TASK 5: Teaching English Pronunciation

 Task 5: Teaching English Pronunciation

PART A:

A Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories point out the importance of teaching pronunciation within the premature stages of learning so, with an adequate exposure to foreign language, children can attain magnificent pronunciation, as a result of the plasticity and flexibility available for the articulation of new sounds. These being closely related to neurological and biological factors since from the age of 2 until puberty, the brain works as a whole along with a sensitive/critical period which occur within the brain of prepubescent children. An innate biological clock allows direct learning from the inputs’ exposure until hemispheric lateralization (brain’s division) is completed.

This claim remains important in foreign language acquisition due to the fact that once lateralization occurs the maximal conditions for language learning diminish resulting in progressively poorer attainment levels. EXCELLENT AND COMPLETE ANSWER.

B. Identity is related to pronunciation since the way we speak is a reflection of our identity; we express ourselves and converse with others establishing our individuality by means of language either consciously or unconsciously.

Someone’s pronunciation and/or linguistic code is one expression of that person’s self-image.

C. Sociocultural aspects should be taken into account when supporting the early exposure to a foreign language as we are social beings. According to Schumman (1975), “children are endowed with a greater degree of freedom as regards cultural prejudice and show less resistance to acculturation” (p.?), so they should be exposed to as much input as possible prior speaking. Since our input will most likely be the first one obtained by students, they won´t present any fossilized mistakes, but it will be our duty to provide them with a proper model to follow.

D. The challenge of providing suitable input lies in the fact that children are somehow ‘sponges’ as they have a natural predisposition to absorb and imitate the input they receive for what teachers have a great responsibility towards data choice to present in the classroom and to keep updated and continue professional development, especially in the phonological area. One of the priorities for the teaching and learning of pronunciation lies on the teachers’own self-monitoring and their ability to recognize salient mistakes in their student’s oral performances which deviate from the model aimed at.

EXCELLENT

E. Accurate phonological production it is expected before the understanding, focusing on the communicative approach as a result of discourse with the clear aim of reaching the minimal general intelligibility. Therefore, this what does “this” refer to? occurs when it there exists a distinction of the RP phonemic system which is capable of conveying a message efficiently other accents are also “efficient” from a native English listener’s stand point, given that the context of the message is known and that the listener has had time to ‘tune in’ to the speaker’s pronunciation.

F. Both the parameters of RP and suitable intelligibility can be met in successful communication, in context reached through suprasegmental features such as proper stress, rhythm and intonation. By focusing on a communicative approach, the aim is to help the learner acquire intelligible pronunciation highlighting its communicative values. great

G. Supresegmental features (stress, rhythm and intonation) can be acquired somehow both separately and collaboratively with other skills. Stress should be central to the meaning and identity of a word; when teaching vocabulary, these must be essential (both in isolated words and in context as a way of representing the most meaningful choice of the speaker) because it may lead to misunderstandings -could be taught throughout new language presentation comparing and contrasting minimal pairs or even through collaborative tasks to undertake a review-. At the same time, rhythm communicates emphasis so that the listeners can understand the speaker’s meaning –could be taught through the repetition of drills and chants making use of the total physical approaches like stories, songs and a bingo-. Last but not least, intonation could be held on as an integrated planning with lexis and grammar.

H: Pragmatic discourse features are closely related to the teaching of pronunciation because we must teach language in use; we need to keep updated to provide a good contextualised model. Also, we should teach that content words tend to be more stressed than functional words, new information tends to be stressed, and the fact that

there are some rules that are language-dependent.

I. In the When teaching of English pronunciation, it is no longer required a proficiency level (word order: a level of proficiency is no longer required), but rather a legible communicative one. Since language is communication, it will always remain important such skills as pronunciation to result incommunication. (rephrase).

PART B:

After analysing the activities on all books, we can conclude that both approaches are used, being the bottom up approach used firstly so as to present and practice new sounds in isolation, and the bottom down approach, to add intonation and rhythm practice and make communication meaningful, as seen in the chants and riddles present in the study material.

Taking into account the fact that both approaches should be considered so as to teach students that pronunciation is made by a complex interrelated set of factors, we have prepared two activities which reflect each method:

Bottom up approach: Short Vowel Sounds Practice

Grade: 5th

Resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSCz41aDug nice song, though it should be introduced after teaching / practising all the vowels individually. if not, it would be confusing.

First, students will practice the short vowel sounds they´ve previously learnt individually, altogether by singing the chant. Later, they´ll be divided into groups of five. Each group will be assigned a vowel sound with which they'll have to create a chant for their classmates to sing. For the purpose of explaining alumni (Students) how to create a chant, using the vocabulary they already know even though they know the language, you could provide them with different vocabulary on the board, the teacher will show them the following example on the board, so they can use it as guide:

The short I is for pig

the short I is for pig

the short I is for a big pig

the short I is for a big pink pig

which sings to me

Write you own chant:

the short …. is for ….

the short I is for …

which …...................

In the end, we will put all the verses together to make a whole song, which students will record on video with the “if you happy and you know it” song´s melody. They could use masks from of the animal chosen made in the art lesson to record it made in arts class.