SOME EXPERIENCES IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO STUDENTS AT SECONDARY LEVEL EFFECTIVELY

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SOME EXPERIENCES IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO STUDENTS AT SECONDARY LEVEL EFFECTIVELY

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I. PREFACE AND AIMS AND REQUIREMENTS: As we know, English is a very important language nowadays. What do we learn English for? The answer is for communication. What do students learn English for? They learn English for the same reasons as we do. Our job is to provide them with the basic skills they will need to practise the language and to make sure that they have the basic knowledge and skills that they need for future study. So, as teachers, we all want to make it easy for them to learn the skills of pronouncing commonlyused English words. It is not easy for most learners to master the pronunciation skills in a short term. Both teachers and students, of course, encounter many problems with the subject, including correct pronunciation, and we always face the difficulty of teaching to students at differing levels of ability and skill.

I. PREFACE AND AIMS AND REQUIREMENTS: As we know, English is a very important language nowadays. What do we learn English for? The answer is - for communication. What do students learn English for? They learn English for the same reasons as we do. Our job is to provide them with the basic skills they will need to practise the language and to make sure that they have the basic knowledge and skills that they need for future study. So, as teachers, we all want to make it easy for them to learn the skills of pronouncing commonly-used English words. It is not easy for most learners to master the pronunciation skills in a short term. Both teachers and students, of course, encounter many problems with the subject, including correct pronunciation, and we always face the difficulty of teaching to students at differing levels of ability and skill. After a long time teaching English at all levels at secondary school and adult learners as well as teaching Vietnamese to English speaking people and working as an interpreter in my part-time job, I can offer some lessons from my experience. Some of these things you may already know. It is easy to get caught up in ideas like, ''We do not give oral tests to students at all levels''; ''We have tried to make them fluent in using as many grammatical points and structures as possible so that they can get good marks in their tests''. In reality, in the reformed syllabus promulgated by Ministry of Education students have been learning listening and speaking skills together with reading and writing skills, but for the final examination to finish high school to get GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education), students only receive written tests. And that is why we do not pay much attention to teaching them perfect pronunciation? My advice to you is that helping them pronounce words correctly will help them spell correctly too. In doing this, we will imperceptibly help them improve their listening skills that are very important not only in everyday conversation but also in getting good marks in the listening sections whenever they do normal tests given during the academic terms, especially for examinations for gifted students in the English language contests held annually. Besides our students feel confident to speak words they are sure to pronounce in a correct way. ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 11 I had many problems in speaking English and in pronouncing English words at first and I also had problems in teaching students correct pronunciation. But at last I have achieved success in solving the problem - not for all students - but for most of them. This success is particularly evident with students who enjoy learning English and are interested in the language. The experiences that I am presenting here are simple ones, but if you apply them to your work, I think you will be successful in your teaching of pronunciation. Remember that we are not native speakers. For one thing, we cannot pronounce a word exactly the same as native English speaking people do, but we can do our best and the hearers can understand what we are talking about. Like singers, we need to imitate the native speakers in saying a word together with signs of pronunciation. And remember that English is spoken with different accents in all parts of the globe even in London people speak English with several accents. So it is wise to choose the Queen’s English to pronounce English words. We can sympathize with Vietnamese students learning English as we do with English students who are learning Vietnamese. The Vietnamese language does not have final sounds which change the meaning of the words nine; nice; night; knife; knight, for instance. If we do not pronounce the final sounds, the hearers may be confused about what we are saying. And we do not have the sound /s/ /xì/ in Vietnamese either. To give an example, the word thirsty with the sound /s/ in