Catedra de Limba si Literatura engleza

EFL Methodology for English majors year II

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
The pronunciation (also known as phonology) of English tends to be neglected by EFL
teachers and this seems to be due to anxiety and, sometimes, ignorance, although
pronunciation is a component of any lesson. It includes the role of individual sounds and
sound segments as well as suprasegmental features such as stress, rhythm, and intonation.
Many teachers, however, are unsure as to the status of pronunciation and whether or how it
should receive systematic attention in a language class. Some even think that the more
subtle aspects of pronunciation, such as rhythm and intonation may be simply picked up
through exposure.
The fact that few second language learners are able to speak a foreign language
without showing evidence of the transfer of pronunciation features of their native language is
evidence of the difficulty of acquiring native-like pronunciation, but also of the goals learners
set for themselves. Many learners do not mind showing evidence of their native language
since it is sometimes viewed as a part of their cultural identity.
It is impossible to teach English without giving some attention to pronunciation. In the
process of teaching (and learning) English you need ears trained to diagnose mistakes and
vocal organs under control to produce accurate English sounds. Every word, every syllable,
every sound uttered by the teacher may contribute to the pupils’ learning of pronunciation.
However, pupils learn how to pronounce English not only when the teacher is deliberately
and overtly concentrating on pronunciation. They may learn pronunciation when you believe
you are putting the weight of your teaching on grammar or vocabulary, or when you are just
socialising with them.
In this unit you are introduced to the type of awareness and knowledge about
pronunciation that an EFL teacher needs, and also to some of the terms and concepts used
to talk about it.
Pronunciation includes two systems: the phonemic system (the sounds) and the
intonation system. Stress and rhythm are normally seen as part of the intonation system.
However, in this unit, they will be dealt with as a separate component. Therefore, this unit
deals with the sounds of the language (or phonology), stress and rhythm, and intonation.

Key Concepts: sounds, stress and rhythm and intonation, native models and
accents, international English, the functions of intonation, elision, assimilation, weakening,
intrusion, catenation, minimal pairs, phonetic notation/alphabet, exhortation

By the end of this unit you will be able to:

• operate with a basic working knowledge of English sounds, stress, rhythm and
intonation;
• identify the ways in which these systems operate in speech;
• identify the problems your pupils are having in assimilating these systems, both
from the receptive and productive points of view;
• apply the practical guidance and the techniques of teaching pronunciation.
Quite a lot of things are known about the sounds of English and about how these work
as a system. Something is known about the components of intonation (i.e. pitch height, tones
and voice range), but only a little is known about how these work together as a system. In
fact, intonation was not really seen as a system until quite recently. Discourse analysts put
forward a theory that intonation, among various functions that it plays in language use (e.g. in
helping to convey attitude), also has the function of structuring discourse. Intonation can be

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seen as a system for signalling openings, closings, contrasts, emphases, parentheses,
backward linking, forward linking, and so on.
In order to teach pronunciation, you need to be able to analyse it both from a
theoretical point of view and from the point of view of your pupils’ difficulties. You need to be
aware of its characteristics, so that you can make it manageable for your pupils. In other
words, you need to have enough knowledge and awareness of pronunciation to make
reasoned and flexible decisions in the classroom.

Pronunciation and effective communication

To communicate effectively, English learners need to become proficient in using
semantic, syntactic, lexical, morphological and phonological elements of the language. They
also need to understand its pragmatic use. Intelligibility entails more than simply using
appropriate lexical items and correct word order. Words stressed incorrectly or with
inappropriate pitch or intonation will impede the learner in getting the intended message
across. The incorporation of a phonological component into the English lessons is based on
the following assumptions about oral communication (after Herbert, 188 – 9):
1. Speaking involves two or more people and it is not the oral expression of written
language.
2. Spoken language imparts referential and affective meaning. When we speak we
reveal our interest and attitudes toward the topic being discussed and toward the
people we are speaking with. These messages are largely conveyed through the
prosodic features of language: stress and rhythm, intonation, pitch variation and
volume. This is why pronunciation should be learned in context.
3. Native-like speech takes time and is not always a realistic goal. It is probably
better to focus on the global aspects of oral production than on accuracy, except
in cases where inadvertent mispronunciations will cause embarrassment.
Intelligibility will not always be affected if a learner substitutes one phoneme for
another; however, saying a statement with a rising intonation contour when the
intent is to impart information, will make the listener encounter difficulty in
understanding meaning.
4. Not all difficulties will be at the level of production; some will be associated with
perception.
5. Learners need to have some understanding of the role phonology plays in
language learning, as the role phonology plays is not so obvious and needs to be
explained. With low level students the teacher needs to use simplified
terminology, graphic and gestural representations.

Pronunciation and students’ age

The majority of Romanian pupils can imitate almost all of the sound features of
English with reasonable accuracy. This is explained by the fact that the degree of overlap
between Romanian and English is large, and the majority of sounds are familiar and do not
present any learning difficulty. Thus the pupils’ powers of mimicry can be concentrated on
less than the whole phonetic and phonological system. Most sound features can be learnt by
mimicry alone, as learners have a pronunciation-learning ability independent of any need for
instruction.
The differences between the majority of learners of a given age in terms of their
phonetic abilities are relatively small. Generally speaking, the younger the learners, the less
variation there is in language ability. The most important language variables affecting one’s
pronunciation include:
• willingness to learn;
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 • possession of a ‘good ear’ (i.e. good auditory discrimination);
• instinctive ability to mimic (i.e. good control of speech mechanisms and good
monitoring of one’s own performance);
• speed of learning;
• previous experience of foreign languages;
• changes brought about by age.

