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MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

Teaching English pronunciation to


secondary school students with focus on
th consonants.
Diploma Thesis

Brno 2012

Supervisor: Written by:

Mgr. Irena Headlandov Kalischov, Ph.D. Bc. Eva Machkov


Hereby I state that I have worked on this diploma thesis on my own and that
all the sources of information I have used are listed in the bibliography.

.........................
Brno 20th April 2012 Bc. Eva Machkov

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Acknowledgement

I am deeply indebted to Mgr. Irena Headlandov Kalischov, Ph.D., my


supervisor, for her extraordinary help, valuable advice and outstanding
support. I would also like to thank my students without them this thesis would
not be at all possible.

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Abstract
The final thesis is concerned with teaching pronunciation of voiced and
voiceless TH consonants // and //. The objectives of the work are to focus
on teaching secondary school students to produce these sounds correctly.
The thesis deals with a question whether it is possible to achieve faultless
pronunciation of the TH consonants.
The theoretical part enlists features of pronunciation, the importance of
teaching pronunciation and the most problematic sounds for Czech learners.
The factors influencing pronunciation and problematic TH consonants are
overviewed in the part too.
The practical part concentrates on the original teaching of TH
consonants. Activities and methods used for correction of // and // are
summarized in this part. The practical part is based on three recordings of
secondary school students. The recordings are subsequently analysed and
compared so as to answer the initial question whether the students are able
to improve their pronunciation of the TH consonants.

Anotace
Diplomov prce se zabv vukou vslovnosti znlch a neznlch
anglickch souhlsek // a //. Clem diplomov prce je zamen se na
vuku vslovnosti tchto problematick souhlsek u stedokolskch
student. Prce se dle zabv otzkou, zdali je mon u nich doshnout
bezchybn vslovnosti.
Teoretick st je vnovna zkladnm rysm vslovnosti, dleitosti
vuky vslovnosti a aspektm anglick vslovnosti, kter zpsobuj problmy
eskm mluvm. Tato st se tak shrnuje faktory, kter ovlivuj
vslovnost, a vlastnosti znlch a neznlch anglickch souhlsek // a //.
Praktick st se zamuje na samostatnou vuku vslovnosti. Aktivity
a metody, kter jsou zameny na korekci znlch a neznlch anglickch
souhlsek // a //, jsou shrnuty v tto sti. Praktick st je zaloena na
tech nahrvkch stedokolskch student, kter jsou nsledn analyzovny
a srovnny. Na zklad analzy a srovnn nahrvek je v zvru
zhodnoceno, jestli dolo ke zlepen vslovnosti.

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Key words: Pronunciation, voiced and voiceless consonants, problematic
sounds in pronunciation, pronunciation of /, /, International Phonetic Chart.

Klov slova: Vslovnost, znl a neznl souhlsky, problematick zvuky


ve vslovnosti, vslovnost /, /, Mezinrodn fonetick abeceda.

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Content
1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................7
2 Theoretical Part ........................................................................................................................9
2.1 Features of Pronunciation ...............................................................................................9
2.1.1 The most problematic sounds for Czech learners..............................................11
2.2 Why to teach pronunciation ........................................................................................14
2.2.1 Intelligibility ................................................................................................................16
2.2.2 Model .........................................................................................................................17
2.3 Teaching and learning pronunciation ........................................................................17
2.3.1 Pronunciation teaching ..........................................................................................18
2.3.2 Teachers role ...........................................................................................................20
2.3.3 Students role ............................................................................................................21
2.4 Factors influencing pronunciation learning ...............................................................22
2.4.1 Age factor.................................................................................................................22
2.4.2 The role of the mother tongue ..............................................................................24
2.4.3 Motivation .................................................................................................................25
2.4.3 Learners attitude and sense of identity ..............................................................26
2.5 Consonants ......................................................................................................................27
2.5.1 Production of voiced and unvoiced consonants th .....................................30
2.6 Summary of the theoretical part..................................................................................31
3 Practical Part ..........................................................................................................................33
3.1 Introduction to the Practical Part ................................................................................33
3.2 Activities focused on pronunciation of th sounds .................................................35
3.2.1 Introducing TH fricative consonants .....................................................................35
3.2.2 Minimal pairs .............................................................................................................38
3.2.3 Tongue twisters .........................................................................................................41
3.2.4 Oral reading..............................................................................................................43
3.3 Introduction of the students..........................................................................................45
3.4 Recordings .......................................................................................................................47
3.4.1 Assessing recordings ................................................................................................48
4.4.2 First recording ...........................................................................................................48
3.4.3 Second recording....................................................................................................51

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3.4.3 Third recording..........................................................................................................55
3.4.5 Summary of the recordings ....................................................................................60
4 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................62
5 References..............................................................................................................................64
6 Appendix.................................................................................................................................67
6.1 Appendix 1: reading text...............................................................................................67
6.2 Appendix 2: TH fricative consonatns ...........................................................................68
6.3 Appendix 3: table of consonatnts ...............................................................................69

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1Introduction

Despite the existence of thousands of languages all around the world


millions of people speak English as their mother tongue. Moreover, there are
millions of others who use English either as their second language or an
international language when communicating with people all around the world.
As members of the European Union and due to the possibility of travelling
and studying abroad the necessity to communicate in English became a
crucial part of our lives. Pronunciation as an inseparable aspect of the
language has a great influence on our successful communication but it is still
overlooked by a large number of teachers, who rather pay attention to
teaching lexis and grammar as they feel more certain about them.
In my teaching practice at a secondary school I face to unintelligible
pronunciation of some students. Intelligible pronunciation is essential during
a listening process, clear and correct pronunciation makes a conversation
more comfortable for both the speaker and the listener and even helps to
avoid misunderstanding. Therefore, I decided to focus this thesis on
pronunciation teaching of the voiced and voiceless th consonants /, /
since I regard them as the most problematic aspects of pronunciation for
Czech learners of English.
The final thesis is not only aimed at pronunciation teaching process
but also at helping my students to be clearly and easily understood by others.
The work is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical.

