how to … teach phonemic script

1 Why teach phonemic script? speakers of English, whether native speakers with regional
2 The phonemic chart variations or non-native speakers, may pronounce the
3 How can I approach the phonemic chart in class? phonemic symbols slightly differently from the standard
pronunciation. If this is the case for you, you need to be aware
4 Phoneme activities
of any differences, but you should only point them out to your
learners if it creates any kind of conflict with the material you
are using.
1 Why teach phonemic script?
2
1
think!
think! Write the words below in the correct columns, according to the
Do you ever teach phonemic script to your learners? sound of the underlined syllables. Would people learning the
If yes, cover box B. Read box A, then think of two or three language of the country where you teach have similar problems
reasons why teachers don’t do it. with sounds and spelling?
If no, cover box A. Read box B, then think of two or three toe threw truth cup though
reasons why teachers do it. blood throw enough sew lose
boot honey through courage know
A why I teach phonemic script
• Sound-spelling relationships are difficult in English; /@U/ /u;/ /V/
phonemic script is a useful guide.
• Learners can work on pronunciation
independently through dictionaries.
• Learners can keep a written record of the
pronunciation of new words.
• It’s a useful tool to highlight differences between go to answer key p.171
sounds e.g. /I/ and /i;/.
• It’s very useful for correction.
2 The phonemic chart
B why I don’t teach phonemic script
The phonemic chart on the back cover of the listening booklet
• I don’t feel very confident about what the was designed by Adrian Underhill. You’ll notice that it is
symbols mean. divided into three main sections:
• It’s too time-consuming for learners.
• Learners have enough to worry about without a b
learning a new script.
• Pronunciation is best learnt through oral models c
– they’re less confusing.
• The way I pronounce the phonemic symbols is Section a contains vowel sounds, b contains diphthongs, i.e.
different from the dictionary. compound vowel sounds, and c has consonants and
approximants, /r/, /w/, and /j/. (The sounds /w/ and /j/ are
sometimes called semi-vowels.)
In natural English, we have included phonemic transcriptions
of many new or difficult vocabulary items as we feel the a the vowels
advantages of learning the script greatly outweigh the
The organization of the vowels demonstrates three different
disadvantages. Some teachers may lack confidence when they
factors involved in producing the sounds:
start using phonemic symbols, but they are not as daunting as
they may at first appear, and it takes surprisingly little time to – whether the lips are stretched or rounded
learn and feel confident using them, especially as the phonemic – whether the jaw is closed or open
symbols for many consonant sounds are the same as their – the position of the tongue.
orthographic form. If you introduce phonemics to your learners
‘little and often’, you will learn them yourself, and you may
even be surprised to discover how much fun they can be. Many