The native model

Any foreign language taught in school follows a native-speaker model. The pupils (and
you) are given for imitation the English spoken by a native speaker. In the case of English,
the choice of the native-speaker model is not very easy, as there are more than one models.
If for dialect the choice is easier – standard English – in the case of accent, you need to
answer such questions as: How do I want my pupils to speak English: British-ly, American-ly,
Australian-ly, Canadian-ly, or internationally?
Today, the choice of the model has to be made in full awareness of the status of
English as the leading language in international communication.
• How does one speak English internationally?
People coming from different cultures and speaking in different manners can
communicate in English if they know how to seek a common ground and adapt their way of
speaking English. Finding a common ground requires their adaptation to the situation and
fellow participants, and responsibility to adapt. Native English speakers must also adapt in
such situations.
Adaptation requires the speaker’s willingness to temporarily modify one’s cultural
identity, and an awareness of what is involved in cross-cultural communication and
communicative skills. Not all situations call for the same degree of adaptation. A speaker of
English as a foreign language, who feels secure as an English speaker, will be flexible
enough to speak English internationally.

How can you ensure that your pupils will acquire a tolerant
attitude and that they will be sensitive to various manners of
speaking English?

What accent is desirable?

In spite of the impression of monolithic character, the English language displays many
variation phenomena: from various accents, to different lexical items used to name similar
entities, to slightly different grammatical structures. What is a desirable target accent for
foreign learners? Is it Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC English, Oxford English, the
Queen’s English, a “posh accent”, a “nice voice”, or “speaking without an accent”?
In favour of Received Pronunciation would be many of the teaching materials on the
market, and the fact that this accent is perceived in many places as regionless. However, it is
perceived as a standard accent only in England, and as “English” (that is, foreign) in
Scotland, for instance. The status and prestige of RP have declined lately, and the strongest
evidence for this is that BBC has permitted announcers to use British regional accents.
Should we adopt “General American” then? This is a strong rival to Received
Pronunciation as a model accent. It the most widespread member of a set of American
accents, an educated regional accent used mainly in the eastern American states.

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 Our learners are frequently exposed to American usage via television, the cinema
and other aspects of the mass media, and many children pick up an American accent from
watching cartoons. But the choice between a British or an American accent remains an open
question, and most often it is the individual choice of each learner.

The native model and the teacher’s English

From the perspective of pronunciation, especially, non-native EFL teachers are in a
vulnerable position. They may not feel comfortable when speaking English in front of the
class, as their pupils may be aware that occasional mistakes occur in their speech. Moreover,
the pupils, who are accustomed to the sound of English from taped native speakers, may
question their pronunciation.
As non-native EFL teachers, we are placed in a position of insecurity. Some of us may
seek defence and ways of minimising this threat. The traditional grammar - translation
activities can be the expression of such a defence. Using such activities, you do not have to
speak English, and thus you minimise the risk of making mistakes in front of the pupils. Given
the reliance on strict grammar rules, you are in a position of being correct; a grammar book is
at your hand to support your knowledge. Translation, an ability you have acquired after much
practice, leaves you unchallenged. Also, by focussing on grammar and translation, questions
of content are avoided. Grammar correctness is the target: form is uppermost, content
secondary. The risk is that such teachers do not perceive themselves as being speakers of
English and their pupils may inherit the same perception.
Can the grammar-translation method prepare the pupils for the use of English for
communication? Can it provide the pupils with a perception of English as a living language in
its full range of functions, including that of international language?
Reaching native speaker standards may be a futile endeavour, an unattainable goal,
both for you and for many of our pupils.Even if you see the native model as a desirable
target, the purpose of teaching and learning pronunciation is seldom to attain the perfection
of the native model. Your purpose in teaching English pronunciation is limited to attainment of
intelligibility. Your English will be as close to the chosen model as you can manage, but it will
still remain different from it in some ways. However, this should not create frustration,
inferiority complex or demoralisation.

Receptive fluency vs. productive fluency

A fundamental principle of teaching pronunciation is that pupils need to acquire a much
greater degree of receptive fluency than productive fluency in their learning of English.
Do you agree with this principle? Why do you think pupils need
more receptive fluency than productive fluency in a foreign language?

The most obvious effect of this principle on your teaching is that you need to spend
more time on developing your pupils’ appreciation of sounds, sound sequences, stress and
intonation through listening skills activities than through speaking skills activities.
A further implication of the principle is that your pupils need neither aspire to nor
achieve perfection in their production of English pronunciation. If they are realistic, they need
only attain an approximation of English sounds, and thereby retain something of their foreign
accent.
The aim of teaching pronunciation is not to achieve a perfect imitation of a native
accent, but to get the learner to pronounce accurately enough to be easily and comfortably
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comprehensible to other competent speakers. ‘Perfect’ accents are difficult if not impossible
for most learners to achieve in a foreign language, and not always desirable. Many people –
even if often subconsciously – feel they wish to maintain a slight mother-tongue accent as an
assertion of personal or ethnic identity. This feeling should be respected.
However, some pupils are concerned to sound like native speakers, and so you need
to work on the accurate production of sounds.