the middle of the word; if we forget to pronounce /s/, then the word will automatically change into the word thirty, and of course its meaning will change completely. We all know that the English sounds are much like the 6 tones in the Vietnamese language cung, cùng, củng, cụng, cúng, cũng. These tones change the meanings of the words, and English sounds change the meanings in the very same way. And there are many more differences in pronunciation between the two languages. In this document I have tried to use common words and easy-to-read English so that everyone can understand it. Hopefully, this topic will help you, to some extent, to solve the issues that you are dealing with. Finally, all the constructive criticisms from my colleagues of this piece of writing will be highly appreciated because it is not only for my sake, but also for our beloved students, I think. II. SOME COMMON MISTAKES IN PRONUNCIATION: ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 22 Most of our students have bad habits in pronouncing English words. Especially, such sounds as: / ei ; t∫; ʤ; ʧ; ʒ; θ; UE; æ; ŋ; b; p; f; å:/ as in the words: stay; away; may; play; day; cheap; bridge; decision; thread; go; bad; sing; boy; point, fan; park, etc. They often pronounce /sịt stây/; /ờ wây/; /mây/; /pờ-lây/; /đây/ and it must be pronounced like /ê -i/ in our language. They confuse between the sounds /dʒ/ and /t∫/ or even never pronounce the sound /dʒ/ at the end of the word, let us say, in the words 'college, village, large '. Students are used to omitting the sound /s/ in such words as 'yesterday, domestic, thirsty, sister '. It makes the hearers misunderstand what they say. Many a student cannot distinguish the sounds between /b/; /p/ and /f/ in the words: put, book, point, ball, pause, pupil, fear, physics and many others else. This happens even though pronunciation and signs of pronunciation are taught in an ordered and systematic way in each unit in the syllabus of the English language in senior high school level. Partly, the mistakes are caused by teachers who do not focus on the pronunciation and partly because some students do not consider it to be important to do a good job. This is a big error for us and for them as it will affect their future use and study of English. If they pronounce a word wrongly, no one will understand them and they will then need to change established habits. This is not an easy job at all. As we know, English is commonly used nowadays. Speaking and pronouncing correctly will help us hear and understand well what the speakers want to present to us. We can enjoy music, listen to news from the radio, TV, and so on. The final sounds in English are very important to tell what the word means. Students, for instance, do not pronounce the ending sounds t, θ, k, s, E, z; l, etc. The words wit, with, and week are pronounced differently and give different meanings also. For instance, 'cure, kill; wine, wife; night, knife; five, fire; book, boot'. Some students cannot pronounce the sounds/ə℧; a℧ / appropriately, as in the words 'know, go, no, hold, cold, cow, how, about, shout, and some mispronounce the sounds / ai /; / ú / in some such words as smile, mile, child, result, agriculture, adult, skull, culture, brother, mother, colour, etc . III. HOW TO APPLY THE METHOD OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION: ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 33 At the beginning of the school year, teachers should copy a phonetic symbol board (Please see the attachment at the back of this document page 9,10 & 11). It is better for us to copy the source from school textbooks and give the Vietnamese sound equivalent beside each sound. Among the sounds, we should pay much attention to the sounds /ei/ = /ê-i/ in the words day, may, stay, main, late; /dʒ/ = / trờ-rờ / in the words job, June, join, jealous; /ʒ/ = /rờ- rờ/ in the words decision, vision, pleasure, occasion; /t∫/ = /chờ-rờ/ in the words such as chair, cheap, catch, chew; /θ/ = /thờ/ in such words as thin, thick, bath, strength; /EU/ = /ơu/ as in the words no, slow, hold, both; /æ/ = /a - e/ as in the words hat, map, lamp, bad; /ŋ / = /ngờ/ in such words as sing, singer, thing, nothing Students are provided with the handouts, and with the assistance of teachers, they can be coached in pronouncing a number of words that they are not sure of and confused about how to pronounce correctly. And it is encouraging for students to learn at least five words by heart with signs of the equivalent pronunciation for each English sound. During the teaching activity, teachers should correct whenever students make mistakes in pronunciation, particularly, the words that frequently appear in everyday life and in colloquial conversation as well as in the textbooks. We can teach students accurate pronunciation by giving them information on the pronunciation of difficult words. We can possibly give Vietnamese transcription equivalents of the words provided. If, for example, we want to teach them the word synchronized swimming we can ask them to transcribe by annotating the way to pronounce