The theoretical part is based on theoretical background that is relevant


to the pronunciation teaching and learning process and serves as a basis for
the practical part. It deals with the issue of pronunciation in everyday
communication, outlines why pronunciation should be taught and
concentrates on the most problematic sounds for Czech learners of English.
Moreover, the part is focused on teachers and students roles and aspects
that influence a speakers intelligibility. Lastly, the theoretical part deals with
the production of voiced and voiceless consonants /, / since these two

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consonants are representatives of the most difficult sounds in English for
Czech speakers.

The practical part of the final thesis deals with a hypothesis, whether
Czech students of English have problems with pronunciation of TH
consonants, and assumptions, if secondary school students are able to
improve their pronunciation of // and //, and whether they can achieve
faultless pronunciation of the sounds. Moreover, the part contains three
recordings of my students which will be analyzed and the findings of the
research will be presented in this part.
First, the findings from the first recording will be demonstrated and the
initial hypothesis will be answered.
Second, the part will focus on reducing the number of mistakes made
during speaking and enhancing students awareness when pronouncing the
voiced and voiceless consonants /, / by providing the students with
pronunciation activities and opportunities to work on their pronunciation.
Third, all three recordings will be compared together in order to find out
whether the number of mistakes was reduced or not and which of the two
consonants was the most problematic for the students.
Finally, the last part of the practical part will comprise a conclusion, in
which the findings, outcomes and answers to the two assumptions will be
presented.

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2TheoreticalPart

In this part of the final thesis the relevant theoretical background will be
viewed.
We will study how and mainly why pronunciation should not be
neglected and should become an inseparable part of a teaching process, and
what the roles and aims of the teacher and students are. We will outline the
importance of learners intelligibility and its affect on understanding during the
process of communication, then a model of pronunciation will be discussed
and also the limitations of speakers e.g. learners first language and culture,
the age of learners and their attitude towards the language; speakers
learning experience, motivation and so on will be outlined. Lastly, we will deal
with the production of the most problematic consonants for Czech Speakers
of English.

2.1FeaturesofPronunciation

Since the thesis is concerned with pronunciation teaching,


pronunciation as such must be defined first. Pronunciation is a way how
sounds are articulated by speakers marking their social class, education and
so forth. According to Dalton and Seidlhoffer there are two ways how
pronunciation as a production of significant sounds can be characterized:

First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular


language. So we can talk about the distinctive sounds of English, French, Thai, and
other languages. In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production
and repetition of sounds of speech.

Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in context of


use. Here the code combines with other factors to make communication possible. In
this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking (1994:
3).

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When studying pronunciation we deal with a theoretical context of
phonetics and phonology. Catford describes phonetics as the study of the
physiological, aerodynamic, and acoustic characteristics of speech-sounds.
Whereas phonology studies how sounds are organized into systems and
utilized in languages (1992: 187).
If we want to study the functions of language and the pronunciation
itself we have to break down the constituent units. There are two main
features of pronunciation- the segmental and suprasegmental features. This
thesis will deal with the segmental features only.
Segmental features are sets of distinctive sounds of particular language
and the suprasemental features are related to intonation; stress and change
of sounds in connected speech (Kelly 2002).
Catford states that phonemes are the minimal sequential contrastive
unites of the phonology of language (1992: 198). The contrastive function of
phonemes is that there are the bits of sounds that differentiate one word from
the other e.g. pin is differentiated from bin by the distinctive initial consonants
/p/ and /b/. The sequential function means that the phonological form of a
word consists of a sequence of phonemes, and that every phoneme consists
of a set of (simultaneous) distinctive features (1992: 201). The minimal
function of phonemes means that phonemes are the smallest units which
cannot be further divided (Roach 1992). Phonemes can be divided into two
main categories, vowels, which are subdivided into monophthongs and
diphthongs, and consonants, which are subdivided into voiced and unvoiced.
The following table presents English phonemes.

Figure 1: English Phonemic Chart


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2.1.1 The most problematic sounds for Czech learners

Pronunciation problems may occur when non-native speakers


communicate because speakers are used to sounds that exist in their mother
tongue but may not exist in the target language. There are a lot of sounds
that do exist or are similar in English and Czech, however, there are sounds
that are very different or do not exist in Czech.
There are several factors that influence the pronunciation of Czech
learners of English. First, Czech learners use sounds that are in Czech
language but may not exist in English. Second, when reading or speaking
Czech students apply the rule of first syllable prominence which is not
presented in English. Lastly, Czech learners do not distinguish between the
written and spoken form as in Czech the written and spoken forms resemble
and this goes hand in hand with pronouncing the silent letters e.g. the word
salmon is usually pronounced as /slmn/ instead of /smn/ by Czech
learners.
Based on the finding of Cambridge university press1, I will outline the
most likely problematic pronunciation errors for Czech speakers.
English has more vowel sounds than Czech; there are only five vowels,
which are short and long, in Czech in comparison with twenty in English and
there can also be confusion between other vowels.

The following table demonstrates the most problematic vowel sounds for
Czech learners of English. The first column presents the vowels that are
frequently mispronounced and the second column provides information about
which vowels are used instead.

// as in the word cat Since the vowel // does not exist in


Czech, it is often pronounced as /e/
as in the word men.
// as in the word bus Although the short vowel exists in
Czech, it is often confused with // as
in the word man or /:/ as in the word
heart.

