Student: Ana-Marija Vertuš

HW History of teaching pronunication

Key concepts
Intuitive-imitative approach – learning technique which depends on the learner’s ability to
listen to and imitate the rhythms and sounds of the target language without the intervention of
any explicit information.
Analytic-linguistic approach - utilizes information and tools such as a phonetic alphabet,
articulatory descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus, contrastive information, and other aids
to supplement listening, imitation, and production. It explicitly informs the learner of and
focuses attention on the sounds and rhythms of the target language.
Grammar Translation/reding-based approaches - the teaching of pronunciation is largely
irrelevant. In such methods grammar or text comprehension is taught through the medium of
the learner’s native language, and oral communication in the target language is not a primary
instructional objective.
Direct Method - pronunciation is taught through intuition and imitation; students imitate
a model — the teacher or a recording — and do their best to approximate the model
through imitation and repetition.
Naturalistic methods - including comprehension methods that devote a period of learning
solely to listening before any speaking is allowed. Examples: Asher’s (1977) Total
Physical Response and Krashen and Terrell’s (1983) Natural Approach.
The Reform Movement – a movement that was influenced greatly by phoneticians such as
Henry Sweet, Wilhelm Viëtor, and Paul Passy, who formed the International Phonetic
Association in 1586 and developed the lnternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
International Phonetic Alphabet - a phonetic alphabet that made it possible to accurately
represent the sounds of any language because, for the first time, there was a consistent one-to-
one relationship between a written symbol and the sound it represented.
Audiolingualism - pronunciation is very important and is taught explicitly from the start,
similar to Direct Method. However, the teacher also typically makes use of information
from phonetics, such as a visual transcription system (modified IPA or some other
system) or charts that demonstrate the articulation of sounds.
minimal pair drill- drills that use words that differ by a single sound in the same
position (example: green-grin)
minimal pairs - using such minimal pairs the teacher first has the students practice
listening skills. The teacher says two words (e.g., "sheep, sheep" or "sheep, ship") and
asks the students to decide if they are the same or different.
Cognitive Approach – viewed language as rule governed behaviour, rather than habit
formation. It deemphasized pronunciation in favour of grammar and vocabulary.
Student: Ana-Marija Vertuš

Silent Way - attention paid to accuracy of production of both the sounds and structures of
the target language from the very initial stage of instruction.
sound-colour chart - a rectangular chart which contains all the vowel and consonant
sounds of a target language in small coloured rectangles.
Fidel wall charts - contains all the possible spelling patterns for each sound in the
language. Each letter or combination of letters is color-coded: sounds that are pronounced
alike are coloured alike.
Community Language Learning – a method in which students sit around the table with a
tape recorder. The counsellor (the teacher) stands behind one of the students with hands on
the student’s shoulders. The student says something in their native language which he or she
wishes to be able to say in the target language. This utterance is then provided by the
teacher in the target language, who takes care to phrase it idiomatically. The counsellor
provides the phrase (broken into chunks for ease of repetition), the student repeats, and
once the student can produce the whole utterance fluently, it is recorded on tape.
Human computer – the second phase of the tape-recording technique in which the
counsellor/teacher can be turned on or off at will by the student, who can request the
correct pronunciation of a given phrase or piece of a phrase from the computer.
Communicative Approach – language teaching that holds that since the primary purpose
of language is communication, using language to communicate should be central in all
classroom language instruction.

INTROSPECTING ABOUT YOUR OWN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Think about a foreign language that you have learned in school.
1. What method (or combination of methods) did your
teacher use? How did this method address the skill
of pronunciation?
My German teacher mostly used Direct Method and
Audiolingual Method, which, in my opinion,
worked very well. We (the students) were able to
hear the right pronunciation and articulation of
sounds before forming our own assumptions on how
words should be pronounced.
2. How successful was this method in improving your pronunciation?
It was party successful, it only worked if we repeated the same phrases over and over
again, until our teacher was satisfied with the pronunciation.
3. Of the methods described in this chapter, which one(s)
do you believe would help you most with learning
pronunciation in a second language?
Community language learning sounds interesting. I
would be interested in how effective this method is.
 Student: Ana-Marija Vertuš

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Grammar Translation – c. Oral communication is not the primary goal of

language instruction. Therefore little attention is given to speaking, and almost
none to pronunciation.
2. Direct Method – g. Teachers provide students with a model for nativelike
speech. By listening and then imitating the modeler, students improve their
pronunciation.
3. Audiolingual Method – a. Pronunciation should be worked on right from the
beginning of language instruction. Any words mispronounced by the student
should be corrected by the teacher.
4. Silent Way – b. Language is not learned by repeating after a model. With visual
cues the teacher helps students develop their own inner "criteria" for correctness.
They must trust and be responsible for their own production in the target language.
5. Community Language Learning – f. The pronunciation syllabus is primarily
student initiated and designed. Students decide what they want to practice and use
the teacher as a resource.
6. Total Physical Response – e. Students will begin to speak when they are
ready. They are expected to make errors in the initial stage and teachers should
be tolerant of them.
7. Communicative Approach – d. Students should work with language at the
discourse or suprasentential level. The ultimate goal is communication.

3. Which method discussed in this chapter seems most suitable for teaching
pronunciation in the following situations:

a. students won’t talk – Total Physical Response

b. students won’t stop talking – Communicative Approach
c. multilingual class – Silent Way
d. monolingual class - Audiolingual Method
e. large class – Total Physical Response
f. small class – Community Language Learning
g. children – Direct Method/Audiolingual Method
h. adults – Communicative Approach/Community Language Learning