Annotation
Thiscourse paper deals with new ways and methods of correcting students’pronunciation mistakes. Teaching English pronunciation is important and actualnowadays, so problems of teaching pronunciation and correcting students’mistakes in pronouncing are discovered in this course paper. There are avariety of good methods and techniques suggested for correcting learners' errors on thespot. Mistakes are part of our life; we all make mistakes now and then. Thereis nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as we learn from them and avoidrepeating them over and over. Additional information has been obtained from theliterature on the subject, to verify and assess the findings of the presentstudy.Introductiondeals with the description of such items as: actuality of the problem, the aim,the objects, the subject, the tasks, the methods, the sources.
Theoreticalpart deals with the perceptions of The importance of teaching English pronunciation, Modellingpronunciation, Aspects of pronunciation, The Role of TeachingPronunciation in FLT.
Practicalpart deals with the correcting learners’ pronunciation mistakes, the ways andmethods of correcting students pronunciation mistakes, Correcting WithoutHurting, Exercises for the Pronunciation of Plurals for English secondlanguage.
Conclusiondeals with the summary of all practical materials concerning the correctinglearners’ pronunciation mistakes.
Contents
Introduction
1. The importance of teaching English pronunciation
1.1 Ancient and Modern Pronunciations
1.2 Listening andpronunciation
1.3 Modelling pronunciation
1.4 Performance of a text
1.5 Aspects of pronunciation
1.6 The Role of TeachingPronunciation in FLT
2. Correcting learners’ pronunciationmistakes
2.1 New ways of correcting spoken errors
2.2 Correcting Without Hurting
2.3 Mistakes Made During Discussions andActivities
2.4 Problems of correcting students’pronunciation
2.5 Exercises for the Pronunciation of Pluralsfor English second language
Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix
Introduction
Actualityof the research work.
A lotof time and effort is spent on training courses and beyond in encouragingteachers to consider whether immediate or later correction of student errorsduring oral work is appropriate. There are a variety of good methods andtechniques suggested for correcting students' errors on the spot. Mistakes arepart of our life; we all make mistakes now and then. There is nothing wrongwith making mistakes as long as we learn from them and avoid repeating themover and over.
Tocorrect students’ errors has always been, and will always be the concern ofmost teachers. Some teachers are in favor of immediate correction, while othersare in favor of delayed correction. Some would even go further to consider thewhole process as time–consuming. In this article, I would like to dwell, basedon my practical experience, upon this controversial issue to offer somesuggestions for both immediate and delayed correction.
Whenstudents are corrected in front of their classmates, they feel offended and getdiscouraged. They expect teachers to continually correct them during classes.Failure to do so is likely to create confusion and suspicion on the part of thestudents. As such, teachers are expected to strive to find most creative waysto deal with this problem that most typically arises. They need to encourageand stimulate their students to participate in class without any fear of makingmistakes.
Moststudents refuse to answer to the teacher in the classroom on the ground thatthey are most likely to be the laughingstock of their class fellows.Consequently, they get discouraged and feel humiliated. They refrain fromresponding to the teacher’s questions which may deprive them of a valuablelearning opportunity.
Generallyspeaking, there are three types of oral mistakes that need to be correctedduring class-discussion. These are: grammatical, vocabulary, and pronunciationmistakes. This leads us to a very important question: should we interrupt ourstudents during discussion or avoid interrupting them as much as we can? Toanswer this question we need to ask ourselves whether the focus is on accuracyor fluency. In fact, to save our students the embarrassment and in order not todistract them, we can employ less provocative approaches. One way is to makenotes of the most common mistakes made by a student to be discussed later.Write them on the board without revealing the name of the student in order notembarrass him/her. Ask the rest of the class to identify these mistakes andcorrect them. Another way is to raise an eyebrow, or say, “Excuse me?” Or theteacher can ask for repetition without indicating the mistake.
Alsowe can employ another approach called, ‘selective correction’. In this case,the teacher decides to correct only certain errors. These errors can be decidedby the objectives of the lesson, or the exercise that is being done. In otherwords, if students are focusing on past simple tense, then only errors relatedto this grammatical area need to be corrected. Other mistakes are ignored.
Inconclusion, the teacher can decide which is the most beneficial and effectiveapproach to error correction based on the situation itself. It will helpstudents overcome their shyness and play an active role in class discussionswithout being afraid of making mistakes. In this case, they would acknowledgeand accept their mistakes as part of the learning process instead of beingoffended when they are corrected by their teacher.
Theaim of the research work is to consider what benefits correction ofany kind might have for learners, as well as to present some ideas forconducting later correction (correction slots).
Theobject is theoretical phonetics of the English language.
Thesubject of the research work: correcting students’ pronunciation.
Thetasks of research:
1. To analyze theoretical material on theproblem of the research.
2. To reveal peculiarities of Englishpronunciation.
3. To investigate new ways and methods ofcorrecting students’ pronunciation.
Followingmethods of the research were used during the writing of the work:
1. study and analyze of methodicalliterature;
2. determined observation on usage ofstudying materials.
Thesource consists of scientific, phonetic materials, teaching aids,articles on phonetics.
1.The importance of teaching English pronunciation
Contributing thisparticular gift can occasionally be a bit tricky, for several reasons. First,your students have already studied English for years and their pronunciationhabits are not easy to change. A second problem for those of you who are nativespeakers of English is that you produce sounds so naturally that you may not beaware of how you do it, so even when you know that your students' pronunciationis wrong, you may not know what the problem is or how to correct it. Finally,the overwhelming majority of Amity teachers are not native speakers of theBritish «RP» accent («Received Pronunciation», also knownas «BBC English» or «the Queen's English») which is theaccepted English standard in Kazakhstan in most textbooks, including Junior andSenior English for Kazakh. (Even in the UK, this accent is spoken by onlya fairly small minority.) The upshot of all this is that teaching pronunciationmay a more complicated issue than it seems.
Thegood news, however, is that through dint of hard effort it is possible forstudents to make some improvement in their pronunciation, particularly whenthey are attending to their pronunciation. (In other words, even futureteachers with fairly heavy accents can learn to pronounce words accuratelyenough when paying attention that they provide an acceptable model for theirown students.) If you pay attention to your own pronunciation, and spend alittle time browsing through typical Kazakh English textbooks, youshould also be able to learn enough about the mechanics of pronunciation to beable to help students. Finally, as long as you are aware of the differencesbetween your own accent and RP, you can provide a useful pronunciation modelfor your students.
Inclass, speak naturally using your own accent, although if there are markedregional features to your speech you might lean as far in the direction of amore broadly accepted standard as is comfortable for you.
Learnthe differences between your accent and RP. If you are not familiar with theInternational Phonetic Alphabet and the accepted RP pronunciation of words.
Whenteaching pronunciation, in places where your accent differs from RP, don'tinsist that students follow you rather than the standard. (Future teachers willneed to teach the standard in textbooks.) Rather, point out the differencebetween your accent and the standard so that students are aware of it.