The components of pronunciation

You do not have to take your pupils systematically through all the components of
pronunciation; you do not have to teach each English vowel and consonant and later rhythm
and intonation. Rather, you need to concentrate on some chosen features that cause
difficulty.
• Sounds
Traditionally, the teaching of English pronunciation was concerned primarily with sound
production. Pupils were encouraged to approximate as far as possible to a native speaker
model. In recent years, a concern with fluency rather than accuracy has led to the recognition
that perfect pronunciation is not absolutely necessary for a message to be conveyed
effectively. Consequently, more attention is paid to intonation, stress and rhythm.
EFL teachers concentrate on the production of sounds only when they identify sources
of unintelligibility or confusion. For instance, your pupils may often have a false idea of what a
particular sound in English is, based on the sounds of Romanian. The classic example is the
confusion Romanian pupils make between [θ] and [s]. They may in fact need training to
appreciate the difference. Failure to articulate the difference may make them sound foreign,
but is unlikely to create a barrier to communication. Nevertheless, failure to discriminate
between ‘think’ and ‘sink’ may create problems.
An even greater problem can be the comprehension of stretches of language in which
sounds have changed in connected speech. Therefore, it is useful for you to be able to list
and define the sounds of English by writing them down using phonetic notation, and to
organise practice in sound discrimination and articulation.
• Rhythm and stress
Intelligibility in English depends more on the correct use of stress and rhythm than on
the correct pronunciation of individual sounds.
English speech rhythm is characterised by tone units. A tone unit is a word or group of
words that carries one central stressed syllable. Stress is most commonly indicated by a
slight rise in intonation. The rhythm of English is, then, mainly a function of its stress patterns;
these may also affect such aspects as speed of delivery, volume and the use of pause.
Romanian learners encounter difficulties, as the notion of stress is alien to them.
Romanian is a syllable-timed language: each syllable takes up approximately the same
amount of time in an utterance. English is a stress-timed language, which has stressed
syllables occurring at approximately equal time intervals, irrespective of how many
unstressed syllables occur between them.
English teachers who are relatively uninformed about phonetics give little importance
to mistakes due to rhythmic inaccuracy. However, a clear understanding of the phonetic
aspects of the spoken language is important, not only for a correct evaluation of the pupils’
oral performance, but also for providing them with the most accurate model of the spoken
language.
• Intonation
The rises and falls in tone make the ‘tune’ of an utterance. Intonation is an important
aspect of the pronunciation of English, deciding differences to meaning or implication.
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 Pupils usually perceive their learning in terms of sounds, words, sentences, and do not
concentrate on intonation. This results in an oral production that is very monotonous.
Moreover, Romanian has a narrower voice-range than English. Hence our pupils may sound
unwittingly aggressive or rude when speaking English. Such errors of intonation may cause
irritation in listeners, since the intended function is likely to be misinterpreted.
The importance of intonation is crucial especially at beginners’ level, when language
production is minimal, and intonation is the best vehicle for social appropriacy. Its importance
as a language system cannot be denied. As such, the least we can do is to make pupils
aware of it, as we do with grammar. This suggests that making pupils aware, at a very early
stage, of the importance and the system of English intonation is desirable. Exposure to the
language should be constant and this should lead to an increased ‘sense’ or ‘feel’ for the
‘music‘ of English.

The functions of intonation

English intonation carries meaning in subtle and complex ways. It has three functions:
grammatical, attitudinal and discoursal.
The grammatical function of intonation denotes or reinforces certain grammatical
patterns. Grammatical function is realised by various intonation contours/patterns/tones.
Such contours accompany wh-questions, yes/no questions, statements, question-tags,
either/or questions, etc. Thus it is said that a falling pitch change accompanies wh-questions
while a fall-rise pitch change accompanies yes/no questions.
Other intonation regularities, connected to attitudes, can also be observed. Such
features as the width of voice range and the pitch height at the start of an utterance are
considered to be part of the attitudinal function of intonation. For instance, more emotion
leads to a wider voice range, and less emotion leads to a narrower voice range. Uncertainty
is denoted by fall-rise and indignation by rise-fall changes, respectively.
A third function of intonation was proposed by discourse analysts: the discoursal
function. Intonation can be seen as a system for structuring discourse: signalling openings,
closings, contrasts, emphases, parentheses, backward linking, forward linking, and so on. It
is used to show that the speaker is either referring to something that both speaker and
listener know about (because it has been mentioned earlier or is physically present in the
setting), or to show that the speaker is proclaiming some new information. A fall-rise pitch
change refers the listener to an actual or known thing. A falling pitch change introduces a
specific unknown thing.
Intonation can also signify aspect: a fall-rise pitch change can signify that you want to
‘engage’ the listener, that you envisage ‘rapport’, however short-lived the relationship. The
fall-rise pitch change has been called the ‘convergent’ pattern, where the falling pitch change
has been called the ‘divergent’ pattern. Also, a falling pitch change tends to denote finality,
while a fall-rise denotes incompleteness or doubt.

