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Unit 13 discussed the topics of pronunciation and phonology. An effective teacher must consider pronunciation as a very important part of his/her teaching. Phonology is the study of the sounds in a language system and was discussed in detail. Phonology includes pronunciation, intonation and stress and all should be practiced in the classroom. Intonation carries the meaning in a sentence and are generally the changes in volume and pitch of an entire sentence, whereas stress is more concerned with individual words. Intonation patterns were discussed. The intonation pattern of rise to fall are used for statements, questions, greetings and instructions. This was followed by fall/rise intonation patterns which indicates surprise, disagreement or that the person has not finished speaking. The last patterned discussed was the flat or level intonation pattern indicating the speaker does not have much to say. Also, intonation can be a predictor of information to follow. Next, techniques for indicating and teaching intonation in the classroom was discussed and was followed by a discussion on stress patterns. First, it was discussed that changing the word that is stressed in a sentence can change the meaning of the sentence. This was followed by a discussion on the rules for determining where a word is to be stressed. Next, the lessons discussed unstressed syllables in a sentence and ways for teaching stress in the classroom. In the next section, sound-joining and linked speech was discussed. In the following part of the lesion, the phonetic alphabet was discussed followed by a discussion on articulation (organs of articulation, the place of articulation and the manner of articulation. Then, the lesion discussed teaching techniques for teaching the pronunciation of individual sounds. The lesion ended with a discussion on how to incorporate pronunciation into a lesson (devoting an entire lesson to pronunciation, lesson slots or as/when needed).
In my opinion, this was the most difficult of the lessons because of the amount of information presented and the technical nature of the information. I learned that pronunciation is an area that needs to be addressed by the teacher and that perfection in pronunciation may not be a realistic goal for most students. I learned that an understanding of the phonetic alphabet and how sounds are produced (the places of articulation) will greatly assist the teacher in teaching pronunciation and articulation. Lastly, I learned that intonation and word stress need to be taught in order for the student to speak more naturally and in order to be able to express correctly what he is wanting to communicate.
