ESL
Magazine / ĘŒs
Phonetics & Phonology & Pronunciation & Intonation & Vocalization of the English Language
SPECIAL EDITION!
Issue # 1, August 2015
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Table of Contents Dear reader… ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Phonetics versus Phonics .............................................................................................................................. 5 The Difference between “Phonics” and “Phonetics” ............................................................................. 5 BLOOMS ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Pronunciation Enhancement ........................................................................................................................ 9 5 Steps to Improve Pronunciation Fluency ................................................................................................... 9 The Goal.............................................................................................................................................. 10 The Process, in 5 Steps ....................................................................................................................... 10 What Is Needed for Correct Pronunciation: A Model or a Concern? ......................................................... 15 Reading Out loud ........................................................................................................................................ 16 IPA International Phonetic Alphabet ........................................................................................................ 19 English Pronunciation ................................................................................................................................. 21 English Pronunciation Challenge................................................................................................................. 21 English Pronunciation TIPS!!!! .................................................................................................................... 26 PUZZLE ........................................................................................................................................................ 30 BLOG ........................................................................................................................................................... 31 Reflection .................................................................................................................................................... 33 Resources for teachers ............................................................................................................................... 34 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 35 Sponsors ...................................................................................................................................................... 35
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Dear reader‌ Welcome to an exceptional auditory experience, in which you will explore the different ways the beauty of the sound of the English language. Through time the evolution of the language has taught all humanity the importance of communication and understanding. In this first issue a compendium of articles, images, graphics and interviews will be presented to start you in the interest in the vast world of phonology and phonetics and enhance pronunciation. As a recommendation we suggest you first browse the entire issue and just with a glance of it you will be captured and taken on a journey of knowledge and new discoveries. Oscar Viquez / Editor.
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Phonetics versus Phonics
The Difference between “Phonics” and “Phonetics” By Maeve Maddox Reader Ali Abuzar wonders about the difference between phonics and phonetics. In popular usage the words are often used interchangeably, although phonics [fŏn’ĭks] is the term usually employed when speaking of a method of beginning reading instruction. In this use, phonics is regarded as a simplified form of phonetics [fə-nĕt’ĭks], which is the scientific study of speech sounds. NOTE: Although phonics and phonetics end with s, they take singular verbs: Phonics is the most effective way to teach reading. Here are definitions from the OED:
phonics
–
The branch of linguistics concerned with spoken sounds; phonetics The correlations between sound and symbol in an alphabetic writing system; the phonic method of teaching reading. phonetics The study and classification of speech sounds, esp. with regard to the physical aspects of their production; the branch of linguistics that deals with this. Using phonics to teach reading involves teaching the beginner the sounds associated with the letters of the alphabet before introducing written words. The beginner learns to analyze words by comparing the letters in them to the sounds they represent. NOTE: Early practice is confined to words in which the letter/sound correspondence is regular. Once the beginner has established the habit of expecting letters to represent spoken sounds, words containing one or more non-phonetic elements are introduced. Another term, phonology [fə-nŏl’ə-jē, fō-], refers to the study of speech sounds. Phonology encompasses rules governing pronunciation in a given language.
phonology n. Originally: the science of speech sounds and pronunciation, esp. as they occur in a particular language. Now: the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of phonological
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relationships within a language or between different languages; the system of contrastive and phonotactic* relations among the speech sounds of a particular language. –OED *phonotactics – The branch of linguistics concerned with the rules governing the possible phoneme** sequences in a language or languages; these rules as they occur in a particular language. **phoneme – A unit of sound in a language that cannot be analysed into smaller linear units and that can distinguish one word from another (e.g. /p/ and /b/ in English pat, bat). English
Spelling
Not
Total
Chaos
Learn To Spell By Phonograms, not Letters
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BLOOMS We all have seen and deal and study Blooms Taxonomy but it is always useful to refresh it. Special if were planning to teach pronunciation and phonology.