Manyof the pronunciation problems you encounter in students will have less to dowith the fine tuning of a particular English accent than with simply gettingthem to pronounce words in a way that is more or less acceptable in any varietyof English, so focus your efforts on the many areas where you can help studentsin their pronunciation. [1,52]
1.1 Ancient and Modern Pronunciations
Wecannot be sure exactly how the ancient Romans pronounced their Latin, althoughthe discipline of Historical Linguistics has given us a reasonably good idea oftheir general spoken practice. The early borrowings from Latin into variouslanguages give some idea of the Roman pronunciation, for example Gothic«wins» meaning 'wine' was borrowed from Latin «vinum»; thisshows the -w- pronunciation of -v- in Latin clearly, at least at the time thatthe borrowing took place.
InEnglish speaking countries, two problems arise: First, are we to pronounce -v-as -w- is pronounced in English, or like English -v-? And then are we to say-ch- for Latin -c-, palatalizing the consonant before the fronted vowels, as inItalian, or pronounce it like English hard -k-? Teachers trained in thetradition of the Catholic Church will generally use the fricative -v- and thepalatalized -ch-, others will use the other sounds, which the majority ofmodern scholars feels to be more authentic. A great deal of heat, if not light,has been spent on the problem of the «correct pronunciation ofLatin». Probably most students will go with the method that their teachersuse., but whichever way you follow, remember that this is a matter ofscholarship, not of religion or faith. If there is any overriding parameter ofjudgment, it should probably be on the side of convenience, but in the lastanalysis the student who is really concerned with the way Latin may havesounded, as a part of his esthetic appreciation of a poet like Vergil, must tryto find out the best way, so far as he can determine it, and follow it.
Oneperson finds it ludicrous to read Vergil with an accent which appeared athousand years after the poet's death; but another reads Vergil the way Danteread him, thinking this is good enough for him. Here as elsewhere de gustibusnon disputandum est.
Butif you are going to try to read Latin authentically, be sure you do notaspirate the stop-consonants, which is one of the oddities of English whichmakes the study of English so far for most others. It is virtually necessary tosay «arpor» for 'tree" in order to avoid the Anglicized«arbhor». We know from grammarians that the Romans said«urps» for the city of Rome, and this is probably typical of theirgeneral pronunciation of the stop consonants. Furthermore, you should not usethat nondescript English -r-, but roll your -r- broadly, as most of the Romaniclanguage do. Whether it is a tongue trill, or a throat rumble is not important,so long as it isn't an English vanishing- consonant with a tongue flap (like«berry» pronounced 'Betty') or an American hybrid.
Moreimportant is the matter of the pronunciation of verse, for which see Section14) of this supplement for a full discussion. The substitution of stressedaccent in the place of genuinely LONG vowels is arbitrary and quite against thenature of both Greek and Latin poetry, which was length-conscious without anyspecial attention to stress. If this process is justified by saying that it isa habit, understand that it is a bad habit, and please cut it out. SubstitutingSTRESS for LENGTH is about as sensible as tapping your foot every time you heara Chinese rising tone. [2,56]
Incidentallymuch the same misfortune has accrued to the sensitive and lovely ClassicalGreek language, where a perfectly attested pitch inflection of a musical fifth(marked by an acute accent in the Alexandrian period for the benefit ofbenighted foreigners like us) is regularly replaced by a heavy stress. Thisidentical stress is also used for the circumflex, which loses its double-lengthand up-and-down musical inflection, so reminiscent of Swedish. And (believe itor not!) this same stress is used for the grave, which is nothing more than thereplacement of an acute by a low (barytone) at base level, and is so marked insome extant papyri on every syllable for real dunderheads in the Alexandrianschools. But for the pig-headed, caution to the winds!
Ifyou did these thoughtless things to modern Bengali, people would fail tounderstand you, or jeer if you persisted. But since the Classical peoples arenot around to defend themselves, it look like a case linguistic open-season onwhatever is around. But the bottom line: You are losing authenticity, and moreimportant a large measure of esthetic appreciation.
1.2 Listening and pronunciation
Unlessyou are fortunate enough to have very small classes, it will be difficult togive much individual attention to students' pronunciation. Students musttherefore learn to rely on their ears to tell them whether their pronunciationapproximates that of native speaker models. However, many students are not inthe habit of listening carefully before attempting to repeat. In fact, theyhave often been trained for years to immediately repeat whatever the teachersays, no matter how vague their impression is of the jumble of sounds they aretrying to reproduce. Another problem is that while students are listening tothe teacher's spoken model, their attention is often focused more on preparingto repeat than on listening. The teacher's sentence consequently serves less asa model for pronunciation than as a starting shot announcing that studentsshould try to speak.
Thefirst approach to pronunciation is thus helping students develop the habit oflistening carefully before they speak. To do this, the first time you say aword or sentence, ask students to listen just listen. They should not murmurthe utterance quietly after you; instead they should concentrate on fixing thesound in their memories. It is helpful if you repeat the model utteranceseveral times before asking students to repeat; this not only allows them morechances to listen but also helps students break the habit of blurting out aresponse as soon as you finish.
Exerciseswhich require listening but no oral response may also help sharpen studentlistening skills. Minimal pair drills are particularly good for helpingstudents learn to hear the difference between similar sounds. Minimal pairs arewords that are pronounced exactly the same with the exception of one sound (Ex:pin--pen, bid--bit). Sample exercise: To help students learn to hear thedifference between the short «i» and «e» sounds, askstudents to raise their pen when you say the word «pen» and a pinwhen you say «pin.»
Trainingstudents' ability to hear sound distinctions will not necessarily result ingood pronunciation. However, students who have not clearly heard a soundobviously have less chance to produce it correctly than those who listencarefully. [3,47]
1.3 Modelling pronunciation
Mostnative speakers of English have not formally studied the mechanics of Englishpronunciation, so this is an area in which it would be helpful to do somehomework so that you are prepared to explain how sounds are made if called onto do so. However, you will almost certainly be expected to serve as a modelfor pronunciation, and for this purpose a limited amount of choral drill can beuseful. Steps for such a drill would be as follows:
1)Choose a text that represents normal spoken English (as opposed to more bookishlanguage). A dialog from your textbook would be a good choice.
2)Read sentences aloud, clearly but at a fairly normal speed. Have studentslisten to each sentence once or twice before attempting to repeat it. Remindthem that they should be listening to and trying to mimic the rhythm, stress,and intonation patterns of your speech as well as your pronunciation.
3)Build up longer sentences from the end, starting with the last few words, andthen adding the previous ones. Ex: "...give you money?""...expect me to give you money?" «Do you really expect me togive you money?» (This approach tends to preserve sentence intonationbetter than working from the beginning.)
Onefun way to practice the rhythm of English sentences is by taking a dialog froma book, preferably one with short sentences, and turning it into a «jazzchant.» In essence, this means finding the natural rhythm of each sentenceand then chanting it with emphasis on the key words, something like a groupcheer at a football game or a chant at a protest rally («Hell no, we won'tgo» and so forth). Clapping or pounding desks adds to the festive natureof the activity. This exercise is particularly good for driving home the pointthat not all words in English sentences get equal stress.
