Teaching Pronunciation... Course Paper [PDF]

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Contents

INTRODUCTION 1 Theoretical Foundation Of Teaching English Pronunciation In TEFL 1.1 Difficulties in teaching English pronunciation 1.2 Microskills in teaching English pronunciation

1.3 Techniques in teaching English pronunciation 2 Teaching English Sounds 3

Practical Part 3.1 Activities for teaching English vowels 3.2 Activities for teaching English consonants 3.3 Activities for teaching English diphthongs

4 Ways Of Teaching Prosodic Features 4.1 Activities for teaching intonation 4.2 Activities for teaching rhythm and rhyme 4.3 Activities for teaching word stress and sentence stress 5

General Conclusions

Bibliography

2

INTRODUCTION

According to the new school Curriculum and the European Council of Education the problem of teaching pronunciation in TEFL is a very actual one and it had been studied and analyzed by many great teachers. I tried also to do a research and I dedicated it to this topic :” WAYS OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION IN TEFL “.I did it because I feel it important

and necessary to be taught in schools lyceums or even

individually. My research comprises four chapters .The first one is a practical one , the second and the third are practical chapters and finely the last one is left for general conclusions. As I have already mentioned the first chapter is a theoretical one and it is entitled “ Theoretical foundations of teaching pronunciation in TEFL “ . I thought it is necessary to speak here about difficulties in teaching and I am sure we can not teach English without having knowledge about micro skills and techniques used in modern teaching of English pronunciation. Concerning the second chapter , that means the “ Practical Part “, I displayed

a vast information about the most important peculiarities of

teaching English sounds . Every teacher of English needs to know that pronunciation consists also in teaching English vowels , consonants and diphthongs as well . Students in their turn should be taught to practice all these aspects through exercises and many other activities .It helps to students to pronounce sounds like the English people do and to develop a great instinct in each learner to speak a beautiful English . 3

Chapter number three is dedicated to teaching prosodic features . That is to say that when English is taught we have to take

into account that it can

not be taught without teaching intonation, rhythm and rhyme and even stress and sentence stress . All these are rendered in this chapter and also I tried to show that activities are important in this domain too. The last chapter is left as usually for general conclusions .While writing the conclusions I thought it would be good to mention the aspects I touched upon and to prove that what I did is of great importance in my future career as a teacher . But there is one more aspect I mean there are lots of aspects in English pronunciation which I did not study and even did not touch upon . Such aspects as weak and strong forms in sentences or even reading rules are also important in pronunciation . What I mean is that these topics can be studied and analyzed by the others in order to render a wonderful research which can be a

real source for all the teachers and

learners of English as a second language or as a foreign language . Probably my next research will be based on these aspects I have just mentioned above . I tried to do my best and I hope that my research dedicated to “ Ways of Teaching Pronunciation In TEFL “ will serve for teachers of English to teach their students the best pronunciation .

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CHAPTER

1

THEORETICAL

FONDATION

OF

TEACHING

PRONUNCIATION IN TEFL 1.1 Difficulties In Teaching English Pronunciation First of all I would like to begin with the question : “ What is pronunciation ? “ The

English Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary gives

the following definition for the term pronunciation - the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced and secondly it is the way in which a particular person pronounces the words of a given language , in our case , the words of English .Well, there are two aspects of pronunciation . The first - the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced needs a special attention . Why is it so ? Because in order to know how to pronounce the words or the sounds a person should be taught first. So in this paper we are trying to discover how many and which aspects of pronunciation must learn or must be taught . In G. V. Rogova’s “ Methods of Teaching English “ in the compartment “ Teaching Pronunciation “ we find that the first impact of any language comes from the spoken word. The basis of all languages is sound , but words are merely combinations of sounds . That is absolutely right and yet the acquisition of good pronunciation depends to a great extent on the learner’s ability of listening with care and discrimination . One of the tasks of language teaching consists in devising ways to help the learners and the unfamiliar sounds . The hearing of a given word calls forth the acoustic image of that word from which a meaning is obtained . Therefore teaching pronunciation is of great importance in the developing of pupils ‘ hearing and speaking habits and skills. Teaching pronunciation is as well of no less importance

in the

developing of reading and writing habits , since writing or what is written is a graphic representation of

sound sequences. In reading the visual images 5

become acoustic images . These are combined with kinesthetic images , resulting

in

inner

speech .

Wrong

pronunciation

often

leads

misunderstanding . For example when a speaker or a reader replaces

to one

phoneme with another , he unintentionally uses quite a different word , in this way altering the sense of what he wanted to say . e.g. white instead of wide , it instead of eat ; pot instead of port , etc. Every teacher must understand how important the teaching correct pronunciation is . As we already know any language has its specific phonic system . This is true for English as well . The sounds of English are not the same as the sounds of Romanian or even of Russian . The pronunciation of words is not only a matter of sounds , but also of stress on accent . Some words have the heavier stress on the first part of the word : e.g.

sorry , evening , morning , answer .

and other words have the heavier stress on the second part : e.g. begin , mistake , about , reduce , result , occur , effect . Rogova suggests us that stress is really very important to the assimilation of English pronunciation . foreigners often find it difficult to understand an English man’s speech and ask him to speak more slowly , because in quick speech the accented syllables are so strong that they almost drown the others. The pronunciation of

sentence patterns includes also variations of

musical tones : rise and fall . English tones patterns differ from those of Romanian , that is why pupils find it difficult to use adequate tone patterns in conversation or while reading aloud . Sometimes Romanian people speaking English use wrong intonation because of the interference of the mother tongue . That often leads to misunderstanding and impoliteness : e.g. ́Will you wait for me ́here ? is not only a wrong tone pattern but is impolite in its form . While studying the ESL and EFL programs we notice that ‘English’ is a term that can refer to various dialects , including British English , North American 6

English and others. Obviously those studying English in order to fit into their new country will learn the variety spoken there . However for those who do not intend to change countries the question arises of which sort of English to learn . If they are going abroad for a short time to study English , they need to chose which country . For those staying at home , the choice may be made for them in that private language schools or the state school system may only offer one model . For example students studying EFL in Hong Kong , are more likely to learn British English , whereas students in the Philippines are more likely to learn American English . Language teaching practice often assumes that most of the difficulties that learners face in the study of English are a consequence of the degree to which their native language differs from English . A native speaker of Romanian , for example, may face much more difficulties than a native speaker of German . This may be true for anyone of any other mother tongue , also called first language , setting out to learn any other language . Language

learners

often produce errors of syntax and

pronunciation

thought to result from the influence of their mother tongue , such as mapping its grammatical patterns inappropriately onto the second language , pronouncing sounds incorrectly or with difficulty or confusing items of vocabulary known as false friends .This is known as mother tongue transfer or language interference . However this transfer aspects are typically stronger

for beginners ‘ language

production . It happens very often that teachers are comfortable teaching reading , writing , listening and to a degree general oral skills , but when it comes to pronunciation we often lack the basic knowledge of articulator phonetics not difficult to acquire , to offer students anything more rudimentary and unhelpful advice. There is also a tendency for us to focus on production as the main problem affecting our learners .Most research however , shows clearly that the problem is more likely to be reception - what you do not hear , you do not say .Moreover if the

English is not clearly received the brain of the learner 7

converts it into the closest sound into their own language . Thus the dental English fricative [th] in ‘those’ becomes converted by Spanish speakers into the dentalised Spanish [ d] , producing ‘dose‘ , as if what the speakers hears . Given this reality , it would seem logically to place a heavy emphasize on listening or reception as a way into releasing appropriate pronunciation or production . Apart from using knowledge of our students and our ears in order to be aware of their pronunciation problems , it is also useful to have some prior knowledge of what elements of English phonetics and phonology are likely to cause problems .This is one area of language learning where few people would question the use of contrastive analysis. It is very important to mention the opinion of Marianne Celce-Murcia and Janet M. Godwin concerning difficulties in teaching English pronunciation . They say that there have been many differences of opinion over the years in the language teaching pronunciation and about how best to teach it. In direct approaches pronunciation is very important but the methodology is primitive : the teacher is ideally a native or near native speaker of the target language who presents pronunciation inductively and corrects via modeling – listen and imitate me as best as you can .There is a threshold level of pronunciation in English such as that if a nonnative speaker’s pronunciation falls below this level he or she will not be able to communicate orally no matter how good his or her control of English grammar might be. What are the variables that seem to impede or enhance the acquisition of a reasonable pronunciation in English ? Kenworthy (1987) provides a useful inventory .For each of her 6 factors we can make our own conclusion at the end. The first factor is the learner’s native language. Mother-tongue transfer is generally more systematic , pervasive and persistent in th area of pronunciation than it is in grammar or in lexicon .This makes it important for teachers to know something about the sound system of the language that their learners speak in order to anticipate problems and understand the source of errors.