the words under or above the words in their textbooks like / sín krơ nai zờ đờ -sit wim ming/ in Vietnamese sound = / ‘siŋkrənaizd/; the word international /in-tơ-ná-sơn-nôl / = /intə'næ∫∂nl/. Students can learn, step by step, each of the international phonetic symbols and this will help them practise pronouncing at home by themselves without any problems. Besides Reading Comprehension, in the period of Language Focus section, for instance, we can bring teaching pronunciation in and we can, from time to time, tell students some short funny stories about mispronouncing English words to make the lesson more vivid like ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’, ‘cow’ and ‘cough’. We can apply this method in any lesson to help students improve ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 44 their spelling as well. Correct pronunciation will help the learners with grammar, spelling, speaking and listening correctly. We do not have concrete rules in pronouncing English words, but English still has a number of words which are pronounced in the same way: cold, hold, old, look hook, book, result, agriculture, adult, etc. To teach students how to pronounce well, we need to have a good dictionary, preferably one published in an English speaking country. The Wordpower dictionary for learners of English from the publishing house Oxford University Press or Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary are recommended. Nowadays most of our students can use computer and many of them have computers at home, so we should encourage them to install the above mentioned software that are available in the software shops. In the dictionaries the authors and the programmers tend to note the difficult words that the learners often mispronounce by adding a small star in the initial position of the word. And by installing the software, our students can check pronunciation by clicking the mouse on the speaker symbols as well as seeing the signs of pronunciation beside. For us, teachers of English, it is very useful to have the software installed. It makes easier for us whenever we give tests to students, and whenever we are unsure of the pronunciation of a certain word. It is also helpful to check the word meanings; ways to use the word and pronunciation by listening to pronouncing from native speakers’ voice. Some words having unusual pronunciation need to be illustrated and repeated as many times as possible. Examples include the words clerk, technician, artificial, content (n), content (adj), cloth, clothes, advertise, advertisement, sign, signature, etc. As far as I am concerned, the period of Language Focus is the best time for us to revise, to expound and show the way to speak and pronounce words and sentences with the use of stress and intonation. As teachers of English, we need to speak clearly, loudly and slowly before students. We also need to demonstrate how words which have the same roots can be pronounced differently from the others to students so that whenever they meet the words they can remember the way to pronounce them. It is not feasible for all students to grasp the way to pronounce all words contained in the syllabus, but to help them with basic skills for future study is both possible and feasible. IV MY ACHIEVEMENTS IN APPLYING THE METHOD: ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 55 I can say, with confidence, from my experience - teaching students English at high school, that one third of my students can now pronounce words with not more than four syllables quite well. They used to have a difficulty in the first few months after moving from junior to senior high school. I think that if all of my students concentrated on practising pronunciation, their pronunciation skills would be much better, and they would be able to speak out short sentences that are regularly used in everyday conversation and presented in textbooks. For my students, in the beginning they often pronounce words containing sound /ei/ = /ê-i/ into /ây/ instead of saying / pờ lê / they often say/ pờ lây / in play; and / mê / into / mây/ in may. It sounds very much like the Australian dialect - good day mate - / gớd-đây-mây-t / and now my students do not say so any more. Some can pronounce the words with ending sounds /dʒ/ ; /t∫/ and /∫/ as in the words bridge; language; watch; which; English; publish and so on. Normally, from the beginning of the second term on, students can pronounce common words accurately. In their preparation for lessons, some can mark signs of pronunciation and give Vietnamese sound equivalents above or under the words which they are not sure of on their own. And coming to school, after listening to their teacher, they can compare the pronunciation. In reality, there are many of my students in each class who do not achieve a basic knowledge of the language. This might be because, they have attitude of 'put it aside', the subject for them is a difficult one to master. But after a year with me, they can generally pronounce the common words quite correctly if they have made the efforts to learn. Although regrettably, there