Universidad Austral de Chile
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
Instituto de Lingüística y Literatura
Escuela de Pedagogía en Comunicación en Lengua Inglesa
Profesor Patrocinante:
Sr. Eduardo Roldán Y.
“TEACHING THE ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS:
Sample activities for fifth graders”
Tesis para optar al título de Profesor de Comunicación en Lengua Inglesa
y al grado de Licenciado en Educación
Felipe Andrés Bórquez Pérez
Jacqueline Alejandra Morales Acuña
VALDIVIA – CHILE
2014
Agradezco y dedico este trabajo
A mis padres, Maritza y Juan, por no bajar los brazos y bancármelas todas.
A Herman, por hacerme la vida más fácil y bonita incondicionalmente.
A mi familia, por ser y estar.
A mis amigos, por no dejar de empujar.
A la profe Juanita, por la confianza e interés.
Al profe Roldán, por la paciencia.
A Pipe, por la eterna buena onda y tranquilidad.
Y a los estudiantes que tendremos.
Y en honor a Gus, ¡Gracias totales!
Jacqueline
Agradecimientos
Quisiera agradecer y dedicar este trabajo a todas las personas que me apoyaron y
ayudaron durante este proceso, partiendo por mis padres Antonia y Daniel, y a mi hermano
Leo y mi hermana Pamela. A mis amigos más cercanos que siempre estuvieron presentes
como Camilo y Waldo.
Agradecer también a mi amiga y compañera de trabajo Jacqueline, quien tuvo que
soportarme y aguantarme todo este tiempo.
A nuestro profesor guía Don Eduardo Roldán, quien nos dedico mucha parte de su
tiempo para que pudiéramos realizar este trabajo. A Miss Juanita Barrientos por su ayuda
incondicional en todo momento.
Y quisiera dedicar de especial manera este trabajo a mi pequeño hijo Mateo, quien
ha sido el motor de mi vida durante todo este tiempo.
¡Muchas gracias a todos! Felipe
Table of contents
Introduction .................................................................................................. ………………..1
Research Objectives …………………………………………………………………………5
General objective .......................................................................................................... …..5
Specific objectives .............................................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 1 What is pronunciation? ..................................................................................... 6
1.1 Some definitions of pronunciation ............................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 2 Pronunciation as a controversial issue .............................................................. 8
CHAPTER 3 Difficulties in Learning/teaching pronunciation ............................................ 11
3.1 Why pronunciation is difficult for Chilean students. ................................................. 13
3.2 What makes English pronunciation difficult. ............................................................. 14
3.3 The five main areas of English pronunciation, and why they are important. ............. 15
CHAPTER 4 The Sounds of English ................................................................................... 17
CHAPTER 5 The Aim of teaching pronunciation................................................................ 21
CHAPTER 6 Teaching Pronunciation .................................................................................. 24
6.1 Language learning strategies ...................................................................................... 26
6.2 Theories of English as a second language instruction….. .......................................... 28
6.3 Teaching methods for English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) .............. 31
CHAPTER 7 Teaching English in Chile .............................................................................. 34
CHAPTER 8 Sample Lesson [ɑː] [æ] [ʌ] ............................................................................. 37
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 46
Recommendation for further research .................................................................................. 47
References ............................................................................................................................ 48
Annexes ................................................................................................................................ 53
Handouts for sample activities ............................................................................................. 57
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Introduction
Concerning the Standards for Foreign Language Learning, Phillips (2003) states that
learning a foreign language is ―to know how, when, and why to say what to whom‖, which
means to be able to do a task in the target language. For instance, to face a situation that
requires to understand or to communicate ideas, opinions, thoughts or interact with native
speakers.
Learning a foreign language properly means that the learner must work on the four
basic language skills; listening comprehension, reading comprehension, speaking, and
writing. Arens and Swaffar (2010) define reading as ―the knowledge, expectations, and
strategies a reader uses to uncover textual meaning‖. Listening is described as ―the ability
to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process‖ in
Skillsyouneed web site (2014). According to Anger (2014), in his website
www.omniglot.com, ―writing is a method of representing language in visual or tactile
form‖. And finally, ―speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey
meaning‖ (Nunan, 2003) (p.48).
Speaking is probably the hardest skill of the four mentioned above for two main
reasons: it happens in real time and the person who is performing does not have the
opportunity to edit what they are saying (Nunan, 2003).
For effective speaking, the skill a learner needs to get is to be able to speak in a
public context with confidence and clarity. To achieve this, pronunciation plays an
important role.
But why is pronunciation important? The answer for this question has been
controversial over the years. Pronunciation has not always had the importance that it
deserves. During the last century pronunciation in teaching English to speakers of other
1
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
language programs (TESOL) has taken different levels of importance, especially when
asking if pronunciation should be taught, what should be taught and how, or teaching
pronunciation as articulatory phonetics or not teaching pronunciation at all.
There have been many factors that have influenced the changing of emphasis in
teaching pronunciation. As perspectives on language learning and language teaching have
changed, there has been a gradual shift from an emphasis on the teaching-centered
approach to an emphasis on learning and on a learning-centered classroom, with special
attention to the individual learner as well as the group of learners. At the same time, there
has been a shift from a narrow focus on linguistic competence to a broader focus on
communicative competence, within which linguistic competence i. e., grammar,
pronunciation remains an essential component although only one of several critical
competencies (Canale & Swain, 1980).
Morley (1991) establishes some significant changes in theoretical paradigms in
learning and in linguistic and instructional models which also include changes in teaching
pronunciation.
1. From a language learning perspective of outside-in, to one of inside-out; that is, a
changed concept of language acquisition that views the learner as the active prime mover
in the learning process (Corder, 1967), and an emerging paradigm shift in which learners
are seen as active creators, not as passive recipients, in a process which is cognitively
driven.
2. Following from this conceptualization of the learning process, a movement from a focus
on the group, to an increasing focus on individual learner differences and individual
learning styles and strategies (Naiman, Fröhlich, Stern, Todesco, 1978; O‘Malley &
Chamot, 1989; Oxford, 1990; Rubin, 1975; Stern, 1975; Wenden & Rubin, 1987).
3. From a focus on language as simply a formal system, to a focus on language as both a
formal system and a functional system, one that exists to satisfy the communicative needs
of its users (Halliday, 1970,1973, 1978).
4. From an orientation of linguistic competence to one of communicative competence
(Hymes, 1972)
2
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
During 1940s, 50s, and beginning of 60s pronunciation was taken as an important
feature in English teaching programs and along with grammar, accuracy in pronunciation
was one of the main goals in some teaching methodologies (Morley, 1991). Morley also
says that from the 1940s to the 1960s ―language was viewed as consisting of hierarchies of
structurally related items for encoding meaning. Language learning was viewed as
mastering these forms, the building blocks of the language, along with the combining rules
for phonemes, morphemes, words, phrases, sentences‖ (p.484).
Later during the second half of 1960s until the 80s there was a change on the
importance of teaching pronunciation. Pronunciation was not a priority in the teaching
English programs. Pronunciation started to be questioned if it was an aim in instruction for
teaching and learning a foreign language. The result of this was that the instruction
programs for teaching English neglected the importance of teaching pronunciation, and
instead communicative competence, task-based methodologies, and realism and
authenticity in learning activities and materials took a greater importance. Eventhough the
relevance of teaching pronunciation was left aside there were some researches that began to
show certain proximity to what it would come later.
In the mid-1980s until de 90s there was a renewed interest in pronunciation teaching
principles and practices. During this period, many articles and text books for teachers were
published concerning the importance of teaching pronunciation especially because most of
the TESOL programs were orientated to the communicative competence of learning a
language either academic or occupational (Morley, 1991). Taking into account this latest
concern about the importance of pronunciation in English teaching programs, there was no
doubt that pronunciation must be brought back but with a different view, that is:
3
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
―Intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communicative competence‖
(Morley, 1991) (p. 488).
Beebe (1978) noticed that in this era of emphasis on meaningful communication, it
is important for professionals to take note of the fact that ―pronunciation—like grammar,
syntax, and discourse organization—communicates (. . .) the very act of pronouncing, not
just the words we transmit, is an essential part of what we communicate about ourselves as
people‖ (p. 121). She also reported that native speakers of English found non-native
speakers‘ pronunciation not serious and in other cases incompetent.
Pourhosein (2012) recognized that ―learners with good English pronunciation are
likely to be understood even if they make errors in other areas, whereas learners with bad
pronunciation will not be understood, even if their grammar is perfect‖ (p.95).
The purpose of this work is to examine the place of pronunciation in the teachinglearning process and to design a sample didactic unit with suitable teaching strategies that
can be used as a model for teaching and learning the vowel sounds of English.
4
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Research Objectives
General objective
To provide a sample didactic unit with a variety of activities for teaching fifth graders the
English vowel sounds.
Specific objectives
To discuss the importance of pronunciation.
To review what makes pronunciation difficult.
To design sample activities for teaching the English vowel sounds.
5
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 1 What is pronunciation?
Pronunciation is one of the important aspects in English. It is a key element for
learning the oral skills in a second language. Every sound, stress pattern, and intonation
may be understood as a different meaning. The non-native speakers of English who speak
English have to be very careful in producing utterances accurately because they can be
misunderstood.
1.1 Some definitions of pronunciation
According to Pourhosein (2012) pronunciation ―is a set of habits of producing
sounds‖ (…) and it ―refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning‖
(p.96).
