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• AlmudenaSaldañaGragera

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9. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM. MODELS AND TECHNIQUES TO LEARN PRONUNCIATION. PERCEPTION, DISCRIMINATION AND PRODUCTION OF SOUNDS, STRESS, RHYTHM 6 INTONATION. PHONETIC CORRECTION. INTRODUCTION Master FL → understand native speakers / make ourselves understood → discriminate + produce sounds properly (pronunciation 1st aspect native notice conversation) → grammar + vocabulary → important but useless if not pronounced well Based on this view → difference Phonetics / Phonology → English phonological system (segmental / suprasegmental) → teaching of pronunciation (models, techniques, activities) → phonetic correction (problems Spanish, correction techniques) Essential topic → correct pronunciation → efficient communication (goal Primary) → curriculum (obj/cont/ass) → identification + production segmental / suprasegmental 1. PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Both concerned study how speech happens → Phonetics (physical aspects speech processes) → unit: sound → 3 branches → Auditory (perception sounds by human ear) / Acoustic (physical properties of speech sounds) / Articulatory (production sounds by organs articulation) → Phonology → sounds made by speakers given language + way used to express meanings + prosodic features → unit: phoneme (smallest contrastive unit that might produce a change in meaning) → 44 in English 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM This section → segmental (vowels, consonants) + suprasegmental (stress, rhythm, intonation) → segmental features (contrastive sound elements that can be identified in speech) → sounds produced by air stream lungs → though larynx → influences vocal chords Vowels (sounds made by voiced air passing through the mouth without being obstructed) → described 3 criteria → height tongue (close [tongue up], half-close, half-open, open [tongue down]) → part tongue raised (front, central, back) → shape lips (rounded, spread) FRONT CLOSE HALF-CLOSE

1 2 3 4

HALF-OPEN

/ iː / /ɪ/ /e/ /æ/

CENTRAL Tree Sit Pen Man

11 10 12

/ ɜː / /ʌ/ /ə/

BACK Word Come About

OPEN

9 8

/ uː / /ʊ /

food Full

7

/ ɔː /

Ball

5 6

/ ɑː / /ɒ/

Car Box

Diphthong → glide from one vowel position to another /eɪ/

Late

/aɪ/

Hig h

/ɔɪ/

Noise

/aʊ/

Town

/əʊ/

Phon e

/ɪə/

Here

/eə/

Wear

/ʊə/

Pure

Consonants (sounds produced by blocking the air stream from the lungs) → 4 criteria → action vocal chords (voiced [vibration] / voiceless [no vibration]) → place of articulation* (where closure takes place) → position soft palate (oral [raised] / nasal [lowered]) → manner of articulation (type obstruction at place of articulation → bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal) Plosive Affricate

Complete closure → air released explosively Compete closure → air released slowly

PLACE OF

Fricative

2 organs so close → air between them → audible friction

ARTICULATION

Nasal Lateral Approximant

Complete closure → air escapes through nose Partial closure → air escapes through sides of closure Narrowing vocal tract → enough space air → no friction

/p, t, k, b, d, g/ /tʃ, dƷ/ /f, v/ /θ, ð/ /s, z/ /ʃ, Ʒ//h/ /m, n, ŋ/ /l/ /r, w, j/

