3. Technique of teaching pronunciation
Teaching English pronunciation starts with students’ auding English speech.
It can be thus teachers’ speech or an audio cassete. Students listen and form the
sounds images of phonemes and intonational contours. To develop students
listening habits the teacher uses many exercises in differentiation of sounds, for
example, for differentiation of short and long vowels, variations in the pitch of the
voice, such exercises are also useful for differentiating of the sounds of the mother
and target languages. To fascilitate the development of phonetic habits teachers
find it useful to use mute exercises for the tongue and the lips. Such exercises are
done in front of the looking-glass. One of the main phonetic exercises in
pronunciation according to a model, given by the teacher. After auding of English
patterns by students, the teacher singles out the words containing the new sound
several times, explains its articulation and asks the students to pronounce the sound
a number of times in chorus and individually. Then the students pronounce the
words, containing the new sound and then the patterns. Mastering pronunciation
of the sounds is based on imitation. Besides imitation, the teacher uses explanation
and shows the position of the speech organs. The teacher’s explanation must be
short and plain.
Teaching pronunciation of the English sounds is done according to the
following order:
1. Auding English speech (gr. structures, speech patterns etc.)
2. Practicing positions of speech organs with the help of mute exercises with a
looking-glass.
3. Work with a separate sound, auding the sound differentiation of the sounds
of the target language and the mother tongue.
4. Practicing pronunciation of the sound in words in different combinations.
5. Development pronunciation habits in speech.
6. Correction of pronunciation.
Teaching intonation is even more difficult than teaching sounds. It demands
much time, patience and system. At school students learn the main intonation
contours: low rise, high fall. Logical stress is learned together with mastering
intonation models. Teaching intonation is a part of teaching oral speech and
reading and starts with the first lessons. Teaching intonation is based on imitation.
All the exercises for teaching pronunciation are subdivided into recognition
exercises and reproduction exercises.
Examples of exercises for developing listening habits:
• Listen to the sounds, syllables, words and sentences pronounced by different
speakers and mark men’s, women’s and children’s voices.
• Define the tempo of speech- slow or quick.
• Divide the word into sounds and name them.
• Define the number of syllables in the words that were heard.
• Listen to the words and say to what language they belong (native or target),
the words are similar in their sound form. (pill-пил)
• Listen to the word and single out the sound pointed out by the teacher,
analyse its peculiarities
• Listen to the words and state the number of short vowels in them.
• Listen to the text and point out the words with the new sound and spell them
• Define the number of words in the sentences you heard.
• Make up a word from the given sounds
• Mark the stress in the word you hear.
• Mark pauses in the text you are listening to.
Exercises for developing pronunciation habits.
• Listen to the sound in a phrase, in a word and in a separate sound.
• Listen to a number of sounds and raise your hand when you hear the given
sound.
• Listen to pairs of sounds and raise your hand when you hear the new sound.
• Listen to the sentence and say how many times you heard the new sound.
• Listen to the sentences and raise your hand when you hear a declarative
sentence (interrogative, negative).
• Underline the words pronounced by the speaker in a number of words.
• Underline the stressed word.
• Mark the text while listening to it.
• Pronounce the words (sounds, syllables, word combinations) after the
speaker.
• Read the sentences in the affirmative form, then make them interrogative
and negative.
• Reproduce a proverb from memory (text, poem, etc.)
• Name the objects in the picture.
• Read the text after the speaker, dividing sentences into sense groups.
• Describe the classroom.
• Learn the poem by heart.
• Read a passage aloud, etc.
Pronunciation taught in isolation does not carry over to improved
pronunciation in actual communication. Classroom language activities which
integrate the skills areas are desirable useful and fun. For instance, songs
recordings and video clips are particularly useful for non- native speaker, teachers
in EFZ, settings. Often in such situations few native speaker models are available,
and teachers sometimes lack confidence in their ability to teach pronunciation.
Besides building pronunciation and grammar proficiency they also help to improve
students’ listening.
Songs.
There are several ways to proceed, depending on the students
proficiency levels, the amount of time available, and any other circumstances. The
following is one set of steps:
• Have the song playing as students enter the classroom and/ or play it through
once as a warm- up before beginning the activity.
• Distribute typed copies of the text to the students.
• Have students working in pairs or small groups, mark features (stresses,
sounds, melody etc.)
• You may also begin with a close listening activity. Before distributing the
complete text, give students an edited version and let them fill in key words as they
listen to the song. Play the song again and
• Allow the students to read in their text, comparing what they have marked
with what they actually hear.
• Have students practice some of the words and phrases and put them into
longer phrases and sentences.
• Play the recording one more time, asking the class to speak along.
• Have students create their own short dialogues and conversations using
words and expressions from the song.
• Bring grammar into the activity.
Video.
Soap operas are good sources for language skill activities, because the
scenes are often short, the acting and action are simple, yet the language is
authentic. Like songs video clips may be used in different ways. The following set
of activities is based on a two- minute scene. Before beginning teachers will
prepare a transcript of the segment they want to use.
• Play the segment once to allow the students to get the general idea of the
scene. Make sure that everyone understands the main ideas.
• Distribute the transcript and have students mark for what ever features have
been selected for review and practice Any feature, including individual sounds,
could be the focus.
• When the students have finished, make them read aloud in the way they
think they should sound.
• Play the segment again while students watch. As with the song recording,
any other activities are possible, depending on class proficiency level, teacher
goals, and other circumstances.
• f. e. play the tape as students read aloud, then ask them in groups to compare
their earlier expectations with what they marked.
• Choose activities for practicing grammar.
As a final activity several students may present the entire script or they can
write their own short dialogues.
These activities address students needs and desires to improve their listening
proficiency and pronunciation in four ways:
✔
They expose students to hearing connected speech in an entertaining
and useful manner.
✔
They help students learn how to listen to connected speech.
✔
By listening then comparing what they hear with a script they improve
their oral and visual habits.
✔
They learn to listen to meaningful word groups and phrases, instead of
listening to separate words.
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