8

The second factor is the learner’s age .The younger the age when the learner begins to acquire English the better the learner’s pronunciation .In fact complete mastery of English before age 12 generally results in accent-free speech , whereas acquisition after age 15 virtually guarantees some degree of accentedness in speech. The third factor is the learner’s exposure .Exposure to the target language can refer to both the length of time and the extensity of the exposure over time. Generally speaking the more time spent on learning the spoken language the better the pronunciation . The learner’s innate phonetic ability is the fourth factor. Some people simply have more skills at or aptitude for imitating and producing sounds and sound patterns that are new to them. All other things equal such learners will achieve a better pronunciation than will those learners with lesser aptitude. The fifth factor is the learner’s attitude and sense of identity. The attitude the learner has toward the target language and its speakers may affect his or her pronunciation .The more favorable the attitude , the better the pronunciation is. The sixth is the learner’s motivation and concern for good pronunciation .This factor is of great importance in pronunciation instruction. If the learner ‘s motivation to prove is strong and if the investment of time and effort is great , there will be improvement . Another difficulty that may occur is the difference between the sound system of the languages .For example if we compare Romanian with English than it is easy to observe the following differences: 1. Romanian does not have dental fricatives 

voiceless [ ð ] may be replaced with a dental [ t ].



voiced



since [ t ] and [ d ] are typically pronounced as dental stops anyway , words

[θ]

may become a dental [ d ] .

like ‘there’ and ‘dare’ can become homophones. 

[ æ ] pronounced as [ ε ] . This makes many Romanians pronounce ‘death’ and ‘that’ as homophones.

9

2. Tendency to pronounce the English high lax vowels [ I] , [ υ ] as [ i ] ,[ u ] .

For example ‘fill’ and ‘feel’ , ‘put’ and ‘poot’ , ‘live’ and ‘leave’ are homophones, since Romanian does not have these vowels. 3. Tendency to pronounce [ ŋ ] as [ ŋg ] ,(‘singer’ ,rhymes with ‘finger’)

because Romanian [ ŋ] is an allophone of [n] before velar stops. 4. Tendency to replace the English retroflex [ r ] with the Romanian trilled [r ]. 5. Common mistakes due to Romanian cognates with different meanings (‘

false friends’). 6. Some speakers may have difficulty in using prepositions .Romanian is an

inflected language and use of prepositions is less extensive than in English .While English prepositions modify the meaning of verbs in Romanian there are separate words for each meaning . e.g.

go in - a intra go out - a ieşi go away – a pleca go ahead - a continua

A significant number of Latinate words have identical or very similar spelling in Romanian and English , making pronunciation confusing. So pronunciation is deffinitely the biggest thing that people notice when a person is speaking English . The speaker’s pronunciation creates the first impression he or she makes when speaking.

10

1.2

Micro-skills In Teaching English Pronunciation Referring to micro-skills in teaching pronunciation , professor Jeremy Harmer

tries to give an answer to such questions ‘What a native speaker knows ? ‘and ‘What a language student should learn ?’.Well , native speakers or even competent users of the language know how to say a word, that is how to pronounce it .This knowledge comprises three areas : sounds , stress and intonation. On their own the sounds of a language may well be meaningless. If all words are made up of sounds , then all speakers of a language need to know the sounds if they are to understand what is said to them and be understood in their turn. When they use a word , native speakers know which part of that word should receive the heaviest emphasis. For example in the word ‘photograph ‘ not all the parts are of equal importance . We can divide the word into three parts :‘ pho‘ ,‘ to’, and ’ graph’ . Competent speakers of the language will say the word like this: ‘ PHOtograph’ , stressing the first syllable .The situation changes with the word of ‘ photographer’ , where the stress shifts evidently to the second syllable :’ phoTOgrapher ‘ . Stress in words also changes depending upon a word’s grammatical function : ‘perMIT ‘ is a verb but ‘PERmit ‘ is a noun .Native speakers of a language unconsciously know about stress and they know how to use stress to change the meaning of phrases and sentences and questions . Closely connected with speech is intonation , which means the tune you use when we use when we are speaking , the music of speech .Intonation is a big indicator of involvement. If we tell what we think is a fascinating story and our listener says :’ How interesting . ‘, starting at a low pitch and dropping their voice on the ‘int ‘ of ‘interesting’ we will be fairly despondent since by their us of pitch and intonation they will have plainly told us that they did not think much about our story . High pitch and a small fall , on other hand would be much nicer , since that would indicate that our audience was fascinated by what we had to say . Intonation is clearly important then and competent users of the language recognize what

11

meaning it has and change the meaning of what they say through using it in different ways . Trying to give answer to the question ‘What a language student should learn ?’ we found more aspects .The first aspect is phonics. Phonics refer to an instructional design for teaching children to read .Phonic involves teaching children to connect sounds with letters or groups of letters. It is linked with basic rules , alphabetic principle with spelling. English spelling is based upon the alphabetical principle , the idea that letters represent sounds .For example the word ‘pot’ is composed of three letters , each representing a phoneme . Some letters in English regularly represent only sound . However the alphabetic principle is not sufficient to represent all of the spellings in English . Reading in English also requires understanding of additional patterns that do not follow the “one letter – one sound” principle . Another important aspect is teaching the learner the vowel phonic patterns .It consists of : •

short vowels are the five single letters vowel: a, e , i, o, u.

•

long vowels are synonyms with the names of the single letter-vowels . They are : [ ei ] , [ I] , [ ai ] , [ oυ] , [ ju ].

•

schwa is the third sound that most of the single vowel spelling can produce . The schwa is an indistinct sound of vowel in an unstressed syllable, represented by the linguistic symbol [ ə].

• closed syllables are syllables in which a single vowel – letter is followed by a consonant. • open syllables are syllables in which a vowel appears at the end of the syllable. The vowel will say its long sound . •

diphthongs are linguistic elements that fuse two adjacent vowel sounds . The learner should pay attention also to consonant phonic patterns . It consists

of: •

consonant diagraphs are those spellings where in two letters are used to represent a consonant phoneme .The most common consonant diagraphs are : 12

ch for [t∫] , ng

for [ŋ] , ph for [f ] , sh for [ ∫ ] , th for [θ] and

[ð] and wh for [ w ] .

