TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

1- In what ways does the age factor affect pronunciation?

It is common to assume that if someone pronounces a second language like a native,
they probably started learning it as a child.

Some researchers claim that there is a sensitive period for language learning and that
people lose certain abilities after the age of approximately 12. A study seemed to
suggest that the younger a person is, the better he or she will be at perceiving the
sounds of new languages, and that continuous exposure to new languages sounds
prevents this ability from deteriorating.

2- What are the most difficult sounds for Spanish-speaking learners?

● /b/ and /v/.There is a sound in Spanish which is kind of combination of /b/ and
/v/. Learners tend to substitute this sound for the two English consonants.
● /d/ may be too close to /ð/ as in “then” so the word “day” sounds like “they”.
● /θ/ as in “thin” is absent in some varieties of Spanish. So the learner uses the
/f/ as in “fin” or /s/ as in “sin” as substitutes.
● /s/ and /z/. Learners may delete these sounds, use /s/ for both sounds or replace
either or both sounds with a kind of /h/ sound, so the name “Sue” could sound
as “hue”
● /ʃ/ as in “shoe”. Although learners are able to produce the sound, they may
actually overuse it and use /ʃ/ where /t̬ʃ/ should occur. For example, “cherry”
will be pronounced as “sherry”.
● /dʒ/ and /ʒ/. The first one is an unfamiliar sound and the learners will either
substitute /t̬ʃ/ or the sound represented by the letter “y” in Spanish (as in the
word “yuyo”). The second sound will sound foreign but will still be intelligible.
● /j/ as in “yet”. Learners will either pronounce the Spanish sound “y” as a
substitute or /dʒ/ so “yell” may sound like “gel”
● /w/ as in “wet”. They may pronounce this as a /b/ or they may insert a /g/
before the sound, so “went” may sound like “Gwent”
 ● /p/ and /k/. Speakers may not use sufficient aspiration for /p/ and may tend to
delete /k/ at the end of a word.
● /h/ as in “hold”. Learners will either delete the sound where it should be
pronounced or pronounce it with a great deal of “hissing” quality. There may
also be confusion between /h/ and /dʒ/, so “ham” may sound like “jam”.
● /r/. Learners will substitute their native sound, which is a /d/-like sound.
● /ŋ/ as in “sing”. At the end of the word the learner may pronounce /g/ or
substitute /n/, so “wing” may be pronounced as “win”.

3- When should we teach pronunciation?

Different studies seem to suggest that the younger a person is, the better he or she
will be at accurate pronunciation of new languages, and that continuous exposure to
new languages sounds prevents this ability from deteriorating. Therefore, we can
assume that the sooner we start teaching pronunciation, the better it will be for
students.

As regards when it is best to teach pronunciation in a lesson, Kenworthy considers

that no matter what type of work is being done at the level of vocabulary, there are
always opportunities for work on the pronunciation of words. Finally, he suggests
that learners should also be given oral homework once that they are familiar with
self-monitoring. If learners record their homework then they will be able to evaluate
their own work, as well as receiving the teacher’s feedback.

4- What’s the teacher’s role in teaching pronunciation?

According to Kenworthy, the teacher has several roles when teaching pronunciation:

● First of all, teachers should help learners perceive sounds correctly: Learners
have a tendency to hear the sounds of English in terms of the sounds of their
native language. The teacher’s role here is to check that their learners are
hearing sounds accordingly.
 ● Teachers should help learners make sounds: If learners are not able to imitate
a new sound, the teacher should give some hints which may help them to
produce them.
● Provide feedback whenever a learner is overdoing a phoneme.
● The teacher must consider what types of exercises and activities will be
helpful for learning pronunciation.
● Teachers should assess their students’ progress, as learners will find it
difficult to assess their own progress on their own.

Finally, it is important to take into account that native-like pronunciation may not be
a goal for most learners, and while we should never actively discourage learners from
setting themselves ‘high’ goals, for the majority of learners a far more reasonable
goal is to be comfortably intelligible.

