The Sound System of English

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The Sound System of English

• Education 45310

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Phonology

• The study of the sounds of language
• Everyone speaks with an accent
• The phonological system of a language consists of
  its individual speech sounds, as well as its
  stress, rhythm, and intonation patterns

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Phonemes

• The smallest unit of sound that can affect
  meaning in a language
• Though the English alphabet has 26 letters,
  English speakers produce more than 40 sounds

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International Phonetic Alphabet

• Most technical books for language teachers and
  dictionaries use phonetic symbols to represent
  English sounds and to describe difficulties (Our
  text p. 56, 57)
• The International Phonetic Alphabet can be used
  to transcribe any language (handout)

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Pronunciation Difficulties

• Interference from the first language
• The sounds of the first language are imprinted
  very early in the childs development however,
  most children are born with the vocal equipment
  to produce the sounds of any language

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Problems in English

• Homographs (read and read)
• Homophones (red and read)
• Differs from language to language
• http//www.btinternet.com/ted.power/phono.html

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Individual Sounds

• Especially difficult sounds are th in think and
  its unvoiced equivalent th in then
• Consonant clusters spl, sks, etc.
• Some languages have no consonant clusters other
  languages use consonant clusters differently

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Stressed and Unstressed Syllables

• The degree of force with which a syllable is
  uttered
• In English words of more than one syllable, one
  of the syllables is uttered with stronger stress
  or emphasis than others (text p. 59)
• Stress patterns are different in other languages

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Rhythm

• English has a characteristic rhythm or stress
  pattern
• In connected English speech the stresses or beats
  are spaced evenly through sentences John speaks
  French.
• Unstressed syllables are compressed or
  de-emphasized whereas in many languages, equal
  stress is placed on all the syllables in words

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Sentence Stress

• In an English sentence, the words that carry the
  most information are stressed content words
  and the less important or grammatical function or
  form words are unstressed
• ESL students may have trouble understanding
  speech even if they recognize words in isolation
  What do you mean? Next month or necks month
• http//www2.nkfust.edu.tw/emchen/Pron/stress_exB.
  htm

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Intonation

• English has characteristic patterns of rise and
  fall in pitch, and three basic levels of tone
  High, Mid, and Low
• ESL students and ELLs need focused instruction on
  English intonation patterns

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Purposes of English Intonation

• Communicate meaning
• Communicate emotions or moods
• Stress for emphasis
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-toSnwSqqz0

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Teaching Pronunciation

• Younger children who are learning English seldom
  need a great deal of help with pronunciation
• Learners older than 11 or 12 are more likely to
  have trouble with specific words, sounds,
  intonation patterns require focused instruction

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When to Teach Pronunciation

• A student confuses or distorts specific sounds
  that may interfere with comprehension
• Uses pronunciations that are stigmatized tree
  for three
• Distorts the pronunciation of words by stressing
  the wrong syllable
• Uses inappropriate intonation

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How to Teach Pronunciation

• Read aloud often
• Read the same statement several different ways
• Books on tape
• Language arts software
• Choral reading
• Minimal pairs

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.How to Teach Pronunciation

• 7. Practice producing sounds
• 8. Make up sentences
• 9. Create posters or booklets for certain sounds
• 10. Allow pronunciation practice
• 11. Use pronunciation guides with older students
• 12.Rehearse, read aloud, short passages
• 13. Be creativeskits.

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Basic Principle

• Understanding of sounds precedes understanding of
  the written word.

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Terminology

• Phonological Awareness the ability to break
  down speech into smaller segments
• Phoneme the smallest unit of sound
• Phonics a method of teaching reading that
  emphasizes the association of sounds with letters

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Classroom Considerations

• Phonological awareness training teaching the
  sound structure of words
• Auditory training
• Phonics training teaching the connection
  between sounds and letters
• Training with print

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Classroom Considerations

• It is important to first develop oral language
  skills.
• Phonological awareness skills should be taught
  orally without print.
• Phonological awareness training helps children
  learn vocabulary and reading skills.

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Classroom Considerations

• Phonological awareness training improves reading,
  vocabulary, and syntactic skills
• Phonological awareness training can be
  implemented in the classroom
• ESL students benefit from PA training

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Teaching Pronunciation Abroad

• http//www.authorstream.com/presentation/Demetrio-
  39388-tup2007-Improve-English-Pronunciation-Five-Q
  uestions-Stress-gives-natural-rhythm-spoken-as-Edu
  cation-ppt-powerpoint/