1 These findings are presented in an online article related to pronunciation teaching.

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// as in the word ship The short vowel does occur in Czech
but it is frequently mixed with long
vowel /i:/ as in the word sheep.
// as in the word bull Although the short vowel is used in
Czech it is often pronounced as long
vowel /u:/ as in the word boot.
/:/ as in the word bird The vowel does not exist in Czech
and it is frequently mispronounced by
inexperienced Czech learners as / /
as in the word cup or /:/ as in the
word heart.
// as in the word camera Schwa is not presented in Czech and
it is usually pronounced as the
spelling of the word.
/e/ as in the word tail It is commonly pronounced as /e/ as
in the word pen.
/ / as in the word phone The common error made by Czech
learners is that they do not distinguish
between written and spoken form and
therefore it is pronounced as // as in
the word clock.
Figure 2: The most problematic vowels (Cambridge university press)

Yet a closer look will be paid to consonants. There are consonant


sounds in English that neither exist nor have equivalent form in Czech and
therefore confusion between consonants may occur.

The following table demonstrates the most problematic consonant sounds for
Czech learners of English. The first column provides the consonants that are
frequently mispronounced and the second column presents information about
which consonants are used instead.

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/w/ as in the word water Inexperienced learners usually
replaced it with /v/ as in the word van,
because the letter w is pronounced as
/v/ in Czech.
// as in the word thin There is no sound similar to this
consonant in Czech, and therefore it
is often pronounced as /t/ or /s/
because of a close place of
articulation.
// as in the word mother There is no representation of the
consonant in Czech and therefore it is
pronounced as /d/ or /z/ because of a
close place of articulation.
// as in the word think Although the consonant does exist in
Czech, Czech learners usually
replace it with /nk/ or /ng/.
/d / as in the word jar The common error made by Czech
learners is that they do not distinguish
between written and spoken form and
therefore it is usually confused with /j/
or / t/.
/k:r / as in the word car It is usually pronounced fully no
matter where it occurs in a word,
because there is no weak form of r in
Czech.
/z/ as in the word maze In Czech language a rule of
assimilation of end consonants is
applied, which means that a voiced
consonant becomes a voiceless when
it occurs in a final position, therefore
the voiced consonant is pronounced
as voiceless /s/ if it is in a final
position

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/g/ as in the word frog Czech learners use a rule of
assimilation of final consonants;
therefore the voiced consonant
becomes voiceless /k/ in a final
position.
/b/ as in the word cab In Czech language a rule of
assimilation of final consonants is
used therefore, the voiced consonant
is changed into voiceless /p/ in a final
position.
/v/ as in the word brave In Czech learners apply a rule of
assimilation of end consonants;
therefore The voiced consonant is
transformed into voiceless /f/ in a final
position.
Figure 3: The most problematic consonants (Cambridge university press)

The tables outlined the typical mistakes that are made by the Czech
speakers. All the aspect set in the tables should be considered when
teaching and learning pronunciation because being aware of the sound
system of the target language helps speakers in communication with other
speakers.

2.2Whytoteachpronunciation

Teaching pronunciation has undergone a long evolution. At the


beginning of the twenties century everything was subordinated to teaching
grammar and lexis and pronunciation was totally overlooked. Many things
have changed since that time but on the other hand there are still some
teachers who do not pay enough attention to pronunciation. According to
Scrivener this is partly because teachers themselves may feel more

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uncertain about it than about grammar and lexis, worried that they dont have
enough technical knowledge to help students appropriately (2005: 284).
It is widely recognized that acquiring good pronunciation is very
important because bad pronunciation habits are not easily corrected. Kelly
states that a learner who consistently mispronounces a range of phonemes
can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to
understand. This can be very frustrating for the learner who may have a good
command of grammar and lexis but have difficulty in understanding and
being understood by a native speaker (2002: 11).
In my opinion pronunciation is still neglected at schools. When teaching
pronunciation it is difficult to create a lesson that would be only focused on
pronunciation practice because pronunciation is taken as an additional
practise in all course books. Another problem can be caused by the fact that
emphasis is frequently given on individual sounds or distinguishing sounds
from each other. According to Gilbert there are two main reasons why
pronunciation is neglected in classes. First, teachers do not have enough
time in their lessons, which would be dedicated to pronunciation, and if there
is time attention is usually given to drills which lead to discouraged students
and teachers who both want to avoid learning and teaching pronunciation.
Second, psychological factor plays a relevant role in learning pronunciation
because students are not as sure about their pronunciation as they are about
their knowledge of grammar and lexis. Gilbert claims that the most basic
elements of speaking are deeply personal and our sense of community is
bound up in the speech rhythms of our first language (2008: 1). These
psychological barriers are usually unconscious but they prevent speakers
from improving the intelligibility (ibid.). To be able to overcome the fears of
speaking, teachers should set 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 speakers (Ur 1984: 52).

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2.2.1 Intelligibility

Since pronunciation is a complex and important part of learning and


teaching process teachers need to set goals and aims they want to achieve
with their students. As perfect accents are difficult if not impossible to achieve
in foreign language (Ur 1984: 52) the goal of teachers need to be, to make
their students be easily understandable when communicating with other
people.
When speaking about intelligibility there is no clear definition of it, but in
general we can say that intelligibility means that a hearer can understand a
speaker at a set time and situation without major difficulties, in other words,
the more words a listener is able to indentify accurately when said by a
particular speaker, the more intelligible the speaker is (Kenworthy 1990: 13).
Therefore the pronunciation of the speaker does not have to be without
errors if a listener is able to understand the utterance. Dalton and Seidlhofer
point out that intelligibility is by no means guaranteed by linguistic similarity
and phonetic accuracy, but it is often overridden by cultural and economic
factors (1994: 11). Consequently, despite the language factors there are
other points that can influence the intelligibility such as whether the topic is
familiar to both a speaker and a listener or whether the utterance of a
speaker is expected by a listener (AMEP research centre2).
As far as intelligibility is concerned, Kenworthy also points out that other
factors can affect a speakers utterance e.g. if a learners speech is full of
self-corrections, hesitations, and grammatical restructurings, then listeners
will tend to find what he or she says difficult to follow (1990: 14). AMEP
research centre views this matter a little bit differently as they state that
aspects influencing intelligibility are complex issues ranging from prosody,
intonation, word stress, rhythm, syllable structure, segments, and voice
quality to phrasing and sense group. The authors further outline that
language teaching used to emphasize learning individual sounds rather than
focusing on all aspects influencing intelligibility, and point out that recent
studies claim that overall prosody, comprising stress, rhythm and intonation,

2 An online journal published by the Macquarie University of Sydney.

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may have greater prominence on intelligibility regardless a learners mother
tongue.