1.3

Techniques Used In Teaching English Pronunciation Different teachers who have studied this topic say that there are a lot of ways

and of techniques used in teaching pronunciation . For example such teachers as Balbina Ebong and Martha Sabbadine from the British Council decided that a good method in teaching pronunciation is using songs . A teacher can use songs to focus on sounds . Sounds are the smallest unit from which words are formed and can be categorized as vowels and consonants . As languages differ in their range of sound , students have to learn to “ physically “ produce certain sounds previously unknown to them . Learners can find sounds difficult to pick up out , and may not see the point in focusing on them . However , incorrectly pronounced sounds strain communication , sometime even changing a phrase’s meaning .Songs can help because they are authentic and easily accessible examples of spoken English .The rhymes in songs provide listeners with repetition of similar sounds. We can use songs also to focus on words . on connected speech . There is another opinion of David F. Dalton , that exercise is good in training pronunciation. It should be simple , accessible , fun and combine reception and production .Some students , usually adults , do feel embarrassed to pull ridiculous faces when practicing vowel sounds , but David F. Dalton has generally found that this soon passes and students enjoy the pronunciation work. Where possible , exercises should be communicative , and generate differences of opinion and disagreement of what was said / heard. The exercise allows clear practice in production and

reception and gives concise feedback to individual learners , as 13

to where problems lie in these areas and how to repair them . Often these are very simple physical questions such as not rounding the lips as in [u: ] in ‘fool ‘ which the teacher can help them to focus on . As teachers , we are not the best judges of the accuracy of our students’ pronunciation .We are accustomed to it and usually very tolerant , when in general , native speakers are not . The exercise , then helps us to be more aware of real problems learners have in their oral production and to help to correct them . Celce Murcia

and Godwin suggest us several techniques in teaching

pronunciation . First there is “ listen and imitate/repeat” technique which was used in direct approaches and also the audio-lingual approach . Second there are tonguetwisters like “ She sells sea shell by the seashore.” or Peter Piper picked a pick of peppered piper. Did Peter Piper pick a pick of peppered piper ? If Peter Piper picked a pick of peppered piper Where is the peppered piper Peter Piper picked? The third technique is suppose to be the technique of using lists of words as minimal pairs . e.g. syntagmatic: Don’t sit on that seat . paradigmatic: Don’t slip/sleep on the floor. A fourth technique that is used by first language acquisition research is the developmental approximation drill, where the developmental sequence followed by most L1 children

becomes a way to get nonnative speakers to produce a

problematic sound or sound quality . e.g. [w] ------------------ [r]

[y] ---------------------- [l]

wed--------------------red

yet----------------------let

The fifth technique that is wide spread is the drilling of vowel shifts and stress shifts , something that was given by the early work in generative phonology . e.g. vowel shift

[ay] ---------------- [I ] bible----------------- biblical

stress shift

PHOtograph --------------phoTOgraphy 14

In fact what we have to do is to apply the most useful and usable of the old techniques along with the same new and innovative exercises suggested in work on teaching pronunciation. In “The Pronunciation Book “ of Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks we find that in teaching pronunciation there is a big need to know all the sounds of English language. This is a chart showing the 44 phonemes of the variety of ‘standard’ British English that otherwise known as RP or ‘received pronunciation ‘. І: e æ p f m

I ∂ ʌ b v n

Υ   T Θ Ŋ

u:  ɒ d ð h

I∂    S L

   Ξ z r

  K ∫ W

g ʒ j

In correspondence to a standard model (RP) such a chart does not include phonetic variations on the basic 44 phonemes found in various British regional accent and other varieties of English. This chart is intended a general structural guideline. The 44 phonemes of English break down into 12 vowel sounds , 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants . Many teachers like to display a phonemic chart in their classrooms and to use it both to help in the teaching of sounds and to deal with pronunciation problems as they arise . If for example a learner pronounces the word ‘village ‘ as ‘willage’ the teacher might point to the phoneme [ v ] on the chart , thereby indicating to the learner where the pronunciation error lies . In addition , the chart can function as a “ pronunciation syllabus “ for the learners .It provides a visual representation of the sounds of English , and can thus help them with the aid of the teacher to recognize which sound they can already pronounce well, and more importantly to determine which sounds they need to work on . Using a phonemic chart presupposes a need on the part of both teachers and learners to learn phonemic script .It is also a good deal more systematic and 15

accurate than homemade phonetic transcriptions that take the learner’s mother tongue as the model for the sounds of English .It is suggested that teachers need to be sensitive to problems of overload , particularly at lower levels with learners whose mother tongue

uses non-Roman script .Talking to learners about the

importance of good pronunciation and explaining the function of phonemic symbols and the phonemic chart as well is extremely helpful. We favor a gradual approach , introducing sounds and their symbols as they arise over a series of lessons , rather than presenting all the symbols in a single lesson . We typically introduce up to four sounds in a single lesson , beginning with the familiar symbols as [m] ,[ s ] , [ p ] . We also introduce sounds in contrasting pairs , where we feel the difference in sound , quality is particularly important . Another wonderful technique in teaching pronunciation is using a tape – recorder . We may find it useful to tape pronunciation listening exercises for our learners . This is particularly important when we wish to have our learners distinguish between vowel sounds , stress patterns or different intonation patterns. Thus when we say :’ Read the sentence aloud !’ , we may find it helpful to tape our reading beforehand .There are two big advantages to taping. Firstly , we can provide a constant and consistent model , secondly our learners can listen in their own time (perhaps in a self access centre or language laboratory , or even for homework ). Another role of the tape recorders is to record the learner own pronunciation . This is a very effective way of giving them feedback on their own performance . If they hear the contrast between a model sentence read by the teacher and their own version of the sentence , this can help them in a number of ways . It can show them that they still need to improve . It can also make them aware of errors in their own performance . CHAPTER 2

TEACHING ENGLISH SOUNDS

16

We will probably need to help our learners become aware of what happens when they produce sounds in their own language or in English . It is not normally sufficient simply to repeat the sounds and expect learners to get it right through hearing alone .Sometimes we will have to show or explain to them what happens when a particular sound is produced .We will also probably need to show them how to improve their pronunciation of the particular sounds that they are finding difficult . Celce Murcia and Godwin in “Teaching Pronunciation “ help us a lot by informing that English has 24 distinct consonant sounds that we can describe in terms of their place and manner of articulation and in terms of voicing – whether the vocal cords are vibrating ( voiced ) or not (voiceless ) . In order to represent each distinct consonant and introduce a few special symbols .One of the best ways to appreciate the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is to put our fingertips on our Adam’s apple and alternate hissing like a snake [ssssssssssss] and then buzzing like a bee [zzzzzzzzzz]. When buzz like a bee w can feel the vocal cords vibrate : [z] is a voiced sound. But when we hiss like a snake , we feel nothing because the vocal cords are still:[s] is a voiceless sound . To demonstrate the place of articulation f a consonant sound , teachers use a variety of visual aids. A saggital section diagram of the human speech organs can be a useful aid in describing the points of articulation. The manner of articulation describes what happens to the air stream as the sound is articulated . If the air stream gets blocked completely we refer to the sound as ‘stop’ sound .If the air stream is compressed and passes through a small opening we call it a ‘fricative’. If the sound begins like a stop and then is released like a fricative we call it an ‘affricative ‘. If the air passes through the nose instead of the mouth , we call the sound a ‘nasal ‘. If the air stream moves around the tongue in a relatively unobstructed manner ,we call the sound a ‘liquid ‘. And if the sound is very close to being a vowel , we call it a ‘glide’. The English consonant sounds are as follows Sound

example 17

1. [b]

boy, cab

2. [p]

pie , lip

3. [d]

dog , bed

4. [t]

toe , cat

5. [g]

go , beg

6. [k]

cat , back

7. [v]

view ,love

8. [f]

fill ,life

9. [ð]

the ,lathe

10. [θ]

thin , bath

11. [z]

zoo , goes

12. [s]

see , bus

13. [ʒ]

leisure , beige

14. [∫]

shy , dish

15. [h]

his , ahead

16. []

check , watch

17. [Ξ ]

joy , budge

18.[m]

me , seem

19. [n]

no , sun

20. [ɳ]

sing , singer

21.[l]

long , full

22.[r]

run , car

23.[w]

win , away

24.[y]

you , Soya

Many teachers of English like to classify the English consonants according the following way:

Place of articulation Manner of Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Palatal articulatio n Stop

Velar

Glottal

dental p ,b

t,d

k, g 18

Fricative Affricate Nasal Liquid Glide

f,v

Θ,ð

m w

s, z n l

∫,ʒ , Ξ

H ɳ

r y

A major problem that learners have with English consonants is the fact that they cluster both initially and finally . In initial position there are many clusters of two consonants and even some with three . With clusters of two ,either the first sound is [ s ] or the second one is [ l ] , [ r ] , [w] or [y] ; in some conditions both conditions are hold. Two : [sn] snake ;[sp] speak ; [sk] sky ; [pl] play ; [pr] pray ; [kw] quite ; [hju] hue ; [pju ] pure With initial clusters of three , the first sound is [p] , [t] or [k] and the third sound is [l] ,[r ] , [w ] or [y] : Three : [str] strong ; [spl ] splash ; [skw] square ; [sky] skew . In final position there are even more consonant clusters than in initial position , and these clusters can consist of two , three, four consonants; Two : [lb] bulb; [md] seemed; [rv] serve; [vz] loves Three : [rts] hearts ; [dz] builds ; [sks] asks Four : [mpts] tempts ; [ksts] texts. 1.

