This Power Point Presentation defines terminology and visual tools relevant to pronunciation. It also applies Second Language Acquisition Theory, providing possible explanations of why some ELLs learn English pronunciation better than others.

1. What is Phonology?
Presented by Mrs. Mary Acevedo, M.Ed., TESOL
Phonology:
o
o
one of the sub-fields of linguistics
the study of sound systems and
abstract sound units

2. Phonology is…
The phonological system of a language
includes :


An inventory of sounds and their
features, and
Rules which specify how sounds
interact with each other.

3. Phonology is…
Phoneme:

Smallest unit of sound that

Is a distinctive sound unit and that

Makes a difference in meaning
Minimal pairs:

Two words that differ by one phoneme –
“bat” /b æ t /; “pat” /p æ t/

Important instructional tool in ESL!

4. How do we learn sounds?
Babies listen to sounds from native language
producers (parents and sometimes teachers)
 Babies internalize sounds– learn to produce


Babies can hear or produce any sound


Behavioral Learning Theory, BF Skinner: imitation
Social Interactionist Theory, Piaget and others:
Nature AND Nurture
As children grow up brain forms “connection”
and is “hard wired” for native English sounds


Nativist Theory, Noam Chomsky: SET THE
PARAMETERS!
Critical Period Hypothesis, Eric Lenneberg: Up until
about puberty children can learn native
pronunciation of any language (L1 and L2) – after
that will be much more difficult (if not impossible)

5. How do we learn sounds?
Second Language Learners listen to the sounds produced by
their teachers.
 L2 learners internalize sounds by activities involving
attention and practice:
 Minimal pair practice and Drilling (e.g., tongue
twisters) (Contrastive Analysis)
 Using visuals (studying diagrams showing points of
articulation) and realia or props (touching, models of
mouths, rubber bands, pieces of paper, mirrors, etc.)
to focus (Attention)
 Reading sentences and focusing on sounds, stress,
rhythm, intonation (Ausubel)

6. Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and
their features, and the rules which specify how
sounds interact with each other.

INVENTORY = the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

Vowels
5 letters: a, e, i, o, u
 about 20 different vowel sounds in
American English


Consonants

about 24 different consonant sounds in
American English

7. Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and their features:
THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)--CONSONANTS

8. Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and their features:
THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)--VOWELS

9. Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and
their features, and the rules which specify how
sounds interact with each other.
RULES =








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Points of articulation (see next slide)
Voiced/voiceless
Blends
Stops
Fricatives
Affricates
Nasals
Liquids
Glides
Phonemic Sequence – way in which sounds can be
arranged in language (in initial, mid (medial) or final
positions)

10. Consonants – Place/Manner of Articulation

11. Vowels – Place/Manner of Articulation
(This is a diagram of a person’s mouth (side-view), just like the last slide is.)
American English has 14 vowel sounds and 5 dipthongs

12. Pronunciation Challenges for ELLs
1. When native languages don’t have or don’t
distinguish between the sounds that English
distinguishes, either interference or
substitution of other sounds occurs.


Interference
 “eskool” for “school” = Spanish
 “dussin” for “dozen” = Swedish (also Spanish has Z
spelling but not the sound)
Substitution
 “beeble” for “people = Arabic
 “flied lice” for “fried rice” = Chinese
 “dem” for “them” = Most languages do not have
the “th” sounds, so /d/ is produced instead of /ð/
(voiced “th”); also, “sink” is produced for “think” in
languages that have no /θ/ (voiceless “th”).

13. Problem Vowels for Spanish Speakers

14. Pronunciation Challenges for ELLs
2. English has poor sound/symbol
correspondence between phonology and
orthography, so problems with spelling and
reading will occur.– Example:




In many European languages, including Spanish, each letter has
precisely one sound. This is excellent sound/symbol
correspondence. However,…
in English, the letter o has 4 sounds! odd, open, to, oven
The sound / ʃ / can be spelled ship, sugar, station, and so on
There are many examples of both vowels and
consonants with this problem!

15. Pronunciation Challenges for ELLs
3. Lack of cultural knowledge to master
semantics and pragmatics
 Registers
 formal (written – correct – long forms)
 informal (spoken)


Reductions
 going to “gonna”
Contractions

NOTE: Contractions don’t occur in every
language!
Changing a sound
 Did you eat yet?  “Jeet yet?”


will not  “won’t”

16. Phonology - Implications for Instruction
What can we learn from SLA Theory?

Attention Theories: Teachers and students
who have Phonological Awareness and
understand that students will not readily be
able to pronounce words that don’t exist in
their languages will not be frustrated.

Students don’t have to memorize IPA, but
discussions about sounds are important.

Critical Period Hypothesis: They may never
have native-like pronunciation.

Affective Filter Hypothesis: Control classroom
behavior – no teasing!

17. Phonology - Implications for Instruction
What can we learn from SLA Theory?

Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis: Teach
students the difference between English
and their native languages. Focus on
place/manner of articulation and
demonstrate how sounds are produced.

“Dangerous English” – A foreign accent may
cause embarrassment if a mispronunciation
results in a “dangerous” word– obscene or vulgar
language. Sometimes it’s hard for an ELL to
distinguish the “long e” sound from the “short i”
sound. That’s OK if the student mixes up ship
and sheep, but it’s not OK if the student mixes up
sheet and shit. Close your eyes and imagine your
sweet, 4th grade ELL asking you for 4 shits of
paper!– Time for major behavior management
after that mistake!!

18. Phonology - Implications for Instruction
What can we learn from SLA Theory?
ERROR CORRECTION:
 See handout in folder. Think of how
the SLA theories influence when,
how, and whether errors should be
corrected.