2.2.2 Model

Although there are around 4,000 languages spoken in the world,


English slowly become a lingua franca for business and political negotiations
of non-native speakers. Therefore when teaching pronunciation we need to
think not only about the varieties of English in Great Britain, the USA,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand but also about the countries where
English is not the first language.
The Model of pronunciation used in course books is the Received
Pronunciation accent but the truth is that not even 3% of British population
can speak naturally with the RP accent (Kelly 2002).
To start with, teachers need to think whether they want their students to
speak with an RP accent or whether they want them to be able to pronounce
accurately enough to be understood and be able to communicate efficiently.
Although teachers use one model of accents which will always be marked
with their mother tongue and modified in favour of their students, they should
also be aware of other varieties of English and introduce the varieties to their
students with them. As there is no general statement about which model of
accents should be taught teachers must allow their students to choose their
own target model so long as it is widely comprehensible (Kelly 2002: 15).

2.3Teachingandlearningpronunciation

This chapter is dedicated to the aspects that are connected with


teaching and learning pronunciation. Firstly, the emphasis is put on the roles
of the teacher and students during the teaching-learning process. Secondly,
the factors that affect pronunciation learning will be outlined. To begin with,
approaches to teaching will be viewed.

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2.3.1 Pronunciation teaching

When talking about teaching methods and approaches attention must


be drawn to the most influential ones throughout the twentieth century.
Through grammar-translation method and reading based approach for which
the pronunciation was irrelevant, direct method, focused on imitation of a
model in other words drill, to the arrival of notional-functional approach
focused on communicative purposes of the target language, which pushed
mechanical drills to the margins (Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin).
When learning pronunciation we use different strategies in order to
achieve comprehensible pronunciation. According to Dalton and Seidlhofer
there are two approaches aimed at pronunciation teaching- the bottom-up
approach and top-down approach.
Bottom-up approach means that learners start with learning how to
pronounce individual phonemes and then they work their way to intonation
(Dalton and Seidlhofer). Generally speaking, when teaching the segments of
pronunciation the suprasegmental features will take care of themselves
(Dalton and Seidlhofer 1994: 70). Anderson and Lynch claim that we
perceive speech by building up an interpretation in a series of separate
stages, beginning by the lowest units and gradually working up to the larger
units such as the utterance, from which we then derive our interpretation of
the speakers meaning (qtd. in Jenkins 2000: 80). Based on the findings
mentioned above, this approach is very similar to a structural approach used
for teaching grammar and lexis. As far as the top-down approach is
concerned, at the beginning the attention is paid to patterns of intonation and
then if required individual sounds are taken into focal point (Dalton and
Seidlhofer). In other words, once the prosodic features of pronunciation are in
place, the necessary segmental discriminations will follow of their own accord
(Dalton and Seidlhofer 1994: 70). According to Pinker, top-down process,
which largely corresponds with communicative aspects of language teaching,
uses knowledge and expectancies to guess, predict, or fill in the perceived
event or message (qtd. in Jenkins 2000: 80).
Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin offer another elaboration of two
general approaches concerning pronunciation teaching e.g. intuitive-imitative

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approach and analytic-linguistic approach. Intuitive-imitative approach
conveys the learners ability to listen and imitate the rhythms and sounds of
the target language without the intervention of any explicit information (1996:
2). Analytic-linguistic approach, on the other hand, utilizes information and
tools such as phonetic alphabet, articulatory descriptions, chart of vocal
apparatus, contrastive information, and other aids to supplement listening,
imitation, and production. It explicitly informs the learner of and focuses
attention on the sounds and rhythms of the target language (1996: 2).
Obviously, the approaches presented above can be combined in any
way, but it is vital to set which approach or a combination of approaches is
the most suitable for our language purposes.
When teaching pronunciation teachers need to bear in minds that
pronunciation in comparison with the other aspects of learning will be always
marked with personal attitudes towards the target language, learners abilities
and so on; therefore there can never be a one-to-one relationship between
what is taught and what is learnt (Dalton and Seidlhofer 1994: 72).
Because of above mentioned facts, we should pay certain attention to
teachabilitylearnability (ibid.) presenting aspects of pronunciation that are
teachable e.g. individual sounds and segments, and others such as
intonation that are bound to certain circumstances and therefore extremely
problematic to teach. Roach states that the complexity of the total set of
sequential and prosodic components of intonation and of paralinguistic
features makes it a very difficult to teach. ... The attitudinal use of intonation
is something that is best acquired through talking with and listening to
English speakers (1992: 168-169).
Dalton and Seidlhofer point out that intonation as a part of pronunciation
teaching-learning is problematic, individual sound segments are on the other
hand fairly easy to be taught but not so important for communication.
However, stress was identified as an area with maximum overlap of
communicative importance and teachability, therefore is the most convenient
focal point for any course in pronunciation (1994: 73).