The flow of speech

English is unusual among languages for the changes that occur when it is spoken at
normal speed: the individual sounds contained in and between words can often change their
character. The main reason for this tendency in connected speech is that English is stress-
timed. The rhythm units force sounds to be said together or shortened in order for the regular
rhythm of speech to be maintained. For pupils the problem can be difficult, not so much when
they learn to produce the language orally, but when they listen to native speakers.
Different sounds, stresses and intonations may affect one another within the flow of
speech. For example:

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 • The way a sound is articulated is influenced by what other sounds are next to it:
e.g. the -ed suffix of the past tense may be pronounced [d], [t] or [id] depending on what
comes immediately before.
• Intonation affects how we hear stress. In fact, stress is not usually expressed by
saying the stressed syllable louder: it is more often a matter of a raised or lowered tone level,
with a slight slowing-down.
• A change in the stress pattern of a word will change its sounds as well: e.g. the
word record has the stress on the first syllable when it is a noun, on the second syllable when
it is a verb; and this makes a noticeable difference to the sound of the vowels.

Sound changes in the flow of speech

Can you write the following phrases in phonetic script:

roast beef [ ]
I asked him [ ]
cold weather [ ]

• Elision
Elision (the suppression/omission of a sound) occurs frequently at the boundary
between two words, usually when the end of one word and the beginning of the next create a
‘consonant cluster’, e.g.: ‘pounds’ is reduced to [paυnz] and ‘and’ to [ən].
You must analyse model sentences and vocabulary very carefully before teaching
them, to give your pupils an accurate model.
• Assimilation
Assimilation happens when a sound changes, because it is affected by the sound that
follows it:

What words or phrases can be transcribed like this?

[imput] ……….. [hæf tə] ……….
[iŋkəm] ……….. [iŋ gri:s] ……….

• Weakening
Prepositions, articles (before consonants), and auxiliary verbs (including modals) tend
to be shorter and softer, and to have the neutral vowel [ə] when they occur in normal speech.
It is only when these parts of speech are given particular emphasis or when they are the final
word in a sentence that they are found in their strong form:
Should I go? ]
Yes, you should.
Vowels often get weakened to the schwa [ə] sound or disappear altogether, as in ‘I
wonder if you could…’ [ə w℘ndr if jə kd]. Weakening is the most difficult problem for foreign
learners of English, a problem that you need to help them to become aware of and to
overcome. You need to teach your pupils first of all, to recognise natural pronunciation, and if
possible, to produce it accurately.

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 • Intrusion
‘Go away.’ [gəυwəwei]
Intrusion happens when an extra sound is introduced to ‘lubricate’ the flow from one
vowel to another. The sound is not indicated in the written form.
• Catenation
This happens when a consonant at the end of one word is carried over to connect with
a vowel at the beginning of the next word:
He’s out. [hizaυt]
cup and saucer [k℘pənsο:sə]
Catenation presents problems of aural understanding for pupils because it interferes
with their ability to hear word boundaries. Thus [greiteip] can be either grey tape or great
ape.
Intrusion does not seem to pose problems of understanding, but elision, assimilation,
weakening and catenation do. Having learned the words and their pronunciation in isolation,
your pupils may fail to recognise them when changes take place in connected speech. That
is why, it is important that you raise their awarereness of the way sounds, stress and
intonation interact within entire utterances to produce easily comprehensible pronunciation.
However, most words have a ‘stable’ sound, stress and intonation pattern that can be
confidently taught in isolation.

Improving pupils’ pronunciation

Diagnosing pupils’ spoken English
The phonological problems you focus on need to be related to the ‘problems’ the
learners are encountering. By collecting data of the learners’ general speaking habits, you
can identify individual learner problems and those common to the group. You can collect
samples of learners’ speech on cassette or video, although this may be traumatic for the
learners. However, you can make written or mental notes of the pupils’ mistakes and devise
a diagnostic learner profile with the following headings: clarity, speed, loudness, breathing,
fluency, voice, gestural expression, eye gaze, intonation, stree rhythm, consonants and
vowels. Firth’s (1987) diagnostic profile can be useful for determining those elements which
reflect the needs of the majority of the learners in the class.
A Suprasegmental level
General speaking habits
1. Clarity. Is the learner’s speech clear?
Are there instances where there is a breakdown in communication?
What are the major factors?
2. Speed. Does the learner speak too quickly?
Is her speech unintelligible because she speaks too quickly?
3. Loudness. Does the learner speak too softly?
Does the lack of volume affect intelligibility?
4. Breathing. Does the learner speak with appropriate pauses, breaking each
utterance into thought groups?
5. Fluency. Does the learner speak with either long silences between words or too
many ‘filled pauses’ (e.g. ‘ah … ummm’)?
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 6. Voice. Is there enough variation in pitch?
7. Eye gaze. Does the learner use eye-gaze behaviour appropriate to the context
(e.g., facing a conversational partner or looking at the audience if delivering an
oral presentation)?
8. Expressive behaviour. Does the learner overuse gestures? Does the facial
expression match the utterance?
Intonation
1. Is the learner using appropriate intonation patterns in utterances? Can the learner
use intonation contours to signal whether utterances are statements, ;lists, wh-
questions or yes/no questions?
2. Is the learner changing pitch at the major stressed words?
Stress and rhythm
1. Word-level stress. Does the learner produce the schwa in unstressed syllables?
Does the learner use loudness and length to differentiate between stressed and
unstressed syllables?
2. Sentence-level stress. Does the learner stress each syllable equally? Is she able
to produce appropriate strong and weak stresses? Are lexical words stressed and
functional words unstressed? Does the learner place the tonic stress on the
appropriate words?
3. Linking. Is the learner linking words appropriately? Are identical consonants
linked (e.g. top position)? Are vowels linked (e.g. pay up)? Are consonants linked
to vowels (e.g. top of)?
Segmental level
Consonants
1. Substitution. Is the learner substituting one phoneme for another?
2. Omission. Is the learner omitting consonants?
3. Articulation. Is the consonant being articulated properly (e.g. is /p/ aspirated word-
initially)?
4. Clusters. Are consonant clusters articulated properly?
5. Linking. Are consonants linked to each other?
Vowels
1. Substitution. Is one vowel being substituted for another?
2. Articulation. Is the learner articulating vowels correctly (e.g. lip rounding)?
3. Length. Do vowels have their appropriate length?
4. Reduction. Are vowels reduced in unstressed syllables?
5. Linking. Are vowels properly linked to other vowels across word boundaries?

