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This session will not only give you the answers to why, what and how to teach, regarding pronunciation;
but also provide you with some tips, meaningful activities and
exercises to foster the learning and teaching of English pronunciation.
TODAY’S AIM
Interview your peers: Think about your previous English learning experience :
What percentage of your lesson time was devoted to pronunciation?
How would you rate the quality of your teachers’ pronunciation of English (good, fair, poor)?
Which techniques for teaching pronunciation did your teachers use?
What type of feedback did you receive regarding your pronunciation?
What else contributed to your English pronunciation learning? (at and outside school)?
Look at the cartoon and discuss why English is considered to be a Lingua Franca
So, Why teaching pronunciation ?
English is the major lingua franca globally.
More and more people need to use English for social, educational,
and professional reasons in all kinds of contexts, locally and
internationally. It is essential that people who use
English to communicate have a high level of intelligibility. (Celce-
Murcia et al, 1996)
What to teach:
Sounds
• vowels• Consonants• diphthongs
Stress and intonation
• words• sentences
Rhythm and linking
• speech• sentences
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men
tals
su
pra
se
gm
en
tals
When to teach?
When students…1. confuse or distort specific sounds
that may interfere with comprehension
2. Use pronunciations that are stigmatized. E.g. tree for three
3. Distort the pronunciation of words by stressing the wrong syllable
4. Use inappropriate intonation
Younger children who are learning English seldom need a great deal of help with pronunciation.
Learners older than 12 are more likely to have trouble with specific words, sounds, intonation patterns… require focused instruction.
Facts concerning pronunciation. Do you agree, Why? Why not?
Pronunciation difficulties
Interference from the first language:
The sounds of the first language are imprinted very early in the child’s development; however,
most children are born with the vocal equipment to produce the sounds of any
language.
Some pronunciation problems in English:
• Vowel combination sounds
• Homographs (read and read)• Homophones (red and read)
• Specific consonant sounds: /th/ /sh/• Word/sentence stress
How to teach pronunciation
INTUITIVE-IMITATIVE: pronunciation is acquired as a result of exposure and interaction in an environment where the target language is spoken.
ANALYTIC-LINGUISTIC : pronunciation is learned through instruction in order to raise awareness
Correct input
Meaningful pronunciation activities
1. LISTENING DISCRIMINATION: listening for pronunciation, listening for meaning
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Activity # 1: Listen to the words and draw the corresponding pictures and compare.
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3 4
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ACTIVITY
#2
Listen to the sentences and circle the correct sentence that follows the dialogue:
a) How many sheep do you have?b) Do you own a ship?
a) Yes,she can’t sit next to youb) No, go ahead this seat is free
a) Really? Do you know how to knit?b) My clothes are so neat
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2
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2. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS: phonemic charts, minimal pairs, transcriptions
Basic Principle: Understanding of sounds precedes understanding of the written word.
Word Phonetic representation
Bird A.E \ˈbərd\
Beard A.E \ˈbird\
Beer A.E \ˈbir\
Bear A.E \ˈber\
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Phonemic chart
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Phonemic chart
1-Ship 4- 1-Sheep 4-
2-Sit 5- 2-Seat 5-
3-Knit 6- 3-Neat 6-
1- 1-
2- 2-
3- 3-
1- 1-
2- 2-
3- 3-
diphthongs
Vowel sounds
1-Ship 4- 1-Sheep 4-
2-Sit 5- 2-Seat 5-
3-Knit 6- 3-Neat 6-
1- cat 1- cut
2-lack 2-luck
3-drank 3-drunk
1-day 1-die
2-pain 2-pine
3-raise 3-rise
diphthongs
Vowel sounds
MINIMAL
PAIRS
ACTIVITY#3
Consonants sounds
1- thigh 1-tie
2- theam 2-team
3- thread 3-tread
4-thorn 4-torn
1-lace 1-laze
2-ice 2-eyes
3-place 3-plays
4-bus 4- buzz
Consonants sounds
1-juice 1-use
2-jet 2-yet
3-jot 3-yatch
3. CONTROLLED PRACTICE: drills, repetition, shadow reading, reading aloud, role plays.
Intonation: Noun or Verb
ACTIVITY#4
Knowing when and where to stress the words you use is very important for understanding, and is part of a good accent. A clear example is that of the different stress in nouns and verbs.
to in’sult, an ‘insult
to ob’ject, an ‘object
to per’mit, a ‘permit
to pre’sent, a ‘present
to pro’duce, a ‘produce
to pro’ject, a ‘project
to pro’test, a ‘protest
To re’search, a ‘research
The stress is represented by anAphostrophe right
before the stressed syllable
1-You need to insert a paragraph here on this newspaper insert. 2- Can you object to this object? 3- I’d like to present you with this present. 4- The manufacturer couldn't recall if there'd been a recall. 5-The religious convert wanted to convert the world. 6-The political rebels wanted to rebel against the world. 7- Grandma wanted to record a new record for his latest artist. 8- If you perfect your intonation, your accent will be perfect. 9-Due to the drought, the fields didn't produce much produce this year. 10- Unfortunately, City Hall wouldn't permit them to get a permit.
Read the following sentences aloud:
4- COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICE: conversations-problem solving.
Practice these tongue - twisters in pairs
1-Betty bought a bit of butter but the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter so Betty bought a better bit of butter and the batter was betterhttp://storynory.com/2008/07/29/betty-butter/
2-3-
TEACHING PRINCIPLES:
Setting realistic goals
Integrating pronunciation to listening and speaking skills practice
Being student-centered
Helping learners become self-reliant
ASSESSING PRONUNCIATION
4-Teacher’s feedback
1-Diagnostic:Identifying learners’ pronunciation needs
2-On-going feedback:growing awareness on progress and
focus on improvement
3-Self monitoring and peer feedback
Celce-Murcia et al, 2001
Key points in pronunciation teaching :
Perception and Production
Practice ,practice, and practice
Patience
Relaxing atmosphere, confidence
building, awareness raising
Focus on communication
REFLECTIONS:
Learning pronunciation requires an enormous amount of practice, especially at early stages.
Pronunciation lessons work best if they involve the students in actually speaking, rather than in just learning facts or rules of pronunciation.
Pronunciation teaching works better if the focus is on larger chunks of speech, such as words, phrases and sentences.
Bibliography and webography
Celce-Murcia, Brinton, Goodwin (1996) TEACHING PRONUNCIATION. A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge:CUP
Celce-Murcia, Marianne (2001) TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE. United Kingdom:Heinle-Heinle.
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html
http://www.tedpower.co.uk/minimal.html