how to … teach phonemic script © Oxford University Press


i; I U u;
e @ 3; O;
& V A; Q
Try saying the sounds on the top line in order from /I;/ to /u;/.
Notice the position of your tongue, and how your lips go from
a stretched position to a rounded one. Then say the first three
vertical sounds, i.e. /I;/ to /ae/. Put your hand under your chin,
and feel your jaw gradually opening. Your tongue should
remain more or less in the same position.
b the diphthongs
The diphthongs are organized into three groups based on the
second sound in each case.
/@/ /I/ /U/
I@ eI
U@ OI @U
e@ aI aU
c the consonants
The consonants in the two top rows are organized in voiceless
and voiced pairs, e.g. /p/ (voiceless) / /b/ (voiced). The consonants
to the left of the row are produced at the front of the mouth, e.g.
/p/ and /b/ (they are both produced by closing the lips). As you
go along the row, the production of the sounds takes place
further back in the mouth, until /k/ and /g/, at the end of the
row, which are produced right at the back of the mouth (‘velar’
sounds). The bottom line contains the nasal sounds /m/, /n/, and
/N/, the consonants /h/ and /l/, and the approximants /r/, /w/, and
/j/.
Want to know more? Read Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill
go to follow up p.171
3 How can I approach the phonemic chart
in class?
First of all, you need to show your learners how a knowledge
of phonemic symbols can help them. You could explain this to
them, but the best way is probably through illustration. Write
these words on the board:
turn heard skirt colonel
Ask learners how to pronounce them. They may (or may not)
give you a fair approximation for the first three, but they will
almost certainly mispronounce colonel. You can then write a
phonemic transcription of the first three, highlighting the
common /3;/ sound in each one, and invite learners to find the
correct pronunciation of colonel using dictionaries, i.e. /"k3:nl/.
They will quickly see that phonemic symbols in the dictionary
give them instant access to the correct pronunciation of words;
and you can point out that they can do this independently of a
teacher, in their own time. If they then write down the words
and phonemic transcriptions, they have an accurate written
record of the pronunciation – in case they forget.
© Oxford University Press
how to teach the symbols
Some teachers like to teach all the symbols in one go, but we
feel it is more practical and less daunting to organize the
symbols into small groups, and introduce them in five- to ten-
minute slots – often as a break from other activities – over a
series of lessons. For teaching purposes, it is sensible to divide
them into pairs or groups of sounds that are close together and
often a source of confusion. You can start with some of the
sound-spelling relationships that are classic problems, e.g.
pronouncing the letter o as /Q/ (as it is in many other
languages), when in English, the pronunciation may be /V/ as
in some, or /@U/ as in don’t.
how to group the sounds
Here is one way of grouping the sounds over a series of lessons,
although the groupings and order are very much up to you, and
may depend on the nationality you are teaching.
schwa
The schwa /@/ is the most common sound in English as it often
represents the letters a, o, and e in unstressed syllables.
vowels
/I/ (bit) and /i;/ (beat)
/Q/ (not) and /@u/ (know) and /aU/ (now)
/V/ (run) and /U/ (put ) and /u;/ (blue)
/&/ (hat) and /A;/ (arm) and /O;/ (fall)
/eI/ (wait) and /aI/ (white)
/I@/ (ear) and /ea/ (hair) and /U@/ (pure)
/e/ (bed) and /3;/ (burn ) and /OI/ (boil)
consonants
/D/ (this) and /T/ (think)
/s/ (see) and /S/ (sure) and /z/ (lose) and /Z/ (measure)
/dZ/ (due) and /tS/ (chew)
There are other consonant sounds that may be problematic for
certain nationalities, e.g. /d/ and /D/ for Spanish speakers, /f/
and /h/ for Japanese speakers, or /p/ and /b/ for Arabic speakers.
how to introduce the sounds
To introduce these groups of sounds, it helps if you have a large
copy of the chart on the wall. If you don’t have one, write the
relevant sounds on the board. Here are some simple techniques
to get started.
– Point to two sounds, e.g. /I/ and /i;/, and model them for
learners to repeat.
– Point to a sound e.g. /e/, and elicit it from the class.
– Point to a sound and model it ‘silently’, showing the
position of your lips and jaw, e.g. /O;/ or /a;/. Then elicit it
from the learners.
– Once you have established a sound, elicit simple words
containing the sounds, e.g. /3;/ bird, turn.
– Tap out on the chart a simple word using ‘easy’ consonant
phonemes for learners to say, e.g. point to /b/ + /I/ + /t/ = bit;
/i;/ + /t/ = eat.
– As you teach new sounds, also revise familiar ones.
how to … teach phonemic script
how to help learners see progress five things
One approach which can help to give learners a sense of Give learners two sounds, e.g. /I/ and /i;/ and put them into
progress is for them to make a blank copy of the phonemic pairs. They have to think of five things to eat or drink with each
chart on the back of the listening booklet. Each time they learn sound, e.g. fish, /I/ cheese /i;/. You can adapt it to different sounds
a new symbol, they write it in the correct square on their chart, and different topics – as long as you can find the answers
until finally they have a completed copy. Using your wallchart, yourself!
you can do quick revision activities during the lesson. For
example, point to different symbols and ask learners to give phonemic quiz
you the sound, or a word containing that sound. You can ask When learners have covered a number of phonemic symbols,
learners to take the role of teacher, and come out and do the you can do this as a warmer. On a handout, write five suitable
same, praising or correcting where necessary. Alternatively, tap general knowledge questions in phonemic script, e.g.
out some words you taught recently and see if learners can 1 /wen wQz D@ la;st @lImpIk geImz/ (When was the last Olympic
remember them, e.g. /r/ + /aU/ = row. Games?)
2 /hu: wVn D@ w3;ld kVp in tu; TaUz@nd @nd tu;/ (Who won the
World Cup in two thousand and two?)
4 Phoneme activities In pairs, learners have to read them, then write the answers (in
Roman script) as quickly as possible.
spot the schwa
Teach the schwa symbol /@/ and sound. Then choose a
paragraph from a simple text, or part of a dialogue, e.g. the try it out phonemic bingo
Bretécher cartoon in unit 1, and ask learners in pairs to circle all 1 Give each learner a copy of the table below. Alone, they
the instances of /@/. Go over the text or play the dialogue with circle one word in each box in pencil (so that they can
pauses to check their answers. Learners then practise reading rub it out later).
in pairs. 2 You then read out one of the two words in the first box.
Tick the word you say. If a learner has circled the word
which sound? you said, they put a tick next to it.
Give learners a group of words (or a set of flashcards) to sort 3 Read one word from the next box, and so on to the last
into groups, according to the pronunciation of the underlined box. Then go back and repeat the procedure, reading the
sound, e.g. other words. When a learner has ticked all the words they
circled, they shout ‘bingo!’
/e/ or /eI/ ? 4 Now check the learner’s answers against the ones you read
break breakfast bread steak out. If there is a mistake, continue the game with the rest
famous many paid said of the class till you get a winner. You can then ask
learners to write out the words in Roman script.
5 Put learners in small groups of four or five. They can play
odd one out the game, with one learner in the group as the teacher.
Give learners a handout with groups of four words. Each group You can adapt this game to include typical pronunciation
contains the same letter or combination of letters, e.g. house, problems for learners in your teaching environment.
loud, courage, around. Ask learners to identify the odd one out in
each group (in terms of pronunciation), and provide the two wO;k w3;k SIp Si;p p&k pA;k
phonemic symbols, i.e. courage /V/ is the odd one out; the others ri;d red kVp k&p fju; vju;
are all pronounced /aU/. They could go on and construct their weIt waIt su;p s@Up wQtS wQS
own groups of words for other learners to work on.
b&k b&g pA;T pA;s wUd gUd
how many letters? how many sounds?
This is a useful way to distinguish silent letters, e.g. cupboard,
and to deal with consonant clusters, e.g. although. dictionary race
Give learners a list of ten words they regularly mispronounce.
word how many how many what sound(s)? (This will vary from country to country, but the ones suggested
letters? sounds? are very common to many nationalities.) Tell learners to work
cupboard 2 1 /b/ in pairs. They look up the phonemic transcriptions in
dictionaries and say the words to each other to make sure they
answer
can pronounce them correctly. The first pair to finish should say
architect the words to the class. If they are confident with the words and
although symbols, you could suggest they record only the phonemic
language transcriptions of the words in their notebooks to test
themselves on the correct pronunciation at a later date.
weight
furniture comfortable headache dangerous interesting oranges
vegetable women science mountain usually

