8/20/2019 Article Summary and Reflection about pronunciation

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Article summary and reflection

It is very lucky for me that I have a chance to access to the article “Pronunciation

matters: Sound reasons for teaching pronunciation” written by Andrian Tennant and published by acmilan Publisher in !""#$ Pronunciation is one of obstacles that the

%nglish learners often get because the way learners produce sounds in their native

languages is far different from it in %nglish$ Therefore teaching pronunciation is really

neccessary and urgent$

&irst' summari(ing will help me have an overview about the article$ &or the

introduction the author gives a number of reasons why pronunciation is a “neglected”

 part in most %nglish course book$ They are the difficulties in teaching pronunciation) in

making lesson plan for “a pronunciation point” or in teachers*preparation$ Tennant also

 points out that presentation of pronunciation mainly focuses on differences between

individual sounds' a bit on word stress and sentence stress' which seems not to benefit

students in both l istening and speaking skills$ +e takes the ending sounds of regular verb

in past tense as an e,ample$ &or the most part of the article' Tennant suggests many

asspects of pronunciation which should be covered$ They are not only the right sounds

 but also the wors stress' the sentence stress' intonation and connected speech$ oreover'

several techni-ues such as “correct the teacher”' “it*s in your mouth” or “who*s my

 partner.” are recommened for %nglish teachers when teaching pronunciation$ /ith the

series of articles on teaching pronunciation in general and this article in particular'

Tennant*s desire is to help %nglish teachers fully understand teaching pronunciation) and

turn pronuciation from “add0ons” of a lesson into “ integral part”$

After reading the article' I assume that it is very useful' espeacially for young

teachers as me$ 1ormally when teaching pronunciation' the teachers mainly focus on

 producing the right sounds' sometimes on word stress) but the sentence stress' intonation

and connected speech may not be paid proper attention to$ I think the last three aspects

really help student in communicating in real life$ In the very first part of the article'

Tennant also gives the idea that the pronunciation points that are taught are not e,tremely

8/20/2019 Article Summary and Reflection about pronunciation

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 benificial) they are only the easy0 teaching points$ I completely concur with this opinion

 because I want my students to be able to communicate successfully' not with a “received0

 pronunciation” accent$ I am pursuaded by the author*s e,act e,ample about ending

sounds 2t2' 2d2 and 2s2' 2(2$ It shows that some pronunciation points are not unnecessary) itmeans that the teacher must choose what to be taught carefully and truely$ +owever' in

3ietnam' the e,am always covers small points in pronunciation such as the ending sound

or distinguishing between sounds so it is very difficult for teachers because they cannot

choose or write teaching0programme$

To sum up' pronuciation plays an important role in both teaching and learning

%nglish) and it needs proper attention because it is the basic of other skills especially

listening and speaking skills$