THEORY AND PRACTICE OF SCIENCE: KEY ASPECTS

PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATION

DOI 10.51582/interconf.7-8.11.2021.010

Usatîi Larisa
Ph.D in Pedagogy, university lecturer;
State Pedagogical University “I. Creangă”, Moldova

Babîră Eugenia
Ph.D in Philology, associate professor
State Pedagogical University “I. Creangă”, Moldova

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION: USEFUL PRINCIPLES,

STRATEGIES AND TOOLS

Abstract. The present article touches upon a significant aspect of the language – teaching English
pronunciation, which is a measure of success and indicator of communicative competence of the
speaker. The article describes useful principles, strategies and tools in acquiring correct and
intelligible pronunciation. They ensure further successful mastering of the English language.
Keywords: principle, strategy, tools, pronunciation, agenda, phonetical lab, articulatory
gymnastics.

Pronunciation is the cover of the language and it is one of the most difficult
aspects to acquire. Pronunciation is vital to proper communication because the
incorrect use of pronunciation inevitably leads to the message being misunderstood
by the recipient [1]. Pronouncing sounds involves both our minds and our bodies.
To pronounce a new language well, we need to learn to hear again. Pronunciation is
important in the English language. Dialects may differ from place to place, but clear
and correct pronunciation is critical in getting one’s message understood. Proper
pronunciation ensures a native speaker understand the words and can comprehend
the message transmitted. Mispronunciation of words in English results in a
breakdown in communication as the meaning and intent of the message may alter
dramatically or lose altogether.

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There are four reasons why we must teach pronunciation properly:

Pronunciation applies to all four skills – listening, reading, writing and speaking;
Pronunciation improves listening; Pronunciation is the physical aspect of language;
Pronunciation affects self-esteem.
In order to be efficient in teaching English pronunciation a wide range of
principles, strategies and tools should be applied.
The principle is fundamental truth that serves as the foundation for a system of
belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. There are general and specific
principles. When we refer to Teaching Pronunciation, the scientists have identified
a variety of specific principles. This problem has not been settled completely and
we present in continuation the further table. The opinions of some authors are
presented in it. (Table 1).

Table 1
Specific Principles in Teaching Pronunciation
PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING
AUTHORS
PRONUNCIATION
1. R. Lado [2] 1. to speak before writing;
2. writing – the representation of speech;
3. progressive teaching of language models – teaching step by step;
2. M. Doboş; 1. the principle of accessibility and individualisation (it refers to the
D. Juncan [3] age, physical and intellectual potential, motivational level, his
attitude towards learning);
2) the principle of theory and practice connection;
3. V. Şerban; 1. The material for the lesson should be taught gradually;
L. Ardeleanu [4] 2. The sound models should be built up naturally as to be taught in
different environments, to avoid artificial constructions;
3. The sounds are not taught in isolated position, but incorported in
words and the words in their turn in short and clear sentences;
4. In the process of the oral period the graphic support is excluded,
because it may generate interference;
5. In the oral period the normal rhythm of speech is not modified.
4. И.Л. Бим [5] 1. the principle of communicative-cognitive principle in the process
of teaching;
2. the principle of didactic process differentiation;
3. the comparative-contrastive principle;
4. the principle of gradation, teaching intensification;

5. Н.В. Барышников 1) inter-cultural principle;

[6] 2) the cognitive- intellectual principle;

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Table continuation 1
6. А.В. Щепилова 1) Principles referring to communicative sphere:
[7] - communicative principle;
- complexity principle;
- functional principle;
2) Principles referring to cognitive sphere:
- cognitive principle;
- contrastive (comparative) principle;
- the principle of conscious learning;
3) General Principles:
- intercultural principle;
- independence principle.
6. A. Tătaru [8] 1.) the principle of contrastive analysis of the phonological systems of
English and Romanian;
2) the principle of consecutiveness ;
3) the principle of sistematisation;
7. G. V.Rogova 1. the principle of conscious learning;
[9] 2. the principle of visualization;
3. the principle of durability;

