How to Teach Pronunciation

Arlenne M. Fernández

METHODOLOGY

How To Teach Pronunciation


Tell me and I'll forget;show me and I may remember;involve me and I'll understand. Chinese Proverb


Index

Phonetics Developing Phonemical Awarenesss


PRONUNCIATION has been called the “cinderella” of the English ball room...she´s never supposed to show up in the classroom!

What do teachers need in order to teach pronunciation?

•Good theoretical knowledge•Equipped with good teaching techniques.


What´s the difference?

It´s the smallestcontrastive unit in the sound systemof a language. E.g /b/, /j/, /o/

P h on em e P h on e (a llop h on e s) P h o n ics

P h o ne m ica l aw a ren e ss

P h o no lo g ic a l A w a ren e ss

P H O N E T IC S

Phonemes which are pronounced differently but do notimply a difference in meaning. E.g [r] (center / car)

Term usually employed when speaking of aMethod of beginningreading instruction. (understanding of a correlation between grapheme and phoneme)

It is the scientific study of speech sounds.

It is a listening skill that includes the ability to distinguish units of speech, such as rhymes, syllables in words, and individual phonemes in syllables.

Ability to attend to the sound structure of language as distinct from its meaning. Types of phonological awareness include: Phonemic Awareness, Word, and Sentence awareness.


What is Phonemical Awareness?• It´s an auditory skill that is

developed through a variety of activities that expose students to the sound structure of the language and teach them to recognize, identify and manipulate it at three levels :

• syllables, • prosody, • and phonemes.

• Syllables are often considered the phonological "building blocks" of words. (monosyllables, dissyllables,trisyllables,polysyllables)

• Prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.

• The individual phonemes are 44 written by convention between slashes and formed by 20 vowels and 24 consonants.


Phonemes


3) In general, the vast majority of ESL learners can improve their pronunciation through lessons.

1) Pronunciation teaching works better if the focus is on larger chunks of speech, such as words, phrases and sentences, than if the focus

is on individual sounds and syllables.

2) Pronunciation lessons work best if they involve the students in actually speaking, rather than in just

learning facts or rules of pronunciation.

Communicative Approach


• ALLITERATION consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession. (E.G Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers …)".

• ONOMATOPOEIA is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. (E.G meow, splash)

• RHYME is s a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words. (E.G wealth, health).

• METHODOLOGY - Songs, tongue twisters,

nursery rhymes, poetry and games are used to help students to become alert to speech phonemes and prosody, rather than meanings.

• In poetry you can use these figures of speech:


Basic Phonological Terms• Phonemes (Brit. 44 sounds written between slashes - Am 42)• Vowel sounds (Brit.20 sounds - Am. 18)• Consonants (24 sounds)• Homophones (words pronounced the same but written differently “right/write”)• Allophones (variations of the same phoneme “stop/butter”)• Minimal pairs (rhyming words “pin/bin”)• Digraphs (two letters forming only one sound. “sh” represented by / /)• Diphthongs (two vowels together au, ou,oi) (ai,ea,oo are NOT, they´re digraphs)• Blends or clusters (two or three consonants together forming a new sound “bl, scr”)• Graphemes (a unit -a letter- of a writing system that represents one phoneme. E.g short/long vowels) • Allomorph (the allomorphs of a morpheme are derived from phonological rules E.g

plural /s-is-z/ /d-id-t/)


Articulating sounds


Pronunciation

C o nso na nt V o w e l

D ia gra p hs

R -co n tro lled L o ng /sh o rt D ip h th on gs

V o w e ls C V C pa tte rn S tre ss

P ro nu n cia tion


B L (b la c k)B R (b ra in )C L (c la p )C R (c ro p )

S M (sm a ll)S T (s te p)

P L (p la n )P R (p re ss )D R (d ro p )S L (s lo w )

F L (f ly)F R (fre e )G L (g la d )G R (g ra b)

S C RS H RS P LS P R

S Q U (sq u a t)S T R (s tric t )T H R (th ro w )

S H (fish )C H (ch a t)T H (b a th )

W H (w h a le )Q U (qu e e n)K N (k n ife )

N G (rin g )L L (b e ll)

C K (ro ck )

C o ns o na n t

A i (ra in ) E E (fe e t)

E A (te a) O A (ro a d)

