Teaching Pronunciation
Febry Wulan Pangesti
Most difficult word
• What do you think is the
most difficult word to
pronounce in the English
language?
In this chapter we will discuss about :
Introduction
Though Group
Intonation
Word stress
Word linking
A communicative framework for teaching pronunciation
Some teaching techniques
Media and technology
• A student's first language often interferes with English
pronunciation. Sometimes the students will be able to
identify specific problem sounds and sometimes they
won't.
• Another challenge resulting from differences in the first language is the
inability to hear certain English sounds
that the native language does not contain.
For problems such as these, listening is crucial because students can’t
produce a sound they can't hear.
Thought Group
It is just as punctuation that helps the reader process written
discourse, the pausing can help the listener to process the
speech.
Example : i was speaking to him/on the phone yesterday
i was speaking to/ him on the phone yesterday
Another example accroding to Gilbert (1987)
states that, it can be divide more than one way.
Alfred said/the boss/ is stupid
Alfred/said the boss/ is stupid
(adopted by Gilbert 1987, p.38)
A politician might utter as a conclusion
My fellow citizens/this/is/our/moment
come/here/right/now!
Intonation
Word or sentence intonation can be mimicked with a kazoo (mouth
organ), or alternatively by humming.
This will take the students' attention off of the meaning of a word or
sentence and help them focus on the intonation.
Linking
We pronounce phrases and even whole sentences as one
smooth sound instead of a series of separate words.
'Will Amy go away,' is rendered 'Willaymeegowaway.'
• To help learners link words, try starting at the end of a
sentence and have them repeat a phrase, adding more of the
sentence as they can master it.
• For example, 'gowaway,'
• then 'aymeegowaway,'
• and finally 'Willaymeegowaway' without any pauses between
words.
Word stress
To communicate clearly when you are
speaking in English, it's important to stress
the correct syllables in each word.
beLIEVE, preDICT, comPLAINT prefix
BEAUty = BEAUtiful
deLIVer = deLIVerance Suffixes
perFORM = perFORMer
A communicative Framework for Teaching
Pronunciation
• Listening Discrimination
Accroding to Gilbert (1993, p.20), the speaker pronounces either
sentance a or b, the listener responds with the appropriate
rejoinder :
a.He wants to buy my boat b. Will you sell it?
he wants to buy my vote Thats against the law!
The students listen for either rising or falling
intonation.
Instruction : circle the arrow which corresponds to intonation you hear
at the end of the utterance either rising if falling.
Rising Falling
The plane’s leaving
Same finished it
You cant
Some teaching techniques
• Cartoons dan drawing
• Rubber band
• Rhymes, poetry, and jokes
• Drama
• Voicing
• Aspiration
• Mouth posisition
• Tongue twister
Cartoon and Drawing
Vowel Length
You can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within a word by
stretching rubber bands on the longer vowels and letting them
contract on shorter ones.
• Then let the students try it.
For example,
the word 'fifteen' would have the rubber band stretched for
the 'ee' vowel, but the word 'fifty' would not have the band
stretched because both of its vowels are spoken quickly.
Rhymes, poetry, and jokes
Drama
• Voicing
Voiced sounds will make the throat vibrate. For example, /g/ is a
voiced sound while /k/ is not, even though the mouth is in the
same position for both sounds.
• Have your students touch their throats while pronouncing voiced and
voiceless sounds.
• They should feel vibration with the voiced sounds only.
Mouth Position
• Draw simple diagrams of tongue and lip positions.
• Make sure all students can clearly see your mouth while you model
sounds.
• Have students use a mirror to see their mouth, lips, and tongue while they
imitate you.
Tongue twisters are useful for practicing specific
target sounds.
Techniques
• Exercise should be simple, accessible, fun and combine reception and
production.
• Some students do feel embarassed to pull ridiculuous faces when
practising vowel sounds
• but this soon passes and students enjoy the pronunciation work.
• Where possible, exercises should be communicative.
Media and Technology
• Audio
• video
Conclusion
Using some techniques and understanding about
pronunciation, I can say that all students will improve
their pronunciation/speaking a great deal so that their
confidence increases as long as we understand our
students’ background, for example when we teach for
the students who just start to learn english, we cant
directly talk in full english, but start from the basic one,
especially with the conversation materials.
Thank You!
