Teach English in Haoping Zhen - Ankang Shi

When considering Phonetics or Phonology, we are concerned with the sounds of the language. While the phonetic alphabet can make the pronunciation of an individual word clear, there is more to consider. Aside from the individual sounds which can be clarified by the manner and place of articulation, one must consider the stress, rhythm, and intonation of what is being said to gain full expressive abilities in English. All of these areas are often neglected when teaching English, but this should not be the case. Students frequently have difficulty with pronunciation and have a great deal of interest in improving their pronunciation. Additionally, some knowledge of intonation can dramatically improve the students’ ability to express feelings or carry out functions in English. This can make class more lively and enjoyable as well as providing a boost for student confidence. In the following sections, a brief summary of phonology will be given with some exploration into the reasons teachers may hesitate to teach various aspects of it and, when possible, solutions to those types of concerns along with justification for putting in the extra effort that is often necessary to realize those solutions. One of the most daunting aspects of phonology is the phonetic alphabet itself. In this alphabet, in contrast with the English alphabet, each letter maps onto precisely one unique sound. As a result, there is only one possible spelling for any given pronunciation. Teachers will often hesitate to take class time to teach this to students for a number of reasons. Most of these have something to do with the fact that it involves introducing and learning something that isn’t directly applicable in English. Most native speakers do not know or use this international phonetic alphabet, and so learning it does not have any direct or immediate effect on reading, writing, listening, or perhaps not even speaking. This is a valid concern in very short courses, but if the students will be continuing in their English learning for some time, this tool will prove invaluable to them, as well as to the class. If students are having difficulty with pronunciation, with this alphabet, the teacher has the option to write the pronunciation itself down for the students. This allows students to work on improving pronunciations independently as well as learning new pronunciations outside of class. This is a massive benefit that cannot be overlooked for students who will be continuing with their English studies for any significant length of time. So although it is understandable that teachers might hesitate to teach something that is time consuming and has no immediate results, the phonetic alphabet is a tool worth investing that time in for any serious learner. Putting stress in the proper place of a word is vital for clear understanding. Improper stress can often change the meaning of a word as in the verb and adjective forms of “articulate.” Many teachers will be content to have students speak in a neutral tone and fail to add proper stress so long as the teacher can still understand. Leaving students improperly trained in the use of stress will result in an imbalance in skills with reading and writing skills outpacing speaking and listening. Spoken English is, at its core, a stressed language, and this skill, although not typically taught explicitly to native speakers, can and should be taught to non-native learners, especially if their L1 is not a stressed language, like French. Rhythm deals with the stressing and de-stressing of words and syllables in a sentence. A basic understanding of which words in a sentence take stress and which don’t is useful at all levels. Even for a learner who has no aspirations toward fluency, some basic knowledge of rhythm in English can help to be understood when speaking and to understand others when they are speaking. Essentially, one stresses the words that hold the main content of the sentence, and de-stresses the rest of the sentence, especially articles and other function words which generally just make the sentence grammatically correct. For a speaker to sound fluent, it is vital to apply the correct stress and de-stress. For a speaker who wants only to be understood, knowing what the vital content of the sentence is can go a long way toward taking the minimum effort to achieve maximum understanding. Additionally, when listening, many words seem to flow together, often forming contractions. Without having learned about this in advance, it will be very difficult for a learner to understand native speakers. Finally there is intonation. This is the aspect of phonology that really conveys the meaning of a sentence, rather than just its content. Often, there can be misunderstandings between native speakers when communicating informally in text. The writer of a message might have one tone in mind, and the reader may hear a different one. This is because we have begun to write in the same style as we speak but have no way of including the spoken tonal information. Emoticons are starting to try to fill that roll, but this is a digression. A speaker who does not know intonation is in the same situation as the native speakers communicating informally through text. Even with a perfect knowledge of every other aspect of the English language, serious misunderstandings can take place without the correct tonal information. This is why it is vital to teach intonation. In addition to preventing misunderstandings, students can see immediate utility in learning this aspect of the phonology of English through functions. For example, the word “yes” can be used in a staggering number of contexts, and even content-less utterances, such as a hum, can express agreement, skepticism, discomfort, and a whole range of other feelings and attitudes. There are few English learners who do not want to be able to express themselves in English, and so this is an extremely powerful tool which is likely to motivate learners.