special interest on the need to
solve detected problems in the Basic Level Students’ pronunciation. It is not an isolated
topic in the need to search about, but a relevant necessity in the concerns of the D.F.L.
For that reason, the inquiry will take place especially in the Department of Foreign
Languages of The University of El Salvador. The population for this research will be The
Basic Level Students. As the specific sample for this study will be three groups.
(90
students approximately). Groups will be: 05 and 06 in the afternoon shift and 01 in the
morning. This sample will be the object of study along 6 months in semester I/2005.
All the activities in this study are oriented to prove the following Thesis: “The lack of
knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet makes Basic Level Students
mispronounce words”.
4
OBJECTIVES
GENERAL:
-To identify common phonetic variations in students’ spoken English from standard
productions.
SPECIFIC:
- To introduce the Basic Level students in the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet to
learn and produce Standard English.
-To argue the benefits of the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the oral
production of Basic Level students of the Department of Foreign Languages of the
University of El Salvador.
5
RATIONALE
The interest to do a research on “The use of the International Phonetic Alphabet as
a tool to develop a standard pronunciation in Basic Level Students of the Department of
Foreign Languages”, rises on the need to improve students’ pronunciation.
As undergraduate students majoring in Bachelor of Arts in English Teaching,
researchers are conscious about the need to have a standard pronunciation. The fact of
listening to a word pronounced in different ways can make the learning process confusing
and kind of frustrating for students in the first year of the major.
The variations in the pronunciation of the word “THINK” is a clear example of this
problem:
Correct pronunciation------------------------------------common wrong variations
[θink]
[sink]
[tink]
The mispronunciation occurs when students replace the phonetic symbols.
[θ] for [s] or [t] at the beginning of the word “think”
Besides the closeness with the topic, there are some other reasons that would make
this research be feasible. For example, there is access to different bibliographical resources
as well as information that would be gathered from teachers majored in the linguistic field.
Researchers will consult teachers from The DFL of The University of El Salvador and
outside of the University Campus. Furthermore, in the Department of Foreign Languages
there is not a previous study focused on this specific area. This gives the opportunity to
find enough information and makes the research relevant to be carried out. In addition, the
results gathered throughout this research would contribute greatly to introduce in the
Department of Foreign Languages a systematic English pronunciation plan that promotes
standard pronunciation of words. This will be a contribution to improve the teaching
learning process of the population benefited.
6
METHODOLOGY
The research will be based on qualitative and quantitative methods, since the
investigation will cover aspects of the teaching-learning process, especially on the oral
production of students. For that reason the use of qualitative strategies will be necessary.
Moreover, there will be a need to apply quantitative methods, given that final results will
be analyzed by characteristics of frequency and number. In addition, an intensive revision
of literature related to the application of the International Phonetic Alphabet will be
necessary. Books, magazines and web sites will be consulted to support this research.
Professionals in the linguistic field from the DFL of the University of El Salvador and
outside the University Campus will also be an important source of information to develop
the research.
For the development of the research, two data collection techniques will be used.
First, a survey will be carried out where previous information about the students’
knowledge on the International Phonetic Alphabet will be gathered. To carry out this
survey, researchers will design a guideline with specific questions that will be addressed to
the population in order to gather useful information to begin the inquiry. This instrument
will contain about 8-10 closed questions with multiple choice answers. Both instruments
will be previously end corrected if necessary tested before being applied to the whole
population. This pilot test will have the purpose to check the validity of the instrument to
develop the investigation. Every question will have a specific purpose for the inquiry
development. See annex 1.
As a second step for the research, there will be a period for training students to use
the International Phonetic Alphabet properly to develop standard spoken English from
individual words to complex sentences. The training will consist of providing and teaching
students the International Phonetic Alphabet, its use and the application of them to develop
standard pronunciation with the purpose of improving the
Oral Production of words.
7
The population to be studied along this research will be the Basic Intensive English
Students of the Department of Foreign Languages of the University of El Salvador. There
are six groups in this level of about 25 to 45 students each. Three of these groups are in the
morning from 8:00 to 10:00 and the rest of these groups are in the afternoon shift, from
4:00 to 6:00 p.m. from Monday through Thursday. Three groups will be taken as sample
for this research, two in the afternoon and one in the morning, which total a number of 90
students registered in these groups. A 50% of students registered in those three groups will
attend the training period in the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, while the other
50 % will not attend the training with the purpose of having two types of sample in the
population being studied, in other words one group will be the Control group and the other
will be the Experimental one. This will allow researchers to build a contrast and compare
progresses in the oral productions between the students who will attend the training and the
ones who will not.
As a third and final step in the research process, there will be a week for evaluating
the oral production of the students, the whole population of these three groups. The oral
reading evaluation will identify progress on students’ pronunciation patterns. For this
evaluation, it will be designed an instrument, where parameters and visual materials to
elicit students responses will appear. This instrument will contain two sections. In the first
section, it will be presented a short list of words of the most frequently problematic
sounds, which will be identified by the students in the first data gather instrument. In the
second section, it will be included a short paragraph. The vocabulary and the reading
section will have the objective to elicit students’ oral productions.
