What Does Teaching Pronunciation Involve?: Sounds of The Language

What does teaching pronunciation involve?
The concept of “pronunciation” may be said to include:
 The sounds of the language, or phonology

 Rhythm and stress
 Intonation
 Flow of speech
The first of these is perhaps the most obvious and clearly defined of the three. However, this does
not mean that other aspects should be neglected: a learner may enunciate the sounds perfectly and
still sound foreign because of unacceptable stress and intonation; in Oriental “tone” languages
intonation often makes a difference to meaning.
Sounds of the language

It is useful to be able to list and define the sounds, or phonemes, of the language by writing them
down using phonetic representations. Different books vary as to exactly which, and how many,
symbols are used. For example, the sentence “Peter, come here!” would be represented by /piːtə
kʌm hiə/ (British English)
Rhythm and Stress

English speech rhythm is characterized by tone-units: a word or group of words which carries one
central stressed syllable (other syllables, if there are any, are lightened). The sentence: “Peter, come
here, please!”, for example, would divide into two tone-units: “Peter”, and “come here, please”, with
the two main stresses on the first syllable of “Peter”, and the word “here”.
Stress can also be indicated in writing: probably the simplest way to do so is to write the stressed
syllable in capital letters: for example, “PEter, come HERE, please!” (Another convention, normally
used in phonemic transcriptions, is to put a short vertical line above and before the stressed syllable:
/’piːtə kʌm ‘hiə/.)
Intonation
Intonation, the rises and falls in tone that make the “tune” of an utterance, is an important aspect of
the pronunciation of English, often making a difference to meaning or implication. Stress, for
example, is most commonly indicated not by increased volume but by slight rise in intonation (Brazil,
Coulthard and Johns, 1980). A native speaker usually has little difficulty in hearing intonation changes
in his or her own language; others, however, may not find it so easy. The different kinds of intonation
are most simply shown by the symbols \ / over the relevant syllable or word in order to show falling
and rising intonations: and the symbols ʌ v to show the fall-rise and rise-fall. An appropriate stress and
intonation representation for a rather bossy expression of our previous sentence example might be:
PÈter, come HÈRE, pléase. The rhythm of English is, then, mainly a function of its stress patterns;
these may also affect such aspects as speed of delivery, volume and the use of pause.
Flow of speech
It is important also to be aware of the way different sounds, stresses and intonations may affect one
another within the flow of speech. For example:
-The way a sound is articulated is influenced by what other sounds are next to it: the ed suffix of the
past tense in English, for example, may be pronounced /d/, /t/ or /id/ depending on what came
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Source: Penny Ur – Acourse in Language Teaching – Cambridge University press - 1996
immediately before.
- Intonation affects how we hear stress. In fact, stress is not, as mentioned above, usually expressed
by saying the stressed syllable louder: it is more often a matter of a raised or lowered tone level, with
a slight slowing-down.
-A change in the stress pattern of a word will change its sounds as well: the word subject, for
example, has the stress on the first syllable when it is a noun, on the second when it is a verb: and this
makes a noticeable difference to the sound of the vowels: /’sʌbdʒikt/, as compared to /səb’dʒikt/.
Thus, it is useful to be aware of the way sounds, stresses and intonations interact within entire
utterances to produce easily comprehensible pronunciation. Having said this, however, it is true that
many, perhaps most, words have a “stable” sound, stress and intonation pattern that can be
confidently taught in isolation.
1. Getting learners to perceive
The first thing that needs to be done is to check that the learner can hear and identify the sounds you
want to teach. The same goes for intonation, rhythm and stress: can the learner hear the difference
between how a competent, or native, speaker of the language says a word, phrase or sentence and
how a foreign learner says it?
This can be done by requesting imitation or seeing if learners can distinguish between minimal pairs
(such as ship/sheep, man/men, thick/tick, see Gimson, 1978); or by contrasting acceptable with
unacceptable pronunciation through recordings or live demonstrations.
Note that you can check perception of sounds using single words or even syllables, but work on
stress and intonation nearly always needs to be based on longer units.
When getting students to perceive, it is important to bear in mind the following recommendations:
 Try to create context for the examples you want to present.

 Expose students to correct pronunciation; show examples of the board, Power point presentations, audio,
live demonstrations, etc.
 Teachers can use different colors, arrows, etc. to show students what they should focus on.
 Promote discovery. Have students notice what you are focusing on (a sound, intonation, stress, etc.)
 Use activities and material that keep students active and motivated.
2. Telling learners what to do

The next stage for some learners may be some kind of explicit exhortation: this is what it ought to be,
this is what you are doing wrong. For sound formation it may help actually to use a sketch of the
mouth (see Box 4.3), and to describe the pronunciation of a sound in terms of lips, tongue, teeth, etc.
But for the other aspects of pronunciation a brief explanation is sufficient, followed by
demonstration and an invitation to imitate and practice.
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Some recommendations regarding this part of the sequence, which is suggested to follow, will be found
below:
 Have students repeat after you, or after a recording, several times.

 Exagerate when showing pronunciation.
BOX 4.4: IDEAS FOR IMPROVING LEARNERS’ PRONUNCIATION

 Imitation of teacher or recorded model of sounds, words and sentences
 Recording of learner speech, contrasted with native model
 Systematic explanation and instruction (including details of the structure and movement of
parts of the mouth)
 Imitation drills: repetition of sounds, words and sentences
 Choral repetition of drills
 Varied repetition of drills (varied speed, volume, mood)
 Learning and performing dialogues (as with drills, using choral work, and varied speed,
volume, mood)
 Learning by heart of sentences, rhymes and jingles.
 Jazz chants (see graham,1978)
 Tongue twisters
 Self-correction through listening to recordings of own speech.
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3. Practising correct pronunciation
Finally – when we are satisfied that the pronunciation point has been satisfactorily perceived and
learners can, if they take care, produce an acceptable version – we come on to the stage of practice:
consolidating and establishing the habits of acceptable pronunciation through exercises that
provide repetition and reinforcement.
When creating practice activities, consider the following:

 When practicing pronunciation, volume is key. Make sure you give your students plenty of opportunities to
practise.
 Remember that, when working with sounds, intonation and stress, practise may not only include
PRODUCING , but also IDENTIFYING .
 Try to create activities that are engaging and meaningful.
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What does teaching pronunciation involve?

The concept of “pronunciation” may be said to include:

 The sounds of the language, or phonology

Sounds of the language

Rhythm and Stress

1. Getting learners to perceive

 Try to create context for the examples you want to present.

2. Telling learners what to do

 Have students repeat after you, or after a recording, several times.

BOX 4.4: IDEAS FOR IMPROVING LEARNERS’ PRONUNCIATION

When creating practice activities, consider the following:

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