Teachers as Tim Bowen and Jonathan Marks have something about teaching sounds. They consider important to pay attention to the whole process of pronunciation . Speaking about the vowels and diphthongs they point first to the air , voicing , jaw , lips ,tongue to every little detail. There are some pieces of advice concerning each point: Air 19

Say [i:] . put your hand in front of the mouth . You should feel some (but probably not much )air being expelled from the lungs. Muscle effort is involved in the passage of this air , with the tongue and other speech organs affecting the quality of this passage without ever completely blocking it. Voicing Whisper [i:] .Place the fingertips lightly on either side of Adam’s apple . Notice the absence of any vibration . Keep your fingertips in position and now utter [i:] aloud . Notice the vibration .This is voicing . Voicing (the vibration of the vocal cords ) is present in the pronunciation of all vowels , diphthongs and consonants. Jaw Say [i:] .Notice the position of the jaw . It is probably almost closed. Now say [æ] . Can you feel any difference . Now try several times to succeed these two vowels. You should feel a considerable difference in the jaw position. To illustrate the importance of jaw position in the production of vowels and diphthongs try pronouncing [i:] with your jaw wide open and [æ] with your jaw almost closed . It will probably feel very unnatural and difficult to achieve . Lips Whisper the sound [i:] . Notice the lips . They are spread , almost as if you are smiling. Now say [u:] . You feel that the lips become rounded , almost as if you were whistling . Try pronouncing [i:], [u:] several times in rapid succession . to illustrate the importance of lips , try pronouncing [i:] with rounded lips . It would probably sound quiet differently . It may sound for example like a French vowel. Tongue Pronounce the sound [i:] . Notice the position of the tongue .Is it low in the mouth ? Is it flat ? You will probably notice that it is raised towards the front upper molars . Now say [u:] . Again notice the position of the tongue .It is probably 20

humped a little further back and it is not making such noticeable contract with the rear of the mouth. In fact it is probably touching the sides of the back upper molars . c The production of consonants is affected by a number of factors , but particularly by the manner of place of their articulation . Other factors to consider are the quantity of air flow and the amount of muscle power involved therein , as well as the question of voicing . Manner of articulation Prepare to say the sound [p] but stop just before releasing the sound . Notice that the lips are pressed tightly together and that the passage of air is momentarily obstructed. Now release the sound [p] ,you will feel that it is almost like an explosion accompanied by a realize of air .Experiment in a similar way with [k] . These sounds are plosive (stops). They are characterized by two of the articulators organs coming together to form a complete closure , blocking the passage of air momentarily. The air is released to give the plosive sound . There are 6 plosives in English : [p], [b], [t] , [d] , [k] , [g].Now try the sound [f] .Notice how this sound can continue for some time . Unlike the plosives it is not a single ‘explosion‘ of air. The top teeth and the bottom lip make contact and obstruct the free passage of air , but not completely. There is also a certain amount of friction involved .Now try [s] and [z] and notice again the half-obstructed passage of air. These sounds are members of the group known as fricatives :[f] , [v], [θ] , [ ð] , [s] , [z], [∫] , [ʒ] and [h]. The phonemes [m] , [n] and [ɳ] form a separate group . Practice saying them all several times in rapid succession . You will soon notice that they have a common feature .As with the plosive sounds there is a blockage in the passage of air somewhere . The air ‘escapes’ through the nasal cavity , giving all three sounds a nasal quality .These sounds are known a nasals.

21

The phoneme [l] is in a category of its own . Whisper the sound [l] several times in rapid succession . You will probably notice that the teeth or blade of the tongue comes into contact with the ridge behind the teeth , while the air flow gives rise to the name of this single phoneme category – lateral . So all the consonants and the vowels

have their own way

of being

pronounced and w have to pay attention to the articulation , because it is of a great importance in teaching English sounds.

CHAPTER 3

PRACTICAL

PART 22

3.1 Activities For Teaching English Vowels According to Dumitru Chitoranu ‘s “Ghid de pronuntie” , there are 12 simple vowels in English .That means that these vowels appear in initial , mid and final position . In Romanian we have 7 simple vowels , which can appear in any position in words, no matter if it is a voiced or a voiceless vowel. Pronunciation of the vowels [i:] and [I] cc Activities : 1. The sound [i:] and [I] contrasted in minimal pairs of words: [i:]

[I]

[i:]

[I]

Deed

did

seat

sit

Seal

sill

beat

bit

Lead

lid

leap

lip

Steel

still

peak

pick

Seen

sin

seeks

six

2

The vowels [i:] and [I] contrasted in sentences: •

We want Jean . …………………. We want gin .

•

Feel them carefully . ………………. Fill them carefully.

•

It is on the seal. …………………….. It is on the sill .

•

It is a big meal . ……………………. It is a big mill.

•

He caught the sheep . ………………. He caught the ship.

Pronunciation of the Vowels [e[ and [æ] 23

The sound [e] is easy to be pronounced by Romanian speakers because it is similar to the Romanian [e] .We can find the English vowel [e] at the beginning and in the middle of the words and never in the final position of a word. e.g.

eggs, enemy , any, bell, says , fence.

The vowel is longer when it is followed by a voiced consonant and shorter when it is followed by a voiceless consonant. e.g.

bed - bet led – let beg – beck said – set

The vowel [æ] is very difficult to be taught because it has no equivalents in Romanian . The sound [æ] can be obtained by keeping the mouth wide open as for pronouncing [a] , but trying to pronounce a Romanian [e]. The tip of the tongue has to touch the inner edge of the lower teeth. The vowel [æ] appears only in initial position and in the middle of the words. e.g.

Ann , apple , act, hat , sand , natural .

The vowel [æ] is modified in dependence of the position in words. It is longer when it precedes a voiced consonant and shorter before a voiceless consonant. e.g.

cab – cap bag – back sad – sat ladder – latter

Activities : 1. The sounds [e] and [æ] contrasted in minimal pairs of words:

[e]

[æ]

[e]

[ æ]

Ten

tan

send

sand

Mess

mass

pen

pan

Led

lad

lend

land 24

Leg

lag

head

had

Bed

bad

merry

Marry

Expensive

expansive

peck

pack

2. The vowels [e] and [æ] contrasted in sentences:] •

I said bad.

I said bed .

•

I want my wife to be more expensive. I want my wife to be more expansive.

•

We watched him peddling .

We watched him paddling.

•

Throw the pen away .

Throw the pan away.

•

I love this gem .

I love this jam.

3. The sounds [i:] ,[I] ,[e] and [æ] contrasted in pairs:

[i:]

[I]

[e]

[æ]

Pete

pit

pet

pat

Deed

did

dead

dad

Lead

lid

led

lad

Neat

knit

net

gnat

Bean

bin

Ben

ban

Peel

pill

Pell

pal

Seat

sit

set

sat

Pronunciation Of the Vowels [ ] and [ ʌ] The vowel [] is much longer than the Romanian [a] . The English vowel [] appears in initial , mid , and final position e.g.

arm , art , hard, calm, far, car.

25

Just the same as the other English vowels , [] suffers some modifications , in dependence of its position in words. The vowel [] is very long when it is in a final position or followed by a voiced consonant. e.g.

car, far, are, tar, father, garden , sergeant, palm.

The vowel is shorter when precedes a voiceless consonant : e.g.

carp, clerk, art, calf.

Romanian speakers have no difficulties in the pronunciation of the vowel [ʌ], it resembles very much the sound [a] from Romanian .But it has to be shortened a little . This vowel appears only in initial and mid position , both in stressed and unstressed syllables. e.g.

up , upper, cup, does , pronunciation.