Suggestions:
Ifyou want students to prepare choral drill of a dialog before class, it is bestif they have a taped model to work with. Without having heard a dialog beforethey repeat it, they may wind up polishing an incorrect performance.
Choraldrill is best in small doses. It generally only takes a short period of drillfor students to get the point you wish to make, and drill beyond that pointrapidly turns into mindless parroting. [4,58]
1.4 Performance of a text
Oncestudents are able to repeat accurately after a spoken model, the next step isto have them practice speaking from a written text. Keeping pronunciationaccurate while reading a text aloud is more difficult than repeating after ateacher, but it is still easier for students than maintaining correctpronunciation in free conversation because they can focus their attention onpronunciation rather than grammar or word choice.
Oneway to do this is to choose a text and copy it for students. If the goal is toteach daily conversational English, it is best if the text represents normalspoken English, though an argument can be made for sometimes including texts ofliterary and cultural merit (famous orations, poems, etc.) that were alsointended to be read aloud or recited. Having chosen a text, go over it withstudents in class and have them take whatever notes they need on pronunciation,syllable stress, sentence intonation and stressed words. Next have studentspractice reading the text aloud (either in class or at home). Students shouldbecome very familiar with the text. Finally, either have students perform thetext in class or — if the equipment is available — have them tape a readingof the text. The advantages of the latter approach are that students don't allhave to listen to each other read the same text, and that you can listen atyour leisure. [5,95]
1.5 Aspects of pronunciation
Manystudents tend to think of pronunciation primarily as accurate production of thesounds of English words, but this is neither the only aspect of the problem northe only important one. Consequently, one way in which you can help studentsimprove is by ensuring that they are aware of all of the important issues. (see Appendix4)
1)Accurate pronunciation of sounds: This is really two problems, one of abilityand one of knowledge. Students first need to learn to pronounce as many of thesounds of English as possible accurately. The particular sounds with whichstudents will have difficulty depend to a large extent on students' firstlanguage, but there are some sounds in English such as the «th»sounds in «think» and «this», or the short vowels in«head,» «hit,» and «put» which are difficult forstudents from many language backgrounds.
Thesecond problem is making sure that students know what sounds they shouldpronounce in a given word. Common pronunciation problems include omittingsounds, adding extra ones, or simply pronouncing the wrong sound.
2)Syllable stress: Unlike many other languages, English requires that onesyllable in each word be stressed more than others. The importance of puttingthe stress on the right syllable in English cannot be underestimated; puttingthe stress on the wrong syllable is more likely to make a word unintelligiblethan is mispronouncing one of its sounds. For many students who are especiallyhard to understand, misplaced syllable stress is the main problem.
3)Sentence word stress: In English sentences, not all words are given equalemphasis. Key words (usually the words that contain new or importantinformation) are stressed and pronounced more slowly and clearly than otherwords. Take, for example, the question «Are you going to go toBoston?» If the focus of the question is on where the listener will go,the sentence will sound something like «Ya gonna go ta Boston»; theword «Boston» would be pronounced clearly and with more emphasis. If,in contrast, the emphasis is on who is going, the sentence would sound like«Are you gonna go ta Boston?» While students don't necessarily needto learn to reduce the unimportant words in sentence, they should learn tostress key ones. (Students should also be made aware of English word reductionsfor listening comprehension.)
4)Sentence intonation: Intonation patterns in English sentences primarilyindicate the degree of certainty of an utterance, i.e. whether it is astatement, question, or suggestion. Statements rise to a plateau, and then endwith falling intonation. Most questions end in rising intonation; however, Wh-questions (who, what, where, when, why and how) end with falling intonation. Itis important for students to learn these patterns not only in order tocommunicate meaning, but also in order to avoid unwittingly sounding rude orindecisive.
5)Enunciation: A final important aspect of pronunciation is clear enunciation.Some students lack confidence in speaking or are unsure of their pronunciation,and therefore speak either very quietly or unclearly. Obviously this makes themmore difficult to understand, and students should therefore be reminded thatspeaking audibly and clearly is an important aspect of pronunciation.
Theideal approach to student pronunciation problems is for you to workindividually with each student, listening for problems, explaining the properpronunciation (intonation, etc.), modelling correct pronunciation, andlistening to the student practice. However, this is usually not possiblebecause of time limitations and class size, so the discussion below will focuson approaches which can be used with a class. [6,52]
1.6The role of teaching Pronunciation in FLT
TeachingEnglish pronunciation is an area of language teaching that many Englishteachers avoid. While there are many textbooks and instruction manualsavailable, as well as books on the theories and methodologies of languageteaching there is comparatively little on learning pronunciation.
Why?Is it because we don't need to teach pronunciation or because it cannot betaught?
Certainly,we need to teach pronunciation. There is a big difference between a ship and asheep and a pear and a bear! When teaching any language as a foreign or secondlanguage, our first goal for our students is basic communication, and thatcan't happen if no one can understand what they are saying.
HowNOT to Teach Pronunciation
Whenteachers decide to focus on pronunciation practise many of them make themistake of trying to teach pronunciation along with introducing vocabulary.This can work with students who have a «good ear,» or who perhapsspeak a related language. However it can be hit and miss with students whosemother tongue has no relation to the target language.
Thisbrings us back to the question of whether pronunciation can be effectivelytaught at all? The answer is yes, of course it can be taught, it's just thatthe way many textbooks tell us to teach it is actually one of the leasteffective.
Mosttextbooks will have you drill pronunciation with repetition of the vocabulary.Some of the better ones will have you work on it with spelling, which is animportant skill, especially in English with its many irregularities andexceptions. Very few will start you and your students where you need to start,however, and that is at the level of the phoneme.
Startwith Phonemes (but not necessarily phonetic script)
Thedictionary defines «phoneme» as «any of the perceptuallydistinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word fromanother, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, andbat.» This definition highlights one of the key reasons that we must, aslanguage teachers, start our pronunciation instruction at the level of thephoneme. If a phoneme is a «perceptually distinct unit of sound» thenwe have to realize that before students can consistently produce a givenphoneme, they must be able to hear it. Thus the first lessons in pronunciationshould involve your students listening and identifying, rather than speaking. [7,85]
Introduceyour phonemes in contrasting pairs like /t/ and /d/. Repeat the phonemes inwords as well as in isolation and ask the students to identify them. In orderto visually represent the differences they are listening for, you may want todraw pronunciation diagrams for each sound showing the placement of the tongueand lips.
Youmight also consider teaching your students the necessary symbols from thephonetic alphabet, because although T and D are written differently in English,the TH in «there» and the TH in «thanks» are writtenexactly the same, despite the difference in pronunciation. This isn'tessential, and really works best with adults rather than children, but it isworth it for any students who are highly visual or analytical learners.