The Cambridge dictionary (2014) defines pronunciation as ―the act or a way, of
saying a word‖.
Morley (2012) states that pronunciation is a set of habits of producing sounds. The
habit of producing a sound is acquired by repeating it over and over again and by being
corrected when it is pronounced wrongly. Learning to pronounce a second language means
building up new pronunciation habits and overcoming the bias of the first language (Cook,
1996).
Pronunciation can also be defined as the act or manner of pronouncing words;
utterance of speech, a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or
generally understood, and a graphic representation of the way a spoken word, using
phonetic symbols.
The Oxford Dictionary (2014) defines pronunciation as the way in which a language
or a particular word or sound is spoken.
6
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2014) pronunciation refers to the
way in which someone sounds out a word. Thus, to pronounce something means to sound
out the individual phonemes of a word, but also to correctly emphasize its syllables.
According to Lado (1964), pronunciation is the use of a sound system in speaking
and listening. Here, pronunciation is merely treated as the act that happens in speaking and
listening. Pronunciation is the act or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech. In
other words, it can also be said that it is a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is
accepted or generally understood. Pronunciation entails the production and reception of the
sounds of speech and the achievement of the meaning (Kristina, Diah, et.al. 2006).
According to the Adult Migrant Education Program Research Center (AMEP)
(2002), pronunciation is defined as the sounds we produce to give the words a specific
meaning. And it implies different elements that are divided into segmental and
suprasegmental aspects. These two different aspects of pronunciation are subdivided into
other different elements.
Segmental aspects include the particular sound of a language such as phonemes
which constitute the particular way in which the sound system of English is made up. It
includes the different speech sounds, namely, vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs, and
consonants.
7
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 2 Pronunciation as a controversial issue
Learning to pronounce the sounds of English in natural speech is a crucial part of
learning pronunciation in English. Many learners may have some difficulties with particular
sounds, sound combinations or with putting particular sounds in particular positions. Since
there are many good reference works which give detailed information about the phonology
of English only a brief overview will be presented here.
Traditional approaches to pronunciation have often focused on segmental aspects,
largely because these relate in some way to letters in writing, and are therefore the easiest
to notice and work on. More recent approaches to pronunciation, however, have suggested
that the suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation may have the most effect on intelligibility
for some speakers. Harmer (1993) stresses the need for making sure that students can
always be understood and say what they want to say. They need to master ―good
pronunciation‖, not perfect accents. Bott (2005) asserts, ―In recent years, increasing
attention has been placed on providing pronunciation instruction that meets the
communicative needs of non-native speakers (NNSs) of English. Empirical researches and
pronunciation material designers suggest that teaching suprasegmentals before segmentals
to intermediate and advanced NNSs could be more beneficial in a shorter period of time‖.
There have always been debatable if pronunciation should be taught or practised in the
classroom or not, or what features of pronunciation must be taught.
Since 50‘s the importance of teaching pronunciation or not teaching it has changed.
It goes from teaching native-like accent. Later, some speculated that native-like
pronunciation was an unattainable goal in a second language (Preston, 1981). Many
language programs reduced their pronunciation instruction or eliminated it altogether. In
8
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
the late 1980‘s, there was a reconcentration on pronunciation (Morley, 1991). Instead of
mimicry, people commenced to concentrate on suprasegmentals (i.e. stress, intonation,
pitch, juncture), sound co-articulation and voice quality of learning a new language (Esling
& Wong, 1983).
Varasarin (2007) suggests that within the field of language teaching, ideas on the
value of teaching pronunciation are often at variance. Some believe that teachers can do
little to influence the natural course of English phonological development with satisfactory
results. Arguments against the explicit teaching of pronunciation rely on assumptions about
the acquisition of second language phonology (Jones, 2002).
The role pronunciation plays in an English language program varies and the amount
of time and effort devoted to it seems to depend to a large degree on the individual teacher.
This means that it may or may not form part of regular classroom activity or student selfstudy. However, students often cite pronunciation as being very important and a priority for
them (Willing, 1988).
Studies by Brown (1992), Claire (1993), Fraser (2000) and Yates (2001) suggest
that many teachers do not deal with pronunciation teaching in their classrooms because
they lack confidence, skills and knowledge. In addition to this, these studies found that
curricula, methodology and the lack of suitable materials, all contributed to inadequacies of
teaching and learning in this area, although both students and teachers see the value of
intelligible pronunciation in second language learning.
Other problem that can be found in teaching pronunciation is that English is not
necessary for students to communicate with each other. English is not often used to make
friends or to be understood outside the classroom. It would be easy, therefore, for the
9
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
teacher to neglect implementing pronunciation tasks in their lessons because they feel there
is little or no need for the students to work on that aspect of the language (Varasarin, 2007).
What some publications do not always emphasize is that the theory of how sounds
are made in English is just that – theory. Each individual sound will, in fact, be made in a
slightly different way according to what is next to it in spoken discourse. A consonant
sound in a cluster or in a particular position, or next to a word will be made differently or
even completely omitted. Similarly, the quality of vowels can change dramatically
depending on how much they are stressed. Linguistic descriptions of perfectly formed
sounds often describe the citation form of a word, that is, the form that we say in isolation
when we are on our ‗best behavior‘, rather than the way we say it in normal conversation.
This can be confusing for students who are trying to make sense of everyday life. Fraser in
his Handbook for Teachers (2001) provides some useful background about the difficulty
learners have in conceptualizing sounds in spoken English.
10
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 3 Difficulties in Learning/teaching pronunciation
The no relationship between spelling and pronunciation is what makes
pronunciation difficult. English pronunciation is not always predictable from the spelling
forms that a person sees. Macmillan Dictionary (2014) states that words that look the same
might have very different pronunciations. For example, cough, tough, through, bough,
though, borough all end in ough but all have a different British English pronunciation
(though in American English pronunciation, the last syllable of borough rhymes with
though). Table 1shows some spelling for the English vowel sounds. Key symbols to
understand this following table: ―C‖ will represent any consonant letter, and # indicates that
the pronunciation given is only one of the possibilities.
[i:]
1. Spelling i in iCe in words mainly of Latin origin; e.g. casino, Argentina, motif, litre,
visa, ski; police, expertise, magazine, unique, prestige, fatigue.
2. Spellings ae and oe mainly as aesthetic #, anaemia, Caeser; foetus, phoenix.
3. Spelling e in plurals of words ending in –is, -ex, e.g. analyses, appendices, bases, thesis,
indices.
4. Spelling ei only in cei, e.g. conceive, deceive, receive, ceiling. Exc.: caffeine, protein,
seize, seizure, and the names Keith, Leigh, Neil, Sheila.
5. Exceptional spellings: people, quay, geyser, key, debris, précis.
[ɪ]
1. Spelling ie, e.g. hippie, mischief, movie, sieve.
2. Spelling a in a few words, e.g. character, orange, spinach.
3. Spellings ai, ei, and ee, mainly in bargain, captain, fountain, mountain; forfeit,
sovereign, surfeit; coffee, committee, toffee, Yankee.
4. Spelling aCe, especially age, e.g. image, postage, village, etc.; furnace, preface, surface,
private, octave, etc.
5. Accented e only in pretty, England, English; u only in busy, business, lettuce, minute
(n.), missus; o only in women; ui only in circuit, conduit, build, biscuit; ea only in guinea,
Chelsea.
6. The past verb suffix –ed is pronounced [d] after vowel and lenis consonants sounds, and
[t] after fortis consonant sounds; it is pronounced after [t] and [d].
7.Adjectives ending in –ed are pronounced [ɪd], e.g. aged, beloved, blessed, crocked,
cursed, jagged, learned, ragged, rugged, sacred, wicked, wretched.
8. The ending –edly of adverbs is pronounced [ɪdlɪ], e.g. assuredly, fixedly, supposedly,
11
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
etc. Exc.: determinedly.
[e]
1. Spelling a only in any, many, Thames, momentarily #, necessarily #.
2. Spellings ei, ey only in heifer, leisure, Leicester, Reynolds.
3. Spelling eo only in leopard, jeopardizes, Geoffrey, Leonard.
4. Exceptional spellings: bury, burial; said, says, friend, lieutenant.
[æ]
1. Spelling ai only in plaid, plait.
2. Spelling i in words of French origin, e.g. impasse, meringue.
[a]
1. Spelling a in some 300 words, generally before the nasals and [s], the most common of
which are:
[a]+nasal: command, demand; can´t, plant, grant, shan´t, advantage; branch, answer,
chance, dance, glance, France; banana; drama, example, sample.
[a]+[s]: ask, basket, task; class, pass, grass, glass, gasp, grasp; cast, last, fast, fasten, past,
vast, master, castle, disaster, nasty, broadcast, forecast.
Others: after, draft, staff, half; bath, path; rather.
2. Spelling au only in aunt, laugh, draught.
3. Spelling er only in clerk, sergeant, Derby, Berkeley.
4. Spelling ah only in ah, bah, aha, hurrah.
5. Spelling oi only in French borrowings, e.g. repertoire, reservoir, bourgeois.
6. Exceptional spellings: heart, hearth, our #, bazaar.
[ɔ]
1. Spelling au mainly in because, cauliflower, laurel, sausage.
2. Spelling en in French borrowings, e.g. enocore, entrée, rendezvous.
3. Spelling oCe only in gone, shonem, scone #.
4. Spelling ou only in cough, trough, Gloucester.
5. Exceptional spellings: knowledge, bureaucracy.
[ɔ:]
1. Spelling oa only in broad, abroad.
2. Spelling oor only in door, floor.
3. Spelling an in French borrowings, e.g. fiancé (e) #, restaurant #, séance.
4. Exceptional spellings: drawer (=thing), awe, Sean.
[u]
1. Spelling u in accented syllables in some thirty words, generally before [l], the most
common of which are:
[u]+[l]: bull, bullet, bulletin, bully, full, fulfil, pull.