After you analyse the data, you can identify the problems common to the majority of
learners and you can provide feedback to individual learners. You have to make some
decicions concerning what you can achieve in the time you have available, the areas that
should be given priority, the source of the problems (perception or production?) and the types
of activities that will help the learners improve their oral producation. Probably, with lower
level students, the focus should be on improving the learner’s intelligibility, that is the focus
should be on the suprasegmental level. Where the articulation of particular phonemes is
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causing ‘problems’, these should be dealt within the context of the word. Activities that help
the learner to perceive and produce utterances should be given equal weight.

Pupils’ pronunciation errors

Pupils’ errors of pronunciation may derive from various sources:
• Several English sounds do not exist in Romanian. The pupils are not used to
forming them and therefore, they tend to substitute the nearest equivalent they know, e.g. [æ]
tends to be substituted by by [e].
• Certain sounds do exist in Romanian, but not as separate phonemes.
Consequently, the pupils do not perceive them as distinct sounds that make a difference to
meaning (e.g. [i] and [i:]).
The pupils have not learnt the stress patterns of the word or group of words, or they
are using a Romanian intonation, which is inappropriate to English. The result is a foreign-
sounding accent, and possibly misunderstanding.

Assisting the learning of pronunciation

Here are a few teaching techniques that can be used to assist pupils in learning
pronunciation:
1) Checking that the pupils can hear and identify the sounds, intonation, rhythm or
stress, respectively. This can be done by:
• requesting imitation of teacher’s model or recorded model of sounds, words and
sentences,
• seeing if pupils can distinguish between minimal pairs (e.g. ship/sheep,
man/men, thick/tick, etc.)
• recording of their speech, contrasted with native model (this can turn out to be
demoralising!)
• encouraging pupil self-correction through listening to recordings of own speech.
While perception of sounds can be done using single words or even syllables, work on
stress and intonation nearly always needs to be based on longer units.
2) Using some explicit exhortation: you give the pupils instructions to initiate and
mimic, to make such and such a sound, without further explanation. Exhortation requires no
special training on your part and no special understanding on the part of the pupils. This may
involve the use of:
• imitation drills: repetition of sounds, words and sentences
• choral repetition of drills
• varied repetition of drills (varied speed, volume, mood)
• dialogues (using choral work, and varied speed, volume, mood)
• learning by heart of sentences, short poems, etc.
3) Systematic explanation and instruction (including details of the structure and
movement of parts of the mouth). For sound formation, for instance, you can use a sketch
with a description of the organs of speech, and descriptions of the articulation of sounds in
terms of lips, tongue, teeth, a description of stress and rhythm etc.
These can be supplemented by the use of phonetic notation, ear training (i.e. practice
in auditory discrimination, see (1) above) and speech training exercises (i.e. practice in
making particular sounds, words and sentences, in isolation or in nonsense sequences (see
(4) below).

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 4) Using special games and exercises for speech training that entail the use of words
or sentences to practice particular sounds, sequences of sounds, stress patterns, rhythm,
intonation, such as:
• rhymes, jingles
• jazz chants
• tongue twisters, etc.
However, for most aspects of pronunciation a brief explanation is sufficient, followed by
demonstration and an invitation to imitate and practise.

Teaching English sounds

Very often the problem the pupils have in perceiving sounds is not that they cannot
identify them, but that they cannot distinguish them from other sounds. This may be because
the sound is perceived by the pupils to be the same as a Romanian sound, with which they
are already familiar. So, for example they may perceive [θ] and [s] or [æ] and [e] as being the
same.
• Vowels
We learn to produce vowel sounds accurately by developing an ability to hear and
discriminate and then by experimenting until we can match the sound we hear. This is a
gradual process of approximation: very often after getting it right for the first time, the pupils
get it wrong again and have to keep on trying until they produce the sound accurately. Your
job is to provide the accurate model and to encourage and train your pupils, first to hear a
sound correctly, and then to produce it correctly. This includes drawing attention to vowel
length and lip position.
English has more vowels compared with Romanian. Consequently, Romanian pupils
encounter some difficulties in learning the English vowel system. On the other hand, a pupil’s
inability to produce vowels correctly is rarely a source of communication breakdowns.
• Diphthongs
Diphthongs (two vowels run together) are not difficult to teach. You can break the
sound into its component parts and practice them separately, exaggerating the difference
between them. Then you can get the pupils to run them together, emphasising that the first
part of the sound receives heavier stress.
• Consonants
Teaching consonants is a mixture of providing pupils with the right technical
information (‘bite your bottom lip when saying [f] or [v]’), and of organizing practice activities
and careful monitoring of free speech and correction.
Technical information is of little use in learning to produce vowels and diphthongs. The
only way in which pupils manage to produce the right sounds is a trial and error process of
approximation to what they perceive to be the right ones. Even if in the case of consonants,
technical information is more helpful, this will not enable them to actually hear any difference
between sounds, either in their own performance or in other people’s.

