Teaching Pronunciation

Julieta Hernandez
Carolina R Torres
Cecilia Sosa
Language and its Teaching III
What does it involve?
• Phonology , the sounds of the language
• Stress and rhythm
• Intonation
Sounds
• IPA: symbols for all the sounds in all the languages

• Phoneme: a sound that is conventionally used to

distinguish meaning in a particular language
son– sun - sin

• Allophones: variation of a phoneme depending on the

context
▫ Leaf - Feel
Difficulty for Spanish speakers…
SPANISH
•  poder bajar [po̞ˈðe̞ɾ βaˈxaɾ],
•  el delfín [e̞l de̞lˈfin]

•  Alveolar trill [r] and the alveolar tap [ɾ] are in

phonemic contrast word-internally between
vowels carro 'car'  [r]
caro 'expensive‘[ɾ] 

• In final position the rothic will usually be [ɾ]

GERMAN
German consonant –d-

At the start or in the middle /d/

In final position /t/

Cluster –dt- /t/

JAPANESE

Japanese possesses one liquid consonant:

A flap that varies between /r/ to /l/

Right Light
Red Led
Crime Climb
Froze Flows
Arrive Alive
Phonetic Bingo
 Rhythm and stress
English is a very rhythmical language.

The two components of the system which have the

greatest influence on rhythm are:
• sentence stress
and
• the various features of connected speech
Teachers should:
• Provide natural models of new target language
before introducing the written form.
• Use natural language themselves in the classroom.
• Encourage learners to listen carefully to authentic
speech.
• Teach recognition before production.
• Integrate rhythm and other aspects of phonology
into grammar, vocabulary and functional language
lessons as well as listening and speaking activities.
Intonation
• The systematic rise and fall in the pitch of the
voice during speech (the way that the pitch of the
voice goes up and down during speech).
You´re coming to dinner tonight.
 INTONATION LANGUAGE
(shows grammar, attitude and so on)
OR
TONE LANGUAGE
(intonation shows difference in lexical
meaning)
 Teaching pronunciation
• Direct method: phonetic scripts – transcriptions

Mainstream: symbols as a resource

• Audiolingualism: minimal pairs

Pronunciation ͢ set of habits
Working
With
Minimal Pairs
WHAT IS IT?
SHIP

Remove
SHEEP

Remove
BET

Remove
VET

Remove
SINK

Remove
THINK

Remove
Game Over
• Consciousness raising

• Communication
Phoneme Learning

1) Presystemic : One word

2) Transfer: Equivalence- Variants

3) Approximative: Restructure

Unique and temporary system: INTERLANGUAGE

Phonemes: Crucial features
 Fortis / Lenis

 Voice /k-t/ /g-d/ /p-b/

 Aspiration

“Getting the distinctive features right or wrong

can affect not just one phoneme but many”
General ideas about phonology and
learning

I. L1 AND TRANSFER

II. L2 AND UNIVERSAL PROCESS OF

ACQUISITION
L1 and Transfer

 The first language has neither of the contrasting

L2 sounds

The second language has one of the L2 sounds

The second language has both sounds as

alophones of the same phoneme
L2 and universal process of aqcuisition
Learning pronunciation depends on...

L1 TRANSFER UNIVERSAL PROCESS L2

Choosing a Model
• Choose a local variety within a country
• Choose a country
 USA Standard American English (SAE)

UK Received Pronunciation (RP)

Which is the goal?