Teaching Language Components

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

I. INTRODUCTION
 The importance of pronunciation
• Pronunciation is of paramount importance, since successful communication
cannot take place without correct pronunciation.
• Pronunciation is necessary for both comprehensible and effective speech and for
the learning of new forms in an L2.

 The aspects
The concept of pronunciation includes:
1) sounds: In British English 44 phonemes are generally recognized (20 vowels and
24 consonants). According to these symbols, words can be transcribed.
2) stress
3) intonation
Good pronunciation = accurate reproduction of phonemes, correct stress and intonation.

 General issues on teaching pronunciation

 The teaching of pronunciation should focus on the students’ ability to identify
and produce English sounds themselves. Students should NOT be led to focus
on reading and writing phonetic transcripts of words, especially young students,
because phonetic transcripts are more abstract and less meaningful.
 Stress and intonation should be taught from the very beginning.

 Teacher’s responsibilities: understanding phonetics theoretically and pedagogically.

 Common pronunciation problems that are likely to occur:

Pronunciation problems will of course vary greatly from one country to another.
Common problems that are likely to occur:
- Difficulty in pronouncing sounds which do not exist in the Vietnamese language, e.g.
for many students, the consonants //, / and the vowel //;
- Confusion of similar sounds in L2, e.g. /i:/ and /i/, or /b/ and /p/;
- Confusion of similar sounds in L1 /t/;
- Use of simple vowels instead of diphthongs, e.g. /i:/ instead of //;
- Difficulty in pronouncing consonant clusters, e.g. /desks/, /fif/;
- Tendency to give all syllables equal stress, and a 'flat’ intonation.

II. TEACHING INDIVIDUAL SOUNDS

a. Focussing on a difficult sound: There is normally no need to teach the sounds of

English individually; students are able to 'pick up' the sound system of the language by
listening to the teacher (or other voices on cassette) and by practising words and
structures. However, there may be particular sounds or sound combinations which

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students find difficult, or students may simply make mistakes in pronunciation without
being aware of it. In such cases, it is useful to focus on the sound or group of sounds
which is causing the difficulty.

b. When is pronunciation taught?

• Whole lesson: spending the whole lesson on pronunciation
• Discrete slots: spending some portion of the lesson on pronunciation
• Integrated phases: teaching as an integral part of the teaching of skills
• Opportunistic teaching: teaching when pronunciation becomes a problem to
learning

c. Teaching a sound
1. Presenting: The basic steps:

- Say the sound clearly in isolation (so that students can focus on it).
- Say it in one or two words.
- Students repeat the sound, in chorus and individually.
- If students have difficulty in producing a particular sound (usually because it does
not exist in the native language), it is often very useful to describe how it is
pronounced, as long as this can be done in a way that students understand (using
simple English or their own language).
- If students confuse two similar sounds, it is obviously useful to contrast them so
that students can hear the difference clearly.

Writing words on the board is not necessary, and could confuse the students - the focus
should be on pronunciation, not on spelling.

2. Practising:

 Minimal pairs
Minimal pairs are pairs of words which only differ in one feature, e.g. sing, song; park,
bark; loose, lose; ship, sheep. They can be used to focus on differences in vowel or
consonant sounds.

A) Aural drill (practice identifying the sound)

1) One/Two drill: Listen to the word, if you hear it has sound //, say one; if you
hear it has sound /i:/, say two.
Board: (1) (2)
 

T: sheep Ss: two

T: ship Ss: one

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2) Same/Different Drill: Listen to two words. Say same if they have the same sound; say
different if they have different sounds.

e.g.: T: bit/beat Ss: different

T: beat/beat Ss: same
T: bit/bit Ss: same

3) One/Two/Three Drill: Listen to three words. Say the numbers of two words that are
the same.
e.g.: T: bit – bit – beat Ss: one – two
bit – beat – bit Ss: one – three

4) Odd one out Drill: Which one is different from the other three? Say the number.
e.g.: T: bit – bit – bit – beat Ss: Number four

B) Oral practice: (chorally & individually)

- say the sound alone.

- say the sound in words of different positions.

- say the sound in phrases.

- say the sound in sentences.

e.g.:
Sound alone: / /
Sound in words: ship, washing, wash
Sound in phrases:
a big ship, washing the dishes

Sound in sentences:
She saw a big ship.
She’s washing the dishes.