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2.3.2 Teachers role

Teachers as models of pronunciation carry a huge responsibility in their


classrooms, they influence their learners either in a positive or negative way
and their main goal is to create a friendly and supportive atmosphere. On the
other hand, their practical proficiency is not sufficient since if the teacher can
only exemplify pronunciation by his or her own speech performance, the
learners are left to work out what is significant for themselves. Learners of a
second language will not readily discern crucial phonological distinctions
(Dalton and Seidlhofer 1994: 67).
On one hand, there are so called gifted learners that are able to pick up
the pronunciation of the target language only by being exposed to it, but on
the contrary many students, if not majority, need as explicit explanations as
possible to be able to acquire and imitate difficult sounds when speaking.
Generally speaking they need a teacher who would draw their attention to
how sounds should be pronounced and guide them in order to achieve
intelligible pronunciation.
Kenworthy offers several ways of teachers roles in pronunciation
learning process:
Helping learners hear
The role of teachers is to help their students to perceive sounds
that are often misperceive because of the false similarity in
learners mother tongue. Teachers need to check whether their
learners are hearing sounds according to the appropriate
categories and help them to develop new categories if necessary
(Kenworthy 1990: 1).
Helping learners make sounds
In this situation teachers have to explain and guide their students
how to imitate and pronounce new sounds that do not exist in
their mother tongue.
Providing feedback
Teachers need to give their students accurate and constructive
feedback about how they are doing, since they are not able to
judge whether their pronunciation is comprehensible or not. Not

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providing students with feedback could mean that students make
wrong assumptions about pronunciation.
Pointing out whats going on
As speaking is unconsciously controlled, students can miss
important features of conversation, and therefore teachers
should always highlight the key features.
Establishing priorities
Learners themselves are aware that their pronunciation is in
some ways different in comparison with native speakers, but
what they are unaware of is whether it is relevant or not. Here
teachers guide them which features they should focus on and
which not.
Devising activities
When choosing the most suitable activities that offer the best
opportunities for practise teachers need to also take into
consideration students learning styles as the effectors of their
progress.
Assessing progress
Assessing progress is not an easy task for any teacher but
providing students with information about their progress is
essential for further motivation.

In conclusion, during the pronunciation teaching teachers not only serve


as guides, who help their students to form necessary categories, establish
priorities but also they need to provide their students with appropriate
exercises and relevant feedback.

2.3.3 Students role

The primarily learners roles are not only to pay attention to what they
are doing in the classes or to be active participants of the learning process
but also they need to be able to observe their progress. In other words, what
all learners need to do is respond (Kenworthy 1990: 2) to the teacher
otherwise no progress or slight improvement will become evident. Therefore,

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there is no doubt that ultimately success in pronunciation will depend on how
much effort the learner puts into it and whether the student is willing to take
responsibility for his or her own learning (Kenworthy 1990: 2).
Learners willingness to be responsible for their own learning and to
take action goes hand in hand with factors influencing learners pronunciation
learning. These factors will be tackled in the following subchapter.

2.4Factorsinfluencingpronunciationlearning

During pronunciation lessons teachers need to pay attention to factors


that can have influence on a learning process of their students. It is usually
the native language that is taken into consideration and others are
overlooked.
In this chapter the most important factors that have an impact on
pronunciation of non-native speakers will be overviewed.

2.4.1 Age factor

It is believed that prepubescent children learning second language with


adequate exposure to the target language can attain near native-like
pronunciation. Kenworthy supports this assumption by claiming that if a
person doesnt begin to learn a second language until adulthood, they will
never have a native-like accent even though other aspects of their language
such as syntax or vocabulary may be indistinguishable from those of native
speakers (1990: 4).
Penfield, Roberts and Lenneberg agree with this by stating that there is
a period (occurring around puberty) after which brain lateralization, or the
assigning of certain functions to the different hemispheres of the brain, is
completed (qtd. in Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin 1996: 15). Based on
the findings we can say that it is important to start teaching pronunciation at
the very beginning of second language learning since children can attain
near native-like pronunciation with ease. The ease with which children
acquire pronunciation can be explained by the critical period, which is

22
biologically determined period of life during which maximal conditions for
language acquisition exist (Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin 1996: 15).
Scovel and Krashen claim that it is nearly impossible for learners, who start
learning foreign language after this critical period, to achieve natural
pronunciation since the brain losses its plasticity (qtd. in Celce-Murcia,
Brinton and Goodwin). This means that during the critical period a second
language is acquired naturally and more easily since the brain is more
flexible. The fact that the critical period lasts till puberty explains why
adolescents and adults find pronunciation learning so problematic and need
explanations how to produce different sounds in order to be able to
pronounce them.
Kenwothty outlines several researches concerning age related limits. In
the first survey Oyama concludes that the younger the person learning a
target language is the more native-like he/she will sound. In other words, it is
very unlikely for adult learners to attain comprehensible pronunciation (qtd. in
Kenworthy). In the second study aimed at the age factor, researchers found
out that if people start before the age of 11 their accent is rare, when they
begin learning between 11 and 15 their accent is uncommon, but if they start
after they are 15 their accent is virtually universal (qtd. in Kenworthy 1990: 5).
However, the third research, carried by Snow and Hoefnagel-Hhle,
concluded that older British English speakers learning Dutch in Holland were
better than younger speakers in the initial part of the research since they
quickly mastered syntactic and morphological structures of the target
language, but by 4 or 5 months the difference vanished and after a year the
younger learners began to excel (qtd. in Kenworthy).
The finding suggested by Hoefnagel-Hhle can be supported by
Florezs findings. She claims that adults find pronunciation more difficult that
children do and that they will probably not achieve native-like pronunciation.
Yet experiences with language learning and the ability to self monitor, which
come with the age, can offset these limitations to some degree (1998: 2).

In conclusion, attaining native-like pronunciation seems to be the only


aspect of English language that can cause problems to adolescent and adult
learners but the limitations can be compensated to some degree.

