PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation includes the knowledge of the sounds of a language, the ability to reproduce and combine them and also the adequate use and understanding of stress and intonation patterns.
Sounds
Sounds are not to be taught individually BUT there are some of them which may require special attention. E.g. /S/ ʃ / t̬ʃ/
Vowels, consonant sounds which do not exist in Spanish and consonant clusters.
“… Teachers need to achieve a reasonable level of intelligibility”. Intelligibility is an important concept in pronunciation teaching since its main goal is to ensure that speech is “good enough” to be understood by native speakers, even though there may be signs of a foreign accent” (Brewster, Ellis and Girard 200:80)
The teacher should:
- Be a clear model
- Focus on problems
- Show students how sounds are made.
- Give help in articulation
- Suggest suitable practice activities.
To distinguish specific sounds, discrimination exercises and games:
- Minimal pairs exercises
- Exercises of “Listen and group words according to sound”. /g/ (egg, kangaroo, etc)
- Bingo: sounds and word stress.
Stress and rhythm.
• Vowels in stressed syllables, called strong syllables are pronounced clearly and intensely.
• Vowels in unstressed syllables (weak) lose quality and have a muffled quality.
• In connected speech, content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) are stressed and clearly perceived.
• Grammar words (pronouns, auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions…etc), on the other hand, are often carelessly said and dimly heard.
Activities
• Exercises of “Listen and underline the strong syllables”. “Listen and underline the stressed words”.
Intonation
Intonation may express:
• A grammatical function.
• Statements, questions, meaning, emphasis, feelings and emotions.
Intonation patterns
The basic intonation patterns are:
• Falling tone.
• Rising tone.
• Rising-falling tone.
Falling intonation: The fall occurs in the last major stress in the sentence… It can be shown by an arrow. And it is used.
- In wh- questions: Where is… Peter?
- Statements: My friend is… here.
- Commands: Open your… books
- Exclamations: Don’t be … Silly!
Rising intonation:
- In Yes/No questions: have you got any … Children
- To express surprise, disbelief: really?
Rising-falling intonation:
- Questions with or: would you like tea or coffee
- Making a list: I need sugar, flour and rice.
Activities
Listen and do: Match body movements with intonation.
Bend your knees for falling intonation.
Raise your hand for rising intonation.
Is there a problem here?
He works on Sunday.
Do you work here?
When does he work?
Sounds
Sounds are not to be taught individually BUT there are some of them which may require special attention. E.g. /S/ ʃ / t̬ʃ/
Vowels, consonant sounds which do not exist in Spanish and consonant clusters.
“… Teachers need to achieve a reasonable level of intelligibility”. Intelligibility is an important concept in pronunciation teaching since its main goal is to ensure that speech is “good enough” to be understood by native speakers, even though there may be signs of a foreign accent” (Brewster, Ellis and Girard 200:80)
The teacher should:
- Be a clear model
- Focus on problems
- Show students how sounds are made.
- Give help in articulation
- Suggest suitable practice activities.
To distinguish specific sounds, discrimination exercises and games:
- Minimal pairs exercises
- Exercises of “Listen and group words according to sound”. /g/ (egg, kangaroo, etc)
- Bingo: sounds and word stress.
Stress and rhythm.
• Vowels in stressed syllables, called strong syllables are pronounced clearly and intensely.
• Vowels in unstressed syllables (weak) lose quality and have a muffled quality.
• In connected speech, content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) are stressed and clearly perceived.
• Grammar words (pronouns, auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions…etc), on the other hand, are often carelessly said and dimly heard.
Activities
• Exercises of “Listen and underline the strong syllables”. “Listen and underline the stressed words”.
Intonation
Intonation may express:
• A grammatical function.
• Statements, questions, meaning, emphasis, feelings and emotions.
Intonation patterns
The basic intonation patterns are:
• Falling tone.
• Rising tone.
• Rising-falling tone.
Falling intonation: The fall occurs in the last major stress in the sentence… It can be shown by an arrow. And it is used.
- In wh- questions: Where is… Peter?
- Statements: My friend is… here.
- Commands: Open your… books
- Exclamations: Don’t be … Silly!
Rising intonation:
- In Yes/No questions: have you got any … Children
- To express surprise, disbelief: really?
Rising-falling intonation:
- Questions with or: would you like tea or coffee
- Making a list: I need sugar, flour and rice.
Activities
Listen and do: Match body movements with intonation.
Bend your knees for falling intonation.
Raise your hand for rising intonation.
Is there a problem here?
He works on Sunday.
Do you work here?
When does he work?
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