are often a number of lazy students present in each class. I have asked my students to install nice software for pronunciation available on the Internet named Sephonic in their home computers for practicing the way to pronounce good English sounds. The software only contains 2.64 MB and quite easy to install. We can download at: http://my.opera.com/loptvt/blog/luyen-phien-am-quoc-te or ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 66 http://www.wartoft.nu/software/?from=sephonics . After playing with it for a while, students can master the signs of pronunciation and follow it easily.V. MY APPLYING THE METHOD IN SHORT: 1. Ideally, copy the signs of pronunciation from teachers’ books adding signs of the Vietnamese sound equivalent. Ask students to bring the handouts with them all the time when they are at school and be ready to take them out to check any time when they want to. Encourage students to learn at least five words for each English sound by heart. 2. Apply the method through the lessons by reading and pronouncing the words and sentences clearly, loudly and slowly. Choose a reliable dictionary, preferably the Wordpower dictionary for reference and software Sephonic for learning and practicing. 3. When students are unsure of pronunciation, ask them to mark the signs of pronunciation above or under the words in their textbooks and then learn them by heart. Study the signs of pronunciation given thoroughly. 4. Practise pronunciation frequently to get it fluent. Students should listen to the cassette tapes; radio or English TV programmes regularly to verify the way to pronounce the words they have already learnt. 6. Whenever meeting a strange word, ask students to learn the sign(s) of its pronunciation by heart as well as its meanings. 7. Give compliments to students by rewarding them with extra encouraging marks. Ask them to write down the phonetic symbols on a large sheet of paper and put it in a special place so that they can see it every day. 8. Encourage students to mark directly the signs of pronunciation of the words beside the words as many times as they can in order that when they see them, the way to pronounce comes to them spontaneously. 9. Give students short paragraphs or beautiful sentences to learn by heart in each unit. Make sure they are not given the paragraphs that are too long or too difficult. ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 77 SIGNS OF TRANSCRIPTION USED IN SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS A. Vowels and diphthongs SOUNDS IN WORDS SIGNS VIETNAMESE SOUND EQUIVALENT EXAMPLES FOR ILLUSTRATION /i:/ see / si: / i -i free, tea, we, key, knee /i/ happy / ‘hæpi / i study, busy, ready, really /I/ sit / sIt / i fix, with, witness, liter, hit /e/ ten / ten / e lend, spend, when, rent, bed /æ/ cat / kæt / a - e map, fan, land, fat, hat, /å:/ father / fa:Tә(r) / a - a farm, calm, star, park, car /ó/ got / gót / o hot, cod, spot, cock, slot /Ø:/ saw / sØ: / ô - ô more, course, store, ashore /U/ put / pUt / u look, cook, foot, book /u:/ too / tu: / u - u cool, shoe, whose, move /u/ actual /’AktSuEl / u look, cook, foot, book /ú/ cup / cúp / ấ - á young, among, enough, stuff /¨:/ fur / f¨:(r) / ơ -ơ stir, nurse, shirt, skirt /E/ about / E’baUt / ơ today, ago, nature, colour /eI/ say / seI / ê -i away, stay, may, play /EU/ go / gEU / ơu show, hold, phone, coat /aI/ my / maI / ai kind, like, while, shy, nice /ØI/ boy / bØI / oi coin, toy, noisy, spoil /aU/ now / naU / au cow, how, cloud, trousers /IE/ hear / hIE / i-ơ near, tear, fear, steering ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 88 /eE/ hair / heE / e-ơ share, where, care, fair, stair /UE/ pure / pjUE(r) / u-ơ sure, tour, pure, cure B. Consonants SOUNDS IN WORDS SIGNS VIETNAMESE SOUND EQUIVALENT EXAMPLES FOR ILLUSTRATION /p/ pen / pen / pờ people, put, police, stop /b/ bad / bæd / bờ bad, boy, bill, bob, baby /t/ tea / ti: / tờ-chờ teacher, toy, tin, tonight /d/ did / did / đờ do, donkey, intend, doubt /k/ cat / kæt / kờ cow, copy, skull, thank /g/ get / get / gờ game, bag, gather, guide, gun /tS/ chain / tSeIn / chờ-rờ chip, choice, teach, cheers /dZ/ jam / dZæm / trờ-rờ bridge, village, join, jam, June /f/ fall / fØ:l / phờ photo, finish, fat, cough /v/ van / væn / vờ voice, very, violent, move /†/ thin /θin / thờ think, thirty, thoughts, with /T/ this / Tis / thờ-dờ thus, there, those, bathe /s/ see / si: / xờ sorry, sound, six, sea, nice /z/ zoo / zu: / zờ zip code, zero, zebra, zipper /S/ shoe / Su: / sờ show, sheep, wash, sheet /Z/ vision / ‘viZn / rờ-rờ measure, decision, usually /h/ hat / hæt / hờ hat, hit, hero, hospital, hi /m/ man / mæn/ mờ must, merry, man, team /n/ now / naU/ nờ need, nine, chin, fine, name /N/ sing /sIN/ ngờ song, singer, nothing, strong /l/ leg / leg/ lờ lie, long, tall, lip, leave, stall /r/ red / red / rờ roof, right, rough, road ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 99 /j/ yes / jes / dờ you, yell, yard, yesterday /w/ wet / wet wờ worry, warm, woods, win THE WAY TO PRONOUNCE ‘ED’ SOUNDS – SINGULAR VERBS; PLURAL NOUNS ‘S - ES’ AND POSSESSIVE CASE FINAL SOUNDS (Not final letters) PRONOUNCED VIETNAMESE SOUND EQUIVALENT EXAMPLES FOR ILLUSTRATION b, d, g, v, T, m, n, N, l - and vowels / z / zì jobs, needs, bags, moves, breathes, names, mines, sings, tables, cities, stairs; Peter’s job p, k, f, / s / xì stops, shops, meets, lists, looks, books, laughs, coughs, photographs, baths, blacksmiths s, z, S, Z, tS, dZ / iz / i-zì boxes, services, loses, pleases, washes, watches, charges, bridges b, g, v, T, z, Z, dZ, m, n, N, l - and vowels / d / đờ shared, kneed, bobbed, hugged, moved, breathed, teased, judged, formed, turned, pooled p, k, f, , s, S, tS / t / tờ hoped, looked, coughed, bathed, increased, washed, watched ……………………………………………………………………………… Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 1010 [...]