Easton, Texas TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

UNIT 13 – TEACHING PRONUNCIATION AND PHONOLOGY This unit was the most interesting for me so far. There are many aspects of pronunciation and phonology that native speakers use without thinking about them, so there were several excellent areas of this unit that describes these elements of English. Overall this unit is essential for many native speakers to improve their teaching skills. The unit opened with the concept of the variation in pitch and volume when speaking, known as “intonation”, which conveys several aspects of communication, including emotions, questions, and agreement or disagreement. For example, a rising intonation at the end of a sentence indicates that a response is expected, while a falling intonation indicates that no response from the listener is needed. A flat intonation can indicate disinterest or that the speaker doesn’t really want to communicate. The unit also added various techniques to teach intonation. Stress is the next concept discussed in this unit. There are various rules indicated about stress on words in a sentence, and syllables in a word. These are important for students of English to learn as it can change the entire meaning of a sentence! New concepts and terminology regarding the articulation of sounds (place and manner) in English were extensive in this unit, and very interesting, in particular I liked learning about the plosives (which “explode” like /p/) and the fricatives (which “have friction” like /f/ and /v/). Furthermore, it was also useful to think about the concept of “voicing” a sound using the vocal cords. Thinking about which organs of speech are being used and exact locations means that explaining these sounds to future students can be much clearer. The other manners of articulation mentioned included nasal, lateral, affricate, and approximant sounds. Obviously, these words are useful for teachers of English, but they’re not necessary for the students to memorise (unless the student is advanced, and particularly interested in the topic!). Students need to learn these concepts, but in my opinion, using less “jargony” words will aid their English development better as it reduces unnecessary confusion. Building on this, the diagram on page 16 (of the speech organs) is fantastic, and together with the simpler diagrams later in the unit forms an essential teaching resource for students. The poem by Gorge Bernard Shaw on page 13 was particularly entertaining, and I plan on using it with my more advanced students. Overall this unit was extremely interesting, and a little difficult in the end as it included a lot of new vocabulary. However, after the two videos and the pdf, it was definitely understandable and I gained a lot of new skills.