Teaching pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation

1. A) Pronunciation issues

   • A1 Perfection versus intelligibity
     • 'perfect' pronunciation depend much on their attitude to how they speak and how they hear
   • A2 Problems
     • *what students can hear *the intonation problem
   • A3 The phonemic alphabet to use or not to use
     • Phonemic script is of benefit to students.
   • A4 When to teach pronunciation
     • whole lesson; discrete slots; integrated phases; opportunistic teaching.

2. B) Examples of pronunciation teaching

   • B1 Working with sound
     • *Identify the sound of the consonant *position of the lips *contrasting two sounds which are very similar.
   • B2 Working with stress
     • Pay attention to the SCHWA
   • B3 Working with intonation
     • Different meanings can be squeezed out of just one word
   • B4 Word and spelling
     • word roots and grammatical ending: French, Spanish etc
   • B5 Connected speech and fluency
     • *Stage 1: comparing *Stage 2: identifying *Stage 3: production