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Pronunciation Enhancement By Peggy Tharpe How to Teach17/07/2015
5 Steps to Improve Pronunciation Fluency
Teaching English pronunciation and intonation is a challenging job. And learning it is even harder. Part of the problem is that we are born with our first language intonation already programmed; we know that babies, by 6 months in utero, can already hear the intonation patterns of their mother and people around her. Those patterns are our first and deepest neural pathways for the sounds of language. They are not just second nature. They are first nature, so much so that we aren’t even aware of them. Like our skin, we aren’t conscious of them unless something is wrong. And the challenge is that it’s not possible to change something you’re not even aware of. To develop skill in English pronunciation and intonation, a teacher must raise awareness in adult students, and give them opportunities to analyze and synthesize, to break apart and put back together. This awareness-raising stage isn’t so much about teaching micro-skills as much as it is about recognizing how English communicative sound signals differ from one’s “first-nature” communicative sound signals. Once adults are aware of what to change and why, they then need to know how to change.
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The Goal These strategies are designed to show you how to teach your students increase their comprehensibility and communicate more fully with their listeners. Each step helps structure the sound of their message, which will in turn help listeners follow their ideas more easily. And that’s what we all want, right? The goal in speaking any language is to be understood, to have meaningful and fruitful conversations and interactions. Teaching your students these strategies, and guiding them as they learn to use them will improve phrasing, articulation, and intonation. Regular, daily practice is best, even if they work on just one paragraph or one sentence.
The Process, in 5 Steps Choose a video or recording that has a transcript, or find a text that is written as if the author is talking to you. The word choice and sentence structure of an article like this is much closer to natural speech and speaking fluency. Stay away from academic and research articles, which are written to be read, not spoken. They’re not a good choice for fluency practice because they have complex and compound embedded sentence structures. These require masterful skills in intonation to establish and maintain the relationships between all the ideas in their very long and complicated sentences. Find a more conversationally written text, or an interview or speech with transcript. The first time you do this, you may want to make multiple copies of the text and work on each step separately. Do this with your students and guide them through the process. Advanced level students, however, should apply all steps to one copy of the text so they can see how these dynamics work together to create a fluid and fluent sound. Step 1: Identify Thought Groups First, read through the transcript for understanding, looking up words together and making sure students understand the meanings. On the first copy, mark brackets to define thought groups. Here is an example sentence with thought groups bracketed. [First], [read through the text for understanding], [looking up words], [and making sure you understand the meaning.]
Model this for your students. As you say it out loud, pause briefly (and breathe) between brackets. By pausing between bracketed phrases, instead of breaking in the middle of words or between words, you structure and organize your thought groups for the listener. This is a critical step; English is not spoken word-by-word as it appears when written, and listeners can’t follow your train of thought if you break often and randomly.
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It helps beginners to write each part on its own line, forming a vertical list that helps students remember where to pause. [First] [read through the text for understanding] [looking up words] [and making sure you understand the meaning.] Sometimes you can say the whole thought without bracketing or taking a breath. This next one is short enough for native speakers to say in one go, but they will use stress and intonation to help listeners understand the flow of the message, since there are no breaks: [Decide which words in each thought group should be emphasized.] However, if students don’t have a strong control over intonation, they can take mini-breaks like this that help organize the thought groups: [Decide which words] [in each thought group] [should be emphasized.] Step 2: Link Related Words Within the brackets, mark the places where one can use liaisons to link words that belong together in meaning. By connecting related words, listeners hear them as a cohesive thought, rather than having to process each word you say as a separate bit of information. In the following example, I’ve inserted underlines between words that belong together in context and are easy to connect. [First] [read_through_the text for_understanding] [looking_up words] [and making_sure you_understand_the meaning.] Here is another example. [Often_these_are nouns_or verbs.] Step 3: Highlight New Information Now look more closely at the words inside the brackets. Decide which word(s) in each thought group should be emphasized. English emphasizes new information using energy, raised pitch, and longer duration on stressed vowels. Often these words are nouns or verbs. Sometimes a topic is expanded or defined further with adjectives, adverbs and determiners; in that case, those words may be stressed. Here is an example. The bolded words are the ones I would emphasize.