how to … teach phonemic script © Oxford University Press

homophones
Give learners the words in phonemic script below, and ask
them to find two different spellings for each one, using
dictionaries if necessary.
example /blu;/ blue blew
/@laUd/ (aloud, allowed); /weIt/ (wait, weight); /tu;/ (too, two);
/De@/ (there, their); /weI/ (way, weigh); /weist/ (waste, waist);
/flu;/ (flew, flu); /wi;k/ (weak, week).

homonyms
Give learners the words below, and they use dictionaries to
find out the two ways the words are pronounced, and what
each one means.

row tear lead wind wound

conclusion
In this chapter, we have looked at:
– the reasons why teachers may or may not teach phonemic
script
– ways of organizing and introducing the phonemic chart
– a range of discrete phoneme activities which make
excellent warmers, revision activities, or can be introduced
at different points in a lesson to provide a change of focus or
pace.
If you have never used the phonemic script with your classes
before, this chapter gives you a basic introduction, and we
hope that you will experiment with it.

answer key
think!2 p.168
/@U/ – toe, though, throw, sew, know
/u;/ – threw, truth, lose, boot, through
/V/ – cup, blood, enough, honey, courage

follow up
background reading
Underhill A 1994 Sound Foundations Heinemann
Kenworthy J 1987 Teaching English Pronunciation Longman
Roach P 1983 English Phonemics and Phonology Cambridge University
Press
Newton C 1999 Phonemic script: the pros and cons in English Teaching
Professional (issue 12)
classroom activities
Hancock M 1995 Pronunciation Games Cambridge University Press
Hewings M 1993 Pronunciation Tasks Cambridge University Press
Haycraft B 1993–4 English Aloud 1 and 2 Heinemann
Fletcher C 1989 Sounds English Longman

© Oxford University Press how to … teach phonemic script