Using minimal pairs

A minimal pair is a pair of words that are exactly the same, except for one sound, e.g.
bit and beat, cap and cat, etc. The use of such pairs is the basis for teaching pupils to
distinguish and perceive the differences.
A procedure for the use of minimal pairs involves three stages of pupil training.

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 Can you arrange these three stages in the correct order
according to the objective of each stage? Number them from 1 to
3.
• to perceive the sounds as different
• to identify which is which
• to produce each of the two sounds

Here is how you can organise work at each of the stages:

Stage I. You ask the pupils to indicate when the sound changes in a string such as:
bit, bit, bit, beat, beat, bit, etc. The pupils will have to shout out or show hands when they
hear a change.
It is important that the pupils identify the sound not only in isolation, but also in
sentences, in both stressed and unstressed positions. You can give them examples such as
‘The ship is old, the sheep is old, the sheep is old’, etc.
Stage II. The simplest way to train the pupils to identify which sound is which is to
write each word of the minimal pair on the board, with a number by the side:
1) bit 2) beat
You give the word at random and the pupils shout out which number goes with it.
This exercise should also be done with the sounds in different environments, and with the
word in different parts of the sentence.
Stage III. You can say the number or hold up a picture, and the pupils say the word.
This can also be done in groups – with one pupil saying one of the words (in context as well
as in isolation) and the others have to identify it by number or by picture. In this variant, you
will be monitoring and providing the pupils with feedback on their accuracy and progress.

Using the phonetic notation

Here are some advantages of using the phonetic
alphabet/notation/script. Can you think of any disadvantages?
List these after the advantages, in the space provided below.
a) It sensitises the pupils to sounds
b) It is useful for correction
c) It is a valuable study skill
d) It is used in textbooks and dictionaries and thus it can
support independent learning
e) It may be exploited in the pupils’ notes
f) It distracts attention from ordinary letter associations
g) It encourages a less teacher-centred attitude
h) It helps pronunciation.
Disadvantages:
•
•

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 • Why use phonetic alphabet / notation / script?
You may wonder whether a knowledge of the phonetic notation is of any practical help
to you in your teaching. Certainly, a knowledge of what happens to sounds in the context of
the utterance will help you to appreciate the difficulties your pupils face, especially in
listening.
An ability with the phonetic (tran)script helps you in the preparation of lessons and the
anticipation of the pupils’ difficulties. Teaching and practising the phonetic script with pupils
will also be facilitated. Also, a knowledge of the most characteristic phonetic differences
between Romanian and English is helpful, too.
The phonemic notation can be used for three purposes:
• to introduce the sounds of English
• to practise the sounds of English (in isolation and in combination)
• to teach the phonetic alphabet itself to pupils at various levels of study.

• How to use the phonetic notation?

First insist that the pupils have a copy of the phonetic alphabet attached to the inside
cover of their exercise book or make sure that there is one in the textbook. This can be
consulted individually, in class and outside. Then use it for activities such as:
1. Copying: you select the words which the pupils will look up in a dictionary,
giving them the phonetic spellings.
2. Matching: you give the pupils a list of sound symbols along with a list of
example words containing these sounds. You ask the pupils to match both sets, e.g.:
[i:] hat
[ai] five
[e] too
[i] sit
[a:] path
[ ] cup
[o:] saw
[u] see
[u:] ten
[ ] got
3. Sorting: you ask the pupils to categorise a list of example words into two or
more groups, according to the vowel sound they contain, e.g.:
[i] or [i:]
sit, see, ill, eel, kneel, will, etc.
4. Filling in: you present an example of a phonetic transcription entry, such as
[si:] for sea to illustrate [i:] and then other sets with one of the columns blank, e.g.:
[i:] sea [si:]
[i] sit [ ? ],
[] ? [s n]
Categorising, matching and sorting exercises can be devised for plural noun forms [z],
[s], [iz] and irregular forms, for the -ed termination of the Past Tense Simple form.
A number of familiarisation activities can be carried out with the whole class. Here are
a few examples;

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 1) Bingo. You write 10 – 15 phonetic symbols on the board, each of which is
numbered. You read out some of the items to the class, and the pupils only jot down the
corresponding numbers. You check at the end that the class has the correct combination of
numbers. This game can be continued in pairs, with the pupils taking it in turns to read out a
selection of items to each other.
2) Kim’s game. A number of items are written on the board. The pupils close their
eyes while you rub off one of the spellings. When asked to open their eyes, the pupils try to
remember what was in the space.
3) The letters of the alphabet. Phonetic information can play a useful role in teaching
and learning the letters of the alphabet, if you arrange the letters according to the sounds
their names contain:
[ei] [i:] [e] [ai] [u] [u:] [a:]
A B F I O Q R
H C L Y U
J E N W
K G S
P X
T Z
V
(after Abbs and Freebairn, Opening Strategies, Longman, 1982, p. 24)
4) Delayed correction of pronunciation. Phonetic notation may also be exploited
when monitoring pair or group work. Rather than interrupting immediately, you can hand the
pupils slips of paper afterwards. These indicate the correct pronunciation in the form of a
phonetic spelling.
A knowledge of the phonetic alphabet is of great value to the teacher of English. It
provides information and guidance about, as well as access to a potential learning aid. It may
suit some pupils’ learning styles providing them with the means of solving some of the
difficulties experienced with pronunciation independently.

