Problems Solutions

Mark I asked him to take a piece of paper and hang it loosely in front of his
confuses /p/ mouth. Then I would tell him to make a sound / p /, there he will see that
with /b/ the paper is moving due to the air flow. On the other hand, if it does the
same to produce the / b / sound, the paper should remain stationary as it
produces it.
Ann confuses /l/ To make the / l / sound, the tongue protrudes forward and the tip of the
and /r/ tongue presses against the palate just behind the teeth. One way to
practice is to use repeated syllables, as in LALALALA. To make the / r /
sound, the tip of the tongue points downwards while the back / middle
part of the tongue rises and the tongue presses against the inside of the
upper teeth.
Gerard confuses I could ask him to imitate the buzzing of a bee. Instead, for the sound / s /
/z/ with /s/ he must imitate the sound of a snake. I would tell him that the two sounds
are linked because they occupy the same mouth position. When he makes
these sounds his mouth will be slightly open. His teeth should be lightly
touching at the front or very close together. The front part of his tongue
touches the back of his lower teeth, and the back part of his tongue
touches the palate on the sides.
Susan I would tell him that in order to make the sound / ʃ /, he must make the
confuses /ʃ / same sound as when he is asking someone to be silent (shhh!). With this
with /ʒ/ sound, the vocal cords do not vibrate, which means that the air only flows
through the mouth.
Mary confuses / I could ask him to place a finger against his lips. Then he has to try to
θ/ instead of / touch his finger with his tongue. After that, he breathes out and adds his
ð/ voice. Example: THINK, mother.
In fact, both sounds are produced the same way, except for the voicing
element. /θ/ is voiceless; / ð/ is voiced. What I am trying to explain is that
you have to make students notice just the voicing element since manner
and place of articulation are the same
Paul uses /v/ I could ask him to purse his lips as though about to whistle. I could then
instead of /w/. ask him to add his voice, and move on to a vowel sound (e.g. schwa).
 PROBLEMS AND APPROACHES IN PRONUNCIATION TEACHING:

There are two key problems with teaching pronunciation. First, it is sometimes neglected. Second,
if not neglected, it usually responds to a specific problem that arises in the classroom rather than
being strategically planned.

 The fact that pronunciation is often neglected may be due to teachers’ lack of interest in the
subject, but rather because of doubts about how to teach it. Language learners, on the other hand,
are often very enthusiastic about pronunciation. So, paradoxically, even if both teachers and
students are interested in this topic, it is often overlooked.

 On the other hand, much of the teaching of pronunciation tends to be done in response to
mistakes students make in the classroom. This reactive teaching is, of course, absolutely
necessary.

 There´s a situation with some actors; on the one hand, there are:

- Experienced teachers who admit to have a lack of knowledge in the theory of pronunciation,
and they may feel the need to improve their practical skills in pronunciation teaching.
Trainees and less experienced teachers, despite of the fact of their interests in pronunciation, tend to
focus even more in grammar and vocabulary.

On the other hand, as regards learners:

- They often show enthusiasm for pronunciation, considering the fact that this skill will help
them to communicate better.
So, we use the term “paradox”, because even teachers and learners are interested on the subject,
this is often neglected by them.
Teachers of pronunciation needs:
 A Good Grounding On Theoretical Knowledge.
 Practical Lesson Skills.
 Access to good ideas and creativity to design activities for the classroom.

As regards the aspects to take into account when we teach pronunciation to avoid problems, we
may mention the followings:
 CONTENT: what we are going to teach.
 LEARNERS: to whom we are going to focus our teaching classes. (different kinds of learners)
 TASK: the activities we are going to use in our classes in order to develop the content
 GOAL: what is the final result we attempt to get considering the task and contents given to our
students