Assignment

Submitted By:
Name: Ummeh Rashida Sultana
Id: 093013020
Course code: Eng 109
Course title: Pronunciation

Submitted To:
Md. Shayeek-us-Saleheen
Assistant professor of English
 How do I think teaching and learning
pronunciation is important?

We are not the speaker of English or we are not acquiring this language by born. We
usually are using this language as our second language. But to cope with the modern
life we have to understand that English is essential for our education and also for other
purposes. The most important part in English is not grammar or vocabulary. Though we
need it but the most important element in English is Pronunciation.

Students are anxious to get rid of pronunciation errors, believing that correct
pronunciation is a must for foreign language learning. On the one hand, I believe that
everybody can improve pronunciation is he/she wants to. Methods of pronunciation
learning vary, but it is possible to find a suitable approach. On the other hand, we do not
necessarily have to sound perfect before we allow ourselves to use English in
communication. In fact, lots of people speak English with a foreign accent or even with
errors.

The spoken word is really the first thing to notice when we attempt to learn a new
language. We start by imitation and go on to develop skills in using the new language in
various situations. We can try to be accurate. Or, at least our speech should be
intelligible so that we sound clear enough to make ourselves understood. Unintelligible
speech leads to no understanding or misunderstanding, and communication will break
down. In learning pronunciation of a foreign language, intelligibility seems to be a basic
criterion of assessment and a sensible goal to obtain.

Considering our English learning and teaching context, beginning learner of English
need a certain degree of focus on pronunciation. However, great care should be taken
over the distinction between pronunciation and phonetics. The teaching of pronunciation
should focus on students’ ability to identify and produce English sounds themselves.
Students should not be led to focus on reading and writing phonetic transcripts of
words, especially young students, because phonetic transcripts are more abstract and
less meaningful. To learn pronunciation all these thing is important which is mention in
the below. All of these are for pronunciation.

• Sounds: the vowels and consonants of English

• Combination of sounds: pronunciation of words
• Word stress: the stress in a word and shifts of stress
• Strong and weak forms: the importance of the different syllables
in maintaining the rhythm of the speech, especially the modal
verbs and auxiliary verbs.
• Linkage of sounds: the liaison of sound in natural speech.
• Filler words: the sounds which do not convey meaning but can
 help to maintain communication.

To be successful in teaching or learning pronunciation one has to know the goal in

doing so. The goal should be realistic and attainable. While quite a lot of learners
achieve native-like proficiency with regard to grammar and vocabulary, native-like
pronunciation seems to be acquired by very few. Yet it is still very tempting to define the
goal of teaching and learning pronunciation as “so that the students will be able to
speak like a native speaker”. It is not necessary to set the goal so high because the
purpose for teaching and learning English is so that the students will be able to
communicate with the target language.

Indeed, we would all like to sound nice when we speak, and this self-assessment is
important for us to build up self-confidence. However, we would also have to be careful
about what we mean by “beautiful”. If it is a value judgment on a language, it is then
partial and unjustified, as in human communication there is no such a thing as once
accent which is “beautiful” while another “ugly”. Any accent is “beautiful”, at least, to the
speakers of the particular speech community. Our judgment on a “beautiful” accent may
have reflected social discrimination against certain linguistic varieties. Of course,
“beautiful” pronunciation may also be an innocent compliment on a clear and natural
speech. Learning near-native accents is often considered a difficult and long-winded
process. Younger students may do better in pronunciation learning than adults.

Our teacher though helping us a lot but sometime things are getting interested if any
one wants it to be. Own interest is the most basic thing in learning. Some of the
important clues are mentioned below which will help a student in pronunciation.

• 1. Say the sound alone.

• 2. Say the sound in a word.
• 3. Contrast it with other sounds.
• 4. Write words on the blackboard.
• 5. Explain how to make the sound.
• 6. Get students to repeat the sound in chorus.
• 7. Say the sound in meaningful context.
• 8. Get individual student to repeat the sound.

It needs to be said at the outset that the aim of pronunciation improvement is not to
achieve a perfect imitation of a native accent, but simply to get the learner to pronounce
accurately enough to be easily and comfortably comprehensible to other (competent)
speakers. “Perfect” accents are difficult if not impossible for most of us to achieve in a
foreign language anyway, and may not even be desirable. Many people – even if often
subconsciously – feel they wish to maintain a slight mother-tongue accent as an
assertion of personal or ethnic identity. This feeling should, surely, be respected.