Unit 6

Teaching Pronunciation
 01 The Role of Pronunciation

02 The Goal of Teaching Pronunciation

03 Aspects of Pronunciation
Content
04 How to Teach
1) Practising sounds
2) Practising stress and intonation
 Part 1
The Role of Pronunciation
 Different thoughts:
Two different ideas about
teaching pronunciation:

 Students do not need to learn pronunciation because pronunciation

will take care of itself as the students develop overall language ability.

 Failure in pronunciation is a great hindrance in language learning.

Task 1

sc us s
Di
i n k and
Th
Read the sentences
carefully and decide if you
agree or disagree.

Then we can discuss those

ideas together.
Discussion

Q.1 Whether pronunciation needs special attention depends on many

factors, what are they?
--------learner factors.
• learners whose native language has similar sounds to English are less
likely to have problems with pronunciation;
• Learners who have more exposure to English need less focus on
pronunciation
• Adult learners need more focus on pronunciation because they are more
likely to substitute English sounds with sounds from their native language.
Q.2 What kind of ability should we develop in
pronunciation teaching ?

---we should focus on the students' ability to identify and

produce English sounds themselves.
Q.3 What is the advice of teaching pronunciation?

--- Young students should not spend much time on reading

and writing phonetic transcripts of words, because phonetic
transcripts are more abstract and less meaningful.

--- Don’t introduce phonetic rules at an early stage.

Phonetic rules regarding what sounds a letter or a cluster
of letters should be pronounced are helpful for students to
develop the ability to cope with English pronunciation and
they should be introduced at a suitable stage.
Q.4 Different Stress and intonation indicate different
meanings. Can you list some examples to illustrate them?
A: Would you please turn down the radio a little bit?
B: Sorry. (No, I don't want to.)
Or B: Sorry? (What did you say?)

• Notes: A neutral tone would indicate a normal apology.

However, a sharp falling tone or a rising tone would
mean the opposite.
Part 2
The Goal of Teaching
Pronunciation
 sc us s
Di
i n k and
Th
• Question:

Should we require the students to

acquire native- like pronunciation?
• Why can’t most learners of English as a

foreign language acquire native-like

English pronunciation?
Factors affecting pronunciation learning

Learners’ native language

Age (*critical period hypothesis)
Exposure
Innate phonetic ability
Motivation and concern for good pronunciation
Critical Period Hypothesis

 Learn a foreign before a certain age

 The amount of exposure to English

Biological & physiological differences →

different students have different phonetic ability
Realistic goal of TP

 Consistency( 连贯） : The pronunciation should be

smooth and natural.
 Intelligibility （可理解性） : The pronunciation
should be understandable to the listeners.
 Communicative Efficiency （交流有效性） : The
pronunciation should help to convey the meaning
that is intended by the speaker.
*Brief Summary

 Impossible for everyone to have perfect

pronunciation in L2

 Consistency of pronunciation → smooth &

natural

 Pronunciation should not impede meaning

Part 3
Aspects of Pronunciation
pronunciation is an umbrella term covering
many aspects

sounds

Phonetic
rhythm
symbols
pronunciation

intonation Stress
Pronunciation
vs.
Phonetics
Pronunciation :
focus on the students’ ability to identify and produce English
sounds themselves.

Phonetics :
what sounds a letter or a cluster of letters should be
pronounced.
Stress, rhythm, and intonation

Stress is the pronunciation of a word or syllable with more

force than the surrounding words or syllables.

Rhythm is a regular repeated pattern of sounds.

Intonation is often described as the music of speech—the

way the voice goes up and down as we speak.
Part 4
How to Teach
Practising Sounds
Practising Stress and intonation
Activities for teaching pronunciation

o say after the teacher

o Talk with the teacher
o Practice while listening to the tape
o compare and practice minimal pairs
o understand the places and manners of linking
o tongue twisters
o reading a poem
 Practising sounds

Perception practices Production practices

 Focusing on a sound ( 单音练习） : /θ/
& /ð/
• listen and repeat
 Minimal pairs ( 最小语音对） : • fill in the blanks
will/well, bid/bed, ship/sheep • make up sentences
 Ordering words ( 排序） : repair,
repose, relive
• use pictures
 Odd man out : listen and find out • use meaningful context
eg. bit bit bit pit • tongue twisters
 Completion : eg. bring sing spring
string
Practising Stress and intonation
Stress: word-level stress
sentence-level stress
For Teaching Stress
• l. Use gestures: indicate stress by clapping hands or using arm
movements as if conducting music.

• 2. Use the voice: raise the voice to indicate stress, sometimes with
some exaggeration.

• 3. Use the blackboard: highlight stresses by underlining them or

writing them with colored chalks or in different size.
 Intonation
use rising or falling arrows, such as and .
 To express
surprise,
complaint,
sarcasm,
friendliness,
threats etc.
 conclusion
① Use individual, pair, group and whole class work to create
a pleasant, relaxed, and dynamic classroom.
② Vary the criteria of “good” in pronunciation practice to
give Ss confidence.
③ It is very helpful to do articulation practice more than
once.
④ The main criteria for good pronunciation are consistency,
intelligibility, and communicative efficiency.
⑤ Do not rely on explanation. Make full use of
demonstrations.
Thanks
！