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Resumen Tema 9

The document provides a comprehensive overview of the English phonological system, focusing on segmental features (consonants and vowels) and suprasegmental features (rhythm, stress, and intonation). It discusses various learning models and techniques for teaching pronunciation, emphasizing the importance of phonetic correction for Spanish learners of English. The conclusion highlights the significance of understanding both segmental and suprasegmental elements to achieve communicative competence in a second language.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
7 views10 pages

Resumen Tema 9

The document provides a comprehensive overview of the English phonological system, focusing on segmental features (consonants and vowels) and suprasegmental features (rhythm, stress, and intonation). It discusses various learning models and techniques for teaching pronunciation, emphasizing the importance of phonetic correction for Spanish learners of English. The conclusion highlights the significance of understanding both segmental and suprasegmental elements to achieve communicative competence in a second language.

Uploaded by

lucia655321
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TOPIC 9

DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM. LEARNING MODELS AND TECHNIQUES.


PERCEPTION, DISCRIMITATION AND PRODUCTION OF SOUNDS. INTONATION, RHYTHM AND
STRESS. PHONETIC CORRECTION

1
INDEX OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION.

2. DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM.

2.1. Segmental Features: Consonants and Vowels.

2.1.1. Consonants.

2.1.2. Vowels.

2.2. Suprasegmental Features: Rhythm, Stress and Intonation.

2.2.1. Rhythm.

2.2.2. Stress.

2.2.3. Intonation.

3. LEARNING MODELS AND TECHNIQUES

3.1. Perception, Discrimination and Production of Sounds.

3.2. Learning Models and Techniques.

3.3. Phonetic Correction.

4. CONCLUSION.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

5.1. Legal References.

5.2. Book References.

2
1. INTRODUCTION

As Frank Smith said “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every
door along the way”.That is why, we, as teacher must promote communicative exchanges
(CEFRL, 2001) as well as having certain knaowledge of oral communication, as it is pointed out
in the Order 30th May 2023.

In this sense, receptive (listening) and productive (speaking) skills are going to be analysed
throughout the current topic paying special attention to English Consonants and Vowels,
intonation, rhythm and stress and a Comparison between the mother tongue (Spanish) and
the first foreign language (English).

Finally, we will offer a set of pedagogical techniques related to phonetic practice to be applied
in the educative context.

2. DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM.

McCully, C (2009), defines English phonology as the system of speech sounds used in spoken
English language. This system is formed by segmental features (consonants and vowels) as
well as suprasegmental features (rhythm, stress and intonation).

2.1.1. ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Consonants are certain sounds made in a particular way in our mouths. According to Norman
Blake (1992) these sounds are generated depending on whether the parts of our mouth are
touching or moving, and they usually block the air. These sounds can be made with or without
vocal cord vibration (voiced/voiceless).

In order to study the 24 English Conosonants Phonemes, it is necessary to bear these


parameters: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and presence vs absence of the
vocal cords vibration.

a) PLACE OF ARTICULATION: how the different articulatory organs of our vocal tract are
moved in order to emit the specific sound.

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b) MANNER OF ARTICULATION. The obstruction made by the organs during the spoken
communication may be total, intermittent, or may merely constitute a narrowing enough to
cause friction.

c) VIBRATION OF THE VICAL CORDS (VOICED/VOICELSS). English consonants which are usually
voiceless tend to be articulated with relatively weak energy, whereas those which are always
voiced are relatively strong. Thanks to this question of the presence or absence of vocal
vibration.

Furthermore, it is accurate to compare these parameters with the Spanish system if we want
toto anticipate to the possible difficulties of dealing with the English phonological system in
our lessons, following these factors:

-PHONEMIC OPPOSITION: English makes use of 24 consonant oppositions; Spanish only 19.

-PHONETIC FEATURES: Spanish consonants are in general articulated with weaker muscular
tension than their English and they are shorter than English phonemes.

-SYLLABLE STRUCTURE: In English, a syllable can have up to three consonants before the vowel
and up to four after it. In Spanish, there can only be two consonants before the vowel, and
exceptionally one or two after it.

-SPELLING SYSTEM: Spanish has 28 spellings to represent its 19 phonemes vs English has about
120 spellings for its 24 phonemes.

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2.1.2. VOWELS

According to Blake (1992) a vowel can be described as a type of voiced sound, depending
largely on very slight variations of the tongue position, which is most easily explained in terms
of auditory relationships.

The parameters to use are: place of articulation, the heigh of tongue, rounding, and
tenseness

a) The place of articulation. It depends of the position of the tongue in the mouth. They can be
classified as FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK.

b) The Height of the Tongue. It is important to pay attention to the height of the tongue with
regards to the palate. As a result of such parameter, it is possible to distinguish:

Close

Close-mid

Open-mid

Open

c) Rounding. Related to the shape of the lips while you are producing the vocalic sound.