23
2.4.2 The role of the mother tongue

It is widely recognized that the role of the mother tongue influences


acquisition of the foreign language. Unlike children learning second
language, adult learners have already accustomed their speech in terms of
the sound system of their mother tongue.
This means that learners native language shares some of the sound
characteristics with the target language, which means that learners will
probably have problems with pronunciation of those phonemes that are
similar to those occurring in their mother tongue. Kenworthy states that these
characteristics are often obvious enough to make a persons origins
identifiable by untrained as well as trained people (1990: 4). Florez adds that
interference or negative transfer from the first language is likely to cause
errors in aspiration, intonation, and rhythm in the target language (1998: 3),
which is true for Czech learners of English since their tendency to transfer
the rule of first syllable prominence into English which violates their
intelligibility. Celce-Murcia and Goodwin support the premises by claiming
that the second language filters through the learners first language
facilitating acquisition when the target pronunciation features are similar and
interfering with acquisition when the features are dissimilar or non-existent
(qtd. in Sharkey 2003: 11-12).
Gilbert outlines several problems caused by the influence of the mother
tongue. First, the inability to sound out letters, which occurs at the beginning
stage of learning a new language, makes the learners impossible to
pronounce sounds correctly. Another problem experienced by learners is
wrong production of final consonants. In many languages sounding final
consonants are restricted and therefore, non-native speakers can have
intelligibility problems. Lastly, it is so called choppy speech, which is
separating words with silence.
As it was already mentioned above, teachers need to be aware of the
phonology of their learners mother tongue in order to help their students to
attain comprehensible pronunciation.

24
2.4.3 Motivation

Motivation appears to be a very influential factor as some of the non-


native speakers are more concerned about their pronunciation than others.
Their desire to attain good pronunciation, usually influenced by their sense of
responsibility, helps them to achieve comprehensible pronunciation.
Celce-Murcia and Goodwin agree with the statement by saying that if
the learners motivation to improve is strong and if the investment of time and
effort is genuine, there will be perceived improvement (qtd. in Sharkey 2003:
16).
As far as motivation is concerned, Brod (qtd. in Sharkey 2003) outlines
several motivational factors that make learners work on their pronunciation:
Learners want to improve themselves
Learners want to become a part of the target language community
Learners need their speech to be intelligible to their childrens teachers
Learners want to improve their employment prospective
Learners want to improve their everyday communication skills

Lukmani and Shuman (qtd. in Sharkey 2003), on the other hand,


categorized learners motivation for intelligibility into integrative and
instrumental motivation. Integrative motivation is defined as a desire to
identify or become a member of the target language community. Whereas,
instrumental motivation is described as a matter of immediate desire, since
the speakers are only orientated towards attaining intelligible pronunciation
for their specific purposes. Therefore, integrative motivation seems to be
more powerful and long lasting in comparison with instrumental motivation,
since its main goal is not the interest in the target language society.
Overall, motivation as a very important influential factor cannot be
generalized since every learner has different views, but indentifying learners
motivations helps teachers to create a supportive classroom atmosphere and
develop learners motivations.

25
2.4.3 Learners attitude and sense of identity

In language teaching process teachers cannot influence learners age,


motivation, nor they can have control over their attitude or sense of identity.
At the beginning of the chapter a crucial question needs to be dealt with-
whether a learners sense of identity and his/her attitude towards the target
language can increase or obstruct acquisition of comprehensible
pronunciation.
Bolitho (qtd. in Sharkey) claims that although it is difficult for learners to
find suitable balance between his/her mother tongue and the target
language, since they have a kind of emotional and intellectual relationship
with both languages, finding the suitable balance contributes to attaining
comprehensible pronunciation.
His theory is supported by Marques, who suggests that learners need to
seek acculturation by which they adopt the new culture while maintaining the
identity of the old one (qtd. in Sharkey 2003: 14). In other words, if learners
stick to socializing primarily within their community and stay attached to their
native culture their ability to acquire intelligible pronunciation is very limited.
According to Florez, learners who unconsciously or consciously apply
ethnicity markers into the target language will never achieve native-like
pronunciation since their speech will become resistant to changes which help
speakers to be intelligible. Kenwothy comes to the same conclusion. She
points out the existence of a group affirmation factor of native speakers,
suggesting that personal commitment to a community, and a willingness to
be identified with the members of that community, can be revealed through
the way a person chooses to speak (1990: 8). The group affirmation factor
can be transferred onto non-native speakers too, since their positive feelings
towards the target language contribute to a development of comprehensible
pronunciation. The ideas are supported by Schuman with his rejection
transfer (qtd. in Sharkey). His analysis reveals that if learners have a
negative attitude towards the target language, their community views the
target language negatively or they are homesick they unconsciously create
barriers that prevent them to acquire comprehensible pronunciation. Although
these findings are aimed at immigrants, refugees or job seekers in English

26
speaking countries, they can be applied on Czech learners of English too,
mainly students of secondary schools. Since if learners do not like the target
language for any reason, they subconsciously build up negative attitudes
towards the language, as they are describe by Schuman, which subsequently
prevent them not only to achieve comprehensible pronunciation but also to
learn the language itself.

The chapter outlined several factors which may or a combination of


them may affect speakers intelligibility and therefore, it is important to bear
these factors in mind when setting realistic goals and plans for the learners.
Laroy (qtd. in AMEP 2002: 4) discusses that pronunciation teaching cannot
be divorced from the people who are speaking, but should involve the whole
person.