(Combination of two similar sounds:

She sells the seashells on the seashore.
Please, sit in this seat.
Her skirt caught on the cot.)
Other exercises:
1) Missing words
Say a word to complete the sentences.
Children love to ……………. games.
Black and white together make …………
After April comes ……………

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2) Making sentences
Make three sentences. In each sentence, use one word from group 1and one word from
group 2:
Group 1 Group 2
last fast calm farm part rabbit
dark black glad party jam
marvelous bad car hat man
e.g. She drives a black car.

III. STRESS
 Stress refers to the amount of force with which a sound or syllable is uttered.
 Weak forms
Most words with two or more syllables have one stressed (or 'strong') syllable and two or
more unstressed (or 'weak') syllables.
Certain unstressed words change their pronunciation from the way they are said when
they are in isolation, and have a different phonetic form in the sentence or phrase. These
are prepositions, auxiliary and model verbs, pronouns, others – who, that (as a
relative pronoun), a, an, the, some, and, but, as, than, there, not, unless the word is being
specially stressed (e.g. 'John and Mary - both of them'). Reducing vowels in this way is a
feature of normal spoken English - it is not 'uneducated' or 'substandard' usage.
Most of these words, when they are not in a stressed position, which is always at the end
of a sentence and sometimes at the beginning, are said weakly and the vowel sound is
usually reduced to schwa //.
In connected speech (when we say sentences rather than single words), many more
vowels become reduced because complete words are unstressed. Look at these examples:
I ate bread and cheese. /a 'et 'bred n 'i:z/
Look at us. /'lk t 's/

 Word stress
1. a syllable can carry primary stress, that is to say strong stress. The syllable is
longer, louder and said with more breath effort.
2. A syllable can be unstressed. In other words, it is said very quickly, lightly and
with very little breath effort.
3. A syllable can carry secondary stress. This syllable is said with more breath effort
than 2 but less than 1.
 Sentence stress
In a normal English sentence certain words are stressed and certain words are unstressed.
Normally stressed are content words – the words that are essential for conveying a
message. These are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and demonstratives.

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Normally unstressed are form words - the grammatical or structure words. These
words are not essential to the communication of a message.
E.g.: I ‘saw your ‘brother ‘yesterday.
Would you ‘like a ‘glass of ’beer?
Can I ’carry your ‘suitcase?
I must be ‘going.
My ‘wife’s ‘waiting for me at the ‘corner of the ‘street.

 Techniques to teach stress

1. Using your voice:
Saying the sentence, exaggerating the difference between stressed and unstressed
syllables.

2. Using gestures:
- Thump the air when saying the stressed syllable.
- Punch the palm of his other hand.
- Clap your hands.
- Bang your hand against something.

3. Using blackboard:
- Using circles or squares: e.g.:
 
a kilo of sugar
 

- Underlining the stressed syllables: a kilo of sugar

- Writing the stressed syllable in heavier letters: a KIlo of SUgar. (This technique is
often used in textbooks, and would be suitable for wallcharts.)
- Using different colours: a kilo of sugar
- Using upper stroke like in the dictionary: a ‘kilo of ‘sugar

IV. INTONATION
 Functions of intonation
Basically, there are two functions of intonation:
1. It indicates grammatical meaning.
He lives in London. Do you come from London?
He lives in London? You come from London?

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2. It indicates functions.

Sorry! (Apology) Sorry? (please repeat.)

3. It can change meaning.
I want to see your son ‘Harry. (the son is called Harry)
I want to see your ‘son, Harry. (the speaker is talking to Harry, who has a
son, whose name we do not know.)

4. It indicates the speaker’s attitude.

Really? may be an expression of great surprise or merely a polite conversation
oilier, depending on the intonation pattern.

In some cases, both grammatical meaning and attitude are conveyed by the
intonation pattern alone.

A: I’d like a drink.

B: - You ‘would? (simply a conversation oiler - asking for confirmation of
the statement.)
- You ‘would. (here annoyance and criticism is conveyed. The
implication is: ‘Well, that’s typical of you. You always want a drink.’)

It is clear that the attitudinal function of intonation is a complex area, as it is connected to

the individual personality and it reflects the culturally-bound factor, e.g. it is nearly
impossible to make an introverted student produce an exclamation of great surprise when
maybe he would not do such thing in his mother tongue. Therefore teacher should
concentrate on the use of intonation to convey grammatical meaning and limit the
attitudinal function to listening and recognizing at low levels and include only a limited
amount of production at more advanced levels.

 Intonation patterns
For teaching oral English at a fairly low level, teachers need to be aware of two basic
intonation patterns:
- Rising tone: used in asking Yes/No questions, and to express surprise, disbelief, etc.
The voice rises sharply on the stressed syllable.