Youcan play all sorts of matching games with this material to make the drills morefun and less stressful. You can have students play with nonsense sounds andfocus on the tiny differences between contrasted phonemic pairs, the key beingto get them to hear the phoneme.
Allthese games are included in the English Language Games Digital Book for adultswith 163 games and activities!
FromRecognition of Phonemes to Practise
Oncethey can hear and identify a phoneme, it's time to practice accurate productionof the sound. For this, pronunciation diagrams are useful. Your students needto be able to see where to put their lips and tongues in relation to theirteeth. Most sounds are articulated inside your mouth and students have no ideawhat you are doing in order to produce that particular noise. If you have evertried to teach a Japanese student how to say an American /r/, then you haveexperienced the frustration of trying to get a student to produce tonguemovements they can't see. There are books out there with diagrams, and with alittle practice you can probably produce sketches of them yourself. If youcan't, get hold of a good reference book so that you can flip to the relevantpages. Your students will thank you for this insight into the mouth, especiallysince there is no danger of the embarrassment of bad breath with a drawing. [8, 26]
Whilethis may sound time consuming and unnatural, you have to realize that you arein the process of reprogramming you students' brains, and it is going to take awhile. New neural pathways have to be created to learn new facial movements andlink them with meaning.
Inthe classroom, we are recreating an accelerated version of the infant'slanguage learning experience. We are providing examples and stimulus throughgrammar and vocabulary lessons, but with pronunciation lessons we are also breakingdown language to the point of babbling noises so that our students can playwith the sounds, as infants do, and learn to distinguish meaningful sounds onan intuitive level while making use of more mature analytical skills that aninfant doesn't have.
Ifyou regularly take ten minutes of your lesson to do this kind of focusedphonemic practice, your students articulation and perception of phonemes willsee improvement after several weeks, and you will get them all to the pointwhere you can practice pronunciation on a word or even a sentential level.
Pronunciationgames for children can be found in this English Language Games for Childrenbook: English Language Games for Children
Movingon to Pronunciation of Words
Theprogress will be more pronounced with younger students, but even adults willbegin to give up fossilized pronunciation errors when reciting vocabulary wordsin isolation. It's time to make the next leap – correct pronunciation in thecontext of natural conversation. Make no mistake; this is a leap, not becauseit is more physically challenging, but because you are about to address acompletely different set of barriers.
Whenwe teach on the phonemic level, we are struggling to expand physical andneurological limitations. We are taking irrelevant noises and making themsignificant to our students, while trying to teach them a greater range ofarticulation with their mouths, tongues, and lips. But when we work onpronunciation at a lexical or sentential level, we are dealing with complexemotional, psychological, and cultural motivations that require their own kindof re-education.
ThreeBig Barriers to Good English Pronunciation
Anxiety,learned helplessness and cultural identity are the three biggest barriers tostudents' successful adoption of a second language. Not every student will haveall of these problems, but it is a sure thing that all of them will have atleast one of these problems to a greater or lesser extent. As English teacherswe have to find ways to bring these problems to our students' attention innon-threatening ways, as well as suggest tools and strategies for dealing withthem.
Anxietyis a fairly straightforward problem to discover. Students who feel a lot ofanxiety in speaking are generally well aware of the situation and they knowthat it is impeding their progress. The impact on pronunciation specificallycan be seen in their unwillingness to experiment with sounds, a general lack offluency that makes it hard to blend sounds correctly, and poor control of thesentential elements of pronunciation, such as intonation and syllable stress.The best remedy for anxiety is highly structured, low- pressure practise. Inother words – games.
Jazzchants, handclap rhymes, reader's theatre, and dialog practise from textbookscan all be helpful. Structure and repetition reduce the pressure on thestudents and allow them to focus on pronunciation and intonation. Classroomrituals, like starting the lesson with a set greeting and reading aloud aletter from the teacher are also excellent ways to integrate pronunciationpractise into the rest of the lesson while reducing stress for the student.Rote phrases, drilled for correct pronunciation, will eventually beinternalized and the correct pronunciation will improve overall pronunciation. [9,74]
Learnedhelplessness is much harder to bring to a students attention, and may bedifficult for the teacher to recognize. The term «learnedhelplessness» comes from psychology and refers to the reaction people andanimals have to a hopeless situation. Basically, after trying something severaltimes and consistently being unable to get a positive result, we shut down. Westop trying. If students are getting negative feedback on their English skills,especially pronunciation, and if they try to improve but feel they haven't,then they stop trying. You might think they are being lazy, but in fact theysimply don't believe they can improve. They have already given up.
Luckily,once it is recognized, the fix is pretty easy: stay positive, praise frequentlyand specifically, and periodically tape students speaking so that they can hearthe difference after a few months. If you can coax even a little progress outof a student, then tell the student exactly what they just did right (Forexample: The difference between your short /a/ and short /e/ were really clearthat time! Let's do it again!). Tape the students reading or reciting a passageat the beginning of the year, then tape the same passage every couple ofmonths. Play the tapes for you student and let them hear how much they haveimproved over the course of a few months. They will probably impressthemselves, and you!
Finally,the question of cultural identity has to be dealt with. Students that don'twant to be assimilated into an English speaking society aren't going to give upthe things that mark them as different. An accent is a clear message aboutone's roots and history, and many people may be unwilling to completely give itup. As teachers, we need to ensure that students' can be easily understood byothers, but we don't have to strive for some hypothetical Standard Englishpronunciation. In fact, we should highlight for our class that after a certainpoint, accents don't matter much at all.
Somefun activities that can help your students become more sensitive to the subjectof accents are doing impersonations, listening to native regional accents andteaching you a phrase in their own language. [10,58]
Impersonationscan be done as a class. Students can impersonate famous people, like John Wayneor Nicholas Cage, or they can impersonate teachers – always a fun activity! Theidea is to have them take on a whole different identity and try out thepronunciation that goes with it. Often, your students will produce the bestEnglish pronunciation of their lives when impersonating someone else. Be sureto tape them for this as well, since it proves that they can use Englishpronunciation in a conversation or monologue.
2.Correcting learners’ pronunciation mistakes
I had many studentswho have obtained an amazing vocabulary and whose grammar is the envy of otherstudents. It is just too bad that no one can understand what they are saying.As an ESL teacher, your first priority is to help your students develop theirpronunciation skills. Without proper pronunciation, other aspects of Englishsuch as vocabulary and grammar become useless if a student cannot be understoodwhen he uses the language.
Whilepronunciation is the most important component of any ESL class, it is usuallyalso the least interesting in the eyes of the students. Here are some tips tohelp you make the most out of teaching pronunciation to your ESL students:
–Neverbe shy to correct your students’ pronunciation in class. Wait until the studenthas completed the thought and then ask the class to repeat words that you thinkwere not pronounced properly. Never interrupt a student in mid sentence.
–Whenyou are teaching an ESL class about a particular topic, always spend at least10 minutes teaching the pronunciation of new vocabulary words to students. Asthey use the vocabulary words, correct pronunciation as necessary.