Teaching strategies for stress, rhythm and intonation

Your pupils need both recognition practice and production practice with stress, rhythm
and intonation, so that these become a part of their overall competence in English. This
practice can be integrated either with the teaching of grammar, or with the teaching of
communication skills, or you may have separate lessons /stages of the lesson on particular
areas.
The easiest way for students to practise stress, rhythm and intonation is by repetition.
Traditional repetition is often boring to do if the focus is not pronunciation. The same drills
can be made interesting and challenging if you ask the pupils to repeat a sentence using a
particular stress and intonation pattern. For this practice to be effective, it is important to:
• give a good model of the sentence; saying it at normal speed, making a clear
difference between stressed and unstressed syllables, using natural intonation;
• indicate the stress, rhythm and intonation clearly, using gestures;
• make sure that the pupils pay attention to stress, rhythm and intonation when they
repeat the sentence.
You can use yourself or taped material as the model. Since emulating the voice range
of English may be difficult for your pupils, you may need to exaggerate your own voice range
in hope that your pupils repeating it will sound about right. After listening comprehension
dialogues, pupils love repeating a selected short extract from the tape.

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 Remember to integrate constantly intonation when teaching a new structure, or when
doing imitation, substitution drills or communicative drills. For further practice, take advantage
of semi-controlled dialogues.
• Rhythm
Quite often, teachers tend to unconsciously distort the rhythm of English in order to
make themselves understood by their pupils. They tend to speak so slowly that the sentence
stress and rhythm are distorted. When the difference in the duration of stressed and
unstressed syllables is lost, they will sound foreign.
As rhythm is superimposed on the utterance, it may be difficult to concentrate on it
without also paying attention to other aspects (pronunciation of sounds, word stress, pitch
variation, meaning of individual words, the utterance as a whole). In the early stages, you
could concentrate on rhythmic patterns with words that do not produce vowel and consonant
difficulties. Different pitch variations can be presented on the same utterance for better aural
discrimination:
He’s coming tomorrow.
This can be said with a low fall, a high fall, or a rising pitch in the last stressed syllable.
What kinds of sentence are said with a 1) low fall, 2) a high fall,
or 3) a rising pitch in the last stressed syllable, respectively?

1)
2)
3)
As for the syllables, these can be replaced with “ti” (for the unstressed) and “TA” (for
the stressed). A sentence can sound:
a) . _ . _ . (ti TA ti ‘TA ti)
b) _ . . . _ (TA ti ti ti TA)
Stressed syllables are louder than the unstressed ones. The slanted line marks pitch
variation. The syllables can also be represented using smaller and bigger dots:
a) •• • ‘• •
b) •••••
Length, a reliable marker of stress, is a variable that the pupils find easy to control. The
dots and lines give an idea of the difference in length between stressed and unstressed
syllables. This is the feature that differentiates most significantly syllable-timed and stress-
timed languages. Stressed syllables in English are about three times longer than unstressed
syllables.
Pupils can be first asked to discriminate aurally the two rhythmic patterns, which you
verbalise with the nonsense syllables ti and TA. A same – different drill or a drill identifying
the pattern with (a) or (b) can be used. The pupils then can proceed to imitate the patterns
using ti or TA.
A number of words, phrases and sentences are presented which contain the rhythmic
patterns. Pupils identify the pattern writing (a) or (b), and then repeat a number of words,
phrases and sentences that contain the patterns in question, e.g.:
a) b)
We started early. Tennis is a game.
We’ll have a picnic. Do it after lunch.
A piece of chocolate. Why did you return?
He’s just a baby. Susan must be there.

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 Can you arrange these phrases and sentences according to
the given patterns (a) and (b)?
Peter was with us.
Another sandwich.
Tell her not to come.
Thirty of them left.
He’s absent minded.
A pound of apples.
This morning’s paper.
What about a drink?
I don’t believe you.
It’s time for supper.
Don’t be such a fool.
She couldn’t help it.
Write your answers in the columns (a) and (b) below.
a) b)
………………… ………………….
………………… ………………….
………………… ………………….
………………… ………………….
………………… ………………….
………………… ………………….
………………… …………………..
For Romanian pupils, a good command of English rhythm is imperative. If they
succeed in following closely the rhythmic patterns, an accent in certain features of intonation
will not hinder intelligibility of their speech. Correct production of rhythmic patterns requires a
prior teaching of the recognition of the patterns through adequate ear training. Remember
that a pupil who is unable to perceive a phonetic aspect will also be unable to reproduce it in
the spoken form, and do not neglect to teach aural discrimination of rhythmic patterns.
• Intonation
It is sometimes said that the best techniques for teaching intonation are exaggeration
and exhortation. This means that it is always useful to simplify one’s teaching of intonation
and to put a lot of encouragement into the models you give the pupils to repeat. It is also
useful to ask them to repeat what you have said or what they heard on the tape, with as
much enthusiasm as they can gather.
Here are a few more techniques:
• Recognition and discrimination
a) Rise or fall?. Provide the pupils with cards of two different colours, or ask them to
raise their left or right hands, and say or play a series of short utterances. The pupils must
signal recognition by holding up the appropriate hand or card, e.g. right hand for rise and left
hand for fall.
Don’t forget to give your pupils a model of what you intend them to do, before starting.
At higher levels, pupils can hear a continuous dialogue and then describe the
intonation on each line. They can even discuss why it is so.
b) Isolated sentences said in different ways. For such sentences, ask the pupils to
determine context and meaning.
c) Tone of voice. At low levels, pupils can recognise obvious attitudes (e.g. happy,
angry, bored, etc.); at higher levels, pupils can recognise more subtle attitudes (e.g. annoyed,
rude, sarcastic, bossy, etc.)