... masterpiece D present C rhino D philosopher C school D moon C doctor D top C under D university C live D kind -******** - SOURCES OF REFERENCE 1 2 3 4 5 Wordpower Dictionary for learners of English Oxford University Press or Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Software Sephonics Exercises of colleagues posted in the Internet, online lesson plan Voilet Tiếng Anh Grade 10, 11, 12 ………………………………………………………………………………... fixed C surprised C pursued C concentrates C rained C resembled C stays C dreams C suited C diseased D matches D wanted D stays D faced D defined D liked D walked D coughs D raised D ferries D wicked D widens D invites D drums D chooses D consumes D days D ceased D wished D pushed D dives D coughed D glances D coincides D coincided D guided D televisions D cooks D watched D managed D fetched D decreased... pleased B worked B astonished B wished B grounds B raised B fined B talks B fathers B landed B punished C colleagues C forced C plays C objected C cried C asked C needed C prevents C forced C taxis C helped C sacks C brakes C tombs C loves C assumes C bays C increased C provided C pleased C switches C occupied C finishes C blows C decided C sawed C pulls C rides C liked C distinguished C fixed C surprised...t, d / id / ịđ painted, wanted, needed, nodded EXERCISES FOR CHECKING BASIC PRONUNCIATION SKILL OF S/ES & ED 1 A roses 2 A worked 3 A says 4 A waited 5 A confused 6 A talked 7 A markedly 8 A succeeds 9 A kissed 10 A completes 11 A learned 12 A cancels 13 A combs 14 A books 15 A closes 16 A languages 17 A trays 18 A kissed 19 A devoted 20 A packed 21 A gives 22 A watched 23 A studies 24 A hears... managed D fetched D decreased D thanked D forests D followed D resisted D steals D thinks D crooked D determined ……………………………………………………………………………… 1111 Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – 41 A examined 42 A diseases 43 A bushes 44 A expelled 45 A fixed 46 A forgive 47 A meat 48 A call 49 A come 50 A stay 51 A home 52 A stay 53 A phone 54 A sunrise 55... 59 A recommend 60 A honor 61 A danger 62 A mechanize 63 A count 64 A eradicated 65 A construction 66 A windsurfing 67 A look 68 A job 69 A uniform 70 A rich B released B pleases B buses B dismissed B founded B home B season B last B love B pay B stone B pay B alone B shut B child B center B desert B germ B relate B hour B habitat B champion B sound B defended B procedure B wilderness B food B sport B... watched 23 A studies 24 A hears 25 A started 26 A designed 27 A stops 28 A cats 29 A agreed 30 A measured 31 A preferred 32 A embarrassed 33 A chased 34 A shoots 35 A practised 36 A concealed 37 A tells 38 A hours 39 A filled 40 A imagined B villages B stopped B lays B mended B faced B naked B allegedly B devotes B helped B engines B watched B referees B lamps B floors B loses B rabies B says B pleased... returned C needed D intended C comfortable D impolite C reach D great C talk D ball C woman D some C bag D lay C show D hot C bag D lay C among D bone C business D summer C chemist D chair C cement D cancel C deserve D December C gear D gene C reduce D remember C exhaust D host C campus D cactus C character D chemical C found D country C unnoticed D extended C masterpiece D present C rhino D philosopher... 1313 Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… 1414 Written by Pham Phu Dung – Tran Quy Cap Senior High School – Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province – ... …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… CONFIRMATION FROM SCHOOL MANAGEMENT BOARD OF TRAN QUY CAP SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL (Xác nhận của BGH trường THPT Trần Quý Cáp) …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… . promulgated by Ministry of Education students have been learning listening and speaking skills together with reading and writing skills, but for the final examination to finish high school to get GCSE. that are regularly used in everyday conversation and presented in textbooks. For my students, in the beginning they often pronounce words containing sound /ei/ = /ê-i/ into /ây/ instead of saying. Encourage students to mark directly the signs of pronunciation of the words beside the words as many times as they can in order that when they see them, the way to pronounce comes to them spontaneously. 9.

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