Assignment – FP005 TP

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

Assignment instructions:
Choose two problems of transfer which you consider to be obstacles to
efficient communication. Those problems need to be specific to Spanish
and English (that is, specific to Spanish speakers who are English
learners). The problems can either be segmental or suprasegmental.

FIRST, describe, as precisely as you can, the causes of the problems in

phonetic or phonological terms.

SECOND, explain and illustrate how these problems could be addressed

within the usual framework of a language course - the level, age and type
of student presumably being determined by the type of problem you have
chosen. Nonetheless, you should consider the problems in terms of the
three ’E’ variables, and with reference to Brinton’s five variables,
mentioned in Chapter 9.

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

MARIA ALEJANDRA TOVAR PERDOMO

Group: 2018-10
Date: 10-31-2019

FUNDACION FUNIBER
2019

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

Introduction

In a globalized world like this, it is important to revaluate the way in which

teachers are performing their classes. Marianne Celce-Murcia (1980) argued that we
need a historical perspective to evaluate innovations effectively. Generations have
changed in a notorious way through time. Teaching, for example, have experienced
many variations in the 20th century which have affected the dynamics in the classroom
and the educational community. Within this set of assumptions related to the
nature of language teaching, there are plenty of methods and
techniques which have been developed just for the sake of being
more effective while teaching a foreign language.
Many linguists and research studies have worked to find the way in which
people get to communicate among different cultures successfully. Language learners
wish to communicate not only with native speakers but also with people from a variety
of countries and languages. However, there seems to be a stigma about pronunciation
and it is said that the prototype we should be learning is either British received
Pronunciation (RP) or general American English (GA). This fact, depends indeed on
aspects such as location, opportunities with native speakers and the linguistic and
educational backgrounds.
What it is really relevant is to know that if learners want to improve their
speaking, they must start concerning about basics in correct pronunciation. Bad
pronunciation can provoke misunderstandings and frustrations for those who are shy to
speak. In my personal opinion, I believe that pronunciation should be taught on a daily
basis and as teachers, we would need to encourage learners to correct pronunciation.

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

1. PROBLEMS OF TRANSFER WHICH AFFECT EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION

1.1 PROBLEM 1-WORD STRESS 5

1.2 PROBLEM 2- - / s / z / I z/ 5

2. EXPOSURE, EXERCISE & EXPLANATION: WORD STRESS 6

3. EXPOSURE, EXERCISE & EXPLANATION: /S/, /Z/ AND /ェ Z/ 7

4. BRINTON’S FIVE VARIABLES (1995) 8

4.1 LEARNER VARIABLES 8

4.2 SETTING VARIABLES 8

4.3 METHODOLOGICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL VARIABLES 8

4.4 LINGUISTIC VARIABLES 9

5. CONCLUSIONS 9

REFERENCES

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

1. PROBLEMS OF TRASNFER WHICH AFFECT EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION

1.1 PROBLEM 1-WORD STRESS

Spanish word stress is regular while English is not. Most of Spanish words have
the accent in the second or third syllable and if not, they use an accent mark which
indicates where the accent should take place. This has become a great issue for my
students who do not know where the stress of some words go, especially if they accent
in Spanish goes in a different syllable than English. For instance, the word promise
has the accent in the first syllable [ˈprɑməs], however, in Spanish it is prometer and the
accent goes in the third syllable. Students insist on pronouncing the word as if it was
[prɑ’məs].

Another clear example is the word interesting which pronunciation goes in the
first syllable [ˈɪntrəstɪŋ]. Yet, in Spanish, the word interesante has the accent in its forth
syllable. Students confuse the pronunciation as if it was like [ɪnt’rəstɪŋ].

1.2 PROBLEM 2 - / s / z / I z/

When we add “s”, “es” and “ ’s” to a word it is for one of the following reasons:

1�To create a plural noun like “car-cars”

2�To conjugate a verb in third persona like “I play – she plays”
3�For contractions as in she’s, they’ll
4�For possessives as in “my dog’s toy”

The / s / es / ‘s / have three different pronunciations

 /s/
 /z/
 / I Z/

Students tend to use them all but pronounce them as if all were the / s / sound. In
this case, teachers are required to use exposure activities that allow learners identify
these sounds, unrecognizable in Spanish or at first sighting the English language
learning process.

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

2. EXPOSURE, EXERCISE & EXPLANATION: WORD STRESS

When speaking, using word stress incorrectly can lead to the listener
mishearing or misunderstanding certain words – desert versus dessert, for example. As
you can imagine, this can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. Even if the
speaker is understood correctly, listeners may attach judgement to their consideration
of the speaker as a result of their pronunciation.

When dealing with word stress, it is beneficial to draw attention to the differences in
stress patterns in word families. When dealing with a topic, choose a group of words
which can easily be categorized according to their stress. For example, if you are
teaching occupations, you can choose the following word families and their stress
patterns:

Oo Ooo oOoo
photo photograph photographer

The students can complete the table in their notebooks or it can be done as a class
activity by sticking the words on the whiteboard.