–Usefun methods to teach pronunciation. One such method is by using a stick (orsome kind of pointer) to point at each word. When you point, the studentsshould repeat the word. If you don’t point, there should be complete silence.There will always be a student or two who will still say the word after youhave pointed three or four times and suddenly stop. You can make a competitionto see who is paying attention. Divide the classroom into five teams and giveeach team pictures of the vocabulary words or actual objects if they areavailable. When you call a word, the team that is responsible for that wordshould stand up and say the word in unison. As the game progresses, you can tryto trick the teams by saying a vocabulary word but pointing at a team that isnot responsible for the word. You can grade each team (using stars on theboard) based on how every team member reacts, loudness, and togetherness.
–Alwaysfocus both on the group and invididuals when practing pronunciation. Having thegroup repeat after you is helpful, but it is also important to have individualstudents repeat after you to make sure that bad pronunciation does not get hiddenin the group.
–Neverallow your students to laugh at one another during pronunciation practice.Being laughed at can seriously damage a student’s inspiration to want to learnEnglish. It is important to promote an environment were students can feel verycomfortable with speaking outloud in class.
–Ifyour students are having trouble with a particular word or sound, ask them towatch your mouth as you repeat the word. They can attempt to imitate the shapeof your mouth which will help improve their pronunciation. [14,78]
2.1New ways of correctingspoken errors
1.Collect the errors for later
Youcan then correct them later in the same class (with a game like a grammarauction or just eliciting corrections from the class) or in a future class (forexample writing error dictation pairwork worksheets or using the sametechniques as can be used in the same class). Make sure you give positivereinforcement as well, e.g. “Someone said this sentence, and that is reallygood.” (see Appendix 1)
2.Facial expression
Forexample, raise an eyebrow, tilt your head to one side or give a slight frown.Most people will do this naturally, but there is a slight chance a teacher’sexpression will be too critical or too subtle for your students to pick up on,and you can (amusingly) practice facial expressions in a teaching workshop byparticipants communicating certain typical classroom messages (“move over thereto work with this person”, “work in pairs” etc.) using just their heads andfaces, including feedback on spoken errors in that list.
3.Body language
Theproblems with using body language to show errors could also be that it is takenas very serious criticism or that it is too vague. Possibilities include usingyour hands (rolling a hand from side to side to mean “so-so attempt”; making acircle by moving your index finger to mean “one more time”; or a cross withfingers, open palms or even forearms to show a very clear “no” or “wrong”-probably only suitable for a team game etc where the responsibility is shared),head (tilted to one side to mean “I’m not sure that sounds correct”), orshoulders (hunched to reinforce “I don’t understand what you are saying”).Again, practising this in a teaching workshop can be useful, as can elicitingother body language teachers could have used after an observation.
4.Point at the correct language
Ifyou have something on the correct form easily accessible on the whiteboard, inthe textbook or on a poster, just pointing at it can be a subtle but clear wayof prompting students to use the correct language. What you point at could bethe name of the tense or word form they are supposed to be using, a verb formstable or the actual correct verb form, a grammatical explanation, or anothergrammatical hint such as “future”, “prediction” or “polite”.
5.Repeat what they said
Thiscan mean repeating the whole sentence, one section of it including the wrongpart, the sentence up to the wrong part, the sentence with the wrong partmissed out (with maybe a humming noise to show the gap that should be filled)or just the wrong part. You can illustrate that you are showing them an errorand give some hint as to which bit is wrong by using a questioning tone (foreverything you say or just for the wrong part). This method is overused by someteachers and can sound patronising if used too often or with the wrong tone ofvoice, so try to mix up the different versions of it described here and toalternate with methods described in the other tips.
6.Just say the right version
Thestudents can then repeat the correct version or tell you what the differencebetween the two sentences was and why their version was wrong. Because thestudents don’t do much of the work in this way of being corrected, it might notbe as good a way of remembering the correction as methods where you give moresubtle clues. Its advantages are that it is quick and suits cultures, classesand students that think of elicitation as shirking by the teacher. It can alsobe more face-saving than asking them for self-correction, as trying to correctthemselves risks making even more mistakes. The “right version” could mean thewhole sentence or just the correction of the part that was wrong. In the lattercase, you can then ask them to put it into the sentence in the right place andrepeat the whole thing.
7.Tell them how many mistakes
Thismethod is only really suitable for controlled speaking practice, but can be avery simple way of giving feedback in that situation. Examples include “Most ofthe comparatives were right, but you made two mistakes” and “Three words are inthe wrong position in the sentence/ are mixed up”. Make sure you only use thismethod when students can remember what you are referring to without too muchprompting.
Otheruseful language:
“Verygood, but you made just one mistake with the passive”
(Fora tongue twister) “Good attempt/ Getting better, but in two places you said/sh/ where it should have been /s/. Can you guess which words?”
8.Use grammatical terminology to identify the mistake
Forexample, “(You used) the wrong tense”, “Not the Present Perfect”, “You need anadverb, not an adjective” or “Can change that into the passive/ indirectspeech?” This method is perhaps overused, and you need to be sure that thegrammatical terminology isn’t just going to confuse them more.
Otheruseful language:
“Becausethat is the present simple, you need to add the auxiliary (verb) ‘do’”
“Saythe same sentence, but with the comparative form”
9.Give the rule
Forexample, “‘Since’ usually takes the Present Perfect” or “One syllableadjectives make the comparative with –er, not more + adjective” This works bestif they already know the rule, and you at least need to make sure that theywill quickly understand what you are saying, for example by only usinggrammatical terminology you have used with them several times before.
10.Give a number of points
Thisis probably best saved for part of a game, especially one where students worktogether, but you can give each response a number of points out of 10. The sameor other teams can then make another attempt at saying the same thing to see ifthey can get more points. If you don’t want students to focus on accuracy toomuch, tell them that the points will also give them credit for goodpronunciation, fluency, politeness, persuasiveness and/ or originality ofideas.
Usefullanguage:
“Verygood fluency and very interesting, but a few basic mistakes, so I’ll give yourteam a score of (IELTS) 5.5. Practice your script in your team again for 5minutes and we’ll try it one more time”
“Yougot all the articles right this time, so I’ll give you 9 out of 10”
11.Just tell them they are wrong (but nicely)
Positiveways of being negative include “nearly there”, “getting closer”, “just onemistake”, “much better”, “good idea, but…”,”I understand what you mean but…”,“you have made a mistake that almost everyone does/ that’s a very commonmistake”, “we haven’t studied this yet, but…” and “much better pronunciation,but…” With lower level and new classes, you might have to balance the need tobe nice with the need to be clear and not confuse them with feedback languagethat they don’t understand, perhaps by sticking to one or two phrases to givefeedback for the first couple of months. It can also be useful to give themtranslations of this and other classroom language you will use, for example ona worksheet or a poster.
12.Tell them what part they should change
Forexample, “You need to change the introduction to your presentation” or “Tryreplacing the third word with something else”.
