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This unit's focus was on teaching pronunciation and phonology. This was a difficult concept for me because I have not worked with phonemic symbols since the second grade. Thankfully, ITTT has provided a chart in this unit plan. Pronunciation, phonology, and intonation are difficult concepts to work with on students because English words may follow stresses and rhythms not familiar to their native language. In the English language, the normal intonation of a statement is a rise/fall pattern. When a speaker is wanting a form of response from the listener, the intonation follows a fall/rise pattern. There are many ways a teacher can teach intonation. This unit suggests nonsense words, gestures, and humming/singing.
Stress is an important part of the English language. This can be difficult considering some foreign languages are syllable-based. In English, any word in a sentence can be stressed, and each stress can change the meaning behind the sentence. For nouns and adjectives, stress is usually placed on the first syllable while the second syllable is stressed on two-syllable verbs. The unit continues into more detailed stresses on words with particular formats or spellings. There is also sound joining that will need to be considered. This can involving the linking of words, sound dropping, sound changing, and extra lettering. Linked speech is another topic to consider where words are combined to produce the sentence faster.
The unit transitions into phonetics and the phonetic symbols, which are great ways to understand how a particular words actually sounds even though the spelling may not indicate its proper pronunciation. Articulation is another heavy topic discussed in the later part of the unit. It focuses on all of the speech organs and how important the place of articulation is to produce particular sounds. There are a number of ways to teach techniques for pronunciation. The teacher can act as a prime example for pronouncing a word by over-emphasizing the mouth movement. Peer dictation is extremely helpful because it gives the students a chance to analyze each others' pronunciations and catch mistakes. Visual also are important because it lets the students reference something visually and they can reflect back on this at a later time.
Though this was a difficult chapter in length and content, it will be something I will reference when forming lesson plans in the future.
