(ideas) on importance of pronunciation

Pronunciation

"you don't have to sound like a native speaker but..." 

Pronunciation is not only a matter of you being understood when producing words. It is also a question of you understanding when spoken to. It’s a two way issue. If you are aware of sounds and how English works phonetically speaking, it makes it easier for you to understand. It’s not only a matter of pronouncing though, it’s important to know vocabulary and to understand how grammar works that you’ll lead you to a greater comprehension.

You explain something so the other understands and acts accordingly. But you have to understand as well. If you catch certain sounds you’ll be more accurate and if you are accurate your message will be clearer to understand or at least you’ll reduce the chances of misunderstandings because of pronunciation, at least. If you catch the sounds you’ll find it easier to produce them too, and consequently, if you produce them, and you are more easily understood, your confidence will grow. For example, the pronunciation of the regular past, in many cases is just a matter of a t sound. Only the t sound (if there’s no time reference) indicates the past tense! So it’s important to train the ear to identify it and produce it.

Another important thing is to speak slowly. Speaking fast does not hide mistakes or proves that your command of the language is good. Speaking fast you may end up getting the person confused, which is not the aim of communication!

Then again, it’s also important to note that if you are going to interact with mainly non-native speakers there are items below which may become a little less important to tackle in-depth. Yet, should you speak to native speakers, it’s worth mentioning that those native speakers who are not used to speaking to non-natives speakers will hardly ever express their lack of understanding and they simply nod. So, you are never sure if they got your message in full or not. Whereas native speakers who are used to working/speaking with people with your accent will certainly find it a touch easier.

0. Sound awareness 42 sounds: Look at the pdf doc with a comparison of the letters (of the alphabet) and actual sounds that English, French, Italian, Spanish and Catalan have. Objective: become aware that English pronunciation and therefore understanding and producing it can be hard for languages of Latin origin. Spanish has 26 letters and 27 sounds, Catalan ...27 letteres and 32(?) sounds amongst them the schwa, the most common sound in English, French also has more sounds than letters,... Which makes or should it easier to discriminate and produce more accurate English in terms of phonetics only. The fact that Spanish has fewer sounds explains why Spanish-only speakers find English hard to understand and produce intelligible output- among other reasons.

1. Watch the Introduction videos from bbc learning English, pronunciation tips. Listen to them at least twice.

Introduction: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/vowel_long_5.shtml

Sounds: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/

All the videos can be found on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bbc+learning+english+pronunciation&sm=1

You don’t have to learn the symbols but it’s useful and not hard. As the lady says, many of the symbols are the same as the letters.  Learn to associate a sound to a symbol to become aware of little differences between very similar sounds.  In Spanish for example: cajón, cojón. Note that if you change the sound, you change the meaning!

2. Symbols look scary but try the Quizzes tab for fun and you’ll discover that they are intuitive and you can draw patterns of use. Do the quizzes twice or more. It’s fun and easy to use.

Vowels v consonants ?

3. Sounds:  learn, cup cap, etc. Carefully read and listen to the sounds and videos from the ppt doc provided.

4. –es, -ure word document. Use www.howjsay.com and www.wordreference.com   
5. Schwa and weak forms
6. Past ed
7. Ea spelling and sounds
8. Minimal pairs
9. Connected speech
10. Learn to identify –er at the end of word as most times –er means :

-          Verb + er =  Noun. The person (or thing) that + meaning of verb

                               Ex. Teach – teacher, recruit-recruiter, cook-cooker

-          Adjective + er =Adjective. More , comparative adjective

                       Ex. Simple- simpler, big- bigger, easy- easier, common- commoner   (+than)

-          Other with no suffix: sister, brother, etc.

It’s just a little schwa sound. 1 little sounds together with other grammatical information to help you figure out the words category.  Become aware of the grammar to help the brain make you understand the word.