13.Ask partners to spot errors
Thisis a fairly well-known way of giving feedback in speaking tasks, but it can bea minefield if the person giving feedback has no confidence in their ability todo so or in how well the feedback (i.e. criticism) will be taken, and even moreso if the person receiving the feedback will in fact react badly. This methodis easier to do and easier to take when they have been told specifically whichlanguage to use while speaking and so to look out for when listening, usuallymeaning controlled speaking practice tasks. The feedback can be made evensimpler to give and collect and more neutral with some careful planning, e.g.asking them count how many times their partner uses the target form as well asor instead of looking for when it used incorrectly.
14.Try again!
Sometimes,students don’t need much help at all but just a chance to do it again. This islikely to be true if you have trained them well in spotting their own errors,if there was some other kind of mental load such as a puzzle to solve that wasdistracting them from the language, or if they have had a chance to hearsomeone else doing the same speaking task in the class or on a recording.
Usefullanguage:
“Onemore time (but think about the grammar more this time/ but concentrating onmaking less mistakes instead of speaking quickly)”
“Giveit another go”
“Doyou want one more chance before you get the final score”.
15.Remind them when you studied that point
Forexample, “Nearly right, but you’ve forgotten the grammar that we studied lastweek” or “You’ve made the same mistake as everyone made in the last test”. (see Appendix2)
2.2Correcting Without Hurting
Manyteachers, especially if they are new to teaching ESL classes, may be a littleintimated by the prospect of having to teach pronunciation. But, just likealmost every thing else, if the process is broken down into small manageablesteps, the task is not all that daunting. This site is an attempt to do justthat- to break the process of teaching pronunciation down into smaller steps.
Whyis proper pronunciation important? Because without correct pronunciation- nomatter how vast the students vocabulary may be, no matter how well the studentunderstands and uses grammatical rules, no matter what their level of readingor writing skills may be- if they don't use correct pronunciation it may bevery difficult for listeners to understand what they say. And that is a hugehindrance to communication. In addition, some research indicates that if astudent can not pronounce a word correctly, they may not be able to hear itwhen spoken by another person either, which furthers hinders communication.
Studentsfrom different languages have different pronunciation difficulties. Not allsounds in the English language are common to other languages. For example, somelanguages do not have an 'r' sound, so students use a similar sound 'l'instead. So when a students says «What a lovely libbon», the nativeEnglish is totally confused. Or maybe in a student's native tongue there is nodistinction between 'b' and 'p'. Just imagine the misunderstanding that willresult if a teachers says «I need to be on that bus» and the studenthears «I need to pee on that bus».
Whenteaching pronunciation, teachers are giving feedback to their student about howthey are saying things. This feedback includes what the problem is and whatthey need to do to correct it. This feedback may include where to place thetongue in the mouth to say particular words, or how the lips should be formed,or the action of the tongue when saying specific sounds.
Masteringproper pronunciation is not just a matter of learning individual sounds. Manystudents can hear and make the different sounds for all the vowels andconsonants in English. Unfortunately, they also have to contend with the soundchanges that occur with different letter combinations resulting from linking orreduction of vowels and consonants, not to mention stress, pitch, andintonation differences between their native tongue and English.
That'sbasically all there is to teaching pronunciation- giving feedback and ensuringthat the student uses the feedback to improve their speaking skills. That alongwith providing adequate practice to the students to hear the sounds and practice makingthe sounds. Remember (as some research implies) if a student can't say a sound,they won't be able to hear it either. [16,102]
2.3Mistakes Made During Discussions and Activities
Withoral mistakes made during class discussions, there are basically two schools ofthought: 1) Correct often and thoroughly 2) Let students make mistakes.Sometimes, teachers refine the choice by choosing to let beginners make manymistakes while correcting advanced students often.
However,many teachers are taking a third route these days. This third route might becalled 'selective correction'. In this case, the teacher decides to correctonly certain errors. Which errors will be corrected is usually decided by theobjectives of the lesson, or the specific exercise that is being done at thatmoment. In other words, if students are focusing on simple past irregularforms, then only mistakes in those forms are corrected (i.e., goed, thinked,etc.). Other mistakes, such as mistakes in a future form, or mistakes ofcollocations (for example: I made my homework) are ignored.
Finally,many teachers also choose to correct students after the fact. Teachers takenotes on common mistakes that students make. During the follow-up correctionsession the teacher then presents common mistakes made so that all can benefitfrom an analysis of which mistakes were made and why.
WrittenMistakes
Thereare three basic approaches to correcting written work: 1) Correct each mistake2) Give a general impression marking 3) Underline mistakes and / or give cluesto the type of mistakes made and then let students correct the work themselves.(seeAppendix 3)
Fuss
Thereare two main points to this issue:
If Iallow students to make mistakes, I will reinforce the errors they are making.
Manyteachers feel that if they do not correct mistakes immediately, they will behelping reinforce incorrect language production skills. This point of view isalso reinforced by students who often expect teachers to continually correctthem during class. The failure to do so will often create suspicion on the partof the students.
If Idon't allow students to make mistakes, I will take away from the naturallearning process required to achieve competency and, eventually, fluency.
Learninga language is a long process during which a learner will inevitably make many,many mistakes. In other words we take a myriad of tiny steps going from notspeaking a language to being fluent in the language. In the opinion of manyteachers, students who are continually corrected become inhibited and cease toparticipate. This results in the exact opposite of what the teacher is tryingto produce — the use of English to communicate. [17,52]
2.4Problems of correcting students’ pronunciation
Lookat these statements about correction of students' oral work. What do you think?
Advancedstudents need loads of correction, beginners hardly any. When you start tolearn a language you need to be able to communicate imperfectly in lots ofsituations, not perfectly in a few. The teacher's job is to support learners asthey blunder through a range of communicative scenarios, not badger thembecause they forget the third person -s. With advanced learners the opposite isusually the case.
Thejury is out on the question of whether correcting students, however you do it,has any positive effect on their learning. There is some evidence, though, thattime spent on correcting learners may be wasted.
Researchinto Second Language Acquisition has suggested that it may be that somelanguage forms can be acquired more quickly through being given specialattention while others may be acquired in the learners' own time, regardless ofteacher attention. This helps explain, for example, why intermediate learnersusually omit third person -s just like beginners, but often form questions withdo correctly, unlike beginners.
Thereis little point correcting learners if they don’t have a fairly immediateopportunity to redo whatever they were doing and get it right.
Learnersneed the opportunity for a proper rerun of the communication scenario in whichthey made the error, if they are to have any chance of integrating the correctform into their English. Whether the error was teacher-corrected,peer-corrected or self-corrected in the first place is of relatively minorimportance.
Lotsof learners and teachers think correction is important.
Isthis because it helps them to learn and teach or helps them to feel likelearners and teachers?
Theproblem with some learners is they don’t make enough mistakes.
Accuratebut minimal contributions in speaking activities are unlikely to benefitlearning as much as inaccurate but extended participation. Learners can behampered by their own inhibitions and attitudes to accuracy and errors, theteacher’s attitude and behaviour (conscious or unconscious) to accuracy anderrors or the restricted nature of the activities proposed by the teacher.