Others: bush, cushion, push; pussy, butcher; put; pudding; sugar.
2. Spelling oo, mainly in book, brook, cook, cookie, foot, good, hook, hood, look, nook,
rook, shook, stood, soot, took, wood, wool.
3. Spelling ou, mainly in could, should, would; courier, bouquet.
4. Spelling o only in bosom, woman, wolf, worsted, Worcester.
[u:]
1. Spelling o only in do, tomb, womb, who, whom.
2. Spelling oCe only in lose, move, prove, whose.
3. Spelling oe only in canoe, shoe.
12
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
4. Spelling eu mainly in adieu #, rheumatism, sleuth.
5. Exceptional spellings: manoeuvre, two.
[ʌ]
1. Spelling o in some seventy words, generally before the nasals and [v], the most common
of which are:
[ʌ]+nasals: accompany, become, come, comfort, company, some, stomach; done, front,
honey, London, Monday, money, month, none, once, one, onion, son, sponge, ton, won,
wonder; among, monkey, tongue.
[ʌ]+[v]: above, cover, glove, govern, love, oven, recover, shove.
Others: another, brother, mother, other; nothing; borough, thorough, worry; colour; dozen.
2. Spelling ou, mainly in double, trouble, couple; courage, flourish, nourish; country;
cousin; southern; touch; young; enough, rough, tough; Douglas.
3. Spelling oo only in blood, flood.
4. Exceptional spellings: does, twopence, twopenny.
[ə:]
1. Spelling our only in bourbon, courteous #, courtesy #, journal, journey.
2. Spelling eu in French borrowings, e.g. connoisseur #, raconteur, Peugeot, milieu.
3. Exceptional spellings: coloniel.
[ə]
Schwa can be represented by all five vowel letters (and y), e.g. canal, hundred, possible,
seldom, suspect, analysis; by vowel digraphs, e.g. villain, surgeon, vengeance, parliament,
region, tortoise, camouflage, etc., and by vowel letters + r, e.g. particular, perfection,
forbid, surprise.
Table 1. Common regular spellings for vowel sounds. (Finch & Ortiz, 1982).
3.1 Why pronunciation is difficult for Chilean students.
Pronunciation is probably one of the hardest skills in English to learn. It takes a lot
of time and effort to improve pronunciation. Some non-native speakers live for a long time
in an English-speaking country but still have poor pronunciation. Other speakers seem to
pick up English pronunciation with little effort, and some may do so without visiting an
English-speaking country at all.
Nobody knows quite why this happens. Perhaps it is because some speakers have a
better ‗ear‘ for languages than others? But age and previous language learning are also
thought to be factors, as well as having a sense of ‗musicality‘. And of course, one is likely
to improve one‘s pronunciation more quickly when having plenty of listening and speaking.
13
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
This is why it is so crucial that the learners speak as much English as they can outside the
classroom.
It is certainly not necessary to have native-speaker-like pronunciation. The learners‘
accent is part of them and their culture and there is no need to lose it entirely. In fact, they
probably wouldn‘t want to. The real key to having good pronunciation is what we call
―comfortable intelligibility‖. In other words, the person or people listening should be able
to understand what the learner is saying with minimal strain. This is something completely
different from losing one‘s accent entirely.
3.2 What makes English pronunciation difficult.
Some of the most important reasons why English pronunciation is believed to be so
difficult are:
-
There are some sounds in English that probably don‘t exist in the learner‘s own
language. Jones (1995) states that there are many kinds of speech sounds that can be
articulated. The three kinds of speech sounds are vowels, diphthongs and consonants.
Based on Kenworthy (1987), the three kinds of speech sounds cause a perception problem
to the students. For instance, English has 12 vowels (many languages only have 5).
-
There is no simple relationship between spellings and sounds in English.
-
English is a ‗stress-timed‘ language – words and sentences have strong and weak
parts.
-
This is different to many other languages throughout the world where parts of words
and words themselves may be given the same stress in a sentence. .
14
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
-
When English is spoken quickly, words are linked smoothly together and sometimes
sounds even disappear altogether. This means it can be hard to understand, as well as speak
English.
3.3 The five main areas of English pronunciation, and why they are important.
There are five main areas of difficulty in English pronunciation. These are:
-
Pronunciation of individual sounds
-
Word stress
-
Sentence stress
-
Rhythm
-
Intonation
According to O‘Connor (1967) there are nine vowel sounds especially difficult for
Spanish Speakers. Teachers should pay attention to them, so they are a useful starting point
for the goal of getting an accurate pronunciation of the English vowel sounds. O‘Connor
points out that, learners should focus on the lengthening of the vowel sounds because in
Spanish there is no distinction between long and short vowels, and all of them have the
same length such as the short English vowels.
O‘Connor (1967) points out the following difficulties Spanish speakers have when they
are learning the English vowel sounds
1.
[i:] and [ɪ] are confused, the replacement being a vowel usually more like [i:] than
[ɪ].
2.
[æ], [ʌ] and [ɑː] (if there is no letter r in the spelling) are all confused, [ʌ] being
used for all three. Where letter r occurs in the spelling, [ɑː] is replaced by vowel +[ r] as in
the Spanish word “carta”.
15
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
3.
[ɒ], [ɑʊ] and [ɔɪ] (if there is no letter r in the spelling) are all confused, a vowel
intermediate between [ɒ] and [ɔː] is replaced by the vowel + [r] of the Spanish “porque”.
4.
[u:] and [ʊ] are confused, the replacement being a vowel usually more like [u:] than
[ʊ].
5.
[ɜː] is replaced by vowel +[r] of Spanish ser ―be‖.
6.
[ə] is usually replaced by some other vowel suggested by the spelling (with [r]
added is spelling has r).
According to Harmer (2007) there are many problems students can face when they
are learning pronunciation:
1)What students can hear
Some students have great difficulty hearing pronunciation features which we want them to
reproduce. Frequently, speakers of different first languages have problems with different
sounds
2) What students can say
Learning a foreign language often presents us with the problem of physical unfamiliarity
i.e. it is actually physically difficult to make the sound using particular parts of the mouth,
uvula or nasal cavity.
3) The intonation problem
Many students find it extremely difficult to hear tunes or to identify the different patterns of
rising and falling tones.
All the difficulties named above, if they are not trained or fixed can result into
incomprehensible non-standard pronunciation and intonation, which can also turn into the
learners‘ misunderstanding, miscommunication and/ or frustration (Lu, 2002).
16
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 4 The Sounds of English
The sound system of English is made up of phonemes, or individual sounds which
carry the potential to make meaning.
Vowel Sounds
1 [ i: ] 2[ ɪ ] 3[ e ] 4[ æ ] 5[ a: ] 6[ ɔ ] 7[ ɔ: ] 8[ u ]
9[ u:]
10[ ʌ ]
11[ ə: ]
12[ ə ] (schwa)
Diphthongs
[eɪ]
[aɪ]
[ɔɪ]
[au]
[ɪə]
[eə]
[uə]
[əu/ɔu]
Triphthongs
[ aɪə ] [ eɪə ]
[ ɔɪə ]
[ ɔuə ]
[ auə ]
Vowel sounds
Phonetic
Symbol
1[i:] 2.[ɪ] 3.[e] 4.[æ] 5.[a:]
6.[ɔ] 7.[ɔ:]
8.[u]
Spelling
seat
spot sport
look
Phonetic
Transcription
[si:t] [sɪt] [pet] [pæt] [a:nt]
sit
pet
pat
aunt
[spɔt] [spɔ:t]
9.[u:] 10.[ʌ] 11.[ə:] 12.[ə]
two
[luk]
blood
girl
[tu:] [blʌd]
[gə:l]
ago
[ə‘gəu]
Diphthongs
Phonetic
Symbol
[eɪ]
[aɪ]
[ɔɪ]
[au]
[ɪə]
[eə]
[uə]
Spelling
day
sky
boy
blouse
here
hair
tour
Phonetic
Transcription
[deɪ]
[skaɪ]
[bɔɪ]
[blauz]
[hɪə]
[heə]
[tuə]
[əu/ɔu]
go
[gəu]
17
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Triphthongs
Phonetic
[aɪə]
[eɪə]
[ɔɪə]
[ɔuə]
[auə]
Spelling
fire
player
lawyer
lower
our
Phonetic Transcription
[faɪə] [pleɪə]
[lɔuə]
[auə]
Symbol
[lɔɪə]
Consonant sounds
[p
b
t
d
k
g
tʃ
dʒ
put book ten day call gun cheap
ten deɪ
[put buk
kɔ:l gʌn tʃi:p
[v
θ
ð
s
voiced
think
they
Sue
zoo
[vɔɪs
θɪŋk
ðeɪ
su:
zu:
m
jump
dʒʌmp mʌm
nəu
ʒ
show
ʃəu
l
r
f
mom know sing well rain
ʃ
z
ŋ
n
sɪŋ
h
wel reɪn
[ w
vision
heat
vɪʒən
hi:t
fine
faɪn ]
j ]
why
you
[ waɪ
ju: ]
Semi vowels
Vowels are usually described in terms of:
•
Length, although remember that length depends on stress, and that even short
vowels in English may seem rather long when stressed;
•
The degree to which the lips are rounded, spread or neutral.
