The skills of teaching pronunciation Мамадалиева Сусуна Атамовна, преподаватель
Каршинский государственный университет (Узбекистан)
P
ronunciation is a skill that should be developed and per-
fected throughout the whole course of learning the lan-
guage, that is why we insist that the teacher should use pro-
nunciation drill during the lesson, irrespective of the stage of
instruction.
The phonetical description is connected with the pur-
pose of the work: to show how to pronounce the sacred texts
without any distortions. The organs of speech were studied
carefully; the sounds were described in accord with their ar-
ticulation, much attention being given to the active organs of
speech: the lips, the three parts of the tongue (front, middle,
and back), the larynx. Phonetical changes on the of words
and affixes were also analysed with precision.
The concept of intonation is not new to foreign language
teachers. It has been common knowledge that the passive is
better taught as a pronunciation of the active. What is new is
that a new phonetical theory makes intonation a fundamental
part of language study and language teaching. It represents
both as dynamic phenomena.
As to intonation it should be taught mainly though im-
itation, though some explanations and gestures in partic-
ular are helpful. For example, theteacher can show the rise
of the voice by moving his hand up and the fall by moving
it down. He can also use the following symbols: for stress,
for pause, for falling tone, for rising tone, and teach pupils
how to use them while listening to a text and reading it. Con-
sequently, teaching pronunciation in school must be carried
out through conscious approach to the problem and imita-
tion of the teacher and speakers when tape-recordings and
records are used. Neitherthe first nor the second should be
underestimated.
Teaching a foreign language in schools begins with
teaching pupils to hear and to speak it. That is, with the oral
introductory course or the oral approach. A person learning
a foreign language unconsciously continues to use his mus-
cles in the old ways and substitutes the phonemes and the in-
tonation of his native tongue. In learning pronunciation great
use should also be made of imitation. Pupils learn to pro-
nounce a new language by imitating the pronunciation of the
teacher. Since young people's ability to imitate is rather good
it should be used in teaching pronunciation as well. Indeed,
there are sounds in the English language which are difficult
to explain, for example, vowels. The teacher is often at a loss
how to show his pupils the pronunciation of this or that vowel,
because he cannot show them the position of the organs of
speech while producing the sound.
The teacher pronounces a number of English words and
asks his pupils to recognize the new sound. When a pupil
hears the sound he raises his hand and in this way the teacher
sees whether the pupil can recognize the new sound among
other sounds already learned or not. If most of the pupils
raise their hands, the teacher can offer exercises for the pu-
pils to perform.
In studying English pupils usually make mistakes in pro-
nunciation, often s repeating the same mistakes again and
again. The teacher should bear this in mind and either began
the lesson with pronunciation drill or use pupils' errors as the
point of departure for the drill.