-Rounded: [u] "blue", [o] "boat"

-Non Rounded: [i] "meet", [e] "bet"

d) Tenseness. Reffering to short and long vowels. Some vowels of the previous chart are
marked with diacritic (:). This feature is quite relevant in English language since it makes
possible to distinguish minimal pairs as follow: cad vs. card.

-Long vowels: [i:] sheep, [a:] farm, [u:] cool, [ɔ:] horse, [ɜ:] bird

-Short vowels: [ɪ]ship, [æ]hat, [ʊ]foot, [ɒ]sock, [e]head,[ə]above, [ʌ]cut

Now it is time to compare the vowels in Spanish mother tongue and English as first foreign
language.

-PHONEMIC OPPOSITION: English has twelve pure vowel oppositions and Spanish has only five.

-DISTRIBUTION: In English, words often end with consonants instead of these specific vowels.
In Spanish, vowels can be found at the end of words more frequently, whether the syllable is
stressed or not.

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-SPELLING: In Spanish vowel phonemes can be represented in ordinary orthography with
fourteen different spellings , the twelve English vowel phonemes are symbolised with seventy
regular spellings.

In order to practice the pronunciation of English vowels and consonants we can introduce
several types of exercises like: Listen and repeat, Minimal pairs game or Duolingo App.

2.2. Suprasegmental Features: Rhythm, Stress and Intonation.

According to McCully, C (2009), Supra-segmental Features is a term in phonetics and


linguistics, used especially in the USA to refer of stress and intonation. Structural linguists
adopted this term because in their notations, the features were marked on paper “above”
(supra-) the morphological features (segments) of an utterance. In Britain, the equivalent term
is prosody.

2.2.1. RHYTHM

According to Peter Roach (2001), linguistic rhythm can be defined as the regular succession of
strong and weak stress in communicative utterances.

In English language, the stresses tend to recur at regular intervals, that is, there is a tendency
to isochronicity and results from the combination of rhythmical feet.

2.2.2 STRESS

Stress or accent is the emphasis given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a
phrase or sentence (Roach, 2001). It is studied from two different perspectives: production
and reception and it involves four basic factors:

Loudness One syllable is made louder than the rest.


Length One syllable is made longer than the rest.
Pitch Frequency of vibration of the vocal cords and to the musical notions of low and
high pitches notes.
Quality Vowels stressed syllables have a clearer quality while unstressed syllables a
lower.
Finally it is important to take into consideration, word stress and sentence stress.

1.WORD STRESS: A particular syllable of a word is pronounced more prominently than the
rest. There are different types of stress: PRIMARY STRESS, SECONDARY STRESS, TERTIARY
STRESS, UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES. Besides, stress rules in English language are quite difficult
and full of exceptions:

a) Monosyllabic words: there is only one syllable, therefore one single stress (ex: car).

b) Disyllabic words: stress falls by default on the first syllable (ex: table), but sometimes (with
long vowels, diphthongs, consonant clusters) it is in an ending position (ex: attract).

c) Three-syllable words: if the last syllable contains a short vowel and less than two
consonants, the stress is on the preceding syllable (ex: encounter). If the final syllable has a
long vowel, diphthong or more than one consonant, it is stressed (ex: entertain).

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2. SENTENCE STRESS.

Sentence stress, refers to stress patterns within a discourse unit. It content words (nouns,
adjectives, verbs and adverbs) that are going to become the stressed units versus the
functional words (prepositions, articles, determiners, conjunctions and interjections) non tonic
units.

It is important to bear in mind certain exceptions: emphatic stress, contrastive stress, or


citation forms.

2.2.3. INTONATION

Intonation is the variation in pitch used to indicate the speaker's attitudes and emotions, to
highlight or focus an expression (Roach, 2001).

Intonation patterns of the English linguistic system can be organized around several functions:
accentual, grammatical, attitudinal, discourse and indexical function.

Accentual Functions: Word stress emphasizes specific syllables in sentences, highlighting


certain words for emphasis or contrast in spoken language. Example: John ´LIKES fish (although
his wife hates it).

Grammatical Function: Understanding sentence meaning involves grouping words together


based on their syntax. In written language, punctuation helps organize words grammatically,
while in spoken language, intonation serves a similar purpose

Discourse Function: Intonation distinguishes between new information (rise) and given
information (fall) in sentences. It highlights new information by emphasizing specific syllables
and signals the completion of speaking turns with a fall.

Attitudinal Function: Modulating intonation changes the meaning conveyed by the same
words. Rising tones express hesitation, contrast, or polite requests, while falling tones convey
confirmation, statements, or clarity in communication

Indexical Function: Suprasegmental features, like intonation, also serve as identity markers,
indicating social groups or occupations. For example, certain intonation patterns might be
associated with specific demographics, like younger speakers or certain genders, influencing
how they are perceived linguistically.

It is necessary to deal with suprasegmental features with our learners. In this sense, we can
use a wide variety of pedagogical devices such as, Singing songs, Read aloud poems...

