Teaching PronunciationJulieta HernandezCarolina R TorresCecilia Sosa

Language and its Teaching III

What does it involve?

•Phonology , the sounds of the language

•Stress and rhythm

•Intonation

Sounds • IPA: symbols for all the sounds in all the

languages

• Phoneme: a sound that is conventionally used to distinguish meaning in a particular language

son– sun - sin

• Allophones: variation of a phoneme depending on the context

▫Leaf - Feel

Difficulty for Spanish speakers…

SPANISH

•  poder bajar [po+ˈðe+ɾ βaˈxaɾ],•  el delfín [e+l de+lˈfin]

•  Alveolar trill [r] and the alveolar tap [ɾ] are in phonemic contrast word-internally between vowels carro 'car'  [r]

caro 'expensive‘[ɾ] 

• In final position the rothic will usually be [ɾ]

GERMAN

German consonant –d-

At the start or in the middle /d/

In final position /t/

Cluster –dt- /t/

JAPANESE

Japanese possesses one liquid consonant:

A flap that varies between /r/ to /l/

Right LightRed LedCrime ClimbFroze FlowsArrive Alive

Phonetic Bingo

Rhythm and stress

English is a very rhythmical language.

The two components of the system which have the greatest influence on rhythm are:

• sentence stress and

•the various features of connected speech

Teachers should:• Provide natural models of new target language

before introducing the written form.• Use natural language themselves in the

classroom.• Encourage learners to listen carefully to

authentic speech.• Teach recognition before production.• Integrate rhythm and other aspects of

phonology into grammar, vocabulary and functional language lessons as well as listening and speaking activities.

Intonation

•The systematic rise and fall in the pitch of the voice during speech (the way that the pitch of the voice goes up and down during speech).

You´re coming to dinner tonight.

INTONATION LANGUAGE(shows grammar, attitude and so

on)OR

TONE LANGUAGE (intonation shows difference in

lexical meaning)

Teaching pronunciation

•Direct method: phonetic scripts – transcriptions

Mainstream: symbols as a resource

•Audiolingualism: minimal pairsPronunciation ͢͢͢͢ set of habits

WorkingWith Minimal Pairs

WHAT IS IT?

Remove

SHIP

Remove

SHEEP

Remove

BET

Remove

VET

Remove

SINK

Remove

THINK

Game Over

•Consciousness raising

•Communication

Phoneme Learning

1) Presystemic : One word

2) Transfer: Equivalence- Variants

3) Approximative: Restructure

Unique and temporary system: INTERLANGUAGE

Phonemes: Crucial features Fortis / Lenis

Voice /k-t/ /g-d/ /p-b/

Aspiration

“Getting the distinctive features right or wrong can affect not just one phoneme but many”

General ideas about phonology and learning

I. L1 AND TRANSFER

II. L2 AND UNIVERSAL PROCESS OF ACQUISITION

L1 and Transfer

The first language has neither of the contrasting L2 sounds

The second language has one of the L2 sounds

The second language has both sounds as alophones of the same phoneme

L2 and universal process of aqcuisitionLearning pronunciation depends on...

L1 TRANSFER UNIVERSAL PROCESS L2

Choosing a Model

•Choose a local variety within a country

•Choose a country

USA Standard American English (SAE)

UK Received Pronunciation (RP)

Which is the goal?