English may have many more vowel sounds and longer vowels than learners are
used to in their first language. Learners may need a lot of careful listening to vowel sounds,
and think about how to distinguish them (Finch & Ortiz, 1982).
18
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Pronunciation embraces different elements that can be considered difficult for
foreign language learners. Most of the time the learner‘s native language interferes the oral
production of the foreign language. A contrast between the vowel phonemes of English and
Spanish is shown in the following table 2
The English vowel phonemes
[ i: ] [ ɪ ] [ e ] [ æ ] [ a: ] [ ɔ ] [ ɔ: ] [ u ] [ u: ] [ ʌ ] [ ə: ] [ ə ]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12
[ eɪ ] [ əu ] [ aɪ ] [ au ] [ ɔɪ ] [ ɪə ] [ eə ] [ uə ]
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
The Spanish vowel phonemes
[i] [e] [a] [o] [u]
1
2
3
4
5
[ ei ] [ ai ] [ oi ] [ ui ] [ iu ] [ eu ] [ au ] [ ia ] [ ua ] [ ie ] [ ue ] [ io ] [ uo ]
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Table 2. The English and Spanish vowel phonemes (Finch & Ortiz, 1982).
As English has become the language used for international communication, it is
vital that speakers of English, whether they are native or non-native speakers, are able
to exchange meaning effectively. In fact, in recent discussions of English-language
teaching, the unrealistic idea that learners should sound and speak like native
speakers is fast disappearing (Burns, 2003).
According to Burns (2003), it is more important that speakers of English can
achieve:
• Intelligibility (the speaker produces sound patterns that are recognizable as English)
• Comprehensibility (the listener is able to understand the meaning of what is said)
• Interpretability (the listener is able to understand the purpose of what is said).
For example, a speaker might say I want a CUP as I want a CAP. This is unlikely
to be intelligible because of the inaccurate difference between the vowel sounds [ʌ] and
19
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
[æ]. As a result, a listener would not find the speaker comprehensible, because meaning is
not available. Because the speaker is incomprehensible, the listener would also not be able
to interpret the utterance as an indirect request to have a CUP. Clear pronunciation is
essential in spoken communication. Even where learners produce minor inaccuracies in
vocabulary and grammar, they are more likely to communicate effectively when they
have good pronunciation (Burns, 2003).
20
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 5 The Aim of teaching pronunciation
The most important part of learning a second language rests on pronunciation
(Pennington, 1996), thus speaking is so important in acquiring and using a language (Dan,
2006). Dan claims that language competence covers many aspects. Phonetics both in theory
and practice constitute the basis of speaking above all other aspects of language and
pronunciation is the foundation of speaking. Good pronunciation may make the
communication easier, more relaxed and more useful (Varasarin, 2007).
Being able to speak English in a global society is helpful. What constitutes
‗acceptable‘ English pronunciation? Acceptable pronunciation can be best understood if we
divide the problem into three parts. A learner‘s pronunciation has three basic levels (James,
2010).
Level 1: People often do not understand what the speaker is saying. The speaker uses the
wrong sounds when making English words or uses the wrong prosodic features when
making English sentences. For example, Hinofotis and Bailey (1980, as cited in CelceMurcia & Goodwin, 1991) suggest that there is a threshold level for pronunciation; that is,
if a speaker has a level of pronunciation that falls below this threshold, he/she will be
unable to communicate regardless of his/her knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
Level 2: People understand what the speaker is saying, but the speaker‘s pronunciation is
not pleasant to listen to because he/she has a distracting and/or heavy accent. As Morley
(1994) noted, when a speaker‘s pronunciation performance is heavily accented, it can affect
how the speaker is perceived. As Morley (1994) notes, ―Speakers are judged to lack
credibility and do not inspire confidence in either their knowledge or their persona‖ (p. 69).
For instance, Spanish speakers have middle-low intonation when they finish a phrase or
21
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
sentence, which can be interpreted as rude for a English speaker as they have a high-low
intonation.
Level 3: People understand the speaker, and the speaker‘s English is pleasant to listen to.
Scovel (1988) refers to this as comfortable intelligibility, and he suggests that this, rather
than native-like accuracy, should be the goal of pronunciation.
A speaker has acceptable pronunciation when other people can understand what
he/she says and the speaker‘s English is pleasant to listen to; in other words, the speaker is
‗comfortably intelligible.‘ Some believe that the aim of learning pronunciation is to sound
native-like. Although this is a worthy individual goal, it should not be the aim of a teacher
who wishes to improve his/her students‘ pronunciation and to improve the students‘
confidence. ‗Acceptable‘ pronunciation is not synonymous with having an American or
British accent. Thus, one does not have to aim to have students sounding like the Queen of
England or the President of the United States (James, 2010). However, the learners‘ accents
should be close to a standard variety, because an accent that deviates too far from a
recognized standard has the risk of becoming distracting and unpleasant. This is
problematic, because, as Morley (1994) noted, a heavy accent can result in negative
judgments about the speaker‘s personality and competence. This, then, raises an interesting
question. If students need not sound like the Queen of England or the President of the
United States, but they still need to have an accent that is close to a recognized standard,
then what models of English can an instructor or teacher of English use with their students?
Useful models of English pronunciation are everywhere. There are many sources in which
teachers can base their models such as TV programs, internet, or songs. Their pronunciation
is easy to understand and pleasant to listen to (James, 2010). Thus, learners do not need to
aim for a particular accent, but they do need to develop their own accent which is close to a
22
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
standard variety, because if they are close to the standard they can always communicate,
and their English will be pleasant. If the learner is far from the standard, sometimes he/she
will not communicate successfully, and sometimes even if they communicate successfully,
they will be judged negatively (James, 2010).
Murcia et al. in Hermansyah (2011) state that, the goal of teaching pronunciation to
the students is to be at eased intelligible. As a speaker, he or she needs to be able to
pronounce the words correctly. It is proposed to avoid misunderstanding to the listener and
make a comfortable situation in which the listener can catch the meaning of the speaker‘s
utterances. As a listener, he or she needs to be able to listen comfortably in which he or she
can understand what the speaker says without any unnecessary repetition from the speaker
that may bother both the speaker and the listener. In other words, having a correct
pronunciation is a key to have an effective communication.
Teaching pronunciation should not only be for the classroom context or
comprehension of a lesson, but also to communicate and interact in English outside the
class in various situations. Students need to understand and to be understood. Morley
(1994) suggested that the focus on pronunciation teaching nowadays should be on the
signing ―new-wave instructional programs‖. Besides, Morley stresses that these new
instructional designs should take into account not only language forms and functions, but
also issues of learner self-involvement and learner strategy-training.
23
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 6 Teaching Pronunciation
The Chilean Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) (2013), through the ―Programa de
Estudio para Quinto Año Básico‖, states that English is a compulsory subject in all Chilean
schools. Considering that, the authors of this research have considered necessary to go
through this program, and develop some strategies for teaching pronunciation, so that
students are able to produce accurate oral production from the very beginning.
When revising the learning objectives for fifth graders, in oral expression, one may
notice that students at the end of the year, are supposed to reproduce rhymes, monologues,
songs and dialogues and get familiar with the sounds of the English language; to express
themselves orally in dialogues and demonstrate that they have learned the vocabulary
studied in class.
The objectives described above focus on achieving the speaking skill in a natural way in
English. But these objectives do not ensure an accurate pronunciation nor encourage
students to discriminate different English sounds.
The MINEDUC argues that teachers should not stress students with so much linguistic
information, but just learning vocabulary and expressions that are familiar to them, and
repeating dialogues and common phrases assigned by the teacher. On the other hand, the
students have to practise ear training exercises necessary to reproduce speech sounds in
short phrases, which will lead them to get familiar with the pronunciation of the language.
Teaching pronunciation is an area which has often been neglected (Gilakjani, 2011),
probably due the fact that it is perceived to be difficult, and because it involves far more
than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking all
influence the sounds of spoken English, not to mention the way we often slur words and
24
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
phrases together in casual speech. For example, ―What are you going to do?‖ becomes
―Whaddaya gonna do?‖ English pronunciation involves too many complexities for learners
to strive for a complete elimination of accent, but improving pronunciation will boost self
esteem, facilitate communication, and possibly lead to a better performance in other
sceneries, different from the classroom.
Effective communication is of the greatest importance. Researchers involved in
teaching and learning foreign languages recommend working on problems that significantly
hinder communication and let the rest go. Teachers of English understand that students also
need to learn strategies for dealing with misunderstandings, since the pronunciation of the
target language seems to be a very difficult goal, especially at the beginning.
A student's first language often interferes with English pronunciation. A challenge
resulting from differences between the student‘s mother tongue and the foreign language is
the inability to discriminate certain English sounds that do not exist in the learner‘s native
language, as in the examples ―ship‖ [ʃɪp] and ―sheep‖ [ʃiːp]. Descriptions of the sounds and
mouth position can help students increase their awareness of subtle sound differences.