Teachersspend too much time focussing on what students do wrong at the expense ofhelping them to get things right.
Whengiving feedback to learners on their performance in speaking English, theemphasis for the teacher should be to discover what learners didn’t say andhelp them say that, rather than pick the bones out of what they did say. Thisrequires the use of activities which stretch learners appropriately and theteacher listening to what learners aren’t saying. That’s difficult. [18,74]
Correctionslot pro-forma
Hereis a sample correction slot pro-forma which has been filled in with some notesthat a teacher took during a fluency activity for a pre-intermediate class ofSpanish students:
Pronunciation
I goalways to cinema
Shehave got a cat…
Doesshe can swim?
Swimmingbath my fathers
“Comfortable”
“Bag”–said “Back”
intonationvery flat (repeat some phrases with more pitch range)
Bodega
Ocio
Yoque se
Idon't ever see my sister
Haveyou seen Minority Report?
Goodpronunciation of AMAZING
Whyuse this pro-forma?
Ithelps teacher and students identify errors.
Ithelps you as a teacher to listen and give balanced feedback.
Andhow to use it ?
Ithas been divided into four sections. The first two, Grammar/Vocabulary andPronunciation, are pretty evident and are what teachers look out for as'mistakes' in most cases.
Thethird slot, L1, means the words that students used in their own language duringthe exercise. We believe that in a fluency-based activity, if a student can’tfind the right word in English, they should say it in their own language so asnot to impede the flow. An attentive teacher (who also knows her students' L1)will make a quick note of it and bring it up later, eliciting the translationfrom the class. If you are teaching a multi-lingual class, you can still usethis column. You don’t have to know the translations. You can prompt thelearners to come up with those. [19, 48]
The'#' column reminds us to include successful language in feedback. Too often incorrection slots the emphasis is on what went wrong. Here the teacher can writedown examples of good things that happened. This is especially true if theteacher notices that the students are using a recently taught structure orlexical item, or if they have pronounced something correctly that they hadtrouble with before.
Othersuggestions
Youcan copy your filled-in version and hand it out to groups of students to savewriting on the whiteboard. Or simply use it to help you note down language inan organized way.
Youcan fill out separate sheets for each group of students as you listen or evenfor each individual student (this would obviously work best with very smallclasses!). You can pass them round, have students correct their own, eachothers, whatever.
Theadvantage of using a set form is that by doing this, you keep an ongoing recordof mistakes that can be stored and exploited for revision lessons, tests or asa filler for the end of a class. [20, 48]
2.5 Exercises for the Pronunciation of Plurals for English secondlanguage
Oneof the most difficult parts of learning to speak English is the correctpronunciation of plural nouns and verbs. Many of these words simply add asuffix such as «s,» «es» or «ed» to the originalword, and this can be challenging for many English as a Second Language, orESL, students to pronounce. The key to improving pronunciation of plurals isconsistent practice and correction combined with listening.
PluralNoun Pronunciation with S Sounds
Pluralnouns will end in either «s» or «es,» and can have an«s» or «z» sound. This exercise focuses on the«s» sound, which is used in nouns that end in an unvoiced consonantsound (e.g., ducks, tops, cats). Depending on the students' native language,the biggest problem with pronouncing these words correctly is the twoconsonants that follow one another, like the «k» and «s»sound at the end of «ducks.» Many other languages consistently insertvowel sounds between consonant sounds, so «ks» might sound like «kuh-s»for some students. The key is to focus on flowing from one consonant sound tothe next with no vowel insertion.
Writethe words you wish to focus on for that day's lesson on the board. Underlinethe consonant ending (e.g., underline «ts» in «cats») andpronounce it for the students as if it is one sound. Have each student repeatthe sound. For fun, have them equate the sound to a sound effect. For example,«ts» sounds like a cymbal on a drum set. Choose a rhythm like «12 3 rest,» and have them make the sound around the room, keeping the rhythm.When the sound is comfortable, introduce more words that end with that sounduntil it becomes comfortable. [11,84]
PluralNoun Pronunciation with Z Sounds
If anoun ends in a voiced consonant sound, it will end with a «z» sound(e.g., chairs, beds, frogs). Use the previous exercise as a guideline for thisone, but with a focus on the voiced z. To compare, have students place theirhands on their throats. Make the «s» sound, feeling no vibration inthe throat, then make the «z» sound, feeling the throat vibrate withvoice. Explain that these words will use that «z» sound.
Choosewords ending with a specific consonant like «d» or «g» thatwill require the «z» sound when pluralized. Follow the exerciseabove, creating a rhythm around the room with sounds like «gz,» untilthere is no vowel sound in between the consonants. When the students are makingthe sound successfully, begin adding in the rest of the word.
PluralVerb Pronunciation
Theproblem with plural verbs is similar to plural nouns; while the ending containsa vowel («ed») the «e» is often silent. Most students willbe tempted to say «walk-eh-d» instead of «walk-d,» forexample. The important thing is to explain to the students that while theending is spelled «e-d,» it is usually not pronounced «ed.»In fact, the «d» is usually pronounced more like a soft«t.» For plural verbs, it's best to have the students practice sayingfirst the singular verb, then the plural in rhythm. Too often, ESL studentsgive up on pronouncing plural verbs because their ears can't hear thedifference. For example, they say «Yesterday, I walk to the store,»because when a native speaker says the sentence, they can't hear the«ed.»
Tocorrect this, have the students perform repetition exercises with both singularand plural verbs side by side. «I walk. I walked.» Critical listeningis essential for students before they can master the pronunciation, so speakand repeat constantly as a guide.
Beloware tips for pronunciation activities you can do with your students, includinglinks to printable resources and games and links to related web sites. Enjoy!
Poetry
Drama
Bingo
Contrastivestress
PronunciationPartners
Humming
PronuciationScavenger Hunts
PoetryOne interesting way to practice the rythmn or English, as well as such featuresas linking is to use poetry. One of the poetry web sites that we like isAcademy of American Poets, which has a large collection of different poems,many with audio recordings made by the poet.
WaltWhitman's poetry has also worked well with my students. Try the Poetry of WaltWhitman web site.
Aneat poetry web site which even includes audio is actually the page for English88: Modern and Contemporary Poetry at University of Pennsylvania. Check out theGertrude Stein and Wi lliam Carlos Williams. [12,74]
Hollyis a big fan of Haiku. It is a good way to have your students practice theconcept of syllable. Holly not only has students read Haiku, but also writethem.
Limerickscan also be really fun and helpful. Their predictable stress pattern makes themuseful for practicing sentence stress. You can find some (clean) limericks onthe web at There once was a man from Nantucket. We've read some in class(clapping out the rhythm helps students pronounce the stressed and unstressedsyllables), and for homework, they are working on creating their own limericks.
