In our first week of the phonology module, it was recommended that we watch the video of Adrian Underhill (below) introducing the chart. I watched it as if I was actually at the workshop and took part! It was the best introduction to the phonemic chart I could ever have had. I highly encourage anyone who finds the idea of the chart daunting to watch this 60 minute workshop. My eyes were opened to a whole new world! It was so much fun and I learned so much in such a short time. It just clicked and made complete sense to me. It gave me a huge boost of confidence as I realised it wasn't as scary as I thought, and using the chart as Adrian does was incredibly engaging.
We were privileged enough to have Adrian as a tutor for that first week of the module. I think it was the highlight of the course for me! One thing that stood out for me was that he advised us not to wait to use the chart in class until we were ready, but to dive in and go on a journey with the learners. This is exactly what I did and what a journey it was! Not only were the learners discovering new things, but so was I. Every time I introduced the chart in a different class I discovered something new about myself, how I spoke and about the English language. It was truly exciting! It then inspired me to undertake action research based on how to integrate the phonemic chart into my lessons with a focus on practice and remedial work.
The chart is now an integral part of my lessons. My students love it as they find it so helpful when they have pronunciation problems (check out Pronunciation in the bar on the right for more information). It has allowed them to be more confident and autonomous.
Understanding the chart allows you to understand other aspects of pronunciation much more clearly too. So, watch the video, and your eyes will be opened to the wonderful world of the phonemic chart.
Thank you Adrian for the inspiration :)
Wonderful post, Louise! In my formative years as a TEFL teacher, I attended a wonderful in-house workshop on pronunciation and then went out and bought a book on the subject which gave me some good pointers forteaching. I am so glad that I had this early exposure to this element of teaching as it is undertaught and poorly understood in our profession.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, we are even luckier with people like Adrian Underhill posting videos on YouTube!!! It really is a fabulous introduction to the phonemic alphabet and to phonology! I am sure your teaching and your students will greatly benefit from the work you do with them on this subject.
You might enjoy this post by Hugh Dellar:
http://hughdellar.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/twenty-things-in-twenty-years-part-ten-the-main-point-of-focusing-on-pronunciation-in-class-isnt-to-improve-pronunciation/
And this thread on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/PRONUNCIATION-POOR-RELATION-761057.S.250511541?qid=89ed1a00-fb36-4a35-a71b-64c8ae6ef259&trk=group_items_see_more-0-b-ttl
The group is currently "on holiday" as the Group Manager is on holiday and can't monitor posts, but you should still be able to read the thread. I'll try to remember to post your blog post there when I get back from my own hols!
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and share these links, I'm going to check them out now. I love phonology and exploring new ways to teach pronunciation, so I'm excited to read and learn as much as I can.
ReplyDeletePronunciation really is undertaught, I'd have to agree. While doing a round of observations in my school a few months ago, I noticed that the one thing that was missing from every lesson was pronunciation. The learners were saying the right things, but not always intelligibly or in the right way. I remember watching another video of Adrian Underhill and he commented that he noticed teachers were praising learners for grammatically correct answer, but not correcting their pronunciation, so therefore their answer wasn't completely correct. But if we praise them, the learners will believe that what they're saying is correct and continue to make the same pronunciation errors. What's more, the other learners in the class can hear that the other student is not pronouncing the item correctly and then might think that maybe what they're saying isn't being corrected and they can lose faith in their teacher.
I don't think the focus should be to achieve native-like pronunciation, but I think it is our job as teachers to make sure that our learners are intelligible. It's also our job to prepare them for the real world receptively, so that they can understand others.
I'm very excited to say that I've booked my place at the IATEFL PronSIG event in September where Adrian Underhill will be presenting!!
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