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[First] [read through the text for understanding] [looking up words] [and making sure you understand the meaning.] Here’s a second example. [Decide which words in each thought group should be emphasized.] Step 4: Spotlight Stressed Vowels Because we are connecting so many sounds in the message, we need to spotlight the most important ones. These are the new information words we talked about in Step 3. Once you have chosen your words to highlight, look at the vowels in their stressed syllables. Energizing these vowels is the best way to spotlight a message…by giving vowels clear articulation, longer duration and higher pitch, speakers make them much more noticeable and ensure that listeners catch their point. In the example we’ve been using (the one that starts with the word “First”), the stressed vowel sounds that must be clearer and stronger and longer are: /er/ in First /ee/ in read /ae/ in understanding /oo/ in looking /er/ in words /ae/ in understand /ee/ in meaning If your students’ first language doesn’t have these sounds, it will greatly improve their comprehensibility and fluency to develop them. Stressed syllables must be clear enough and strong enough to stand out from the unstressed syllables around them. Since /ae/ and /er/ sounds are very common in English, and /ae/ only occurs in stressed syllables, mastering these articulations will immediately improve student comprehensibility and word rhythm. Step 5. Signal Beginnings and Endings In the previous 4 steps, we worked on organizing smaller thought groups and connecting the information within them. This last strategy is more of a macro-strategy; more like turn signals or traffic lights are, when you’re driving. They will help listeners understand the overall direction of the message.
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Most languages, maybe all languages, end a statement with a drop to a low pitch. Hooray! We all have something in common. But not all languages drop to the same level. And not all languages start on as high a level as English. In fact, English uses a much wider range of pitch to develop spoken messages than most languages do. One strategy that is easy to remember is “start higher; end lower”. And in between the start and end, if students reach the end of a bracket that is not the end of an idea, be sure to caution them not to lower their voices all the way…save your lowest pitch for those final full-stop signals. Once them come to a full stop, they should pause briefly to confirm that they’ve come to an end. English uses an arc of pitch that begins on a high pitch, moves to mid-pitch to develop the idea, and drops to low pitch to signal finality. If, at this final point, a speaker is continuing on but changing topic, they will begin the new topic on a high pitch to signal a new start. But if they’re continuing the same topic, they don’t restart at high pitch. Instead, continue to develop the idea at mid-level pitch range until finished developing the thought. These strategies correlate to paragraph development in writing. Surely writing signals such as punctuation and indentation developed to represent the vocal cues speakers employ to communicate and organize our ideas for listeners. After all, writing didn’t come first; speaking did! First Develop Awareness Awareness precedes learning! If you’re still not sure whether people really use these signals when they speak English, cue up an interview on YouTube, and listen specifically for any one of these strategies…play and replay a section of the interview until you begin to hear them. Once you learn to recognize them, once you become aware of them, once you do hear them, you’ll be amazed at how prevalent they are. To develop your students’ awareness, find a video or recording with time codes and together listen specifically for one thing—listen for linking, or listen for pitch jump and pitch drop, or listen for stressed syllable vowels. Model and then ask them to mark time codes where they hear the signals, and compare their notes to another student’s. It needn’t take a long time, but practice this often and students will soon begin to hear signals and sounds that previously went unnoticed. Then Develop Skill To develop skill at using these signals, find a video or recording with transcript, but don’t start by listening to the recording. Ask students to look over a paragraph and decide for themselves—where should the brackets be, which words should be stressed, where should pitch drop and rise. Then listen to the speaker’s recording and compare their expectations with the speaker’s choices. Remember that people who speak ‘off the cuff’ tend to stop and start a lot because they don’t have their thoughts organized, so for starters, pick a skilled, clear speaker. After you’ve studied the speaker’s choices, then try out their strategies. Don’t have students record themselves at first— none of us likes to hear our own voice much so don’t put that pressure on them at the start. Later when they have some facility, they can record and you can give them feedback. 13
Just having your students practice a bit every day, raising their awareness, assigning intermittent practice, will help them get more comfortable with these signals, and they will improve. Happy Teaching!