As we mentioned earlier, a lot of pronunciation work does focus on distinguishing
between individual sounds. The obvious examples of this are ―ship” [ʃɪp] or “sheep” [ʃi:p],
and “tree” [tri:] or “three” [Ɵri:]. The first thing to ask here is whether it is necessary or
useful to try and teach these differences or not. First of all, not all native speakers of
English actually make a difference between “tree” [tri:] for “three” [Ɵri:], for example;
and, secondly, surely the context these words are used in will be sufficient to help the
listener distinguish which word is being used. For example, ―We went to France by [ʃi:p]‖.
It is fairly obvious which word fits the context and insisting that the pronunciation of the
word is essential for understanding is being ridiculous (Tennat, 2007). This does not avoid
25
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
teaching these differences, but teachers need to think about how to teach them. If, for
example, one teaches pronunciation and there are some sounds that all the students, or the
majority of them have problems in recognizing or identifying the English speech sounds,
then the teacher might spend some time on practising. Or, are there any sounds that
particular students find hard to produce and this means that other students in the class find
it difficult to understand them? If, on the other hand, we are teaching a monolingual class,
are there particular sounds that we know are difficult for speakers of this language? For
example, Spanish speakers have problems with the schwa sound [ə], and we will have to
focus on that. So our decision as to whether one focuses on specific sounds will depend on
who we are teaching and if mispronouncing a sound causes communications problems.
Though it is unlikely that Spanish learners will need a native-speaker-level
pronunciation, what they do need is greater awareness of the difference between the sound
system of English and the sound system of their mother tongue.
6.1 Language learning strategies
In one of the earliest studies on learning language strategies, Rubin (1975) defined
learning strategies as "the techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire
knowledge". Later, Rebecca Oxford (1990) advanced a somewhat broader definition:
"Learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning". Research
into language learning strategies has become increasingly popular over recent years, and
studies have identified many different strategies used by second language learners.
Selective attention, repetition, note-taking, inferencing, and cooperation are but a few
examples (Chamot, 1987).
26
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Based on the extensive research on learning strategies (Challot - O'Malley, 1994)
successful second language learners use some common learning strategies effectively.
Some second language learner were described by Rubin (1975), i.e. they
1. are willing guessers
2. are accurate guessers
3. have a strong drive to communicate
4. look for patterns in the language
5. try to classify language
6. analyze language
7. take advantage of all practice opportunities
8. monitor their own speech
9. pay attention to meaning
According to Naiman, Frohlich, and Todesco (1975) successful second language
learners use the following six strategies:
1. select language situations that allow one's (learning) preferences to be used
2. actively involve themselves in language learning
3. see language as both a rule system and a communication tool
4. extend and revise one's understanding of the language
5. learn to think in the language
6. address the affective demands of language learning
Rebecca Oxford (1989) identifies six broad categories of strategies:
1. metacognitive (e.g. self-monitoring, paying attention)
2. affective (e.g. self-encouragement, anxiety reduction)
3. social (e.g. ask questions, become culturally aware)
27
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
4. memory (e.g. grouping, imagery, associating)
5. cognitive (e.g. reasoning, analyzing, summarizing)
6. compensation (e.g. guessing meanings, using synonyms)
The teacher is expected to bring these strategies to the attention of learners
regardless of the subject matter. This includes encouraging students who already exhibit
use of these strategies so that others might 'notice' and imitate them.
No single second language (L2) instructional methodology fits all students. Styles
and strategies help determine a particular learner‘s ability and willingness to work within
the framework of various instructional methodologies. It is foolhardy to think that a single
L2 methodology could possibly fit an entire class filled with students who have a range of
stylistic and strategic preferences. Instead of choosing a specific instructional methodology,
L2 teachers would do better to employ a broad instructional approach, notably the best
version of the communicative approach that contains a combined focus on form and
fluency. Such an approach allows for deliberate, creative variety to meet the needs of all
students in the class.
6.2 Theories of English as a second language instruction
There are a number of theories about English as a Second Language (ESL)
acquisitions and ESL literacy acquisitions. These theories focus on different ideas of how
people best learn an additional language. While some of these theories are widely accepted
today, not every theory will resonate with every teacher.
The Participation Approach
This highly learner-centered approach seeks to build learning through discussion of
the learners‘ real life issues and concerns, and it is focused in Paulo Freire (1972) viewed
28
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
teaching as empowering the oppressed through education. Initially, generative words are
chosen to help learners begin to discuss these issues and concern as well as begin decoding
(reading) and encoding (writing). This approach stresses teacher and learners as
collaborators, then both use objects, pictures and texts to help them describe and examine
relationships between the different aspects of the issue that are discussing. The teacher is
seen as a facilitator of language learning process and is an equal participant of the class,
that is to say, learning along the learners (Huerta-Macias, 1993)
The Whole Language Approach.
The Whole Language Approach proponents believe that language should be learned
from top to bottom. That is, language must be considered in its whole and complete form
before it is consistently broken down into smaller, descontextualized pieces. Language is a
social process to be used for the purpose of interaction. Learners bring a tremendous
amount of background knowledge to the classroom. Teachers must respect and value each
learner‘s personal expertise and use it as a platform for building language skills. The Whole
Language Approach centers on the need of the learner and considers him to be the driving
force in the developing of the student language skills (Peyton & Crandall, 1995).
The Language Experience Approach.
The Language Experience Approach (LEA) capitalizes on the student background
knowledge and allows the teacher to provide target experiences designed to enrich language
learning. Learner´s experiences are dictated and then written down either by the teacher or
by another language learner. The transcribed text is used as reading material. (Taylor, 1992)
The Competency or Performance-based approach.
This approach begins with the instructor asking the questions: ―What do the learners
need to learn?‖ What follows a list of competencies or task-based instructional outcomes,
29
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
such as The learners can read and follow signs in the environment. Student evaluation is
based on whether or not the learner can perform the task on the list. The intent of this
approach is learner-centered in that each group of learners is assessed and instruction is
based on their needs (Peyton & Crandall, 1995)
The Functional Approach.
Life and work place skills are the heart of this approach to teaching. A need to
analysis allows the teacher to asses which functional skills the students need to learn.
Students‘ outcome usually written as competencies and are sequenced according to priority.
This approach focuses in skills the student need in order to functions at home or work.
Communicative and behavioral skills are combined with linguistic objectives. This
approach tends to neglect the development of creativity in language and avoids social
issues (Mora, 2008)
The Communicative Approach.
Abstract concepts such as when, where, how far, and how much as well as culturally
appropriate communication are the core of the Communicative Approach. Functional
language such as apologizing, complaining, contradicting, and offering allows students to
communicate with native speakers. This approach will suit learners who want to become
bicultural and who see English as a way to fit in with the society around them, like the
functional approach this teaching method tends to downplay the expressive and creative
aspects of language (Mora, 2008).
The Ethnographic Approach.
The Ethnographic Approach considers the sociocultural aspects of language as well
as linguistic and cultural awareness to be the focus of language teaching. This approach
helps learners to become aware of how people communicate in their own lives in the
30
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
community in which they live. Students become observers of the language as it occurs
naturally around them: on the bus, in the doctor‘s office, and in the supermarket. As
learners identify what they need to learn, they become invested in language learning
(Watson-Gegeo, 1988).
6.3 Teaching methods for English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
In general terms, the aim of the following teaching methods are summarized as
follows:
The Grammar-Translation Method.
The Grammar-Translation Method (also known as The Classical Method)
emphasizes the study of grammatical aspects of language and the use of translation as a
means of ascertaining comprehension. Communicating in the language is not a goal, so
classes are taught primary in the students‘ native language, and the teacher makes no effort
to emphasize correct pronunciation of the language.
The Direct Method.
The Direct Method emphasizes on the direct associations the student makes between
objects and concepts and the corresponding word in the target language. Teachers employ
objects, visuals and realia to make the input comprehensible. Instructions revolve around
specific topics. By much exposure and handling of the context, students inductively learn
the appropriate use of different nouns and verbs that relate to specific vocabulary. In
addition, cultural aspects of the countries where the target language is spoken are also
included in the lessons. Reading and writing are also taught from the beginning. (Richards
and Rodgers, 1986).
31
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
The Audio Lingual Method (ALM).
In the Audio-Lingual Method, the emphasis is on the memorization of a series of
dialogues and the practise of language structures. The basic premises on which the method
is based are that language is speech, not writing, and language is a set of habit. It is
believed that much practice of the dialogues would develop oral language proficiency.
Suggestopedia.
Suggestopedia was developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist-educator Georgi
Lozanov (1982), who wanted to eliminate the psychological barriers that people have to
learning. It uses dramas, art, physical exercise, and desuggestive-suggesstive
communicative psychotherapy as well as the traditional modes of listening, speaking,
reading and writing to teach a second language (Freeman and Freeman, 1998).
In this method, the classroom atmosphere is crucial. Creating a relaxed,
nonthreatening learning environment is essential for its success. The goal is that students
will assimilate the content of the lessons without feeling any type of stress of fatigue.
Classrooms are equipped with comfortable seating arrangements and dim lighting in an
effort to provide an inviting and appealing environment. Soothing music is employed to
invite relaxation and allow students to feel comfortable in the language classroom.
Suggestopedia takes into consideration the affective domain. It could be said that the
philosophy of the little engine is ―I think I can, I think I can, I know I can‖, is one of the
basic underlying principles of Suggestopedia (Piper, 1976). If the students feel they can
learn, they will.
The Silent Way.
In this method, students are responsible for their own learning. Based on the belief
that students are initiators of learning and capable of independently acquiring language, the
32
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Silent Way Method provides a classroom environment in which this can take place. The
teacher models once, and the students are the given the opportunity to work together to try
to reproduce what has been modeled.
