UNAM

FACULTAD DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES

ACATLÁN

Unit 6 Topic 2 Activity 1

“Neurobiological and Cultural Aspects of

Learning”

SUBJECT: English Phonetics and Phonology

DUE DATE: October 27th, 2019

 1. Why is it important to use several sensorial channels to teach pronunciation?
2. How do the perception and the interpretation processes of sounds can help us plan more
balanced tasks?

1. It is important to use several sensorial channels to teach pronunciation because the sender is more
likely to gain the receiver´s attention if the sender uses two or more sensory channels to send
information, let´s remember that humans learn by imitating and if we give our students a good
model to follow its always the best way for them to initiate the process of listening to and producing
foreign sounds. For example, it is important to determine the features of the sounds that give to
each phoneme its specific and individual identify that makes it distinguishable from others. A
course of ear training of some length may be necessary before they can master foreign sounds
successfully.
To make our students fully understand the rhythmical characteristics of English, we need
to teach them to organize the words properly into thought groups with the appropriate intonation
features. And, to master this rhythmical language quality, pronunciation processes such as
blending, elision, etc. have to be used from the very beginning.
Eyes are always more analytical and more accurate than ears; we can see the letter, but it
is not as easy to distinguish the sounds in a word; this is why we need to always use two or more
channels to help the brain to process the information. We can also use attractive and colorful
material to fulfill the two or more input channels.

2. The perception and the interpretation processes of sounds can help us plan more balanced tasks
because human beings learn by the external and internal stimuli they receive; they get it through
their senses.
The information we get from external world through our senses is not always processed
completely; the brain is selective and processes only the information it considers relevant. We as
teachers, need to help our students to focus their attention on specific aspects of the information
they get from the world. We can take advantage of this when planning a class activity.
When it comes to sounds, we mostly perceive the ones we already know and that are part
of our language. We have to make sure that our students get fully acquainted with the foreign
sounds and the way they articulated; with this information, we are giving those extra grounds on
which they can have successful perceptions and interpretations.
Bibliography:
 Borja, M. (2008). GEAA. Guía estratégica para el aprendizaje autodirigido de fonética y
fonología – inglés. México: UNAM-FES ACATLÁN Retrieved from.
http://www.distancia.acatlan.unam.mx/licel/mdl/file.php/359/www/unidad1/img_self/GEAA_co
mpleta_-_C._Borja_-_2008.pdf
 Unknown. Sensory Channels Retrieved from
http://fc.civil.tamu.edu/home/keycomponents/teams/communication4j.html#targetText=Sensory
%20channels%20are%20based%20on,sensory%20channels%20to%20send%20information.