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 • Back chaining
One way to help pupils 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.
When you think that the pronunciation point has been satisfactorily perceived, and your
pupils can produce an acceptable version, the practice stage follows: consolidating and
establishing the habits of good pronunciation through exercises that provide repetition and
reinforcement.
• Intonation and meaning in context
After you set up a situational context, you can sing, hum or whistle some ‘lines of a
dialogue’ (i.e. intonation only). Ask the pupils to assess the meaning of each line. Then ask
them to repeat the singing, humming or whistling, building a kind of dialogue without words,
and then elicit the possible language of the dialogue. Follow this by practice and acting out.
• Semi-controlled production
Pupils respond to cues, such as “Try saying ‘Thank you’, ‘Pardon’, ‘Excuse me’ or
‘Really?’ politely/rudely/impatiently”, etc.
• Free production
The real test of learning will take place during free oral production. Most errors will go
uncorrected, but gross errors will have to be fixed. Encourage peer correction.
The teaching of intonation should be integrated into the teaching of structures and
functional language, and given equal importance. Teach intonation through situation, and
spotlight attitude besides grammar and discourse. Use taped materials, especially dialogues,
as often as you can, for both receptive and productive practice. Don’t forget that attitude is
best suggested by either attitude cards or by your own facial expressions.
Use hand gestures to show stress and intonation. Use intonation as a way of
disguising revision of structure.

Correcting pronunciation
On the whole, you give feedback on oral work through speech, and on written work
through writing. Although there are occasional situations where the other way round is
possible, these are exceptions.
It is recommended to refrain from correcting mistakes during fluency-oriented speech,
and to correct only during accuracy-oriented exercises. Correcting a pupil when this is in mid-
speech would disturb and discourage more than help. But there are situations when
correction is likely to be helpful. When the pupil is obviously uneasy or ‘floundering’, no
correction or help can be demoralising. In such situations, supportive intervention can help.
Conversely, even where the emphasis is on getting the language right, you may not
always correct: in a grammar exercise, if the pupil has contributed an interesting or personal
piece of information that does not use the target form, or when s/he has got most of an item
right, you may prefer not to draw attention to a relatively trivial mistake.

Techniques of oral correction

Oral corrections are usually provided directly by you. They may also be elicited from
the pupil who made the mistake in the first place, or by another member of the class.
Corrections may or may not include a clarification of why the mistake was made, and may or
may not require a re-production of the acceptable form by the pupil. Here are several
techniques used in correcting oral mistakes, in general. They can be used in correcting
pronunciation, too:

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 • You do not react at all.
• You indicate there is a mistake, but do not provide any further information about
what is wrong.
• You say what is wrong and provide a model of the acceptable version.

Can you add any other techniques to this list?

Tips for correcting pronunciation

• You can correct pronunciation by writing the phonetic form on the blackboard; this
is a more learner-centred approach than if you correct pronunciation orally, by giving a
model.
• The pupils may also be able to write the phonetic notation on the board for
correction purposes (some pupils respond with enthusiasm to this type of activity).
• A special area of the blackboard can be set aside for pronunciation work.
• Exercises on the blackboard are not rubbed off until the end of the lesson.
• A different colour chalk can be reserved for this end.

Summary
Although pronunciation is not always taught in an overt, explicit way, many pupils
seem to acquire an acceptable pronunciation in school. However, this should not make us
forget the benefits of teaching pronunciation in our lessons. The teaching of pronunciation
makes the pupils aware of different sounds and sound features and this will improve both
their speaking and their listening skills. Concentrating on pronunciation makes pupils aware
of sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation, and of various accents. All these give pupils
information about spoken English and help them achieve better comprehension of the
spoken language and intelligibility in speaking.

Further Reading
Bradford, Barbara, 1988, Intonation in Context CUP
Harmer, Jeremy. 2001, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, Chapter 2,
pp. 28 – 33
Haycraft, Brita, 1975, The Teaching of Pronunciation, Longman
Herbert, Julie “PracTESOL: “t’s Not What You Say, but How You Say It!” in Richards, Jack C.
and Renandya Willy A., 2002.
Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy A., 2002. Methodology in Language Teaching.
Cambridge: CUP.
Jones Rodney H. “Beyond ‘Listen and Repeat’: Pronunciation Teaching Materials and
Theories of Second Language Acquisition” in Richards, Jack C. and Renandya Willy A.,
2002.

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