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This is a very detailed unit about pronunciation and the strategies and elements of teaching it. The first elements that are important for a teacher to consider is how intonation and stress affect the pronunciation and speech. Intonation relates more to the volume and pitch that is used in a whole phrase or sentence. There are three main patterns that are mainly used. A rise and then a fall in pitch which would be used mainly for statements or when the speaker is not expecting a particular response from someone else. Then there is a fall/rise pattern which is used more in surprise or trying to elicit a response from someone. Also, there is flat, which is which shows little or no change and is normally with short phrases or words. Stress is also an element that relates to where the accent on a certain word lands. Most words have only one stress and a few long words may have a secondary, smaller stress. There are many in detail rules on how to explain the patterns of how and where most stresses fall for verbs, adjectives, etc. Stress on certain words can also change the meaning of the sentence and therefore it is important to explain how and where to use stress. There are many different strategies that can be used t teach stress. Some include writing on the board with stress marks, or underlining, or even saying the stress the right way and the wrong way and having the students identify which is right and wrong and why. This unit also goes over the phonetic alphabet and how using this and teaching it to students can be a great tool for students to learn new words themselves when they look in a dictionary and want to know how to pronounce a new word. However, in addition to the phonetic alphabet there is the need to describe to students the place of articulation and how you can make certain sounds like dental sounds or labio-dental (lips/teeth) sounds like /f/ and /v/. Furthermore there are also different ways that sounds can be made depending on air passing in the mouth, in or out. For example there are plosive (explosive) sounds like /p/ and /k/. In addition there are nasal sounds, fricative, (friction) sounds and so on. Going over all these details on how and what with students may be done depending on students need on the spot, as part of a lesson or even an entire lesson itself.