Results of this
evaluation will be analyzed to present final conclusions and recommendations on the use
of the International Phonetic Alphabet in students of Basic Level.
8
TIME TABLE
Months
Activities
Advisory
Handing in of
research profile
Designing of
data gathering
instruments
Pilot test
1st Data
gathering
period
Training
students period
2ndData
gathering
period
3rd
Data
gathering
period
Analyzing data
period
Writing draft
of Essay
Presentation of
draft
Presentation of
essay
Oral
presentation of
graduation
project
April
1º
2º
3º
May
4º
1º
2º
3º
June
4º
1º
2º
3º
July
4º
1º
2º
3º
August
4º
1º
2º
3º
September
4º
1º
2º
3º
October
4º
1º
2º
3º
November
4º
1º
2º
3º
4º
RESOURCES
To carry out the research, the following resources will be necessary:
Human:
Students
Researchers
Advisors
Methodological advisor
Materials:
Tape recorder
3 cassettes
Data collection instruments
Computer
Printer
Photocopies
Financial: For the development of this research, it will be invested an amount of $250 in:
Transportation
Equipment
Computer service
Photocopies
10
REFERENCES
- English pronunciation for Spanish speakers, 1985 Regents.
- Designing Qualitative Research, 1995 second edition, Catherine Marshall and
Gretchen B. Rossman.
-Bogdan, R.C. & Biclen s.k. 1992,
Qualitative Research in Education
an
introduction to theory and method.
-Bogdan R.C. & Taylor s. 1977 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods.
An approach to the social sciences, New York.
- Lingüística “Fonología y Fonética”, José Rigoberto Henríquez, 1996,
Universidad de El Salvador, El Salvador.
-English Spanish Dictionary, Carlos Castillo y Otto F. Bond, Third Edition. (1977)
-English Syntax and Argumentation B. A. Arts, Macmillan Press. London 1997.
-Slinker, Larry. Interlanguage International review of applied linguistics 10, III
(1972)
WEB SITES
- htt:/www. Coli. Uni- saarland. de /-travain/trauvain-2003 porto. Pdf.
11
University of El Salvador
School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Foreign Languages
Semester I/05
Graduation Process
Date: _____________
Survey
Objective: To identify teachers’ opinion about the convenience of the International Phonetic
Alphabet use in the Teaching-Learning process of Basic Level Students.
Direction: Provide the best answer you consider the most appropriate in every situation.
1. How do you evaluate Basic Level Students’ pronunciation?
Excellent 
Very Good 
Good 
Need Improvement 
2. Do Basic Level Students of English care about their mispronunciation?
Yes 
No 
3. What do you think is the main reason why students have mispronunciation?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. Is a Pronunciation Course enough to achieve a standard level of pronunciation?
Yes 
No  Why_____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. Do you consider students of the Department of Foreign Languages have standard pronunciation?
Yes  No 
6. What do you think is the main way students of Basic Level learn the pronunciation of new
vocabulary
 Using an English Spanish dictionary
 Asking a teacher
Listening to tapes
Other_______________________________________________________________________________
7. How often do you take into account the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
classes you teach?
Always 
Almost always 
Sometimes 
Never 
in
8. How important do you consider the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in the
Teaching-Learning Process in Basic Level Students?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
9. Would you recommend the use of the IPA in students of Basic level to promote a standard
pronunciation? Yes 
No  Why ________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Comments:__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
UNIVERSITY OF EL SALVADOR
SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
SEMESTER I/2005
TRAINING OF THE IPA
DATE: _______________
ORAL EVALUATION
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Student’s name: ____________________________Group:_____Teacher:____________
Attendance of training: Yes  No 
Grade: ________________________
Purpose: To listen to the Basic English Students pronunciation when reading the
list of words and group of sentences below in order to make an analysis about their use and
application of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Objective: To measure the student’s knowledge on the position of articulators in the
Oral Production.
Directions: Read aloud the following words in column “A” and column “B”, till you finish
them.
SECTION I (40%)
COLUMN “A”
COLUMN “B”
COLUMN “A”
COLUMN “B”
1.Think
Sink
8. Chear
Cheer
2. They
Day
9. Both
Boss
3. Ladder
Lather
10. Jello
Yellow
4. Sue
Zoo
11. Be
Bee
5. You
Jew
12. Mayor
Major
6. Beach
Bitch
13. Very
Berry
7. Sing
Thin
14. Save
Safe
SECTION II (60%)
Directions: In this section you will have to read a short paragraph. Try to be clear in your
reading.
The thing that goes the farthest,
towards making life worthwhile,
that cost the least and does the most,
is just a pleasant smile.
George Washington was the first President of the United States. He was a just man with much
courage. His contributions can never be measured.
Washington was born in the year of 1732 in Virginia. A legend about his boyhood shows his
honesty. He chopped down a cherry tree but wouldn’t lie to his father.