Beginners are initially taught the sounds of the new language from color coded
sound charts. Teachers focus on language, sometimes using colors, plastic rods to visually
represent parts of words of sentences. As students begin to understand more of the
language, they are taught stories using the rods as props.
Total Physical Response (TPR)
This method is based on the principle that people learn better when they are
involved physically as well as mentally. In TPR, students are required to respond
nonverbally, but physically, to a series of commands. TPR is an excellent method to
employ with students who are in the preproduction/silent stage of language development.
Students who are not yet speaking are able to be involved in the lesson. Teachers are able to
ascertain whether or not the students are developing listening comprehension.
33
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 7 Teaching English in Chile
According to the MINEDUC (2013), there are four units presented in the program of
English language for fifth grade:
1. My world
2. The place where I live
3. What we eat
4. What's the weather like?
Our project is interested in the keys for an accurate pronunciation from the very
beginning of learning English, so we will focus on Unit 1, ―My world‖. In this unit,
students have to apply previous knowledge, such as:
- Cognates:
Family, student, object, radio, television.
- High frequency Word:
Father, mother, hello, name, school.
- Borrowings (words taken from another language):
CD, PC, e-mail.
Besides, they will have to use some vocabulary, which they already know, including
numbers from 1 to 10, colors, days of the week and adjectives: up-down, happy-sad, openshut, tall/short, young-old.
On the other hand, they also will have to learn and use some thematic vocabulary:
- Members of the family: father, mother, sister, brother, baby, grandfather, grandmother,
mom, dad.
34
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
- Objects in the classroom: pencil, pencil case, eraser, ruler, board, sharpener, book,
window, door, desk, chair.
- Places in the school: bathroom, classroom, playground, office, library, cafeteria.
- Classes: Math, English, Science, Art, Music, History, P.E. (Physical Education).
- Parts of the body and face: face, head, hair, mouth, nose, eyes, hands, teeth, and feet.
And, by the end of the year, students are supposed:
1. To reproduce rhymes, monologues, songs and dialogues to get familiar with the
sounds of the English language.
2. To express orally, whether in dialogues, presentations or group activities, using
media support, including topics of the year
3. To participate in dialogues with classmates and teachers when performing the
following actions:
 Greetings; for example: hello/good morning, goodbye
 Give instructions: sit down, close the door
 Thank, apologize, and ask permission: thank you, sorry, may I…?
 Describe everyday activities: I run, I sleep
 Identify and describe objects, people and places appearance: the… is big, it
is black
 Add information: it is big and black; this is my bag and that is your bag
 Describe the weather: today is sunny/cloudy
 Express likes and preferences: I like/don’t like…
 Describe possessions: this/that is my/your…; I/They have…
 Express amounts until 20
35
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
 Identify and express quantities: there is a/an/one…; there are two/twenty…;
It is a/an…
 Ask and give information: How old/What/ Where is/are…?;there is/are…; it
/this/the… is/are...; Is/Are he/they…? yes/no; Is he your father? Yes he
is/No, he isn’t
 Identify and describe objects position: the… is on/in/under the...
 Give general information about a known topic: the/he/they…
is/are/have/eat/read
 Re-tell stories with support (illustrations, media): the…run/play/have…;
there is/are…
4. To demonstrate knowledge and use of the vocabulary studied in class.
36
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
CHAPTER 8 Sample Lesson [ɑː] [æ] [ʌ]
Teaching the pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.
There has been quite a lot of interest in how the movements that our mouth makes as
we are speaking may be closely related to how we speak, and some approaches to the
teaching of pronunciation heavily emphasize training the position of the lips associated
with speaking habits in English. In an attempt to include all the theories suitable with the
educational Chilean environment, we present some activities to help teachers with
pronunciation in their classrooms. The activities will be described with its objective and,
handouts are provided when necessary.
1.
Listening and repeating
This is the first and most common method of teaching speech sounds in English. The
teacher pronounces the target sound and has his/her students repeating them. The objective
is that student discriminate the differences between [ɑː] [æ] [ʌ] sounds. Handout 1 and
Handout 2
2.
Sounds in isolation
It is recommended to use this activity when teaching sounds that are not found in the
Spanish language. When working on a specific sound, it may help students to isolate that
particular sound from any others. Instead of presenting a certain sound as part of a
complete word in English, the sound can simply be pronounced repeatedly. When the
teacher does this, students can say it along the teacher repeatedly, focusing on the small
nuances in the correct pronunciation and also engraining the sound pattern into their
minds. This is especially helpful when there are several students struggling with a specific
sound delineation.
37
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
3.
Showing a vowel diagram
Taking into account that teachers will be using some phonetic symbols to help teaching
vowel pronunciation, a picture of where each English vowel sound is produced can be eye
opening for students. When students know the position of the lips in which they should be
making their sounds, they may have an easier time distinguishing between similar sounds
because they are produced in different lip position. Handout 2.
4.
Sounds
When students are facing a pronunciation challenge, it could be that English spelling
is adding to the mystery of the spoken word. Instead of spelling new vocabulary out on the
white board, try using phonetic symbols to represent the sounds (rather than the
alphabet to represent the spelling). If the teachers were to use phonetic symbols, the word
seat would be written [si:t] and eat would be written [i:t]. Teachers can find a list of the
phonetic symbols on several websites or in introductory phonetics books. Once students
get familiarized with the phonetic symbols of the English vowels the teacher can use those
symbols any time new vocabulary is introduced. Handout 2 shows how the lips are shaped
for each sound, and Handout 3 and Handout 4 show sound discrimination activities.
5.
Using a mirror
Giving students a chance to view their own physical movements while they are
working on their pronunciation can be of great value. Teachers can always encourage
students to look at their mouth and face as the teacher pronounces certain sounds, but they
will also benefit from seeing what movements they are making as they speak. Sometimes,
becoming aware of the physical movements involved in pronunciation will help to correct
pronunciation.
38
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
6.
Minimal pairs
Minimal pairs are a great way to focus pronunciation on just one sound. A minimal
pair is two words that vary in only one sound. For example, rat [ræt] and rate [reɪt] are
minimal pairs because only the vowel sound differs between the two words. Additional
minimal pairs are pin and pen, dim and dime, and bat and pat. Minimal pairs help students
with their pronunciation by focusing on one particular sound. In addition to the
pronunciation benefits, students will also expand their vocabulary when using minimal
pairs. Handout 5 and Handout 6.
6.1
Recognition and distinsion of the phonemes [æ] [ʌ]
A. Students listen to the teacher saying the words in Column 1 and Column 2 below.
Column 1
cap
hat
ran
match
ankle
drank
fan
cat
began
Colum 2
cup
hut
run
much
uncle
drunk
fun
cut
begun
B. Students listen to the teacher saying one of the words from activity number 1, and
students say if they think the word is in Column 1 or Column 2.
C. The teacher using flash cards or any other visual support asks the students to
pronnounce the word that is shown in the flash card, for instance the teacher may show a
cap and students pronounce it.
39
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
D. Students listen to the teacher reading the sentences below, and students circle the
word they hear.
1. He picked up his cap/cup.
2. We couldn‘t find the hat/hut.
3. I ran/run in the park every day.
4. I didn‘t like that match/much.
5. There are three caps/cups on the table.
6. Which hat/hut is yours?
7. We often ran/run to school.
8. He isn‘t enjoying this match/much.
9. It was a very large cat/cut.
10. He admired her ankles/uncles.
E. In pairs, students imagine they are the teacher now. They work with a partner and
repeat the activities above. Then they swap roles.
7.
Songs and rhymes.
Surprisingly enough, singing can be a good way for your ESL students to practice their
pronunciation. Because singing requires a person to maintain vowel sounds over more than
just a moment, it can give students a chance to focus on the target sound and adjust what
sound the teacher is making. Songs or rhymes can be practised at the end of the lesson, and
at the beginning of the next one. For the unit ―Members of the family‖ the following
website can be seen. Buy Beavers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5RTW0gh30.
Teachers can also use:
7.1
“Twinkle, twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are,
up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky”
7.3
―One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys.
40
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy‖
7.4
“If you are happy and you know it
Clap your hands 1-2-3-4{2}
And you really want to show it
If you are happy and you know it
Clap your hands 1-2-3-4{2}
If you are happy and you know it
Pat your cheeks {2}.
If you are happy and you know it
And you really want to show it
Stamp your feet {2}
If you are happy and you know it
Say hurrah{2}....
If you are happy and you know it
Do all four{2}‖
7.5
Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
and Jill came tumbling after” Handout #8
41
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
7.6
Acrostic Poem
Write a colour in a vertical line on a piece of paper. Use the first letter to write a
word or phrase that reminds you of the colour, for example:
O
R
A
N
G
E
8.
range juice
ed's neigbour
lways bright
ice with black
rab a pumpkin
at your carrots
Short dialogues and games
Depending on the class, teachers will divide th students into groups or pairs, so that
all can participate and practise.
8.1
The objective is to practise numbers, and not hesitate. Teacher will need to
split the class into 2 groups, and 20 cards from 1 to 20. Students are sit in circle. Then, they
are given a number. One of them or the teacher can be the Grandfather. The game goes like
this:
A : When the grandpa died, he left twenty cups of wine.
( the person who has number 20 answers )
B : Why 20?
A : So, how many?
B : What about 2?
( the person with number 2 says : )
C : Why 2?
B : So, how many?