Another great activity is ‘Positive’:

A) 3
B) POSitive (One student can come up for the team and mark the stress above the
word on the board)

C) One student pronounces the word

D) Negative (One student writes this on the board below the word)

Teams get one point for each correct answer and If they get all four correct, they
get 5 points (one bonus point), if the team cannot give an answer to one, they can
throw it to one of the other teams. If the chosen team answer correctly, they
automatically steal those points. This is a great activity for reviewing the week’s
vocabulary and also gets students thinking about pronunciation. I like to draw students
attention to the pronunciation of all new lexical items met during the week so they are

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

not only meeting it from a definitive point of view but pronunciation is also incorporated
into its introduction and practice

EXPOSURE, EXERCISE & EXPLANATION: /S/, /Z/ AND /ェ Z/

First, we can expose the dilemma by presenting a sentence on the board:

“Sally loves cakes and watches soap operas on Tuesdays.”
Students can work in pairs reading the sentence and finding any different sounds
which they may come across with regards to the letter “-s”, “-es” or “-’s”. Usually, they
will only find one, namely / ェz/ because it causes an extra syllable. They will find the
difference between /s/ and /z/ very difficult to find. At first, they may not even agree with
the teacher that these are particular plural sounds.

Then, the teacher can explain the different sounds by drilling the pronunciation
of these words. After this has been completed, exercises must be carried out to
practise the pronunciation. An activity for doing this may be giving the students a list of
words and a table with three columns: /s/, /z/ and / ェz/. Students must work in pairs,
pronounce the words together and put the words into their correct column, according to
their sound. This is a more communicative task as the students work together and
debate the correct sound they should use. They also usually find this quite funny. After,
they can listen to the teacher to check their answers.

Two further activities which may be completed is one which I have taken from
the New English File: Pre-Intermediate series by Oxenden, Latham-Koenig & Seligson
(2001). In the first activity (Appendix 6.4) we can see a table with the three sounds
being represented by the phonetic symbols. These symbols also depict a picture of a
word in which this sounds appears, for example, /s/ for snake. I found the phonetic
table highlighted by these series of books very useful as the students will make a
connection between the picture of the word they see and the sound. It is a great way
for them to memorize and practise the different sounds. In this particular activity,
students listen and repeat the sentences to identify the target sounds. Then, they must
look at six verbs and put them into the third person singular and highlight the sound
used for the ‘s’. After, they must do something similar but this time with the plural ‘s’ of
nouns. Finally, they can listen and check their answers.

The final activity which I have included (Appendix 6.5) is similar to a “Spot the
difference” activity. Individually, students looks at the sound and the three verbs below

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

it. They must circle the verb with a different sound. After, thay can consult with their
partner before having an open-class feedback.
BRINTON’S FIVE VARIABLES (1995)

 Learner variables: In this assignment I will consider the pronunciation of

English learners from a private school in the city of Neiva in Colombia.
They have an intensity of 10 hours a week though they only get to
practice while in class. They consider English important for the future but
not necessary for the moment. They tend to be visual which means they
associate the language with images. For that reason, it is mandatory to
have tasks which involve this type of language recognition. They are
supposed to have B1 English level, according to the common European
framework, and the following year (when they get to 11, the last year of
school in Colombia), they present the international IELTS exam,
obtaining B2 plus or even C1.

 Setting variables: all students have their books and workbooks are
called ‘Achievers B2” from Richmond. This editorial suggests to have one
level ahead for students that is why although they are meant to have B1
intermediate, they are using the B2 boo ks. It has a high content of a mix of
the four skills covered over 9 units, with one Pronunciation section in each unit.
However, this part is not a priority and is barelly worked or managed in class.
Students live in a city where they can only practice during the classes or among
them. Still, some of them have relatives who speak the language but they are
not native.

 Methodological and Institutional variables: When addressing their

previous knowledge of English, all have achieved a good command of English
in general terms throughout their schooling in Colombus American School, but
when getting to their capabilities in listening and Reading, they flounder.
Besides, Speaking was fluent but not neccesary well pronounced.
According to the curriculum, students take a diagnostic text which gives the
teacher an idea of where to start from. The year is divided n three terms and
each has a period for teaching but also for leveling where students get to work
on their weaknesses. Those who are one step ahead, get to work on more

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 Assignment – FP005 TP

advanced structures and pronunciation which are important but not really taken
into account as a major issue.
 Linguistic variables: as a Spanish native speaker city, students tend to
speak in Spanish rather than English which makes it hard to actually
develop much of pronunciation. However, there are opportunities where
students get to work on the production of those phonemes in English
which do not exist in Spanish. The main issues are also exposed in the
previous item where the problems are described.

CONCLUSION

Good pronunciation is vital in order for students to communicate without any

awkward difficulties. Teachers must take extra care when planning their lessons as to
provide students with a good basis of pronunciation, with solid practise and correct
output. Pronunciation is notlonger a matter of vanidity or an unspeakable matter. As the
faciliatators of the language learning process, we must take all the variables into
consideration in our planning so that they are effective. Besides, tasks should be fun
and innovatived, not the usual standard of listening, repeating and drilling. The idea is
that all activities can be practical and communicative to encourage better speaking
abilities and effective communication.
The teacher should also stand as a model for correct pronunciation, thus
students can go to him / her for help and guidance. This is actually a challenge not only
for teachers but principals who know the quality of the experience, their teachers have.
By optimising these factors, students’ pronunciation will develop and improve making
their overall confidence and their proficiency grow at the same time.

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REFERENCES

 Jenkins, J. (1998): “Which pronunciation norms and models for English as an

International language?”. In ELT Journal 52/2, pp.119 -126

 Kenworthy, J. (1987): Teaching English Pronunciation. Longman. London.

 Mcloughlin, A. (2015): Fun with words stress. Elt-connect.com. Retrieved from

http://elt-connect.com/fun-with-word-stress/

 Oxenden, C., Latham-Koenig, C. & Seligson, P. (2011): New English File: Pre-
intermediate - Student’s Book and Workbook. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

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