DramaDrama is also something Sharon used often with my students to practice rythmn,intonation, linking, etc. It's often a good idea to have students work in pairsand focus on a particular aspect of pronunciation, su ch as intonation. Havethem decide on the correct intonation, then record the scene, and finallylisten and discuss their recording. The Dramatic Exchange Catalog of Plays isone good web sites to find scenes to use with your students.
BingoOne of our favorite activities for a change of pace is PRONUNCIATION BINGO!!!To play pronunciation bingo, first you need to think up a bunch of words thatsound simiilar (bath, bass, Beth, Bess, bus, but, bat, path, pat, bit, pit,etc, etc). Now, make up a stack of cards with all your words and bunch of bingoboards (Sharon has a set of six, and she usually can use them with groups of20-- it usually doesn't matter if some students the same board. Because it israther challenging to distinguish between similar sounds, we normally don'thave more than one winner). For the really adventerous teacher, you can havethe bingo winner read out the words for the next game. Here are word stressbingo and final consonant bingo boards for you to download and print out.
ContrastiveStress Practice. Here is another fun activity. Have students write 10 FALSEsentences. They could be about anything, as only as they are not true. Nexthave students read the statements to their pa rtner. The partner must correcteach of the incorrect statements.
Forexample: «Christmas is in July.» «No, Christmas is in December.»
Mystudents really like this game, especially when the false sentences areoutrageous!
PronunciationPartners. Put students in groups of 4-5. Deal 6 cards to each students and putthe rest face-down on the table. Students take turns asking for a card theyneed to complete their set.
Getcards and detailed instructions from our printable resource page. [13,84]
Humming.Put students in pairs. Give student A a list of questions or statements. Givestudent B a list of replies. Student A should hum the intonation patterns ofhis utterances. Student B should reply with the correct response. We like tomake sure that all of the sentences have the same number of syllables so thatStudent B really has to listen to the intonation to get the sentence. Exampleutterances:
StudentA
StudentB
I likepizza, pickles, and chips.
(listintonation)
Notall together, I hope.
Wouldyou prefer coffee or tea?
(choiceintonation)
Tea,please.
Wouldyou like some ice cream and cake?
(double-risingintonation)
No,thank you. I'm not hungry.
Nextweek we are flying to Rome.
(fallingintonation)
Really?How long will you be there?
Is hegoing to the dentist?
(risingintonation)
Yes.He has a toothache.
PronuciationScavenger Hunts.
Theseare so fun and successful that they deserve a section of their own.Segmentals. Ask students tofind as many objects as they can with a specific vowel or consonant sound. Ifthe weather is nice, send them outside. Bring in books or magazines with lotsof pictures to stimulate their minds.
Conclusion
Speakingis so important in my opinion, in acquiring and using a language, andlanguage-competence covers so many aspects. Phonetics, both theory and practiceconstitute the basis of speaking above all other aspects of language in myopinion. Speaking is a tool of communication. Many teachers, especially if theyare new to teaching ESL classes, may be a little intimated by the prospect ofhaving to teach pronunciation. But, just like almost every thing else, if theprocess is broken down into small manageable steps, the task is not all thatdaunting. This site is an attempt to do just that- to break the process ofteaching pronunciation down into smaller steps.
Whyis proper pronunciation important? Because without correct pronunciation- nomatter how vast the students vocabulary may be, no matter how well the studentunderstands and uses grammatical rules, no matter what their level of readingor writing skills may be- if they don't use correct pronunciation it may bevery difficult for listeners to understand what they say. And that is a hugehindrance to communication. In addition, some research indicates that if astudent can not pronounce a word correctly, they may not be able to hear itwhen spoken by another person either, which furthers hinders communication. Thestudents can then repeat the correct version or tell you what the differencebetween the two sentences was and why their version was wrong. Because thestudents don’t do much of the work in this way of being corrected, it might notbe as good a way of remembering the correction as methods where you give moresubtle clues. Its advantages are that it is quick and suits cultures, classesand students that think of elicitation as shirking by the teacher. It can alsobe more face-saving than asking them for self-correction, as trying to correctthemselves risks making even more mistakes. The “right version” could mean thewhole sentence or just the correction of the part that was wrong. In the lattercase, you can then ask them to put it into the sentence in the right place andrepeat the whole thing.
Thebest way is: while they are talking or reading in class, you shuldn't interruptthem in the middle of the conversation or text. Let them finish first and thenyou can correct pronunciation mistakes by using those words and phrases frequantlyin different ways, making students take part in activities too. Don't directlycorrect the student who's made a pronuncation mistake. This will cause him/herto lose self confidence and be discouraged.
Studentsfrom different languages have different pronunciation difficulties. Not allsounds in the English language are common to other languages. For example, somelanguages do not have an 'r' sound, so students use a similar sound 'l'instead. So when a students says «What a lovely libbon», the nativeEnglish is totally confused. Or maybe in a student's native tongue there is nodistinction between 'b' and 'p'. Just imagine the misunderstanding that willresult if a teachers says «I need to be on that bus» and the studenthears «I need to pee on that bus».
Whenteaching pronunciation, teachers are giving feedback to their student about howthey are saying things. This feedback includes what the problem is and whatthey need to do to correct it. This feedback may include where to place thetongue in the mouth to say particular words, or how the lips should be formed,or the action of the tongue when saying specific sounds. One of the mostdifficult parts of learning to speak English is the correct pronunciation ofplural nouns and verbs. Many of these words simply add a suffix such as«s,» «es» or «ed» to the original word, and thiscan be challenging for many English as a Second Language, or ESL, students topronounce. The key to improving pronunciation of plurals is consistent practiceand correction combined with listening.
Masteringproper pronunciation is not just a matter of learning individual sounds. Manystudents can hear and make the different sounds for all the vowels andconsonants in English. Unfortunately, they also have to contend with the soundchanges that occur with different letter combinations resulting from linking orreduction of vowels and consonants, not to mention stress, pitch, andintonation differences between their native tongue and English.
That'sbasically all there is to teaching pronunciation- giving feedback and ensuringthat the student uses the feedback to improve their speaking skills. That alongwith providing adequate practice to the students to hear the sounds and practice makingthe sounds. Remember (as some research implies) if a student can't say a sound,they won't be able to hear it either.
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Pennington, M.C., Phonology in EnglishLanguage Teaching, Addison Wesley Longman, Essex, U.K., 1996. – p. 301
21 Stenhouse L., 'Research as a basis forteaching', in Stenhouse, L., Authority, Education and Emancipation, Heinemann,London, 1983. – p. 196
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25 Bansal R. K. The intelligibility of IndianEnglish. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1969. –р. 89
Appendix1
Usefullanguage:
“Hereare some things that people said in the last activity”
“Iheard several people say this one”
“Cananyone correct this sentence? It has one missing word/ one word missing/ Youneed to add one word”
“Thewords are in the wrong order/ You need to change the words around/ change theword order/ mix the words up”
“Thisis a typical mistake for students from…”
“Don’tworry, even native speakers make this mistake sometimes/ every nationalitymakes this mistake”
“Thismistake is something we studied last week”
Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
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Appendix 4
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Aspects of pronunciation /> /> />