Really?  Is he your friend?  Do you want some tea?

- Falling tone: used for normal statements, commands, and for WH-questions. The
voice rises slightly earlier in the sentence, and then falls on the key word being
stressed.

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Open your book, please.  How long have you been learning English? 

 Practising stress and intonation

Mood and attitude
The teaching of intonation in the early stages should concentrate on the grammatical
and not the attitudinal function. We do not accept a dull, monotonous disinterested tone.
We do want the learners to sound polite, friendly, and interested. However, students are
often shy and embarrassed rather than unable to produce the required pattern. The
teacher needs to create the right atmosphere in the classroom to overcome the students’
reticence.
Mood cards: one indicating a bored, uninterested mood. The other a bright, lively,
enthusiastic mood. These act as aids to correction whenever the dull intonation pattern
is produced.

Mr. Grumpy Mr. Happy

The easiest way for students to practise stress and intonation is by repetition. If the
focus is on pronunciation, traditional 'repetition drills', which are often boring for
students to do, can be made interesting and challenging; students are not asked simply to
repeat a sentence, but to repeat it using a 'particular stress and intonation pattern’. For
this to be effective, it is important for teachers to:
- give a good model of the sentence themselves; saying it at normal speed, making a
clear difference between stressed and unstressed syllables, and using natural intonation;
- indicate the stress and intonation clearly, using gestures;
- make sure that the students pay attention to stress and intonation when they repeat the
sentence.

 Back-chaining technique
One way to help students use natural intonation is to practise saying the sentence in
sections, starting with the end of the sentence and gradually working backwards to the
beginning, e.g.: living here / been /living here / have you been /living here / How long
have you been living here? This technique is known as back-chaining.

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Back-chaining can be used as part of a repetition drill.

i) Say the whole sentence. Show the stress and intonation using gestures. Students
listen.

T: Listen. How long have you been living here? How long have you been living
here? How long have you been living here?
ii) Students repeat, starting from the end.
T: Living here. Living here. Everybody.
Ss: Living here.
T: Been living here.
Ss: Been living here.
T: Have you been living here.
Ss: Have you been living here.
T: How long have you been living here?
Ss: How long have you been living here?
iii) Groups of students repeat the whole sentence, then individual students.
T: (gesture to indicate a group)
G: How long have you been living here? (and so on)

V. POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND WHEN TEACHING SPEECH WORK

1. Do not distort when giving a model.
Teachers frequently try too hard to help students with pronunciation – they slow
down to such an extent when giving the model for the students to imitate that it is
distorted. While few teachers would pronounce the last part of comfortable as if it
were table, it is very common in other words to give the neutral vowel its full value
instead of reducing its value.
In the stressed patterns of normal speech weak forms and contractions occur
frequently. The danger in slowing down is that weak forms will be stressed and
contractions lengthened. If students have difficulty, for example, with a phrase like
they mustn’t’ve it is not helpful to slow this down to the point where it becomes they
must not have which is totally unnatural.
Distortion usually results from speaking in a slow, exaggerated fashion. It is better
to give students a model at natural speed, using natural pronunciation and if,
necessary, repeat it several times, rather than slow down.
2. The model must remain the same.
Exact repetition (the same words, the same structures, the same stress patterns,
and the same pronunciation) is extremely rare. The very act of repeating usually
means that an alternative stress pattern is appropriate. When repeating a model for a
student two or three times it is important for the teacher to maintain absolute
consistency. This is particularly difficult in giving examples of stress or intonation.
The best way to acquire the skill of being able to repeat the same sentence is practice
but if you find it difficult to repeat the same sentence identically several times in

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quick succession, it is useful to remember that if you say something else between – a
simple comment will do, (I’ll say that again) – it is easier to produce an identical
repeat. The interpolated comment should be short enough to distract you, but not long
enough to distract the students.
3. Use choral pronunciation.
The technique of choral pronunciation is much under- used. Teachers feel they can
not do pronunciation with students who are not beginners, or that they can not use it
with particular classes because of the type of students involved. The technique is
useful with all students, at all levels, and save for classes containing only two or three
students, for all class sizes.
It is true that it is of particular use with larger classes, with younger students,
and with student at lower levels. This does not mean, however, that it should not be
used with other classes. It can also be a useful classroom technique even if its main
objective is not always only improved pronunciation.
Choral pronunciation serves to bring the class together and to re-focus
students’ attention on the teacher after some activity where their attention has been
elsewhere – perhaps private study of a text, or pair work. The manner in which the
choral pronunciation is done can ensure that the students’ attention is focused on the
teacher.
The technique is useful not only in bringing a class together, but in taking the
pressure off the individuals.
4 . Move around the room when doing choral pronunciation.
Advantages:
- possible to note which individual Ss are not speaking or need helps with a
particular problem.
- keeps the Ss’ concentration on the teacher.
- keeps everyone involved.
- helps to ensure that the individuals you ask after the choral repetition change
from one practice to another as you inevitably tend to ask Ss near you.