The process of teaching-learning English pronunciation requires a number of

didactic strategies that include the ensemble of methods, means and models of its
organization for to achieve the planned objectives. A teaching strategy is a way and
means of organizing and facilitating learning experiences. A didactical strategy is
efficient when trains students, when is adapted to psychological peculiarities of
teaching, when leads to creative learning. A teacher plays a vital role within a few
hours in the classroom by delivering the daily specific planned content that is a part
of curriculum for a specific grade. It depends on the teacher to plan it out and use
effective strategies for its instructional deliverance. Thus, we consider the following
strategies to be very helpful and useful. [11]
The expository strategies are used both to offer the necessary notional support
for understanding a theme and to make the students become sensitive to a thematic
unit, to make them understand the modalities of treating the theme, to offer means
of adequate phonetic expression. Expository is an approach to teaching that a teacher
uses to impart or expose knowledge to the students. The teacher tells students both
the generalizations and specific issues which are expected to be learned. They are
further defined as strategies that are particularly effective for presenting declarative
information in a step by step way through lecture, explanation and the provision of

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guided practice through oral drills. Examples of methods which fall under these are
lecture, storytelling, narratives, teacher demonstration, text reading, recitation, note-
dictating, audio-visual presentations etc.
Algorithmic strategies refer to following some concrete steps, rigurous
succession of operations which describe step by step the traverse of the process of
clearing. I. and M. Albulescu consider that this resorts not only to transmit a volume
of knowledge but also to guide the student in his studies; to explain to the learner
how to treat a theme; to introduce or revise new points of view; to present necessary
models for the development and improvement of the student; to show techniques and
methods of thinking and action; to explain to everybody on the path which he will
traverse in the development of the theme; to help the student organize his knowledge
on a superior level of synthesis; to provide him with adequate means of learning; to
sensitize the students to activity [10, p. 105-106].
Algorithmic strategies support the development of general reasoning, problem-
solving and communication skills by giving students the skills to fluently interpret
and design structured procedures and rule systems. Such procedures and rule
systems can be found in a wide range of curriculum areas, with complex rule systems
frequently found in the syntax of languages, in scientific classification, and in legal
reasoning.
The imitative, expositive, demonstrative are part of the algorithmic strategies.
They are extremely important for the development of the articulatory base of
pronunciation of the sound, of the phonematic hearing and verbal expression in the
target language.
Heuristic strategies are based on dialogue, on a technique of questions and
answers reasonably formulated. Heuristic strategies also known as discovery or
inquiry or experimental or facilitation, refers to an approach in teaching and learning
where the learners are left to explore; find out information for themselves. The word
‘Heuristic’ has been derived from the Greek word ‘Heurisco’ which means ‘I find’
or ‘I discover’. This method implies that the attitude of students shall be that of the
discoveries and not of passive recipients of knowledge.
Communicative strategies are strategies that learners use to overcome these

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problems in order to convey their intended meaning. Strategies used may include
paraphrasing, substitution, coining new words, switching to the first language, and
asking for clarification. These strategies, with the exception of switching languages,
are also used by native speakers. Communicative strategies can be verbal, nonverbal,
or visual. Integrating all the strategies together will allow you to see the most success.
This allows a business to meet employee needs and increase workplace knowledge.
Communicative strategies (active / participating) refer to the use of the
learned material in different communicative contexts, by methodological
valorification of it. These strategies have concrete finalities: application of
different techniques by the students for efficient learning, the contribution to the
development of the critical thinking of the students, the development of their
capacity to formulate or to give personal opinions as to concrete problem, to
participate in discussions, debates, to choose rationally some optimal solutions out
of many possible, the capacity of solving problems in an optim time and efficiently;
the development of individual working capacities, group cooperation and the
acceptance of various opinions.
In order to prepare the articulatory basis of the pronunciation of the sound units
the realization of the phonetical gymnastics is recommended, which is an efficient
tool in teaching pronunciation. “Phonetical gymnastics is a special exercise of
training the pronunciation which prevents the deautimatisation of pronunciation
abilities.” [6, p. 25].
The aim of the phonetical gymnastics consists in the anticipation and
prevention of possible phonetical difficulties of different kind – acoustic /auditive,
pronunciation. The content of the phonetical gymnastics can be varied:
– The articulation of some sounds, groups of sounds, words with difficult
pronunciation;
– Reading of the words, sentences, dialogues, short texts, verses, tongue –
twistrers;
– Auding in order to identify pronunciation errors;
– Recognizing while hearing the dialect;
– Determination of the attitude towards smt. according to intonation;