Suprasegmental → stress, rhythm, intonation → above level of individual sounds → influence meaning Stress → Oral emphasis of certain syllables or words → English not graphic, tonic → most English words single-stressed / words with prefixes & numbers 2 stresses → unstressed syllables said quickly & lightly → grammatical function → distinguish noun / adj from verbs → sentence level → stressed (content words) / unstressed (grammatical, not necessary communication) → stress specific parts to convey meaning (John) Rhythm occurrence of stressed syllables at regular intervals of time → English stressed-timed (stressed syllables equidistant in time) / Spanish syllable-timed (all syllables occur at regular intervals) → native → schwa unstressed → reduce vowels → can speed through unstressed syllables (particular English rhythm achieved) → vary rhythm to convey meaning (urgency, emphasis) Intonation (rise and fall in pitch) → realised in tone units (sequences of stressed & unstressed syllables) → 2 functions → grammatical (indicate grammatical meaning = punctuation in writing) / emotional (express attitudinal meanings) → 4 intonation patterns → Falling (commands, statements, wh-) / Rising (yes/no q, friendly greetings, polite requests) / Falling-rising (warnings, uncertainty) / Rising-falling (impatient) 3. MODELS AND TECHNIQUES TO EARN PRONUNCIATION Model → choice very important → English spoken world-wide → different spoken forms & accents → British Received Pronunciation (Europe) & American (Asia, South America) → British always regional pronunciations (history, geography) → last 5 centuries British RP social prestige (educated Southern people) → most commonly described books on phonetics → taught to foreigners → class → beginning teach (good model British RP) → confidence in productive competence → exposed to other important models (American) → teacher’s pronunciation highest level → Grimson “Young pupils will imitate a bad pronunciation as exactly as they will a good one” → speak clearly + facing students (see mouth + facial expressions) Techniques → Hubbard “Pronunciation must be an essential part of an English programme from the early stages, just like the teaching of structures and vocabulary” → not restricted to particular sessions → 5 minutes every day better than 1 long session sometimes → boring and repetitive (long time) → approach → smallest unit of speech (phonemes) → word (stress) → connected speech (rhythm & intonation) → 2 phases (discrimination + production) → listening 1st step → teacher / model on tape, CD, video Techniques in FLT methods → Direct Method (emphasis oral comm. → pronunciation important → repetition sounds, words, sentences) → Audio-Lingual (importance to precise native-like pronunciation → drills → correct mispronunciation) → Silent Way (language learning begins study sounds associated colours → teacher doesn’t model → instructions → not model → inner criteria for correctness) → Community Language Teaching (Human Computer) 4. PERCEPTION, DISCRIMINATION AND PRODUCTION OF SOUNDS, INTONATION, RHYTHM & STRESS Listening stage → perceive + discriminate sounds, stress, rhythm, intonation → ear-training activities (learn to listen) → after recognition / discrimination → productive exercises → beginning based on repetition (fun→ volume, speed, rhyme) → now activities → categories, but exercises in which all features integrated Sounds → perception / discrimination (minimal pairs, draw what you hear, odd man out) → production sounds → teacher demonstrate way sounds made (lips, tongue, teeth) → students listen & repeat model → drills, raps, chants, sounds, tongue twisters (pronunciation in context, motivating way) Stress → perception / discrimination → clapping hands, using symbols (circles) → newspaper headlines highlight stress pattern (message reduced to key words) → rhythm → clapping hands too (rhythm directly related stress) → clap the beats songs, rhymes, sentences (adding syllables between claps) → familiar stress & rhythm → read dialogues highlighting most important words → drills, raps, songs, chants, tongue twisters Pronunciation → perception / discrimination → moving arms high-low (indicate falling) + draw arrows + compare ≠ intonations & reflect changes meaning → imitation (body movements, gestures) → repeat sentence & changes in meaning → role play (Mr. Happy) → say hello

5. PHONETIC CORRECTION Accurate pronunciation → not easily achieved just exposure → problems in class → irregular relationship pronunciation + spelling / failure to discriminate sounds (& imitate) / problems oral communication (poor pronunciation) / lack of confidence → role in class Reasons pronunciation errors → L1 interference (use L1 form) / Generalisation (apply rules out limits) / Influence written form (spelling not connected pronunciation) Teacher → aware difficult segmental / suprasegmental features → common problems Spanish speakers 1) Long / short vowels 2) Schwa replaced spelling 3) Voice / voiceless /b/ & /v/ 4) /p, t, k/ not aspirated initial position 5) /t/ Spanish (dental) / English (alveolar) 6) Long words, stress 1st syllable 7) Rhythm Spanish (syllable-timed) /English (stress-timed) Teacher → positive attitude towards errors → pronunciation mistakes corrected presentation / practice stage (accuracy) / production (note, feedback) → not correct very often → lose confidence, discouraged Techniques → Is that correct? / Response incorrect → repeat / Draw attention to problematic aspect → pronounce isolation / Explain how sound formed → problems remain → plan (discrimination + practise)