The content of teaching pronunciation at secondary school. The content of teaching pronunciation.

In our schools we teach students literary pronunciation which is characterized by:

a. Clear stress in all rhythmic groups;

b. Clear pronunciation of the sounds, e.g. give me and not gimme (colloquial English);

c. Typical abbreviations in auxiliary words: it’s, won’t, doesn’t, can’t, shouldn’t, etc.

So the teacher faces the following problems in teaching pronunciation:

1. The problem of discrimination, i.e. hearing the differences between phonemes which are not distinguished or used in the native language of students and between falling, rising tones.

2. The problem of articulation, i.e. learning to articulate English sounds correctly.

3. The problem of intonation, i.e. learning to make right stress, pauses.

4. The problem of integration, i.e. learning to combine sounds into a whole in a connected talk.

5. The problem of automaticy, i.e. learning to use all these while hearing and speaking.

Of course absolute correctness is impossible. But as it was told at the beginning of the lecture, the aim of teaching Pronunciation is not to achieve a perfect imitation of a native speaker, but simply to teach students to pronounce accurately to be easily understood by other speakers.

Home task: 1. Be ready with theoretical questions on Teaching Pronunciation.

2. Practical tasks: 1. Design the activities to teach the sounds /æ/cat, /˄/cut, /ͻ/cot, /Ө/, /ð/ to your students. Use rhymes, minimal pairs, tongue twisters, etc.

2. How many different ways can you say the following sentences by changing the stress on the words? What different situations could the sentences be said in?

a. It was only last night that you arrived.

b. This is the best show I’ve ever attended.

c. She’s decided she loves you.

3. How many different meanings can you give the following words by changing the intonation?

a. well b. no c. happy d. OK

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1986