3. LEARNING MODELS AND TECHNIQUES

In the next part of the topic we are going to learn different models and techniques taking into
consideration the perception, discrimination and production of sounds.

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3.1. Perception, Discrimination and Production of Sounds

1. Perception. According to Fowler (1995), speech perception is the process by which the
sounds of language are heard, interpreted, and understood. After processing the initial
auditory signal, speech sounds are processed to extract phonetic information, wich can be
used for word recognition.

In EFFL lessons, students will hear teachers´ orders, classmates´ interaction, authentic
pedagogical materials, language assistants…

2. Discrimination.

For Fowler, phonetic discrimination learning process influenced by a cognitive control


mechanisms. Moreover, it distinguishing acoustically similar sounds (frequency, duration,
intensity) and the meaning in the language.

3. Production.

Fowler defines Oral Production as the act of emiting an oral text in a communicative way for
one or more listeners. It is related to a linguistic skill named SPEAKING as an important
element to achieve in the communicative competence.

This ability includes activities in English lessons such as reading aloud, acting role plays, singing
a song, speaking spontaneously…

3.2. Learning Models and Techniques.

Various proposals for classroom techniques are arrange below on a continuum of activity types
between “skill getting” and “skill using” activities:

a) Listen and repeat. Learners imitate chunks of language provided by teacher or recording.

b) Discrimination practice. Students listen for sound contrasts to train their ears. Snap cards or
bingo cards can help learners to recognize similarities and differences between sounds.

c) Contextualized practice. Songs, poetry, nursery rhymes and role plays allow students to
practice supra-segmental features of pronunciation and create links between pronunciation
and communication.

Cognitive Analysis includes:

a) Phonetic training: explanations of how particular sounds are articulated, and conscious
exploration of how they articulate the first and second language sounds.

b) Teaching learner’s phonemic script: controversial but essential for looking up the
pronunciation of new words in a dictionary. This develops learner autonomy.

c) Giving rules: especially when they are simple and comprehensive. For instance, the
pronunciation of the – ed past tense marker.

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Communication strategies: successful communicators can deal with problems due to incorrect
(incomprehensible) pronunciation and make themselves intelligible by using correction
strategies such as soliciting repetition and paraphrasing.

All these techniques are based on RP English and will try to promote the idea of
communicative intelligibility by a balance between fluency and accuracy (ECFRL, 2001)

3.3. Phonetic Correction.

In primary education, teachers should prioritize problems related to pronunciation, that is,
those which are considered essential to be understood. In the case of Spanish learners of
English as second language, they can be summarized as follows:

Vowels -Distinction between long and short vowels [i] /sheep/ and [i:] /ship/.
-The sounds that does not exist in their mother tongue are difficult to
distinguish for Spanish students.
Consonant - The phonemes like [b], [v] and [g] are often wrong pronounced.
s -Consonant clusters (two or more consonants together) difficult for Spanish
speakers.
Stress -Spanish have problems stressing the first syllable of long words and does not
have secondary word stress, like revo´lution.
-Problems with stress pattern. Example: person, personification.
Rhythm - The use of weak forms. Since Spanish is syllable-timed, students are not used
to the English stresstimed variations.
Intonation - The range of intonation in Spanish in narrower and does not have fall-rise
intonation.

4. CONCLUSION

Teaching foreign languages now emphasizes understanding sounds and words for connected
speech, allowing detailed work in the classroom without aiming for native-like fluency,
demanding higher standards than the learners can realistically achieve.

Legislation emphasizes the importance of segmental and suprasegmental elements to achieve


communicative competence in a second language, English.

Government regulations, including RD 157/2022 and Decree 101/2023, stress the significance
of learning foreign languages, while the Order of 30th May 2023 reinforces this idea in specific
competencies and communication skills for basic learning acquisition (Annex 2).

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

5.1. Legal References.

• Order 30th May 2023 that develops the primary educative curriculum in Andalusia by paying
attention to certain aspects related to attention to diversity and by establishing the evaluative
system of teaching-learning process as well as the transitory steps among the different
educative stages.

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• Organic Law 3/2020, 29th December that modifies Educative Law 2/2006 from 3rd May.

• The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching,


assessment – Companion volume (2018) broadens the scope of language education, reflecting
academic and societal developments since the CEFR publication in 2001.

5.2. Book References.

• Blake, Norman, ed. The Cambridge History of the English Language, vol.2, Cambridge
University Press, 1992.

• Fowler, C.A. (1995). "Speech production". In J.L. Miller; P.D. Eimas (eds.). Handbook of
Perception and Cognition: Speech, Language, and Communication. San Diego: Academic Press.

• Halliday, M.A.K. Intonation and Grammar in British English. Mounton: The Hague, 1967

• McCully, C.The Sound Structure of English, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

• Roach, Peter. Phonetics. Oxford: OUP, 2001.

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