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This was my trickiest unit so far, because pronunciation is something that as a native English speaker I barely notice and so I really had to concentrate on how sounds are formed. This unit began by explaining intonation and stress and I learnt that generally in the English language we follow a rise fall pattern and that the fall at the end of a sentence usually signifies that the speaker is done speaking, and that if there is a rise this either means that the speaker is asking a question or has more to say. The unit then dealt with stress. I learnt that stress is placed in different parts on the sentence or on different words to show meaning. Such as if the word \"love\" is stressed in the sentence \"I love fruit\" it indicates the strong feeling of love for fruit, however if the word \"fruit\" is stressed then it may be contradicting a previous sentence that stated I love something else. Examples of how to teach intonation and stress were then given and some of these are by using choral work or writing down the stress and intonation patterns using lines on the board. I learnt about sound joining, and this I find to be an important area because it highlights the difference between formal written English and English as it is used by native speakers, which if the learners wish to be able to communicate with foreigners they should understand. An example of sound joining is linking words such as \"Marble Arch\" which becomes \"marblarch\". If a learner did not understand how some words become joined like this a lot of confusion could be caused and so it is important that learners are made aware of this. The unit then dealt the phonetic alphabet, which was useful in terms of understanding how we are expected to decipher how words are said using this, as it is an international recognised method of showing pronunciation. The unit then went on to show how sounds are formed in the mouth, and highlighted the different areas of the mouth used to create the sounds, such as the alveolar ridge and hard and soft palette. I then learnt about articulation and that this refers to the different sounds made, and how sometimes the form the mouth takes can be the same but that a different sound can be made, depending on the vibration of the vocal chords, such as the difference between \"p\" and \"b\". Ideas for teaching this section were visuals, using diagrams and peer work where students read to each other and practice pronunciation and correct each other, this to me seemed like a good method because it increases student talk time and allows them to work things out for themselves.