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What Is Needed for Correct Pronunciation: A Model or a Concern? Kayaoglu, M. Naci; ร aylak, Nuray Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, n53 p269-290 Fall 2013 Problem Statement: Although the debate on adopting native-like pronunciation or a universal pronunciation is a change that can save nonnatives from embarrassment appears to have recently lost its merit, the challenge of teaching accurate and proper pronunciation is still a concern for teachers that needs to be remedied. Purpose of Study: The main purpose of this study was to test the Audio Articulation Method as a remedy for pronunciation errors on adult EFL learners' acquisition of "interdental fricatives" /?/ and /รฐ/ at a university vocational school. It also sought to explore the students' consideration of phonetic issues in language acquisition. Methods: This quasi-experimental research was conducted at a vocational school of a Turkish university. A total of 36 students participated in the study. A pre-test/post-test design was employed so as to observe the effects of the method used in the experiment. In addition to a semistructured interview and classroom observation, a delayed post-test was conducted four weeks after the pre-test. SPSS 13.0 for Windows 2007 was used to analyze the data for a 0.05 significance level. Findings and Results: The results of this study show a statistically significant difference in the students` pre-test and post-test scores. Similar significant results were also observed in the pre-test and delayed test scores, indicating a positive effect from the Audio Articulation Method. Yet, interestingly, nearly all students were observed to return to the same pronunciation habits of "inter-dental fricatives" /?/ and /รฐ/ in routine classroom instruction after exposure to the Audio Articulation Method. Conclusions: Learners were receptive to the acquisition of "inter-dental fricatives" /?/ and /รฐ/, as the scores were positively correlated with the use of the Audio Articulation Method during the experiment. Nevertheless, the classroom observation data showed that students were not able to maintain their newly acquired phonetic behavior during routine English classes, which would indicate the need of long-term exposure to the newly acquired sounds/pronunciation. Recommendations: This method is for the most part used for segmental level pronunciation errors, and as such it addresses a very limited part of the pronunciation issues and does not include stress, rhythm, intonation, connected speech, or prominence. Therefore, this method should more likely be considered as a complementary tool in addition to that of a pronunciation lesson. Descriptors: Pronunciation, Phonetics, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction, Pronunciation Instruction, Adults, Error Correction, Quasiexperimental Design, Pretests Posttests, Computer Software, Semi Structured Interviews, Foreign Countries, Observation, Scores, Teaching Methods, Correlation, Higher Education, Accuracy ANI Publishing Company. Kizilirmak Sokak 10/A Bakanliklar, Ankara, Turkey 06440. Tel: +90-312-425-8150; Fax: +90-312-425-8111; e-mail: aniyayincilik@aniyayincilik.com.tr; Web site: http://www.ejer.com.tr
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Reading Out loud
As a teacher I had always perceived 'reading aloud' as a 'taboo' in the EFL classroom since it focuses specifically on a 'bottom-up' approach where learners can fall into traps of worrying about 100% comprehension or simply read aloud without understanding the text.
That coupled with my own negative experiences from school meant that I never did it in my own classes, but this year that changed.
Context
My students' reading habits
Reading for pronunciation
Getting students motivated
Conclusion
Context I was teaching three groups of young learners, ten to fourteen year-olds and the syllabus included a component using a video with an accompanying reader. Students generally respond well to video, probably because of the associations with pleasure and the visual excitement, but what about the reader? I had never had the option of using the reader alongside the video, so I really wanted to experiment with it and find out how the students would respond to different activities based on the two media, and in particular to the reader. My students' reading habits My first step was to ask students if they read for pleasure, making sure I did this in small groups 16
or individually so as to eliminate the influence of peer pressure. After all, I thought, there might be students who really loved reading but didn't want to say in front of their classmates. However, the only reading these groups of teenagers seemed to do was for schoolwork and preparation for tests and more tests. Reading at home, going to libraries, or swapping books with friends was definitely not part of their daily life. We constantly hear about a new reading culture in the UK, brought about by the Harry Potter books and the wealth of other equally good books and authors for the young at heart. However, the fact that it is cool to read and to be seen reading seems to have had little impact on youngsters in many other countries. Reading for pronunciation So, what was I going to do in class? Ideas for in-class reading seemed limited to reading alone or reading out loud. I decided to experiment as I knew my students certainly needed pronunciation input, specifically intonation. Dialogue both in the reader and the film seemed to hold lots of potential. Would it be possible to make reading aloud a 'learning experience'?
