Teaching Phonetics

Teaching Phonetics
"Phonetics" is the study of the sounds that people make when they speak.
Some languages match the sounds to the writing of the language so that every letter or symbol is
always sounded/pronounced the same way.
These languages are called "phonetic" languages.

The English language is not a phonetic language.

Many words are pronounced very differently from how they are written.
This is very confusing for learners of English especially for those who have a phonetic language.

Some learners of English are excellent at vocabulary and grammar but people find it hard to
understand them because of their incorrect pronunciation. This is very frustrating for the speaker
and the listener.

Many learners of English find it very difficult to pronounce some of the English sounds because
these sounds are not in their own languages.
This is normal for any learner of any language but with practice and guidance these sounds can
be learned, just the way you had to learn your own language when you were a baby!

To overcome many of these pronunciation problems every learner of English should first be
taught, study and learn the international phonetic symbols used in the English language. (There
are many international phonetic symbols for all languages.

The phonetic symbols show you how to pronounce English words.

The letters of the alphabet show you how to write English words.

All good dictionaries will show these symbols beside the English word your students want to
translate.

Why use the phonetic symbols when we ourselves successfully learned our first language using
the ‘Listen and Repeat’ method?

How old were you when you said your:

- first word……………………………………?
- first sentence …………………………………?

When we were babies we couldn’t read or write. We HAD to learn by the Listen and Repeat
method!
It worked – but it took a long time for us to do this. Many of us only start saying our first words
after one year. After two years we start forming basic sentences. Research shows that it takes a
total of 12 years before we fully know the basics of our first language. After that we go to
secondary school and then perhaps college or university where we learn more specific
vocabulary for our chosen careers.

As adults we are much more equipped to learn another language. We can read and write and we
are already fluent in one language.

If you were going to learn another language, how soon would you want to learn it?

? 1 year?
? 5 years?
? 12 years?
? Yesterday!

The Listen and Repeat method works, but it takes TIME and PATIENCE!

Adults Learners Don’t Have The TIME!!

Young Adult Learners Don’t Have The Patience!!!

Learning styles or perceptual modes of learning represent one of the most effective tools we have
for diagnosing how our students learn. They allow us to adjust our delivery and create clear lines
of communication that are essential to the learning process. By taking a big chunk out of the trial
and error process of teaching, the end result is a greater satisfaction for the teacher and a real
sense of accomplishment for the students.
V.A.K. = Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic

Senses play an important part in learning. When we teach, the more we cater to all senses rather
than just one or two, the more deeply we will anchor the skill we are trying to teach.

Everyone tends to learn more dominantly in one of the three modes - visually, auditorily or
kinaesthetically. What is your learning sense? Interestingly enough, if you are dominant visually,
you may tend to teach primarily to that sense. It is important to remember that our students may
be dominant in another learning sense, which we will need to cater to in order to be most
effective.

Statistics indicate that:

29% of students are visual learners
23% are auditory learners
34% are kinaesthetic learners and
14% are mixed learners
100%

Teaching by the Listen and Repeat method

= 23 % student targeting

= 77 % of students are NOT LEARNING!!!

Increase this by including the VISUAL Phonetic Symbols = 52% student targeting

Increase this by including kinaesthetic practical exercises = 100% student targeting

Statistics show the retention percentage through sensory perceptions:

11% is retained by hearing only
30% is retained by seeing only
50% is retained by seeing and hearing
70% is retained by seeing, hearing and doing
90% is retained by seeing, hearing, verbalising and doing.

Including the Phonetic Symbols in teaching Pronunciation

increases learning by 77%

Reading is a visual skill.

The English Language is not a phonetic language, i.e. the letters and the sounds do not always
match!

Try reading these words out loud and note the pronunciation of the letters Ch in each of the
words:

The Ch sounds like:

Chaos
Chicago

Church

Yacht

Now say these words and concentrate on the sound of the letters ea:
head easy pear clear steakv
What about the sound of the letter c in these two words?
ceiling cake
Or what about the sound of the letter l in each of the following words?
salmon almond calm walk talk calf

How are learners of English suppose to know that ‘eight’ and ‘ate’, ‘know’ and ‘no’, ‘hair’ and
‘hare’, ‘meat’ and ‘meet’, ‘four’ and ‘for’, ‘to’, ‘too’ and ‘two’ all sound the same but have
different meanings and spelling?

The English language is not a phonetic language.

The letters of the alphabet show you how to write/spell the English language.

The phonetic symbols show you how to pronounce the English language.

The Letters of the Alphabet

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz Our
“ABC’s” were one of the first things we learnt at school. Most of us have learnt the alphabet
with the same pronunciation A, B, C, D etc.

At this point it is worth noting that even native speakers of English may get confused with some
of the letters in particular over the telephone or in places where it may be difficult to hear. For
this reason the “NATO phonetic alphabet” was introduced.

The NATO phonetic alphabet is a common name for the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet of the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The letters are assigned to words of the
English alphabet such that critical combinations of letters can be pronounced and understood by
aircrew and air traffic controllers regardless of their native language und under conditions with
poor radio quality.
It would be worth giving your students a lesson in the NATO phonetic alphabet as they will have
even more difficulty when it comes to spelling their names, street addresses etc.

International Spelling Alphabet (NATO phonetic alphabet)

Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliet Kilo Lima/London Mike
November Oscar Papa Quebec/Queen Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey X-Ray
Yankee Zulu

Note that up to this point we have looked at the spelling and the sound of the CAPITAL letters.
These are fairly standard with a few exceptions between British and American English for
example the letter Z. British English = “Zed” American English = “Zee”.
Can you remember what you were taught for the lower case letters….a, b, c, d etc? Take a
moment now to think about this and say each of the lower case letters.

Repeat the sounds of the letters A and a.

Now look at the letter “a” in each of the following words:

apple ate all air eat oath

Hence the need for the International Phonetic Alphabet to help us with sound!

The letters of the alphabet, Aa, Bb, Cc etc help us to write and spell (spelling is helped with the
International Spelling Alphabet – NATO)

The International Phonetic Alphabet helps us to pronounce English.

"Phonetics for Learners of English Pronunciation"

If you teach/are about to teach EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and are unsure of the
International Phonetic Symbols or need ideas how to teach them then this book will help you as
well as your students.
Every time your students look in their dictionaries for new words they see these phonetic
symbols. They need to be taught how to use them!
As English is not a phonetic language the Phonetic Symbols should be the FIRST thing that is
taught in the EFL classroom and should be used throughout your courses whether you teach
groups or 1-1.

Teaching Pronunciation using the International Phonetic Symbols…

Makes you look more professional and competent.
Gives your students more confidence in you.
Helps your students learn easier through visual learning as well as “listen and repeat”.
Saves your students TIME.

DONT DELAY any longer!

Start today to learn/revise the International phonetic symbols and feel your confidence grow and
your student's pronunciation improve immediately!
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