Activities : 1. The vowels [] and [ʌ] contrasted in minimal pairs of words:

[]

[ʌ]

[]

[ʌ]

Carp

cup

calm

come

Heart

hut

harsh

hush

Lark

luck

mast

must

Bard

bud

barter

butter

Psalm

some

starter

stutter

Barn

bun

bark

buck

2. The vowels [] and [ʌ] contrasted in sentences:

• Calm down !

Come down !

• Is the calf white ?

Is the cuff white ?

• I found a larva in the garden .

I found a lover in the garden.

•

There were carts in the movie.

• I do not like this type of barter.

There were cuts in the movie. I do not like this type of butter.

26

Pronunciation of the Vowels [ɒ] and [] The vowel [ɒ] appears only in initial position in words. e.g.

on , odd ,opera, not, lock , box.

In American English the sound [ɒ] is substituted by a sound which is similar to [] . Such words like mob [mb ] , log [ lg] .When [ɒ] precedes a voiced consonant , it is longer in such words as : long , log , rob, cod, than in : pot, hop, lock . what . The English vowel [] resembles the Romanian [o] ,but it is a little closer. This vowel appears in initial, mid and final positions in words: e.g.

ought, all, order, pawn ,call, hoard, paw , core .

The vowel is very long when it is situated in final position or precedes a voiced consonant. e.g.

saw , four , more , board, lawn, cause .

When given sound is followed by a voiceless consonant its length is shortened. e.g.

walk , thought, daughter.

Activities : 1. The sounds [ɒ] and [] contrasted in minimal pairs of words:

[ ɒ]

[]

[ ɒ]

[]

Not

naught

shot

short

Spot

sport

collar

caller

Cock

cork

moss

Morse

Odd

awed

body

bawdy

Nod

gnawed

rot

wrought

2. The vowels [ɒ] and [] contrasted in sentences: •

I’ll have a shot.

I’ll have a sort.

•

He’s a bad sot.

He’s a bad sort.

•

Now , where ‘s that cock?

Now ,where’s that cork? 27

•

He was counting the pots.

He was counting the ports.

•

The potter was very helpful.

The porter was very helpful.

Pronunciation of the Vowels [υ] and [ u] The vowel [ υ] appears only in the middle of the words . e.g.

put , full, look.

This vowel is longer before a voiced consonant and shorter before a voiceless consonant. e.g.

good , pudding, book, foot.

The English vowel [] is very similar to the Romanian [u] .This sound requires length and it appears in initial , mid and final position . e.g.

ooze , spoon, fool, rule, shoe, argue, do.

The vowel [] is very long in final position and when precedes a voiced consonant . e.g.

who , woo, blue, lose, move, wooed.

When it precedes a voiceless consonant its length is shortened. e.g.

shoot, group, goose.

Activities : 1. The vowels [υ] and [ u] contrasted in minimal pairs of words:

[ υ]

[]

[ υ]

Pull

pool

wood

wooed

Full

fool

soot

suit (Am.)

Stood

stewed

hood

who’d

Look

Luke

should

shoed

[]

2. The vowels [υ] and [ u] contrasted in sentences : •

Give me the glass ! Fool !

Give me the glass fool ! 28

•

Look ,the postman is at the gate.

Luke, the postman is at the gate.

•

Are you sure she could ?

Are you sure she cooed ?

•

It was a long pull .

It was a long pool.

Pronunciation of the Vowels [ə] and [ ] The vowel [ə] is easy to pronounce for Romanian speakers because it resembles the Romanian vowel [ə] , being a little shorter . It is one of the most frequent sound used in English and it is called also “schwa” . The schwa appears in initial , mid , and final position and only in unstressed position . e.g. above , alike , ago , suppose , condition , summer , soda, ever. The schwa is longer in final position or when is followed by voiced consonants, and it is shorter when it precedes a voiceless consonant .Sometimes the schwa is omitted , without changing the sense and the meaning of the word. e.g.

condition [ kən’di∫ən] [kən’di∫n]

The English vowel [] is well pronounced if we pronounce it very long and our tongue is strained. We can find the vowel [] in initial ,mid and final position. When it is in a final position or is followed by a voiced consonant the sound is very long : e.g.

her , sir , fur, heard , bird , pearl ,.

When the sound we are speaking about is followed by a voiceless consonant , its length is considerably reduced. e.g.

hurt , earth , curse.

Activities : 1. The vowels [ə] and [ ] contrasted in minimal pairs of words:

[ə]

[]

an

earn

and

earned 29

forward

foreword

commas

commerce

for

fur

but

Burt

could

curd

had

heard

3.2 TEACHING ENGLISH CONSONANTS The contribution of such a personality as Dumitru Chitoranu in teaching English sound cannot be omitted in any case. We find in his studies many statements about English consonants . There are 24 consonant sounds , most of them having correspondent sounds in Romanian. We can classify the consonants according to the manner of articulation as follows: • Stop consonants [p, b, t , d, k, g] •

Fricative consonants [ f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ∫, ʒ, h ]

•

Affricate consonants [  , Ξ ]

•

Nasal consonants [ m , n, ɳ ]

• Liquid consonants [ l, r ] • Glide consonants [ w , j ]. 30

Except this classification consonants have one more classification , that means according to the functions of speech organs which are involved in their articulation. • Bilabial [ p, b , m ,w] • Labiodentals [ f, v ] •

Dental [θ, ð]

• Alveolar [ t, d, s, z, n, l ] •

Palatal [∫, ʒ ,  , Ξ , r , j ]

•

Velar [ k, g, ɳ ]

• Glottal [ h ] And there is one more classification of the consonants – according to the criteria of vibration of the cord: •

Voiced [ b, d , g , ð , v , ʒ , z, Ξ , m , n , l, r , w, j ]

•

Voiceless [ p, t, k, θ , f , ∫ , s,  , h ]

And we have consonants which make pairs : [p, b] ,[ t, d] , [k, g] , [f , v] , [θ, ð] , [s, z ] , [∫, ʒ ] , [ , Ξ ]. It has been stated that it is much easier to teach English consonants than English vowels . Pronunciation Of the Stop Consonants All the stop consonants appear in the three position : initial , mid and final position in words. e.g.

power

upper

soap

beard

rubber

lab

town

later

cat

day

rider

road

coat

chicken

lack

game

ragged

leg

31

When the consonants [ p, t , k ] by a stressed vowel they are pronounced with aspiration , a sound similar to ‘h’ . e.g.

past , time, carpet.

When the consonants precede an unstressed vowel the aspiration is shortened , and when they precede the sound [s] , it disappears totally . e.g.

speak , stay, scar.

When the stop consonants are followed by [l] there happens a ‘ lateral explosion ‘ of the vowels. e.g.

trouble , apple , little, middle, giggle.

But there is a ‘ nasal explosion ‘ when they are followed by [n] . e.g.

ribbon , happen, kitten, sudden.

Activities: 1. Practice the following consonants in minimal pairs of words : With aspiration

without aspiration

pace

base

pack

back

pact

backed

pad

bad

pail

bail

pair

bear

pall

ball

voiceless in the mid position

voiced in the mid position

Harper

harbor

Dapple

dabble

Crumple

crumble

Utter

udder

Butting

budding

Dicker

digger 32

Voiceless in final position

voiced in final position

Rope

robe

Mop

mob

Lap

lab

Tap

tab

Sat

sad

Set

said

Pronunciation of the Affricate Consonants [ , Ξ ] are pronounced by pushing the tongue to the alveolus , a place where the tongue blocks completely the speech channel . In order to understand better the difference between these consonants and Romanian we need to compare some words which have similar pronunciation , but of course different spelling. e.g.

beach – bici budge – bagi chop – ciob match – meci

both of these sounds appear in initial mid and final positions in words. Activities : 1. Practice the following minimal pairs of words: Chin – gin

etching – edging

Cheap – jeep

larch – large

Choke – joke

match – Madge

Cheer – jeer

batch – badge

Chest – jest

rich – ridge

33

2. Practice the following combinations of words: Which chair Much junk Much gin Riche judge Dutch cheese Large jar Much jelly