I decided to show the first few scenes of the video before dividing the class into small groups of 4 or 5 and asking them to read aloud together and notice any differences. A comparison with the video and book is a good strategy to keep interest going and motivates them to read. It does take planning though, as both the book and the film need to be divided into suitable time frames and themes.
Once a suitable part was selected, the students watched the film for 15 minutes. Afterwards they wrote their own sequenced list of events, observed in the film clip. When they went onto read the book aloud, the students were given the task of listening for when the events happen in the book.
I found that students were very good at noticing quite detailed differences. After I had given a few example exercises they preferred to write their own questions and statements.
Getting students motivated Acting out parts was another strategy for motivating them to read out loud from the dialogues in the book and from a transcript of the film clip. I knew my students needed oral practice and help with pronunciation and so this really helped them.
I was astounded by the participation and how motivated my students were. Students started off reading the text with the video running so they could practise accents and notice stress and intonation. 17
It helped with turn taking and listening in greater detail too. The classroom became so lively at one point that I needed to calm things down. So I decided spontaneously to stop everyone and I started to read the book out loud to them.
Whilst reading I noticed that everyone was following every word. They were listening to me, which at 7pm on a Friday night is not a common occurrence.
Suddenly a hand went up and one student asked if he could continue. Feeling very surprised, I nodded and after a while we all talked about what we had just read, drawing maps on the board, asking comprehension question and talking about the background to the story. And so it went on, student after student volunteering to read out loud.
Conclusion Despite my school experience and taboo factor I decided to go with the enthusiasm and spontaneity. I was sensitive to the fact that not every student volunteered. However, I encouraged everyone to participate in the post-reading comprehension discussion. The subsequent planned reading slots were never more than 15 minutes long compared to the one-hour marathons I remember from my school days. I also took turns at reading out loud in order to keep the momentum and interest going. Due to the positive response from both students and teachers, a reader has been proposed for each term next year. So if you are ever in the enviable position of having at your disposal a set of readers, ask your students to get them out - for reading out loud. A version of this article first appeared in: 'In English' Spring 2004. The British Council magazine for teachers of English in Portugal. James Houltby, Teacher, British Council, Portugal
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IPA International Phonetic Alphabet Having an IPA reference list as well as the graphic helps students understanding the importance of pronunciation and its implications in the language. The following are the two most important and useful ways tools to address any voiceless situation.
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English Pronunciation English Pronunciation Challenge If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world. After trying the verses, a Frenchman said he’d prefer six months of hard labor to reading six lines aloud. Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it’s written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. And your pronunciation’s OK When you correctly say croquet, Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
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And enamour rhyme with hammer. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger, Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Fe0ffer does, and zephyr, heifer. Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late. Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed. Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover; Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice; Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label. Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor. Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver. Heron, granary, canary.
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Crevice and device and aerie. Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. Pronunciation (think of Psyche!) Is a paling stout and spikey? Won’t it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? It’s a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Finally, which rhymes with enough, Though, though, plough, or dough, or cough? Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!!
English Pronunciation by G. Nolst Trenité 2013.
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English Pronunciation TIPS!!!! These 9 useful tips will provide a nice idea of how help any language learner to acquire the language efficiently and effectively.
One Phoneme at a Time While “improving pronunciation” as a goal might seem unattainable, helping your students improve their pronunciation one phoneme at a time is much more doable. Instead of taking up most of class time practicing pronunciation, practice a different phoneme every day, or every week.
Practice the Schwa The schwa sound [ə] is the neutral vowel sound that typically occurs in unstressed syllables, for example in words like choc(o)late, sep(a)rate, cam(e)ra,elab(o)rate, etc… There are languages that pronounce these syllables differently and students might be tempted to pronounce them as they do in their native tongue (this is usually the case with Spanish speakers, where the central o in “chocolate” is pronounced clearly). Teach students to be aware of the schwa sound and learn to identify it as it will be tremendously useful in improving their pronunciation.