5- How many aspects of pronunciation should we take into account?

There are several aspects of pronunciation that teachers should take into account.
First of all there are two types of sounds; vowels and consonants. Vowels and
consonants perform different functions in the syllable. Each syllable has a vowel and
the consonants "surround" the vowel.

1. Combinations of sounds: sometimes sounds occur in groups. Two consonants

occur at the end of the word “salt”. When this happens within a word it is
called a consonant cluster.
2. Linkage of sounds: when English people speak they move smoothly from one
word to the next.
3. Word stress: when an word has one syllable that stands out more than the
other(s). This is done by saying that syllable slightly louder, holding the vowel
a little longer, and pronouncing the consonants very clearly.
4. Rhythm: There is a tendency in English for the strong beats to fall on nouns,
verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (words that carry meaning) and for the weak
beats to fall on prepositions, articles, and pronouns (words with a grammatical
function.)
 5. Weak forms: When a word has a special pronunciation in an unstressed
position.
6. Sentence stress: when speakers decide on what particular word they want to
give more or less prominence.
7. Intonation: speakers can change the pitch of their voice as they speak, making
it higher or lower in pitch. The two basic melodies are rising and falling.

6- What techniques/activities are suggested in coursebooks to teach sounds/word

stress/sentence stress/intonation?

The sound of words: A good activity to practise the sounds of words will be -->
"Circle the odd one out". The teacher says a series of three or four words that have
the same vowel sound, plus one word that has a different vowel sound. Then the
teacher asks the students to identify which was the odd one out.
The stress patterns of words: Learners should be encouraged to keep vocabulary
lists with stress marked on the words and the strong vowel circled. If the coursebook
has unit vocabulary lists or glossaries, then the words can be marked there. If these
are not provided, then the lists can be prepared in class as a joint exercise.
Integrating intonation: For example, if a learner replies to an information question
with a rising pitch, the teacher might pause and ask: “Are you sure?”; or, to a learner
who has used very little pitch movement, the teacher might say: “You sound a bit
bored”. A good activity will be listening to a dialogue where the students can identify
the different tones and then practise the dialogue in pairs or in groups.

7- Which of them are the most appropriate for children?

There are several techniques and activities which are suitable for children:
● Listening and repeat activities: They can repeat a model provided by the
teacher, a CD or a video.
● Minimal pairs: They can work with pictures and words that vary in only one
sound to help them compare and contrast.
● Songs, rhymes and chants: Children can learn pronunciation implicitly
through music and rhythms.
● Tongue twisters: This is a fun way for children to challenge their
pronunciation abilities.
 ● Storytelling: Children can listen and practise reading aloud stories.
● Associating the sounds of English with the sounds of animals or machines.

8- What is intelligibility? What factors affect it? How does this concept relate to
2nd lang learning?
Intelligibility is a question of being understood; it’s not a question of having
native-like pronunciation, but of getting as close as possible: it is possible for the
listener to match the sound heard with the one a native speaker would use.

There are several factors which affect intelligibility. Some of them, the “speaker
factors”, are related to the role of the speaker and they are: Speech full of
self-corrections, hesitations, and grammatical restructuring that may be difficult to
follow.

There are also “listener factors” which are very important:

● The listener’s familiarity with the foreign accent: For example, a Spanish
speaker of English will be more likely to understand another Spanish speaker
of English, because they share features of pronunciation. This factor of
familiarity and exposure also works at an individual level.
● The listener’s ability to use contextual clues when listening: Listeners can
use clues from the other parts of the sentence to figure out a particular word.

The concept of intelligibility is crucial for Second Language Learning. Since the aim
of teaching and learning a foreign language is communication, EFL teachers need to
be aware of intelligibility factors so as to enable learners to get their messages across
effectively and efficiently. In order to do so, they need to be able to read the speaker’s
intentions, which are encoded in many vital aspects of pronunciation such as
intonation, rhythm and stress, hence the importance of teaching pronunciation.