O O (to o l)

V o w e l

D IA G R A P HS /B L E N DS


U R (fu r)

O R (co rn )

IR (b ird )

E R (riv e r)

A R (a rm )

R -c o n tro lled

U u (p u t) (b u t)

O o (fo x)

I i (b ig)

E e (b e d)

A a (b a t)

S h o rt

O i (n o ise )

O u (m o u se)

A u (P a u l)

D ip h th on gs

U u (cu b e)

O o (b on e)

I i (b ite)

E e (b e e)

A a (a p e)

L ong

h a rm O nysyrU p

A gos yn th E s is

e lig Ib le

S ch w a

V O W E LS


Phonics & Spelling

D ad

C V C

B and

C V C C

G o

C V

P a tte rn o f E ng lish S pe lling


Stress: conveying meaning

• Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or French for example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis.

• Word and sentence stress convey meanings, without them even if there´s a good pronunciation the utterance does not have sense.

• If the learner is not taught “stressed words/sentences” he/she will have 2 problems:

1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast. 2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.


• There are 3 stress pronunciation rules:

1) one word has only one stress. Though some words may have a secondary stress, it is much weaker than the first one and practically unnoticeable in oral language. (` ,)

2) stress falls only on vowels, not on consonants.

3) Schwa sound (like in “computer”) is never stressed.


DEVELOPING PHONEMICAL AWARENESS

1) Phonemic awareness isdemonstrated by manipulatingsuch sounds, including segmenting and blending the syllables and phonemes.2) It must be accompanied by grapheme awareness.

3) A child hears and recognizesmuch more sounds of a language than he can producehimself!

• Teaching techniques:1) Phoneme isolation.2) Phoneme identification.3) Sound-to-word matching.4) Sound blending.5) Phoneme counting.6) Odd word out.7) stress identification.


• Phoneme Isolation

Associate graphically phonemeswith a creature, an action, or an object that is familiar to the child.

E.g The phoneme /s/ canbe associated with the hissing sound a snake makes... “the Sammy Snake hisses”... “the Baby bee buzzes...” “ Shantal says ssshst... / / “ Judge Jim judges John”...

• Phoneme Identification

Teach an alliterative tonguetwister featuring the phoneme.E.g * Peter Piper picked a peck ofpickled peppers. Did Peter Piperpick a peck of pickled peppers?...* How much wood would awoodchuck chuck if a woodchuckcould chuck wood?... * A flea and a fly flew up in a flue. Said the flea, "Let us fly!”...* A dominoe game is another technique.


• Sound-to-Word Matching

(usually initial technique) Awareness of the initial sound in a word can be done by showing the children a pictureE.g Cat. Ask the learner to identify thecorrect word out of three: * Is this a /ppp/-at, a /kkk/-at, or a /bbb/-at?* What sound does “cat” start with /p/, /k/, /b/?

• Sound Blending

Follow this sequence: blending an initial sound onto the remainder of the word; blending syllables of a word together; blending isolated phonemes into a word. Theteacher can model blending aninitial sound onto a word by using a jingle, "It starts with /f/ and it ends with /ish/, put it together and it says........"


• Phoneme Counting

It refers to the act of isolating the sounds in a spoken word by separately pronouncing each one in order. E.g * How many syllables do you hear in the word cake?

To count syllables activities can be used such as clapping hands, tapping the desk, or marching in place to the syllables in children's names.

• Odd sound out

What word starts with a different sound: bag, nine, beach or bike? *Make a set of flashcards and ask them to leave aside the picture which has a different sound from the set. (in.o pair w.)*You can also do it as whole-class activity with anoverprojector.


• ProsodyThe best technique consistsof basically compare stress in more than two words. E.gWhich of the following jobs has the stress on the first syllable? (worksheet or pictures) A) biologist B) photographer C) psychiatrist D) secretary.

• Circle the stressed word in the sentence:

“You`re sitting on the desk but you aren’t listening”• Have them recognizestressed words in a sentenceusing a tape recording or parts of a movie.• “Memory games” can be employed to practice Sentence Stress. Lists of (five or more) sentences are distributed to thestudents where the stressed elements are missing. After listeningto the teacher they then attempt toremember and write all the stressedwords they heard and complete the sentences.


REFERENCES


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How to Teach Pronunciation