Pronunciation of the Fricative Consonants All the fricatives appear in the three positions : initial , mid and final. Activities : 1. Practice the following words with the consonant [f] ; Five

sacrifice

Food

coffee

Fear

roof

Faith

leaf

Difference

deaf

Trifle

soften

Muffle

deafen

Baffle

often

Rifle

siphon

Waffle

toughen

Flee

frame

Flesh

fume

Flag

fury 34

Frog

fuse

Fruit

future

h b Activities: 1. Practice the following variants of the sound [m]: Nymph

rhythm

Comfort

prism

Circumvent

lissome

Smack

bottom

Smoke

materialism

2. Practice the following words with the sound [n]: Infant

cotton

Infinite

sudden

Invite

often

Sneeze

mission

Snatch

listen

3. Practice the following variants of the sound [ɳ ]:

Bring

bacon

Cling

taken

Anger

blacken

Drink

thicken

Singer

sicken

Pronunciation of the Liquid Consonants

35

The English liquid sounds are [l]and [r]. [l] is pronounced by pushing the blade of the tongue on the alveolar ridge and the air must pass freely on the lateral parts of the tongue .[r] is pronounced by raising the blade of the tongue to the hard palate without touching this area of the palate . The liquid consonants appear in initial , mid and final position . Activities : 1. Read in a loud voice the words in which [l] is initial and in mid position: Leak

collect

Lid

aloud

Leg

lily

Lamp

malady

Lord

ballet

2. The same task but with the sound [r] : Read

correct

Rude

arrange

Rid

hurry

Raw

story

Rub

horror.

Pronunciation Of The Glottal Consonants Two English sounds resemble vowels and consonants at the same time. They are called semi vocals or semi consonants. As vowels they cannot form any syllable and as consonants they are always followed by a vowel . These are [j] and [w]. e.g.

yes , what

When [w] is preceded by a consonant ,lips are rounded as for pronouncing [w] and those consonants are pronounced with rounded lips . 36

e.g.

sweet, quite , dwelling

[j] is pronounced by articulating with the lips the sounds. e.g.

yet , yard

The sounds [j] and [w] appear only in initial and mid position e.g.

young,

water

refuse,

twelve , aware

These two sounds appear in combination of words which present

big

difficulties in pronunciation for Romanian speakers , because there are no equivalents for such sounds in Romanian. Activities : 1. Read in a loud voice the words : Yiddish

wit

Yet

wet

Yap

wax

Yacht

watch

You

wood

Young

won

Yeast

were

Youth

week

Yard

wolf

Yawn

wall

3. Practice the [j] and [w] contrasted in minimal pairs of words: Wet

yet

wield

yield

What

yacht

wall

yawl

Woo

you

whelp

yelp

Were

year

whale

Yale

Worn

yawn

woke

yoke

37

3.3

ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH DIPHTONGS

There are many combinations of sounds in English which can be counted as diphthongs , but only 8 of them have a statue of phoneme. They are [] ,[] ,[] , [ ], [ ] , [iə] , [ ] , [ ] . Generally the pronunciation of the diphthongs does not present too many difficulties for Romanian speakers because Romanian is also a language of vocalic combinations . But there is a very important difference between the English and Romanian diphthongs . It consists in the degree of intensity and the duration of pronunciation of the two component elements. In English , diphthongs are low , the first vowel is stressed and comparatively to the second .

Pronunciation Of The Diphthong [] When we pronounce the English diphthong [] we can begin from the pronunciation of the same Romanian diphthong , but we must stress the sound [e]. We can even compare some Romanian words with English words. English

Romanian

May

mei

Bay

bei

Hay

hei

The diphthong [] appears in initial , mid and final positions .When we pronounce it we need to pay attention to the sound [e] ,because it is keeping its length when it is situated at the end of the words , or it is followed by a voiceless consonant. The length of the sound is reduced when [] is followed by a voiceless consonant . 38

Activities : 1. The long and the short variants of the diphthong []:

Play

plays

place

Ray

raise

race

May

made

mate

Lay

lays

lace

Pay

pays

pace

Bay

bays

base

Day

daze

dace

Fay

phase

face

2. The vowel [e] and the diphthong [] contrasted in minimal pairs of

words: Tell

tale

wet

wait

Pen

pain

tent

taint

Red

raid

men

main

Let

late

rest

raced

Pronunciation of the Diphthong [] The English diphthong [] is very similar to the Romanian [] . In this case as in the case with [] the sound [a] must be pronounced longer than [I] .The diphthong can be practiced by comparing the English diphthong with the Romanian in words: English

Romanian

Die

dai

Sty

stai

My

mai

39

The diphthong is found in all the three position in words. When it is in a final position or is followed by a voiced consonant the sound is much longer then in the case when it is followed by a voiceless consonant. e.g.

fly

like

high

white

sly

mice

Activities : 1. The long and the reduced variant of the diphthong [] contrasted in words:

Sigh

side

sight

High

hide

height

Pie

pies

pice

Rye

rise

rice

I

eyes

ice

2. The diphthongs [] and [] contrasted in minimal pairs of words: Tray

try

pale

pile

Bay

buy

paint

pint

Way

why

lake

like

Ray

rye

late

light

Raid

ride

space

spice

Pronunciation Of The Diphthong [] The diphthong [] has similarities with the Romanian diphthong []. But the first element of the English diphthong is more open and longer than the Romanian . Because of this we can compare it in English and Romanian words: English

Romanian

Toy

toi

Soy

soi 40

Boy

boi

The diphthong [] appears in initial , mid and final position in words. The length of the sounds is kept when the diphthong is situated in final position or followed by a voiced consonant, and the sound is shortened considerably when it is followed by a voiceless consonant Activities : 1. The

long and the reduced variant of the diphthong [] contrasted in

minimal pairs of words : Toys

voice

Boy

choice

Can

moist

Noisy

adroit

Poison

hoist

Destroy

exploit

2. The diphthongs [] , [] and [ ] contrasted in minimal pairs of

words : Tray

try

Troy

Say

sigh

soy

Bay

by

boy

Pays

pies

poise

Lane

line

loin

Bail

bile

boil

Pronunciation Of The Diphthong []

41

The diphthong [] is formed from a nucleus similar to the vowel [ə] and finished with a sound close to [υ] . It is not difficult at all for Romanian speakers to pronounce the sound ,because it is similar to the Romanian one. For example: English

Romanian

So

său

Row

rău

Toe

tău

We an find this diphthong in all the three positions in words. It has the same peculiarities as the others .It is longer in final position , and when it is followed by a voiced consonant .The sound is obviously reduced when it precedes a voiceless consonant. Activities : 1.The long and the reduced variant of the diphthong contrasted in words.: Go

goad

goat

Roe

robe

rope

No

node

note

Mow

mode

moat

Row

rode

wrote

2. The diphthong [] contrasted with other diphthongs: Laid

lied

Lloyd

load

Ray

rye

Roy

row

Fail

file

foil

foal

Lane

line

loin

loan

Pays

pies

poise

pose

Pronunciation

Of The Diphthong []

42

The English diphthong [] is very similar to the Romanian [] and it does not present any difficulty when pronouncing it . For a better pronunciation of the diphthong w have to pay attention to the first element of the diphthong : it must be longer and more stressed than the second one. We can compare some words from both languages : English

Romanian

Now

n-au

Cow

c-au

Sow

s-au

The diphthong appears in initial , mid and final position in words. It is long when is found in a final position or is followed by a voiced consonant. Activities : 1. Long and reduced variants of the diphthong contrasted in words : Bough

bout

loud

lout

Cow

couch

mouse(vb.)

mouse(n.)

House(vb.)

house(n.)

mouth(vb.)

Vow

vouch

bowed

bout

Found

fount

south(vb.)

south(n.)

mouth(n.)