-           

11. Ea in spelling can be tricky:
12. Oo
13. ou

When is the right moment to teach pronunciation? Is there "a" right moment to do so?

more in www.howadultslearn.wikispaces.com
Earlier today I was telling Ester, my student who has written the "essential grammar" wiki around in my wikis, that I think that generally speaking, I find myself thinking that openly and explicitly teaching pronunciation can not be done until students/learners are ready for and open to it, much as this idea is wrong.This tends to happen when they have gained fluency enough to use English in a real life situation, and they themselves realise that yes! pronunciation matters. A lot. My adults were not open to learning (about) pronunciation when they started English with me, it was and is not until a couple of years have elapsed that now they truly understand and see for themselves the need for improving this often "scary" area of the language learning process. Now that they have gained confidence, have a better command of the language and actively use it in their day to day that they see how important pronunciation is. But then again, it's worth "playing with" it early enough to raise a consciousness of the different sounds, so dominoes and quizzes and words-with-the-same-sound competitions may be the way to go with the unacquainted students! By pronuciation I mean knowing how a word or a phrase or a sentence is pronounced, the sounds. Gaining an awareness of the different sounds of English, the distinction about the number of vowel sounds in particular and how using a different vowel sound or dropping the final consonant can affect the message when speaking to an uncooperative native speaker as some can be (or at least that's the students' perception!). You may add and argue to this, that pronunciation is pitch, intonation and all this hard-to-change aspects. Of course it is, but I am going to delve into this now, as i give it fairly little focus in class myself, much as it can hinder understanding or lead to misinterpretations of the message passed on! On how many occasions have I been told that Spanish sound as though they were angry and shouting at each there when speaking! Often I find that they know every single word of is said to them but still can not understand. They don't understand because in their heads there's "their" pronunciation of the words, which often doesn't match with the correct pronunciation. That's why they don't understand. It's obviously not as simple as that but I can vouch this is a very important part of their lack of understanding skills. In addition, there's some kind of mental blockage that prevents them from understanding, plus the sound simplification, the so-weak forms, of auxiliaries, prepositions, etc. To help them gain an understanding of these issues and to "train their ears to catch these little sounds" the teacher comes into play. It's hard for many to reach this goal overnight. Awareness of how slow this can be can be discouraging for some but it works. I can vouch for that. And, to go one step further, it's not only their understanding oral input skills but also their ability to produce understandable output. Before, they lacked to knowledge, they didn't use English. Now they use it, with native and non-native speakers. So it's now it's the right moment to go more in depth. I use a lot material from the bbc.co.uk learning english, as i said in How Adults Learn, a wiki I have, plus books and plus brainstorming and providing examples for them to discover some kind of rule.  
Another issue that often takes them by surprise them is that spelling things out in English is so common between native speakers because pronunciation doesn't always correspond to what it may appear from spelling and the other way round. We teach them the alphabet and to spell when they start learning but again, we never put enough emphasis on how an essential and active part of the use of English in English-speaking countries this is. Eureka, now they understand! All those homophones which can be so confusing if they are different word categories! so and sew rite and right pear and pair The above takes to what i said in an earlier piece of writing of how helpful it can be to learn what other words the word goes with .. the rite of , it is right , our rights, you are right, a pair of.. the pear, I sew sth, etc. or the baffling pronunciation of -ough, our the different spellings for the sound of earn, and the different pronunciatins of the letters ea/ear, etc. No wonder our students get mixed up and mispronounce words! who wouldn't?! (will expand) Their own mis pronunciation of words they own -----------------> they don't understand the word when pronounced correctly (and fast and within connected speech) correct pronunciation= easier to be understood easier to understand Spelling is important in English because pronunciation is sometimes arbitrary and unreliable to pronunciation patterns.

Continue writing about:

Explain how brain and phonological system work, ages...

If they don't hear it they don't use it, etc.

Add ted videos (see newer entries).

Extension: on 21 April 2012, months after writing this, I went to an Oxford seminar and Robin Walker gave a talk named Pronunciation Matters. Fab. Eye-opening, inspiring and realistic. I was glad to see what I am doing well, and go home with ideas on how to continue tackling this issue with my learners! Thanks Robin.