2.5Consonants

Since the thesis is aimed at pronunciation teaching and primarily at


teaching th consonants, the general features of consonants will be
presented first.
Consonants are sounds that are produced with closed or nearly closed
articulations and are formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the airflow
in variety of ways (Kelly 2002: 47).
Kelly puts forward three ways how to classify consonants:
The manner of articulation
The place of articulation
The force of articulation

When talking about the manner of articulation they way how to produce
sounds in the vocal tract is referred to. The vocal tract can either be
obstructed and the air is unable to go through the throat or another possibility
can be when a closing movement of the lips, tongue or throat take place and

27
it is possible to hear the sound caused by the air that is passing through
(Kelly).
According to the manner of articulation consonants can be divided into six
categories:

Plosives
Plosives are produced when a complete stricture is created
somewhere in the vocal tract and the soft palate is raised at the
same moment. After forming the closure and having compressed
the air behind it the sound released making the sound of plosion
e.g. /k/, /g/ (Roach).
Fricatives
When fricatives are created the air that goes through a small
passage in the vocal tract produces a hissing sound e.g. /s/, /f/
(Roach).
Affricatives
Affricatives begin as plosive consonants but they finish as
fricative e.g. /t/ (Roach).
Nasals
When nasals are formed air passes through the lowered soft
palate and nose since the lips make a closure e.g. /m/, /n/
(Roach).
Lateral
The tip of the tongue causes a partial closure against the alveolar
ridge and therefore the air passes along the sides of the tongue
e.g. /l/ (Roach).
Approximants
During the production of the consonant the articulators do not
approach enough to create a complete consonant e.g. /w/, /r/
(Roach).

As far as the place of articulation is concerned, various organs of speech


must be taken into consideration:

28
Bilabial
The lips are almost or totally pressed together e.g. /p/, /m/
(Kelly).
Labiodentals
The lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth /f/, /v/ (Kelly).
Dental
The tongue touches the teeth e.g. //, // (Kelly).
Alveolar
The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge e.g. /t/, /s/
(Kelly).
Palate-alveolar
The tip of the tongue is pressed behind the alveolar ridge e.g. /t/
(Kelly).
Palatal
The tongue is in the middle raised against the palate e.g. /j/
(Kelly).
Velar
The back of the tongue is raised against the soft palate e.g. /k/
(Kelly).
Glottal
A gap between the vocal folds is used to produce audible friction
e.g. /h/ (Kelly).

The force of articulation is focused on a difference between voiced


(lenis) and voiceless (forties) consonants.

The following table provides a summary of the English consonants, marking


their manner of articulation, place of articulation and force of articulation.

29
Figure 4: English Consonats

2.5.1 Production of voiced and unvoiced consonants th

The following chapter focuses on fricative th sounds. The fricative


consonants // and // are dental sounds produced when the tip of the
tongue is placed between the upper and lower teeth; the soft palate is raised
all the time. In other words, the sounds are made by putting the tongue
between the teeth so that the blade is extended just forward of the teeth and
the tongue is the active articulator (Pennington 1996: 40).
The consonant // is voiced interdental fricative and the symbol of the
fricative the Germanic letter eth //, whereas // is voiceless interdental
fricative and its symbol is the Greek letter theta // (Pennington 1996: 50).
The following figure shows how the sounds are produced.

Figure 5: Fricative th

30
The interdental fricative consonants are very frequently mispronounced
by Czech students. The problem is caused by the fact that there are no
dental fricatives in Czech language and therefore inexperienced students
pronounce them as other fricatives which have a very close place of
articulation e.g. voiced // is often pronounced as /d/, /z/ or /dz/ and voiceless
// usually becomes /t/, /s/ or /f/. Another important aspect of these sounds is
that the consonants belong to a group of phonemes which can change the
meaning of a word when mispronounced e.g. when the word think is not
pronounced as /k/ but as /sk/ students intelligibility is disrupted
completely.
Since the consonants do not exist in Czech language and their
mispronunciation may influence learners intelligibility teachers need to focus
on the explanation how to produce them. Kelly suggests teachers to ask
students to put the front of your tongue against the back of your teeth. Let the
air pass through as you breathe out. Dont use your voice. Hold the sound
and, add your voice (2002: 55).
Another technique that may help learners to pronounce the sounds is to
put a finger against the lips and try to make the finger touch the tip of the
tongue and then breathe out (Kelly). These two suggested ways of practice
may help learners to acquire correct pronunciation of the consonants.

2.6Summaryofthetheoreticalpart

The theoretical part provides a theoretical background and a rationale


connected with the topic of the final thesis. The first part focuses on the
features of pronunciation and why pronunciation should not be neglected.
Attention is also paid to the most problematic sounds for Czech speakers and
the theoretical part embraces various opinions about factors that have
influence on learners pronunciation. It may be concluded that both teachers
and learners need to set realistic goals and their primary focus should be
placed on intelligibility rather than desire to achieve perfect and faultless
pronunciation.

31
All the pieces of information serve as a basis for the practical part.

32
3PracticalPart

3.1IntroductiontothePracticalPart

The aim of the practical part of the final thesis is to apply theoretical
knowledge concerning pronunciation and mainly pronunciation of th
sounds.
Since I teach at a secondary school I work with students from different
age groups, ranging from 14 to 21, with different abilities, learning styles and
pronunciation levels. During my teaching practice I have encountered both
students with excellent pronunciation and students whose pronunciation was
terrible and made their speech unintelligible. Maybe, this is caused by the
fact that teachers usually focus on making their students to study grammar
and lexis, practise situational dialogues and get them to become good at
listening and reading comprehension. Yet they do not try to teach
pronunciation may be because of their fear of dealing with the pronunciation
features, they are not sure about, and an idea that grammar and vocabulary
are more important elements and pronunciation teaching would impede them
in their lessons. Another reason for not incorporating pronunciation into
lessons can be teachers thought that students will pick it up naturally, but the
fact that some students are able to acquire reasonable pronunciation without
over pronunciation teaching should not blind us to the benefits of a focus on
pronunciation in our lessons (Harmer 2007: 248). It may be concluded that
teachers need to teach pronunciation because it not only influences students
awareness of sounds and other pronunciation features, but also
pronunciation has a positive influence on students speaking comprehension
and intelligibility.
Kenworthy claims that pronunciation learning is not an easy but very
difficult and complex task. She compares the process of pronunciation
learning with practice tennis is learnt, one component of tennis is learning
how to serve. Serving can be divided into: (1) how to hold the racket; (2)