Pronunciation Of The Diphthong [Iɜ] The diphthong [Iɜ] has no equivalents in Romanian and it is a little bit difficult to pronounce . For a right pronunciation it is better to make the[I] of the diphthong longer and more stressed . this diphthong can be found in all the positions in words. The sound is longer in mid and final position or when it is followed by a voiceless consonant Activities : 43

1.Long and reduced forms of the diphthong [Iɜ] contrasted in words : Peer

peers

pierce

Fear

fears

fierce

Tear

tears

tierce

Gear

geared

---

Beer

beard

---

2. The diphthong

[Iɜ] contrasted with the vowel [i:] :

Pier

pea

cheers

cheese

Beer

bee

piers

peas

Fear

fee

beard

bead

Tear

tea

ear

E

Deer

Dee

steered

steed

Sheer

she

speared

speed

Pronunciation Of The Diphthong [] The diphthong [] has no equivalents in Romanian . The diphthong appears in initial , mid and final position .The sound [] is longer in final position and when precedes a voiced consonant. The length of the sound is reduced when it is followed by a voiceless consonant. Activities : 1. Long and reduced variants of the diphthong [] contrasted in words:

Air

aerial

airplane

Wear

wearing

wherefore

Tear

tears

---

Care

cared

careful

Hair

haired

hairpin

Bare

bareback

bare skin 44

2. The diphthongs [Iɜ] and [] contrasted in pairs of words :

Chair

cheer

rare

rear

Dare

dear

stare

steer

Hair

here

bare

beer

Mare

mere

share

shear

Tear

tear

fare

fear

Pair

peer

spare

spear

Pronunciation Of The Diphthong [] The same as with some of the sounds , we do not have any similar sounds in Romanian for this diphthong and we meet difficulties when pronouncing the sounds. For a better pronunciation of the sound it is suggested to stress and to make longer the first element of the diphthong . The sound appears only n mid and final position in words . In the diphthong [] , [υ] is longer than [ə] when the sound is stressed , in other cases [υ] is quite reduced . Activities : 1. Variants of the diphthong []:

Tour

usually

Doer

vacuum

Endure

continuous

Brewery

influence

Bureau

valuable

Fluent

rescuer

2. The diphthong [] contrasted with [] and [Iɜ] :

Sure

share

sheer

Poor

pair

peer

Dour

dare

dear

Tour

tear

tear 45

b4

Lure

lair

Lear

Boor

bear

beer

Moor

mare

mere

Wooer

wear

we’re

WAYS OF TEACHING PROSODIC FEATURES

4.1 Teaching Intonation . Activities for Teaching Intonation We have been looking at different ways in which human sound is processed . The point to emphasize is that all this is dome in order to communicate , and when we communicate using sounds , we clearly do a good deal more than simply string allophones together to make up words. The message we convey depends just as much on how we say something as on what we actually say . The most obvious aspect of pronunciation is the articulation of specific sounds. Thus , the proper name “Henry “ can be said to consist of a sequence of sounds , or segments ,transcribed as [ ‘henri ] .But this segmental transcription does not of course , tell us very much about the way this world might be uttered in any specific situation . So far we have established that intonation is used by speakers to convey information , mainly through choice of significant pitch variation . But what kind of information can be conveyed ? In Crystal (1987)six functions are listed : • emotional : expression of attitudinal meanings such as excitement , surprise , reserve . •

grammatical : marking of grammatical contrasts , such as chunking into clauses and sentences , or contrast between questions and statements .

46

•

information structure : marking of the distinction between what is already , known and what is new . For example if someone says : “I saw a BLUE car.” , this presupposes that it is already known that a car is being talked about , and ‘blue’ is the new information .

• textual : marking of the structure of larger stretches of discourse , such as the distinctive melodic shape which different paragraphs are given in news – reading . •

psychological : organization of discourse into units that are more easily perceived and memorized , for example the tendency to divide telephone numbers into rhythmical chunks.

• Indexical : markers of personal identity , and of group membership; for example , members of certain occupation have distinctive ways of speaking ,such as preachers , sports commentators , street vendors , etc. It has been stated that there are four possible tune movements : Simple : - falling (moving downwards ) - rising (moving upwards ) Compound : - falling then rising - rising then falling Again the use of gesture and the backboard can help the teacher indicate the rising or fallen pattern . Gesture : a sweep of the arm from high to low will indicate the falling tune (vice-versa for the rise) . The teacher should

produce this gesture backwards -

from right to left , as this will be the right way round – from left to right – for students . The blackboard : (the non-text stage ) 1.

The teacher draws the parallel lines on the blackboard ; the top represents a high pitch , the bottom line represents a low pitch .Then an arrow is drawn to indicate the direction of the intonation pattern.

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2.

It is also possible to indicate both stress and intonation at the same time

(the text stage ) Once the learners are able to read English the teacher can use a sign system over the text , either on the blackboard or in a stenciled handout with exercises for pronunciation work . Brita Haycraft has pointed out the usefulness of such signs: They are a support for the students’ memory , they can isolate stress and intonation …they are neutral , common language , a code. Signs are there to help and therefore must be flexible. When students first begin , by merely looking at lines drawn on the blackboard (without words ) they ‘hear ‘ the sentence and imitate it . Activities : When we teach our students we must understand what intonation is .It is the music of a language – the way the voice goes up and down . We need to make these general points about intonation : • Intonation is very important in expressing meaning , and especially in showing our feelings ( surprise , anger, disbelief , gratitude ) • However , intonation patterns are quite complex , and it is better for students to acquire them naturally rather than try to learn them consciously . 1. A game-like activity – using reliant to set

up a situation that would

illustrate the difference in attitude . The teacher gives each student a small coin and asks them to respond ‘thank you ‘ , at the same time drawing on the blackboard :

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One student is then given a larger coin and encouraged to produce ‘ thank you ‘ on slightly higher pitch , and so on with increasing

amounts of money . The

differences in pitch are illustrated on the blackboard :

The teacher can use other objects , such as chocolate , depending on the age level and interests of the class . 2. Mood-cards . Two faces are drown on cards , one indicating a bored , uninterested mood like this :

The other like this :

And these once introduced , act as aids to correction whenever the dull intonation pattern is produced. These drawings can be very simple , or the more amusing cartoon-like drawing would be better . For younger learners they can also be given names such as :

Mr. Grumpy

Mr. Happy 49

3.Creating roles or enacting . One way of overcoming shyness and embarrassment is to have the pupils or students to adopt a role and act out a short sketch. For young learners this may quite simply entail having pupils walking towards each other and producing greetings : Mr. Happy: Hello .

Mr. Grumpy : Hello .

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4.2 Teaching English Rhythm and Rhyme . Activities

As

a general definition of the word

‘ rhythm ‘ , the Oxford English

dictionary gives the following one : ‘ movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements ‘ . The list of possible movements is very long , and ranges from one heartbeat , the tick-tack of the clock , the sound of footsteps , fingers tapping , to waves beating on the shore or the change of the tides. It certainly seems a if our lives are pervaded by rhythm even though the rhythm is not necessarily there objectively , but may be something we impose . Activities : 1. Walking the rhythm Level : all Time : 10 – 15 minutes Aims : developing awareness of pace and rhythm Materials: music to accompany walking and rhythmic texts , recorded if possible Preparation : 1. select of music to walk to. 2. make a recording if possible of a short poem or prose text in English and

one in the students’ mother tongue . Procedure : ask the learners to walk round the room in pairs , with one leading , and the other trying to walk like the leader . The leaders should move as they 51

like – stop , slow down , or speed up . After a maximum of minute ask the students to swap roles. After another minute , ask all the students to stop and discuss the way they felt , first in groups of four , then as class . Then play the music and ask the students to walk to it . Then ask how easy or neutral it is for them to walk to the pace of music . Next play the recording of a short poem or read it and encourage students to move a part of their body (head , leg or arm )or to sway their whole body to the rhythm of the text. 3. Feeling The Rhythm Level: elementary and above Time : 5 minutes Aims: becoming aware of the rhythm of English Materials: a short poem or rhyme Preparation : find a short poem or rhyme which is easy to understand , preferably with repetitions . Procedure : do this at the beginning of a lesson as warmer . The learners stand in circles of about 10 people . Ask them to take one step forward , swinging their arms , from behind their back to high in front of them and then step back , swinging their arms down . Say the poem or rhyme accompanying the rhythm with the movements . The students imitate you . When they have got the rhythm , proceed with the rest of your lesson . Suggestions for text : Icker backer , soldier cracker Icker backer boo Engine number nine Out go you !

