TEFL Listening and Speaking Pronunciation Pronunciation When some

TEFL: Listening and Speaking Pronunciation

Pronunciation • When some teachers and learners complain about difficulties in speaking, they are often talking about pronunciation. The amount of attention given to the teaching of pronunciation in language courses varies considerably, partly as a result of the teacher’s attitude to error and the learners’ language learning goals.

The Importance of Pronunciation • Having a good pronunciation of the language can help in normal communication, particularly intelligibility. • A very important mechanism involved in working memory “the phonological loop. ” • The phonological loop is the brain saying a word or phrase over and over to itself in order to keep it in working memory or to help it move into long-term memory. • Ex. Repetition of phone numbers to memorize

The Importance of Pronunciation • If learners do not have a stable pronunciation for a word, it cannot easily enter long-term memory because it cannot be held in the phonological loop. • The size of ESL learners’ working memory in the second language is affected by their knowledge of patterns of pronunciation and grammar in that language. • Giving attention to pronunciation is important in the course to develop a stable pronunciation, and become familiar with the patterns and rules in SL.

Factors Affecting the Learning of Another Sound System • There are five factors that have been shown to have major effects on the learning of another sound system. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. age of the learner, the learner’s first language, the learner’s current stage of proficiency development, the experience and attitudes of the learner, the conditions for teaching and learning.

Factors Affecting the Learning of Another Sound System • Three reasons why the students might have difficulty to copy new sounds. 1. They overlook some feature. 2. The learners sound bad to themselves when they copy well. 3. The learners become anxious about making the sounds.

Fitting Pronunciation into a Course • • Regularly setting aside a special time, Setting goals and activities for individual work. Dealing with pronunciation errors as they occur, Organizing meaning-focused speaking activities which can affect pronunciation.

Learners can practise intonation in the following ways. • Copying the teacher. • Making gestures to go with changes in intonation. • Saying the last word of a sentence by itself with the correct intonation, rising or falling. • Showing drawings of intonation patterns.

The ways to correct the pronunciation mistakes • Repeating the word correctly several times with ordinary stress, • Repeating the word correctly giving extra stress and length to the part where the learner make the mistake. • Comparing the mistake and the correct form: “Not lice but rice. ” • Writing the word on the board correctly and underlining the part where the learner made a mistake. • Saying “No” and letting the learner find the mistake without help.