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Same Spelling Different Sounds Students should learn that the same consonant combination may have different sounds, for example the ch in chicken and character. The sound [k] in character, in fact, may be spelled with a k, ck, c, ch or que. The th combination is another example: it is pronounced [ð] in this, that, these, those; but it is pronounced [θ] in thin, thank, think,theory, for example. The gh combination is yet another example, as it pronounced as a g (ghost) or f (rough). Practice each of these combos and others one at a time.
Same Sound, Different Spellings Teach students to identify different ways to spell the same sound. Examples of these are the ai sound in mine, buy, pie, rye. Homophones are the perfect example of this: buy and by; pair and pear; cell and sell, etc… There are lots of games and activities you can do with your class with homophones.
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Explain the Magic -E rule Show students how the addition of an -e at the end of a word changes its pronunciation: bit - bite, dim - dime, pin – pine. See what happens in this set of words: cut – cute, hug - huge, and so on.
Pair em’ up Students will remember some contrasts much more easily if you present them in pairs: live - leave; three – tree; slip – sleep; and so on. These pairs include words that students often mispronounce, quite simply because in some cases they won’t even hear the difference, much less be able to reproduce it. The more you practice them in class, the better the chances for improvement. Introduce a few pairs at a time and practice till all students can hear the difference and reproduce it. Don’t forget to lighten it up with humor every now and then. It is not unlikely for teachers who have Spanish speaking students to hear a student say he drinks orange “shoes” in the morning. In that case reply, “You drink shoes? Really? I believe you will obtain more vitamin C from orange juice!” Teach students to laugh at their own pronunciation mistakes.
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Use Visuals It’s hard for students to simply imagine the difference in spelling, not to mention remember all the different phonetic symbols; try to use visual aids like consonants flashcards or IPA flashcards. Use them for introduction and practice, and make sure students become familiar with the symbols.
Play Games Don’t forget to play games with them. Remember that pronunciation is very hard and very frustrating for lots of ESL students. Games will certainly lighten up a difficult lesson. Some great options are Bingo or Four in a Row.
Teach Them to Use the Dictionary. You won’t always be around to tell a student how a word is pronounced. Teach them where to find the pronunciation for a word in the dictionary. The best tool in this case is a dictionary app with sound, so that the student can hear the pronunciation with a simple click. These tools help students become more independent and more responsible for improving their pronunciation.
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PUZZLE
Phonetic Double Vowel Sounds 1
2 3
4
5
Acros s (4) 1
Dow n
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1.
3 .
(4) 2 .
(5)
(4)
4 . 5 .
4.
(5)
(3)
(5)
www.esltower.c , Copyrig200, Futong Kisit om ht 8 e o
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BLOG
Pronunciation Coach ESL pronunciation for learners of American English. Get tips and advice, or submit questions to help you learn to pronounce English better.
Long-vowel IPA symbols JULY 27, 2015 COMMENT
Knowing the Long-vowel sounds and Short-vowel sounds of English can help you be better at pronouncing new words and deciphering spelling patterns, but it also helps to be aware of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols for the vowels. Some people learn IPA symbols when they first begin to learn English, but others have never seen these symbols before. Either way, it can be useful to refer to them for some aspects of English pronunciation. One of the main differences between Long and Short-vowels is that Long-vowels have two parts to their sound and Short-vowels have one part. In the Long-vowel IPA symbols below you can see the two parts for each Long-vowel.
Here are two situations where it is helpful to take a look at the IPA symbols of Long-vowels.
Vowel sequences A vowel sequence is when there are 2 vowels next to each other, and they both have a sound, and they belong to different syllables, as in the words “idea” (3 syllables), or “fluid” (2 syllables). (NOTE: This is different from vowel pairsthat belong to the same syllable and make only one sound.) In order to pronounce both of the vowels in a sequence clearly, so that they can both be heard clearly, we need to make special use of the second part of the first vowel. Let’s see how that works with the words “idea” and “fluid”.