5. Keep your language to a minimum in pronunciation practices.

- To comment on the standard of pronunciation: a smile or slight shake of the head is
sufficient.
- To invite Ss to speak: again a gesture is sufficient.
- To saying Good or something longer: a smile and a nod, or a slight shake of the head
followed by an immediate new model from the teacher to be repeated immediately by
the student who made the mistake, is quick, sufficient, amusing and avoids inhibiting
Ss.

6. Vary your criterion of ‘good’ in pronunciation practices.

While it is true that a consistent accent is easier to listen to, it is certainly neither
necessary nor desirable that many learners should achieve native speaker
pronunciation. Some students find pronunciation particularly difficult, e.g. to hear

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distinction clearly or to mimic accurately. This does not mean that they will not
reasonably successful in other areas of language learning. It is psychologically
important not to discourage those who find pronunciation difficult in the early stages
of learning. As different students progress at different rates, it is wise to accept
different degrees of variation from the ‘ideal’ target. It will help nobody if particular
students have their confidence undermined and are constantly being asked to repeat
because their pronunciation is less good than the rest of the class. A positive
atmosphere, an encouraging teacher, and time, will probably do more than over-
insistent teacher correction.
The implication is that Good is to be used differently to different students; and
differently at different stages of each student’s learning.

7. Articulation is an important first step in practice.

Presenting language to the students does not guarantee that they will be able to use it
and, of course, what they are unable to pronounce is useless to them. Students will
frequently need to practice the articulation of new language before moving to more
meaningful practices. To practice if I were you I’d…., for example, begin with choral
and individual pronunciation of a number of sentences using the structure:
If I were you I’d wait / phone her/ ask him/ do it/ try
Time spent here will be more than saved in later practices which will not need to be
interrupted so often to correct pronunciation.

8. It is helpful to do articulation practices more than once.

You can not communicate anything unless you can say the words in a way which the
hearer can understand. The ability to articulate particular sounds or groups of sounds
will frequently more effective if the students do them more than once. They need to
repeat articulation practices several times in order to gain control over their
pronunciation. If you explain why you are doing such practices again and if they are
done briskly, no one will mind. Students never resent and are never bored by practices
which they see are helping them.

9. Bring variety to ‘say after me’.

Pronunciation is much more than ‘Say after me’. In real life we use language in a
wide variety of ways on different occasions – sometimes we shout, sometimes we
whisper. This can be introduced to the classroom. There are many techniques for
bringing variety to the simple ‘Say after me’: teacher- model followed by CIP. (choral
and individual pronunciation) The class can be divided into halves and speak
alternately; into lines or rows which speak consecutively. With some more
complicated pronunciation work pairs can ask and respond simultaneously, or
consecutively.

10. Don’t explain intonation, demonstrate.

Although students may find intonation difficult, the teaching of intonation is usually
most effective when the teacher uses the simplest methods of presentation. These
involve giving an exaggerated model and indicating the pitch movements of the hand,

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or by simple arrow drawings on the blackboard. The principle is clear from the two
different intonations of the single word ‘sorry’:

Sorry! (Apology) Sorry? (please repeat)

11. Refer to stress and intonation even when not specifically teaching it.
If students do not have reasonable control of pronunciation, stress and intonation, they
will be both difficult to listen to, and easily misunderstood. For this reason, it is
important that the teacher bears in mind that stress and intonation are important, even
if doing comprehension questions after a text or the example from a grammar
practice. If students deliver the answer to the questions in a dull, monotonous or
mechanical way, that is as much a ‘mistake’ as a pronunciation or grammatical error
and should come under consideration as one of the mistakes worth correcting. If
students are to use the spoken language effectively, stress and intonation need to be
given their real place in the teaching at all times.
The impression people form of each other is frequently more dependent on intonation
than grammar, and this should be a constant reminder of the important role it should
play in teaching.

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