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This unit focuses on teaching pronunciation and phonology. Below are detailed explanation of each. Pronunciation is probably the most neglected aspects of English Language teaching. Confidence is often lacking in foreign teachers to teach it methodically and English teachers sometimes also lacks the training and confidence to tackle the area. Phonology is the study, science, analyzing and classifying of the physical properties of sounds. The terms phonetics and phonology are often used interchangeably, although the term phonology is increasingly used to indicate the whole sound system of a particular language. In the following texts we will deal with the area of STRESS, RHYTHM and INTONATION, as well as concerntrating on internatioinal phonetic alphabet and its use in helping students. Intonation. Intonation is generally considered to be the variation in volume and pitch in a whole sentence whereas stress is more concerned with individual words. The normal pattern of intonation in a statement is the rise/fall intonation. Consider; I have not seen him for a while. Normally the pitch would gradually rise until the word him, and then fall right down when the speakers started and frequently even lower. The second common is the fall/rise pattern. Finally we have the flat intonation pattern. Techniques for indicating and teaching intonation. Humming and singing; By humming or singing out sentences to hear the stress and intonation. The board; By making marks on the board using straight or angled arrows to emphasize the point being made. Stress; Consider the sentence ?he did not mean to kick that dog? there are many ways of interpreting this sentence. The strong part is the stressed word or word that bears the principal emphasis in the sentence. Techniques for indicating and teaching stress. By gesture; clapping, clicking fingers and tapping on desk. The board; underlining, example he wanted to go. Articulation. Place of Articulation. -Velar; the soft palate is also known as the velum when the back of the tongue is raised and strikes the velum, velar consonants are produced. -Palatal; here the central part of your tongue comes in close contact with the central part of the roof of your mouth, as in the /j/ sound at the start of yellow. -Alveolar; in alveolar sounds, the front or tip of the tongue is raised towards the alveolar ridge. Teaching techniques for the pronunciation of individual sounds. Visuals; by drawing a diagram of the mouth showing how a particular sound is made. Phonetics; symbols or common or difficult sounds can be introduced to help the class note down problem areas more easily. Conclusively, what I have personally learnt from this unit is how to use intonation and stress to emphasis our speech as well as techniques and activities that can help students gain confidence when using the language.