THANKS A LOT!!
University of El Salvador
School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Foreign Languages
Semester I/2005
Graduation Process
SURVEY
OBJECTIVE:


To identify strategies used by Basic Level students to learn the pronunciation of new words.
To measure the knowledge of the Basic Level students on the use of the International Phonetic
Alphabet to learn and produce Standard English.
DIRECTIONS: Check (  ) the answer that best fits on your personal experience, or give your own
information.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Sex:
F___
M___ Group:_____ Time:_________ Teacher:_____________________________
1. What do you do to learn the pronunciation of a new word? Do you...?
_ Listen to it and memorize it at once. _ Write the pronunciation with letters.
Other____________________________________________________________________________
2. How do you make sure about the proper pronunciation of a word? Do you...?
_ Ask to your favorite teacher. _ Check it in the dictionary.
Other____________________________________________________________________________
3. Have you ever heard to different people pronouncing the same word differently?
_ Yes.
_ No.
What is the word? ____________________________________
4. Can you easily learn the pronunciation of a word in an English–Spanish dictionary?
_ Yes.
_ No.
5. Do not you face problems to read and understand the phonetic symbols?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Sometimes
6. Have you ever heard about the International Phonetic Alphabet?
_ Yes _ No What do you know about them? ____________________________________________
7. If you answered “yes” in number 5, where did it take place?
_ At High school. _ At UES. Other__________________________________________________
8. If you answered “Yes” in number 5, how important do you consider the International Phonetic
Alphabet for your learning process? _ Less important _ Important _Very important.
9. Did you know that The International Phonetic Alphabet are signs and letters used to represent sounds
in a standard way?, _ Yes.
_ No.
10. Taking into account the previous statement, would you like to be trained in the use of these
symbols?
_ Yes.
_ No.
What time? Mention any time:_________________________ Days:___________________________
THANKS A LOT!
University of El Salvador
School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Foreign Languages
TRAINING PLAN
General Information
Topic
: “The use of the International Phonetic Alphabet as a tool to
develop a standard English”.
Academic Year
: Semester I/2005
Schedule
: Mondays and Wednesday
Length
: 8 class/hours
Trainers
: Silvia Carolina Deras Navas
Patricia del Carmen López Cornejo
Mauricio Ramos López
Description of training
This training provides Basic Level students with a basic knowledge and a
fundamental guidance on the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet to learn and
produce standard oral English. This will be a theoretical and practical training. The training
will have a length of eight class/hours. Contents to be developed are related with those
studied in English Pronunciation Course. The training is intended to be an additional support
for Basic Level students on the need to develop a Standard English.
Objectives
 To introduce the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the teaching learning
process of a Foreign Language.
 To introduce the Basic Level Students in the use of the IPA to learn and produce
Standard English.
 To describe the position of articulators in the phonetic realization of the Phonetic
Alphabet.
 To identify the Phonetic features of the International Phonetic Alphabet according to
the place of articulation.
Methodology
This will be a theoretical, practical training with students and trainer actively
participating in the teaching learning process. There will be two main parts in the training
period. First, students will have four class hours of theory review. In this part of the training,
students will be assigned a handout with a list of the International Phonetic Alphabet, their
Phonetic features and pictures to study in theory, the position of articulators in phonetic
realizations.
As a second part of the training, there will be three class hours of practice where
students will show how much they have learned in class discussions. In this part, students
will be asked to produce phonetic realization of the International Phonetic Alphabet a short
reading. Finally, in this part of the training, there will be an activity of identifying a class
maters phonetic realization of the International Phonetic Alphabet. In this last activity,
students will show their ability to recognize and identify phonetic features according to the
place of articulation.
CONTENT/ACTIVITY
1 Introduction
TRAINER
of the International Phonetic Patricia
Alphabet (Class discussion)(List of the IPA)
del
LENGTH
Carmen
López Two class hours
DATE
June 1st/05
cornejo
2 Position of articulators in the phonetic realization Mauricio Ramos López
One class hour
June 2nd/05
Two class hours
June 3rd/05
One class hour
June 6th/05
60 minutes
June 7th/05
of the IPA
3 Phonetic features of the IPA according to the Silvia Carolina Deras Navas
place of articulation.
4 Oral and written exercises applying the IPA
Mauricio ramos
Silvia Carolina Deras Navas
Patricia del Carmen López
5 Evaluation
EVALUATION
At the end of the training there will be an oral, reading evaluation. The evaluation
will have the purpose of identifying students’ ability to learn and produce new vocabulary
using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It will also be evaluated students’
progress in the oral production of a Standard English. Instrument to be used in this
evaluation will be the one that has been described, as the second data gathering instruments
in the methodology section of the research profile.
For more information about this evaluation read the methodology section and check
the instrument designed in the annexes section. This evaluation will be addressed to the
whole population identified as the sample for the research. It will be carried out as
established in the methodology section of the research profile.