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4.3 Teaching Word Stress and Sentence Stress . Activities In English we can use the word ‘stress’ to refer generally to the way we emphasize something ,or give it prominence . The term ‘stress’ is used in two different ways . One use is as a conventional label for the overall prominence of certain syllables over others . Used in this wider sense , stress does not correlate directly and simply with one feature as loudness , but represents the combined effect of several other factors besides . The second and narrower use is concerned with the way in which speakers actually achieve this impression of prominence , i.e. its physiological cause. In this sense , stress refers to the muscular energy which goes into the production of a syllable . The smaller domain in which the contrast stressed and unstressed syllables is the word .The characteristic patterning of these two kind pf syllables is commonly called word ‘stress ‘ . What makes English word stress particularly difficult to cope with for foreign learners is what makes English word stress appear chaotic and without rules .English word stress is fixed in the sense that every word has its own stress pattern which is an important part of its identity . Activities : 1. Word stress Level: all 53

Time : about 5 minutes Aim : to develop personal and physical awareness of word stress Materials : recordings of pieces of music with different rhythms Preparation : prepare a list of words with the same stress pattern , including nonsense words . Procedure : brainstorm a number of rhythmic feelings with the class first . make a list of fields where rhythmic activities occur .Here are some examples : Nature : a summer breeze , an autumn gale , the waves of the sea , breathing , heartbeats . Sports : riding a hoarse , rowing a boat , cycling , running , swimming , tennis. Ask the learners to sit comfortably , to close their eyes and breathe calmly . Tell them in a quiet voice that you are going to say some words . They should concentrate on the rhythm of the words , not the meaning and try to associate it with something personal . Ask them to complete the second part of the sentence such as :’ When I feel the rhythm of those words , it is as if ….’ or ‘ The rhythm of these words make me think of ….’. Quietly say the words you have prepared without stopping between them . repeat the list .

2. Sentence stress Level : elementary and above Time: three stages of 15-20 minutes .(can be in separate lessons ) Aims : raising awareness of how stress affects the meaning of a sentence. Materials : rhymes and statements Preparation : The students need to know what word stress is , before doing this. Prepare a class set of two suitable rhymes at the students’ level such as “This is the house that Jack built.” or “Boys and girls come out to play .”Rhymes which contain several one-syllable words are the most suitable . Stage 1 Noticing stress 54

Procedure : teach the class the first rhyme , ask them to clap the rhythm , or move any part of their body they like . Ask the students how many syllables the words have . Remind them that two-syllable words have one syllable stressed more strongly than the other . Go through the text and , asking your students to say where they fee there is strong stress . Stage 2 Procedure : teach the class the second rhyme . Say the first stanza and ask them to repeat it. Check that they understand it . then write it on the blackboard . Ask them to say it while clapping the stressed syllables . For example : “ THIS is the HOUSE that JACK built .” Ask a student to indicate

the main stress on the board .Draw your students’

attention to the fact that one word is stressed more strongly than the others . Ask some students to repeat the rhyme , clap it, walk it, putting the main stress on words . Stage 3 Practicing in conversations At this stage class practice is beginning to be more communicative . You can concentrate on sentence stress only , or you may want to combine it with intonation practice as well . Preparation : prepare a series of statements about your students , the school, their work place , current affairs , etc. at a level and on topics appropriate for the group . Some should be true and some should be false . Procedure : ask the learners to show whether the statements are true or false by repeating them , replacing some words , and making careful use of stress .Ask them to prepare their own list of true or false statements . In pairs one student reads out one of their statements and the other students responds. In twos or threes , the students pretend that they are in a noisy place , for example in a railway station or busy street , or trying to talk on a bad phone line . One starts a conversation , another ‘ misunderstands ‘ and puts the stress

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on the wrong word /syllable .The other student correct them by stressing the right word even more strongly .

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS Now comes the time to draw some conclusions . It is important to mention that I found necessary to pay a special attention to several aspects concerning the “Ways of teaching pronunciation in TEFL “ . The pronunciation process seems to be a practical one but it can not be practiced by anyone without being aware of some theoretical notions concerning pronunciation. The first chapter contains information about the difficulties met in the process of teaching English pronunciation . This process is not easy at all and it needs to be studied first. A teacher should know first the level of the learner , then to find out which are the difficulties. A very frequent difficulty is the difference between the English phonic system and the learners’ phonic system. In this case the teachers and the learners as well must study the differences between the ways of pronouncing special sounds. A speaker can have a wonderful grammar , a very well developed vocabulary , but he or she can be misunderstood by a native speaker or even by the teacher. We can ask what

is the problem? The answer to this question is that a bad

pronunciation makes the speaker or the learner to make first of all a bad impression about himself or about herself , and secondly of course to be misunderstood . Also in this chapter I tried to show some micro skills and techniques used in the teaching pronunciation process. It is very important for a teacher to know what 56

to teach , how to teach , when to teach and why to teach. It happens that the learners have no ideas why they need to be taught different things at different times and with different purposes. For example when I was at school practice I tried to see this thing at every lesson. Pupils were already intermediate learners I would say , it was the 9th grade and practically they had a good pronunciation , but it was not perfect , and it is normal , to my mind. I observed that they had a good teacher in English who knew all these things and in such a way they got good pronunciation . In the second chapter I mentioned something about the sound system. A teacher should be aware of all the peculiarities of the English vowels and consonants. Without it students or learners can not receive a good information about it and they are not able to become good teachers in their turn. For example if I did not receive this information when I was a beginner now I could never become a good teacher. The pronunciation process seems to be a practical one but it can not be practiced by anyone without being aware of some theoretical notions concerning pronunciation. The third and the fourth chapters are practical ones. Everyone knows that theory without practice is nothing, and I agree with this. Practical part means exercises for different types of vowels ,consonants and diphthongs as well , different

activities for teaching or better to

say for practicing the English

intonation ,word stress and sentence stress. This is one of the most important aspects in this process , I think. What I tried to do with the learners at school at this chapter was to practice with them intonation and word stress with the help of the tongue twisters. Actually this is all that I could in this domain. There are many other aspects in pronunciation I did not touch upon . My suggestion would be to pay also a special attention to such aspects as developing pronunciation through games , developing the process of learning pronunciation by studying the weak and the strong forms in a sentence. A learner should be aware which syllables to stress and in what cases. It is rather difficult to do it because , practically there are no rules for this. The learner should feel the stress exactly as the native speakers do. 57

In the end I would say , as a future teacher of English that a teacher must teach his students first of all the best pronunciation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Bowen Tim and Marks Jonathan : The Pronunciation Book Student

Centered activities for Pronunciation Work , Pilgrims Longman Resource Books, Longman , 1993 2. Celce-Murcia Marianne : Teaching English as a Second or Foreign

Language , (second edition ) Heinle and Heinle Publishers , a division of Wadsworth , Boston , Massachusetts , 1991 3. Chiţoran

Dumitru and Pîrlog Hortensia : Ghid de Pronunţie a Limbii

Engleze , editura ştiinţifică şi enciclopedică Bucureşti , 1998 4. Dalton Christiane and

Barbara Seidhofer : Pronunciation, language

teaching – a scheme for teacher education , editors CN Candlin and H. G. Widdowson , Oxford University Press , 1995 5. Doff Adrian : Teach English . A training course for teachers . Trainer’s

Handbook , Cambridge Teacher Training and Development , Cambridge University in Association with the British Council , 1990

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6. Doff Adrian : Teach English . A training course for teachers . Teacher’s Workbook , Cambridge Teacher Training and Development , Cambridge University in Association with the British Council , 1998 7. Harmer Jeremy : The Practice Of English Language Teaching , (new edition ) Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers , London and New York , 1994 8. Hubbard Peter , Jones Hywel , Barbara Thornton , Wheeler Rod : A Training Course for TEFL , Oxford University Press , 1994 9. Laroy Clement : Pronunciation . Resource Books for Teachers , series editors Alan Maley , Oxford University Press , 1996 10. www.en_wikipediawork/non+native pronunciation

11. www.peacecorps.gov/library/pdf/Moo41_tefltesl.pdf

12. www.ucop.edu/elltech/parker_paper.

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