C : What about 3?
42
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
8.2
In pairs, students write words from the vocabulary practised in class, then
they read them out loud. Afterwards, a student dictates one word to his/her partner, and the
couple who has more correct words in 3 minutes, win
8.3
The teacher provides phone numbers to his students, and then, in pairs,
perform the following dialogue:
A: What’s your phone number?
B: My phone number is _________
8.4
Students working in groups can work producing, recognising and
remembering contents by playing with the following activity. Colour and number twister is
a game in which students are given a piece of paper where there is a kind of clock with
different colours, and each colour has a different number, and a bag with the numbers of the
clock. Students listen to the pronunciation of the colours and the numbers and then they
take turns in their groups to produce the correct pronunciation of the number and the
colours by taking a number from the bag, so the students pronounce the number they take
and the colour that represents the corresponding number.
1. Red
2. Orange
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Blue
6. Purple
7. Pink
8. Grey
9. Black
10. Brown
11. Light green
12. White
43
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
8.5
9.
Students colour that sounds like cat and black. Handout 9
Tongue Twisters
Though tongue twisters are probably more popular for practising consonant sounds,
they are still a valuable resource for vowel practice. Not only are they a challenge to
students‘ pronunciation abilities, they add an element of fun to the classroom that can help
students relax and therefore free them to be more daring in their attempts at English.
a. “Paul bought a ball”
b. “Swan swam over the pond
Swim swan swim!
Swan swam back again Well swum swan!
c. “A black cat sat on a mat and ate a fat rat” Handout #10
10. Slap that word (Words from minimal pair exercise)
Have students gather near the word wall as shown in Handout 11. We are going to
attempt to locate words on the word wall quickly. When students listen to the word which
can be the same from the proposed activity number 6, students look for the word on the
wall and then swat it as fast as they can with a fly swatter. Call out the word and ask the
first student whose turn it is to locate the word and swat it with the team fly swatter. Lead
the class in a cheer when the correct word is slapped. Aid students who are having troubles.
When the first student's turn is over, repeat the process for the next student.
11.
Word form recognition accuracy, read out loud
Place all word recognition words in a small sack, these words can be the vocabulary
from ―The classroom‖. Have students sit in a circle. Explain to the students: ―Today we are
going to play Read out loud. In a moment, we are going to pass around this sack (hold up
44
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
sack filled with word-recognition words). When the sack gets to you, pull out one card,
sound out the word on your card silently, and then read the word aloud quickly while
holding up your card so that everyone can see it.‖ Model this using a word in the sack. If
the students think their classmate has read the word correctly, they will touch their noses. If
they think the student makes a mistake, they will keep their hands in their laps, and the
word will be put again in the sack. Students can sit in small groups so that everyone has the
chance to participate.
45
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Conclusion
Learners benefit greatly from explicit explanation of how pronunciation fits into the
overall process of communication. A very simple model of communication, showing a
listener trying to interpret a message on the basis of cues in the speakers' speech is
sufficient. This gives learners a framework to understand what goes wrong when they are
not understood, and to gain a clear, practical idea of the nature of linguistic contrast - not
just a classroom drill with 'cat' and 'cut', but the living basis of our ability to communicate
in real life contexts.
Learning pronunciation, especially at early years, is important not only because it is
easier to acquire but it helps learners to get involved in the target language and immerse
learners into communicative situations since they are faced for the first time with the
English Language. Pronunciation is the key if learners want to develop oral competence for
communicating in the target language, as it is required for the MINEDUC.
The Ministry of Education wants Chile to become a bilingual country, and in order
to fulfil this goal new teaching strategies are presented regularly so that the target of being
bilingual can become true. Two years ago the program of ―English language‖ was updated,
and now the MINEDUC wants students who are facing English as a mandatory class to be
able to communicate in English at least using an intelligible pronunciation from the
beginning of their learning. MINEDUC also wants teachers to teach English as a whole not
as separated skills because in that way students will be able to communicate effectively and
accurately.
46
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Recommendation for further research
The authors of this review consider that this sample unit can also be enriched when
designing materials to teach the sounds of English. As it was pointed out in this review,
pronunciation is an aspect of English teaching that will always need special support, and
guidance in ESL classrooms. We strongly recommend to check all the pronunciation
material available so as to have a variety of activities to teach and practise pronunciation.
47
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
References
―Adult Migration English Program Research Center‖ (2002). Retrieved March, 2014 from
http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/pdamep
Anger, S. "Omniglot - writing systems and languages of the world". www.omniglot.com.
(Retrieved March, 2014).
Arens K and Swaffar J. (2010). ‖Reading. In Foreign Language Teaching Methods‖. Carl
Blyth, Editor. Texas Language Technology Center, University of Texas at Austin.
http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods. (Retrieved at May, 2014).
Arum, P. (2012). The Effect of using “Talk Any” software on the Seventh grade students’
pronunciation ability at smpn 1 jember in the 2011/2012 academic year. (Thesis to
Obtain the Degree of S1 at the English Education Study Program). Jember
University. Jember.
Baker, A. (2006). Ship or sheep (3.rd ed.). Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Pr.
Beebe, L. (1978). Teaching pronunciation (why we should be). IDIOM, 9, 2-3.
Bott, A. (2005). Computer-aided self-access pronunciation materials designed to
teach stress in American English. Unpublished MA dissertation. Brigham: Brigham
Young University.
Brown, A (1992), A Survey of Attitudes and teaching practice related to pronunciation
teaching, Adult Multicultural Education Services, WA, Perth.
Burns, A. (2003). Clearly speaking: pronunciation in action for teachers. National Center
for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquaire Universaity, Sydney NSW
2109.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). ―Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to
second language teaching and testing‖. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.
Celce-Murcia, M. (1987). Teaching pronunciation as communication. In J Morley (ed.),
Current perspectives on pronunciation. TESOL, Washington D. C, 5-12.
Chamot, A. (1987). The learning strategies of ESL students. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin
(Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning. (p. 71-83). Englewod Clifs, NJ:
Prentice Hal.
Claire, S (1993),‖ Pronunciation in the NSW adult migrant English service: curriculum
practice, future directions‖, Master Thesis, University of Technology, Sydney.
Retrieved July, 2014 form
http://www.dest.gov.au/archive/ty/litnet/docs/Teaching_Pronunciation.pdf
Cook, V. (1996). Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. London: Arnold
48
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Corder, S. P. (1967).‖The significance of learners‘ errors‖. International Review of Applied
Linguistics, 5, 161-170.
Dan, C (2006), ‗How can I improve my student‘s pronunciation?‘ Report submitted to
China‘s Experimental Centre for Educational Action Research in Foreign Languages
Teaching, June 2006, Guyuan, Ningxia. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
English Pronunciation – British and American Pronunciation (Macmillan Online Dictionary
with Free Audio Pronunciation). http://www.macmillandictionary.com/british-andamerican-pronunciation.html. (Retrieved March, 2014).
Esling, J. H., & Wong, R. F. (1983). Voice quality settings and the teaching of
pronunciation. TESOL Quarterly, 17, 89-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3586426
Finch, D., & Lira, H. (1982). A course in English phonetics for Spanish speakers. London:
Heinemann Educational Books.
Fraser, H (2000), Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners
English as a second language, Department of Education. Training and Youth Affairs,
Canberra.
Fraser, H (2001). Teaching pronunciation: A handbook for teachers and trainers.
Canberra: Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs. Retrieved July, 2014
from http://www.detya.gov.au/ty/litnet/resources.htm
Freeman, D. & Freeman, Y. (1998). ESL/EFL teaching: Principles for success. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Gilakjani, A. (2011). A Study on the Situation of Pronunciation Instruction in ESL/EFL
Classrooms. Journal of Studies in Education.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.
Harmer, J (2001), The practice of English language teaching, (3rd ed.), Pearson Education
London.
Harmer, J. (1993). The practice of English language teaching. New York, NY: Longman.
Huerta-Macias, A. (1993). Current terms in adult ESL literacy. ERIC Digest. (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No. ED358750). Retrieved from ERIC database.
Hymes, D. (1972).‖On communicative competence‖. In J. Pride & A. Holmes (Eds.),
Sociolinguistics (pp. 269-293). Harmondsworth, U. K.: Penguin.
49
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
James, R. B. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation Gets a Bad R.A.P: A Framework for
Teaching Pronunciation. Hankuk. University of Foreign Studies.
Jones, RH (2002). ‗Beyond listen and repeat: Pronunciation teaching materials and theories
of second language acquisition‘, in JC Richards and WA Renandya, Methodology in
language teaching: An anthology of current practice, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, pp. 12-16.
Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English pronunciation. London: Longman.
Kristina, Diah and Rarasteja, Zita. (2006). Pronunciation I. Surakarta: UNS Press.
Lado, R. (1964). Language Teaching: A Scientific Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc
Littlewood. W, (2006). Foreing and Second Language Learning.
Lozanov, G. (1972). Suggestology and outlines of suggestopedy. New York: Gordon and
Breach.
Lu, D (2002), ‗Phonetic symbols: A necessary stepping stone for ESL learners‘, English
Teaching Forum, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 36-39.
MINEDUC . (2013) Programa de Estudio para Quinto Año Básico. Unidad de Curriculum
y Evaluación. Ministerio de Educación.
Mora, J. K. (2008). ―Second-language teaching methods: Principles and procedures‖.
Retrieved March. 27, 2014, from http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/ALMMethods.htm
Morley, J (1994). Pronunciation pedagogy and theory: New views, new directions.
Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Morley, J. (1991). The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other
languages. TESOL Quarterly, 25(1), 51-74.
Morley, J. (1994). ―A multidimensional curriculum design for speech pronunciation
instruction‖. In J. Morley (Ed.), Pronunciation pedagogy and theory: New views, new
directions. Pantagraph, Bloomington. pp. 45-56.
Munro, M. J. (2011). ―Intelligibility: Buzzword or buzzworthy?‖ In. J. Levis & K. LeVelle
(Eds.). Proceedings of the 2nd Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and
Teaching Conference, Sept. 2010. (pp. 7-16),Ames, IA: Iowa State University.
Naiman, N., Frohlich, M., & Todesco, A. (1975). The good second language learner. TESL
Talk.
50
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Naiman, N., Frohlich, M., Stern, H. H., & Todesco, A. (1978). The good language learner
(Research in Education Series No. 7). Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education.
Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English Language Teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill.
O‘Connor, J. (1967). Better English pronunciation,. London: Cambridge U.P.
O‘Malley, J. J., & Chamot, A. (1989). Learning strategies in second language acquisition.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
O'Malley, J. M. & Chamot, A. (1994). Learning strategies in second language acquistion.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Pres.
Oxenden, C., & Koenig, C. (2008). New English file Upper-intermediate student's book.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oxford, R. (1990). Language learning strategies. New York: Newbury House.
Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know.
Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Oxford, R. L. (1989). Use of language learning strategies: A synthesis of studies with
implications for strategy training
Pennington, M. (1996), Phonology in English language teaching, Addison Wesley
Longman, London.
Peyton, J., & Crandall, J. (1995).‖ Philosophies and approaches in adult ESL instruction‖.
Retrieved Jun. 5, 2014, from
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/PEYTON.html
Phillips, J. K. (2003). National standards for foreign language learning. In D. L. Lange &
R. M. Paige (Eds.), Culture as the core: Perspectives on culture in second language
learning (pp. 161–171). Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing.
Piper, W. (1975). The little engine that could. New York: Plank & Munk.
Pourhosein, A. (2012). The Significance of Pronunciation in English Language Teaching.
English Language Teaching, Vol. 5. http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/elt. (Retrieved
March, 2014).
Preston, D. (1981). The Ethnography of TESOL. TESOL Quarterly,15, 105-16.
Pronunciation. (2014) Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrieved at July, 2014.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pronunciation
51
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Pronunciation. (2014) Merrian-webster Dictionary Online. Retrieved at July, 2014.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pronunciation Quarterly, 9 (l), 45-51.
Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A
description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rubin, J. (1975). What the “Good Language Learner” can teach us. TESOL Quarterly.
SkillsYouNeed (2014) Listening Skills [online] available at
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html. (Retrieved at March, 2014).
Stern, H. H. (1975). What can we learn from the good language learner? Canadian Modern
Language Journal, 1,304-318.
Taylor, M. (1992). The language experience approach and adult learners. Retrieved May.
19, 2014, from http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/LEA.html
Tennant, A. (2007). Pronunciation matters. Sound reasons for teaching pronunciation.
Macmillan Publishers.
Varasarin, P. (2007). An action research study of pronunciation training, language
learning strategies and speaking confidence.
Varasarin, P.( 2002). ‗Self-directed learning: A reflective practice in pronunciation
learning‘, A report submitted to a partial fulfillment of a Doctoral Program,
HER8504, Victoria University, Melbourne.
Watson-Gegeo, K. A. (1988). Ethnography in ESL: Defining the essentials. TESOL
Quarterly, 22(4), 575-592.
Wenden, A., & Rubin, J. (1987). Learner strategies in language learning.
Willing, K (1989). Teaching how to learn. Sydney: NCELTR.
Yates, L (2001),‖ Teaching pronunciation in the AMEP: Current practice and professional
development‖, AMEP Research Centre. Retrieved July, 2014 from
http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/conference2001/index.html
52
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Annexes
The Schwa Sound
The reduced vowel sound called schwa is the most common vowel sound in spoken
English. It appears in almost 90% of the words in English. Schwa is a quick, relaxed,
neutral vowel pronunciation very close to a short u. The purpose of schwa is to allow
unstressed syllables to be said more quickly so the main beats of spoken words are easier to
place on the stressed syllables, and to sound more accurate and natural. For practise review
handout #12
The symbol that represents the sound schwa in phonetic transcription is [ə]. Schwa
occurs in two different circumstances:
-
in an unstressed syllable of a multi-syllable word
-
as a reduced vowel sound in a function word
Schwa in an unstressed syllable
In words with more than one syllable, not every syllable is given equal emphasis when
spoken. Three levels of syllable stress are possible:
-
stressed
-
secondarily stressed
-
unstressed
Every multi-syllable word has a single stressed syllable. The single stressed syllable of
the word has the most emphasis. The remainder of the syllables may have a secondary
stress or may be unstressed.
The word emphasize has all the levels of stress. The first syllable is stressed, the second
syllable is an unstressed syllable pronounced as schwa, and the third syllable has a
secondary stress.
53
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
em / pha / size
The schwa (vowel n°12 [ə]) does not only represent a single letter. In some words it
is the sound of several letters or even a whole syllable. This is often, but not only, seen in
words which have a syllable made up of a vowel letter followed by the letter 'r'.
This present is for my brother. It's a book about a boy wizard.
To survive the cold weather you have to make thorough preparations.
The Schwa in unstressed endings or in final position of the word.
Ending
example
phonetic transcription
-er
father – better
[‗fa:ðə ‗betə]
-ar
sugar – popular
[‗ʃugə ‗pɔpjulə]
-ur
murmur – sulphur
[‗mə:mə ‗sʌlfə]
-or
author - motor
[‗ɔ:θə ‗məutə]
-our
humour – colour
[‗hju:mə ‗kʌlə]
-re
center- theater
[‗sentə ‗θɪətə]
-ard
standard – cupboard
-ary
vocabulary - library
[və‘kæbjulərɪ ‗lɑɪbrərɪ]
-ory
territory – history
[‗terɪtərɪ ‗hɪstərɪ]
-om
custom – atom
[‗kʌstəm ‗ætəm]
-on
common – lemon
[‗kɔmən ‗lemən]
-um
stadium – museum
[‗steidɪəm mju:‘zi:əm]
-am
madam – Birmingham
[‗mædəm ‗bə: mɪ ŋən]
*diagram *telegram
-em
system - problem
['stændəd ‗kʌbəd]
[*‘dɑɪəgræm *‘telɪgræm]
[‗sɪstəm ‗prɔbləm]
54
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
-some
handsome- tiresome
-tion
tradition – nation
-an
-sion
organ – European
[‗hænsəm ‗tɑɪəsəm]
[trə‘dɪʃən ‗neɪʃən]
[‗ɔ:gən juərə‘pi:ə n]
division (after a vowel letter)
[dɪ‘vɪʒən]
occasion (after a vowel letter)
-sion
-cian /-tian
[ə‘keɪʒən]
pension (after a consonant letter)
[‗penʃən]
mission (after a consonant letter)
[‗mɪʃən]
musician - Egyptian
ɪ‘dʒɪpʃən]
[mju:‘zɪʃən
-and
husband – island
‗aɪlənd]
-ant
vacant- brilliant
-ance
balance – circumstance
-ent
present – different
[‗prezənt
-ence
licence – conference
[‗lɑɪsns
-ol
symbol – petrol
[‗hʌzbənd
[‗veɪkənt
‗sə:kəmstəns]
[‗bæləns
[‗sɪmbəl
‗brɪljənt]
‗dɪfərənt]
‗kɔnfərəns]
‗petrəl]
‗tʃænəl]
-el
travel - channel
[‗trævəl
-il
April - pencil
[‗eɪprəl ‗pensl]
-al
animal- verbal
[‗ænɪməl ‗və:bəl]
-cial / -tial
official – initial
-ate
climate – chocolate
[‗klɑɪmɪt ‗tʃɔklət]
-us
circus- focus
[‗sə:kəs ‗fəukəs]
-ous
famous – spontaneous
[‗feɪməs spɔn‘teɪnɪəs]
-cious/tious
spacious - conscious
-geous/gious
coraugeous- religious
-ure
failure
[ə‘fɪʃəl
ɪ‘nɪʃəl]
[‗speɪʃəs
‗kɔnʃəs]
[kə‘reɪdʒəs re‘lɪdʒəs]
[‗feɪlɪə]
55
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
-ture
furniture –future
[‗fə:nɪtʃə ‗fju:tʃə]
-sure
pleasure - treasure
[‗pleʒə
‗treʒə]
56
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handouts for sample activities
Handout #1
[æ]
[ɑː]
[ʌ]
rat
mat
hand
family
black
map
happy
sad
cat
are
art
park
farm
fast
bar
ask
car
palm
cup
run
money
sunday
sunny
up
but
study
under
Handout #2
Write the words that have the sound [æ] Example cat
family
mat
far
arm
run
table
black
car
map
hand
ask
father
nine
apple
happy
water
57
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #3
58
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout#4
59
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout#5
60
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #6
Taken from Ship or sheep (3.rd ed.). Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Pr.
Handout #7
Taken from Ship or sheep (3.rd ed.). Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Pr.
61
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #8
62
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #9
63
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #10
64
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #11
65
Teaching the English Vowel Sounds
Handout #12
Circle the words that have the vowel sound [ə:]
66