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Idea — In this word the first vowel of the sequence is a Long-E, and the IPA symbol (/iy/) shows a “y” at the end. The trick is to use that “y” part to separate the two vowels. This is done by pronouncing it a little bit stronger than usual. This makes the word sound like it could be spelled as “ideya”. Fluid — In this word the first vowel is a Long-U. The IPA symbol (/uw/) shows a “w” at the end. This “w” is emphasized, to make a separation between the [u] and the [i], and it sounds like “fluwid”.
Consonant morphing The consonants “T”, “D”, “C”, “S”, and “Z” sometimes change their sound. Here are some examples: “virtue” — the “T” sounds like “CH” “educate” — the “D” sounds like “J” “sugar” — the “S” sounds like “SH” “social” — the “C” sounds like “SH” This kind of consonant change can happen when the consonant is followed by a high-front vowel sound — this is seen as either a “y” or “i” in IPA symbols. In words like these, there is (or once was) either a Long-I-2 /iy/ or a Long-U1 /yuw/ right after the morphing consonant. The consonant combines with the high-front part of the vowel sound and changes. In some of these words, the original vowel sound is lost. For example, in “social” the [i] is lost when it combines with the [c] (the [a] remains as schwa). However, in “educate” the [d] gets changed but the Long-U can still be heard. SO, overall, it is most helpful to know the vowel system in terms of Long and Short-vowels, because many pronunciation patterns make use of them, but also keep your eye on the IPA symbols for extra clues. FILED UNDER IPA, LONG A, LONG E, LONG I, LONG O, LONG OO, LONG U, LONG VOWELS, VOWELS
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Reflection I was in a class discussing pronunciation, and as usual there was a general consensus, in this case regarding the treatment of the subject, and the lack of time it is generally perceived as being given in the average class room. The thing that struck me was that while there was the usual fertile and fascinating discussion, generally I found myself disagreeing with a considerable number of the tweets. I was surprised with the number of people who were advocating 100 % pronunciation focused activities and classes. They just didn’t seem to tally with my experience at all. Now I should state as a caveat that this opinion is based on my experience of teaching adults in Brazil and Korea and I accept that in other situations, such as with young learners and with other nationalities, it is entirely possible that the circumstances may be completely different.
My approach to pronunciation has always been more hands-off than hands-on because I have rarely, if ever, met a student who had such problems with pronunciation so that they could not be understood even though they had acquired the other skills required to express themselves. I have never thought that it required anything other than the occasional focus. Regards, Oscar V.
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Resources for teachers 1. http://vocaroo.com/ On-line recorder
2. www.Telescopictext.com On-line out loud reading
3. http://www.manythings.org/mp/m09.html On-line drilling practices
4. http://www.americanaccent.com/pronunciation.html American accent
theoretical background and oral practice.
5. https://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictations-s-questions.htm On-line dictations on
different language contents.
6. https://talktyper.com/ Virtual voice dictation
7. http://davidbrett.uniss.it/phonology/vowel%20sounds/phonemic%20transcription/transcription
%20exercises%201/phonemic%20transcription%20load.html Phonetic transcription practices on
line
8. http://www.thekaraokechannel.com/online# Karaoke On-line recorder
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Bibliography Affairs, U. C. (2013, August 23). UKCISA. Retrieved from UKCISA: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/International-Students/Study-work--more/Culture-Shock/What-is-it/# Bisiada, M. (2013). The University of Manchester Library. Retrieved from The University of Manchester Library: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:214937 Campbell, D. (2008, July 21). Novel´s Biographies. Retrieved from Novel´s Biographies: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/wharton/bio.htm Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language (Second Edition ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. Gardner, H. (1993, Enero 26). The education coalition. Retrieved from The education coalition: http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html Jane, S. (2004, February). Oxford INdex. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199266500.003.0012 Project Management Institute. (2008). A Guide To The Project Management Body of Knowledge (Fourth ed.). Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute. Rubens, P. (2007). Perspectives in American Literature Pages . New York: Heins & Heins. SLD. (2000, January 19). SLD Free Translation. Retrieved from SLD Free Translation: http://www.freetranslation.com/en/translate-english-spanish
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