Term 4 Assignment – Phonology

Question 1. In not more than 200 words , write how far is it important to teach phonetics
for developing communication skills .

Phonics is a branch of linguistics where the sounds and physical properties of human speech
sounds are studied. Phonics instruction teaches children how to decode letters into their
respective sounds, a skill that is essential for them to read unfamiliar words by themselves.
Keep in mind that most words are in fact unfamiliar to early readers in print, even if they
have spoken knowledge of the word. Having letter-sound knowledge will allow children to
make the link between the unfamiliar print words to their spoken knowledge .Another
aspect that is rarely discussed is that the letter-sound decoding process itself is a learning
mechanism . Phonics provides a foundation of learning meant to help make reading easier.
Phonics builds a foundation used to help children learn to read by breaking down words into
sounds and building letter and word recognition. This can enhance a child's ability to use
unknown words in the future. Phonics enables children to blend words and teach them how
to dissect words, while improving spelling ability and increasing pronunciation.
Phonics reading is also necessary for the improvement of a child's reading comprehension. It
is impossible for somebody to understand a word that is not properly pronounced. When a
child learns how to pronounce a word very well, the child will be able to comprehend what
he or she reads. Reading comprehension is another benefit that can be derived from
phonics reading. Phonics reading will also help a child in acquiring more vocabulary on daily
basis. When a child is able to pronounce a word correctly, the child will be able to
understand the word. Children normally use in their words that they understand in their
daily speech.

Children have to develop more confidence in themselves before they begin to vocalize
more. This begins the moment they realize that they can pronounce words correctly like
older people. It is only through phonics reading that children will develop the ability to
pronounce words very well. So, if you want your child to develop confidence and become
more vocal in the future, you need to teach him or her phonics. Phonics reading helps also
to increase a child's fluency in reading. Fluency in this context is not limited to reading fast.
It also means reading text accurately. When a child is taught phonics properly, the child will
find reading easy. The child will not only read accurately but also quickly. Reading quick and
correctly is another benefits of phonics reading.

Question 2 . What are the objectives of teaching pronunciation ? Suggest objectives from
your own experiences?
Communication is the most important concept of any human society . In this aspect , they
adapted English language as the local language of the world. So , to communicate properly
we need correct pronunciation , because pronunciation affects very much on the
understanding of the meanings of the words. If the sound of word , is differing it may lead
the listener to some other meanings , and if this happens, it is very much obvious that its
not a proper communication . This is in fact confusion . To avoid such kind of problems we
need to try to turn people into sounding like native speakers , but at least we do need to get
them to be capable of being understood by a variety of listeners and this goal can not be
achieved since you must provide students the best teachers .
Now a day , all regions of world coming closer to each other and world is globalizing .
Naturally all the masses and people are getting more familiar and more near to each other .
This way , they collectively effect each other in all aspects of life . Specially it is the language
, which is effected more. And , as it is English is local language of the world . So it has
immense number of people around the globe to speak it up . Every one of them has its own
way to deal with it but it’s quite sure that language is not that kind of abstract art which can
be dealt in one’s own way like any abstract painting . Language is a humankind distinctive
feature . Whether we think of rationality or sociability , we are thinking of language .
It is language that makes us different from other species. And especially when one talk
about speaking of English or learning to speak English, he must replace the saying: ‘’Seeing is
Believing ‘’ with ‘’Hearing is Believing ‘’ because speech is therefore the basic form of
language . This leads to the conclusion that speech should be emphasized accurately . As it is
confirmed that without some degree of accuracy speaker should end up producing
unrecognizable language .
There are a lot of useful suggestions for EFL teachers to help learners improve their
English pronunciation. EFL teachers should be accurately trained in pronunciation to
improve their learners’ English pronunciation . EFL teachers should speak clearly and slowly
in their pronunciation classes and they should convince their learners that their language is
understandable. This can help their learners improve their pronunciation by listening to
them carefully . Teachers should teach their learners that slow speech with correct
pronunciation is much better than fast speech with wrong pronunciation. Learners should
understand that understandability is more important than fast speech . EFL teachers should
be aware of their learners’ needs and problems in pronunciation. Based on
their needs, teachers should present some appropriate materials to their learners to reduce
their learners’ pronunciation problems Teachers should use computer technologies such as
different kinds of computer software in their classes to help their learners improve their
pronunciation by exposing them to authentic materials . Teachers should familiarize their
learners to both American and British English and learners should be able to
understand both varieties of pronunciation . Teachers should incorporate pronunciation
in other language activities because it will help learners to adapt themselves to the sound
systems of a new language and overcome their affective problems related to the learning
of English language .
Teachers should set obtainable goals that are appropriate for the communication needs of
the learners. Teachers should
act as the speech coach of pronunciation, give feedback to their learners, and encourage
them to improve their
pronunciation (Thanasoulas, 2002).