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– Pronunciation of the same phrase with different intonation depending on the

speech task;
– Repeating after the pause;
– Synchronic repetition after the teacher, colleague, actor, presenter;
– Recognition of the heard words, their memorizing and further repetition.
During the phonetical gymnastics the student must mobilize both the voluntary
attention and the involuntary one as to the mode of articulation. As a rule this work
is projected gradually: from small units to bigger ones, where these units appear in
different combinations.
Phonetical gymnastics does not and cannot have a fixed place within the lesson.
Everything depends on the succession of tasks where the students can have
phonetical difficulties. It helps to anticipate or avoid problems in pronunciation. It
is performed as a rule, at the beginning of the lesson, it can precede reading
activities, in this context it is realized on the basis of the text for reading. For
example: Sounds: [p], [i], [e].
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
A tool that proved to be efficient and successful in teaching pronunciation is –
phonetical lab. These labs provide a very different experience from the traditional
system of teaching and learning languages, offering more advanced
features and functionalities. Language labs provide practice in an entertaining and
interactive way to acquire the 4 main language skills: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing; students learn more comprehensively through a language
lab; students learn much faster in the language lab; the phonetial lab
boosts the motivation of students achieving higher levels of language retention and
progress; the students can watch videos, practice their pronunciation through a
speech recognizer; phonetical laboratories allow for diversity in the classroom - the
teacher knows exactly what course objectives pose major difficulties for the student
time and can reinforce the class accordingly; these labs also encourage

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communication student-teacher as well as student-student with activities and

exercises essential to oral communication and the understanding of the language.
The most important thing is that the students have the possibility to receipt,
reproduce, train in order to acquire accuracy in communication.
Another efficient tool in teaching English pronunciation is the Articulatory
Agenda. In the course of learning and training English pronunciation the students
fill in an agenda where they put down the mistakes they made, they also comment
on them and give the rule for correct pronunciation. We present only some items of
the Agenda (Table 2).

Table 2
Model of articulatory agenda of the student
Date THEME MISTAKE EVALUATION AUTOCORRECTION
made (teacher)
The length of the Bark – bun The length is not Monophthong a,
posterior Soon – book respected according to the third type
monophthong Car – cart of reading is long.
[a:] Mark -must a plus r: [a:] - star, jar,
mark, car.
The Two – to (tu) The Interference of In English we distinguish
differentiation of Caught – cot the native language in long and short
the woeds which (cot) English monophthongs, thus in
are pronounce Port – pot Romanian we have only
the same in (pot) short ones.
English and Two - [tu:] – engleză
Romanian Tu - română
The length of the Short – shot Incorrect Type III and IV of vowel o
posterior Shore - shok pronunciation towards is rendered by the long
monophthong more – lot the types of reading. monophthong and
[o:] sport – spot according to type II by the
cort- cot short one.
III O+R=[o:]
O+R=[o:]
Phonetical Nook – mood The insufficient Digraph oo sis pronounced
transcription of good – spoon knowledge of the shortly when it is followed
the words Cook – loop phonetical by consonant k.
containing oo. Hook- moon transcription in OO+k= short
English. rules of Oo+(all consonants)=long
correct syllable stress Excepţie: good.
are not respected

In conclusion we should like to mention that in order to know the orthoepic and
orthographic norms and respect them in speech and writing; to articulate the sound

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individually and in context at the necessary level, to possess a pronunciation which

is clear and intelligible; to use the phonetic units at the segmental and
suprasegmental levels; to control the intonation, word and sentence stress, the
tamber, tones; to communicate with a degree of fluency that gives the possibility to
interact with other speakers; to decode the communicative message easily teachers
are to implement useful principles, strategies, tools and activities [11].

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