Ranchers – rangers.
‘dancing-hall – ‘dancing-‘hall
Thus, we can say that pronunciation is not only important for oral
communication, but it’s closely linked with listening comprehension, spelling,
grammar, and reading. To ignore pronunciation – to ignore important information that
can support these other skills.
Fact 3: Pronunciation teaching is not boring. Perhaps it has been done in a
boring way. However, by nature, it’s not boring. Teaching that does not involve the
students’ intelligence is boring. Teaching that employs material that is irrelevant to
the students is boring. Practice that is monotonous is boring.
Fact 4: Non-native speakers of English can teach pronunciation. It is not unusual
of them fell apprehensive about teaching pronunciation, but their apprehension can be
diminished and eliminated. Nonnative speakers of English have an advantage over
native speakers because they can learn to perceive and use rhythm and intonation
more easily than native speakers, for whom these are unconscious features.
To sum up, we can say that information about pronunciation supports not only
oral language development but the ability to interpret speech as well as the skills of
reading and writing it should be treated as an integral part of the entire process of
teaching.
At our schools pronunciation is not taught as a separate aspect of the language.
Students acquire pronunciation in the process of mastering speaking and reading. It is
impossible for students at school to acquire very accurate pronunciation so the school
syllabus states approximate pronunciation as the goal of teaching, which is
approximate to the norm of the English language. It means that the phonetic material
is carefully selected and some deviant features of the sound are admitted. But it
shouldn’t lead to intelligibility failures. Each language has more than one styles of
pronunciation. At our school British RP (Received Pronunciation) is taught. RP is the
language of the TV, radio, cinema, theatre, and educational institutions in Great
Britain.
2. Content of teaching pronunciation
The content for teaching pronunciation is selected according to several
principles.
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1. Phonetic material selected which is necessary for communication. Thus the
content of pronunciation teaching includes:
•
The sounds of the English language and the combinations of sounds.
•
The intonation (rhythm, stress, pitch, sense group).
2. Stylistic principle. There are two styles of pronunciation: full (listening) and
colloquial. At school students learn the full style of pronunciation.
3. The phonetic material is selected in accordance with the needs of teaching
grammar and vocabulary.
The sequence of teaching the phonetic material depends on the goals of speaking
and reading development, so it varies in different teaching materials. But in all cases
students learn practically all the phonetic material in the first two years of learning
the language. However, great attention should be paid to pronunciation through out
the whole course of teaching the language.
In pronunciation teaching the teacher has to cope with many problems.
1. The problem of discrimination.
Students learn to hear the difference in the articulation of the English sounds and
the sounds of the mother tongue, differences between the sounds of the target
language, differences in the pitch of the voice etc.
2. The problem of articulation. The teacher must teach students the peculiarities
of the articulation of the English phonemes, that is the peculiar positions of the
speech organs.
3. The problem of intonation. Students learn to use the right stress, pauses,
tempo, pitch, melody.
4. The problem of integration. Students learn to organize sounds in speaking
5. The problem of pronunciation habits development.
All learners of English are apt to make errors. But the number of such mistakes
can be reduced if the teacher knows the causes of students’ mistakes and tries to
prevent them. Students’ typical mistakes are caused by the interference of the mother
tongue. Students make the sounds of the target language similar to those of the
mother tongue. Taking into account interference of the mother tongue we can divide
the sounds of the target language into three groups:
1.
The phonemes that are very close to the phonemes of the native language [p],
[b], [g], [s], [z] etc. Such sounds don’t require any special techniques of teaching,
students transfer the articulation habits, acquired in the mother tongue.
2.
The phonemes that seem to be similar to the phonemes of the native language
as they have some feature, in common, but in fact they are quite different from them
[e], [ǽ], [ί], [і:], [o], [o:], [ә:], [l], [tſ] etc. In learning such phonemes students
experience great interference of the native language. Such sounds are considered to
be the most difficult for learning. The teacher uses all possible ways and techniques
of teaching – description of the position of speech organs, comparison with the
sounds of the native language, demonstration, imitation, and exercises in
differentiation.
3.
The phonemes that can’t be found in the native language [θ], [ð], [ӡ], [w], [ә].
Students acquire quite new articulation habits, new positions of speech organs.
Teaching these sounds the teacher should use exercises in differentiation, as students
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associate these sounds with the sounds of the mother tongue or the target language.
The sounds of the first group are learned by imitation in a speech pattern (sentence,
word). The teacher must pronounce the sound distinctly and comment on its
peculiarities.
The assimilation of the sounds of the second and third groups goes through four
stages.
1.
Demonstration of the sound;
2.
Explanation of the articulation;
3.
Exercises in differentiation;
4.
Reproduction of the new sounds by students.
Teaching English pronunciation includes:
Teaching pronunciation of the English sounds and their typical combinations.
Teaching English intonation (melody, stress, rhythm, pauses).
In connected speech these components function together, they are singled out
only for teaching purposes. Mastering pronunciation is a very slow process, it
requires many efforts both on the part of the teacher and the students through the
whole course of teaching. But the first year of teaching is the most important one.
The sequence of the sounds in teaching depends on the functional approach: first
students master the sounds necessary for pronunciation of the first structures and
patterns the learn, most frequently used sounds.
3. Technique of teaching pronunciation
Teaching English pronunciation starts with students’ auding English speech. It
can be the 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 facilitate 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. 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.
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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.
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