STARTBODY

Teach English in Guanmen Zhen - Bazhong Shi

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Guanmen Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Bazhong Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.

Phonetics and phonology, which are the studies of the speech sounds and patterns within a language, are not only windows into the fascinating variability in human speech, but also key elements of language learning. But what roles do they have in the modern English classroom? Today it is much easier for language learners to find information themselves, however students often remain reluctant to delve into phonetics-related topics, in many cases simply ignoring unfamiliar sounds, often replacing them with more familiar L1 phonemes. In this regard the role of the teacher becomes essential, allowing students to slowly and confidently incorporate new sounds into their vocal range. The incorporation of phonetics and phonology into lesson planning is therefore indispensable, and when used together with modern technology, can greatly improve language acquisition and the learning experience of the student. Sometimes considered boring or unnecessary by students who desire to begin with more “immediately useful” aspects of English, phonetics and phonology are nonetheless integral parts of language learning. Sounds created by the utilisation of different parts of the vocal apparatus vary wildly between languages. If a student decides to ignore such new sounds, the result may be a strong accent (which is not necessarily bad), or may result in improper pronunciation and thus misunderstandings in conversation. While some students desire to reduce their accent, this is not necessarily essential to the learning process. However, mispronunciation is a significant problem when it impinges on clear communication. Such issues can arise, for example, with Italian-born English students mispronouncing the English number “three” as the noun “tree”, due to a lack of practice of the unvoiced “TH” (/θ/) sound. Similarly, differences in vowel pronunciation are necessary to effectively distinguish the singular “man” from the plural “men”. Thus, phonetics and phonology remain an integral part of the language learning process. In the past, English phonetics first involved learning the IPA phonetic alphabet, which includes monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs, and the sounds to which they are associated. The pronunciation of each word could then be found in the dictionary. Indeed, this often plays a major role in several language learning methods such as the audio-lingual method, and can be an important precursor to shadowing and drilling exercises. While these exercises are effective when the student has enough free time (such as soldiers who used this method during World War 2), in our modern hectic lives such time-consuming activities are not very popular. Most adults find little time for repetitive drilling of new phonemes and phrases, opting instead for more “quick to the point” methods of learning (as seen by the rise in popularity of many sites and apps). Indeed, memorising the IPA phonetic alphabet is now easily avoidable, with the advent of technology that plays words out loud (e.g. Wordreference, Reverso Context), and on-line videos that demonstrate the individual phonemes. The ease at which most students can now find such information is staggering. Yet, spending time on phonetics and phonology is still met with reluctance. Reluctance to work on phonetics may stem from multiple factors. In my experience, embarrassment is often the primary reason, especially with adult learners. The production of entirely new sounds involves behaving in a childlike manner, exploring new movements with the mouth and often making incoherent utterances before using these new sounds in actual words. Secondly, time constraints (as mentioned previously) and disinterest may also strongly decrease the desire to incorporate phonetics into the learning process. Therefore, the attitude of the teacher is fundamental for effective learning. Such a teacher must be kind and forgiving, and needs to demonstrate and describe each new phoneme very well. They should do so while praising highly any progression of the student, without in any way mocking or degrading them for any failed attempts. In fact, teaching phonetics can be extremely enjoyable and is a great way to get a group of adults relaxed and laughing together. Phonetics could be used as the topic of an entire lesson, however this can be rather confronting for the students, as encountering many new phonemes at once may seem daunting. Instead, incorporating small units of phonetics into the larger lesson plan would be more effective – for example, the unvoiced “TH” (/θ/) pronunciation can be incorporated into the Study stage of a lesson based on dates or ordinal numbers. Further lesson plans can then incorporate other major hurdles of English phonetics, such as the voiced “TH” (/ð/) phoneme within a lesson based on the definite article, and the “NG” sound (/ŋ/) within a lesson on the present continuous. Incorporating these elements into a larger lesson plan also gives the teacher the possibility to introduce new computer-aided language learning skills to their class. As with all major language points, consistent practice and revision throughout the duration of the course is necessary. Doing so will remind students of the importance of phonetics and phonology even in this chaotic modern world, and will give them the chance to ask any follow-up questions and gradually improve pronunciation as they progress. In conclusion, phonetics may sometimes seem like a “background player” to students who are learning a new language, but this view is simply not true. The time taken to understand the differences between phonemes from L1 to L2 is never wasted, and will lead towards better pronunciation and understanding during conversation. Modern language learners, with access to a wide range of technology, have a great advantage as they have the ability to hear phonemes spoken by native speakers all over the world. Similarly, students are no longer are forced to learn the phonetic alphabet (although it does remain useful); instead they can use mobile phone applications and online sites to check the correct pronunciation of new words at any time. Perhaps it is time for the modern scholar to embrace phonetics and phonology, taking advantage of this myriad of new resources available in order to conquer their next language learning experience.


ENDBODY