33
tossing up the ball; (3) striking the ball; (4) placing the ball; (5)varying the
speed and direction of the ball, and so on (1990: 27). In other words,
teachers must start with the basic features of pronunciation in order to be
able to move to the stress, intonation and so on.
The hypothesis for the practical part is that students have difficulties
with pronunciation of th sounds as they are no similar sounds in their native
language system. In the thesis I would like to answer questions, whether
adolescent students can improve their production of TH sounds and whether
perfect pronunciation can be achieved.
In the first part I decided to do a survey on this issue in order to
support my assumption. The research is based on a small-scale classroom
study.
First, I chose a group of 11 students who were in the third year of their
studies at a secondary school. Next, I found a suitable text and adjusted it so
as to meet my criteria of th sound position occurrence. All positions initial,
middle and final are presented in the text (see appendix 1). Third, the
students were asked to read the text while being recorded. Finally, I
attempted to analyze the recordings. During the analysis the attention was
paid to the initial, middle and final positions of the th consonants and the
way the students pronounced them. I wanted to find out whether they are
read correctly or substituted with other consonants.
The second part of the research concentrates on two sets of activities
concerning the subject of the thesis. The activities were designed to practise
the pronunciation of the chosen consonants. After completion of the activities
students were recorded again and the first and the second recording were
compared together so as to establish whether students improved their
pronunciation.
The next part of the research deals with other two sets of activities
which help to eliminate mispronunciation of th consonants. The final stage
of the research was to record the students and subsequently evaluate all
three recordings together. I attempted to compare the recordings so as to
chase up whether adolescent students are able to improve or even achieve
perfect pronunciation of th sounds.

34
As I tried to base the thesis on my own experience, I described only
those activities that were really used in my lessons. The conclusion of the
practical part refers to the survey outcomes and the initial assumptions.

3.2Activitiesfocusedonpronunciationofthsounds

This chapter of the practical part will deal with activities that were used
for teaching pronunciation of th consonants.
The most important part of teaching-learning process is to highlight
how phonemes are pronounced since people tend to hear the sounds of a
new language in terms of the sounds their mother tongue (Kenworthy 1990:
45). Doff (qtd. in Dalton and Seidlhofer 1994: 130) outlines steps that are
necessary to follow when new sounds are introduced to students:
Say the sound alone.
Say the sound in a word.
Contrast it with other sounds.
Write the word on a board.
Explain how to make the sound.
Get students to repeat the sound in chorus.
Get individual students to repeat the sound.

Kenworthy adds that when introducing new sounds students need to hear
them together with familiar sounds occurring in their mother tongue.

3.2.1 Introducing TH fricative consonants

As I have already mentioned in the theoretical part of the thesis th


sounds // and mainly // are the most problematic English sounds for Czech
learners of English, therefore a great attention must be paid to the way they
are produced.

Aims
: to focus students attention to the production of th consonants

35
: to increase students awareness about the way they are pronounced
: to provide students with opportunity to practise the production of the sounds

Aids
: a mirror, a picture of speech tract (see appendix 2)
Timing
: 30 minutes

Procedure
Step 1
Teacher prepares a picture of speech tract when the th fricatives are
pronounced. Students bring mirrors and chewing gums. Teaching activities
used in this lesson plan are inspire by Kenworthys teaching tips described in
her book Teaching English Pronunciation and by Kellys learners-friendly
explanations outlined in his book How to Teach Pronunciation.

Step 2
The teacher introduces the topic to students by showing the picture.
He/she explains where the tongue is placed during the production of the
sounds and demonstrates it.

Step 3
First, the teacher asks students to prepare mirrors and chewing gums.
Second, he/she invites students to put the tip of the tongue between the
upper and lower front teeth and to either gently bite the tip of the tongue or to
put the index finger against the lips so that it touches the tip of the tongue.
Third, students are asked to breathe out and make a hissing sound resulting
in production of voiceless //, as in the word think. For production of the
voiced sound //, as in then, students are invited to breathe out and produce
a buzzing noise. When producing the sounds students are constantly looking
into the mirrors in order to see what is happening with the tongue and teeth.

Another possibility how to introduce the production of the sounds is with


a use of a chewing gum.

36
First, students are given a small piece of a chewing gum, after a short period
of chewing it they are told to stick it against the back of the upper front teeth.
Second, they are asked to touch the chewing gum with the tip of the tongue,
breathe out and produce a hissing or buzzing noise.

Step 4
After the introductory stage of producing the isolated hissing and
buzzing sounds students are encouraged to pronounce words containing th
consonants.
//: The-Then-There-Therefore-That-This
//: Thank-Than-Thick-Thief-Think-Thin

Comments
This teaching method focuses students attention to the production of
th consonant sounds. The main goals of this activity are to provide learners
with an opportunity to practise the sounds in isolation, help them to fix the
pronunciation and gain a control over the production. Moreover, students are
given an opportunity to practise pronunciation of the problematic sounds.
Since the activities are playful and entertaining students were actively
involved from the very beginning and moreover, these activities help them to
breakdown the initial fear of pronunciation. The only problem some students
had was occasional substitution of // and // with /s/, /z/, /t/ or /d/. In this
case I followed the tip with the chewing gum suggested by Kenworthy I told
my students to position the gum on the roof of the mouth immediately behind
the upper front teeth; for s/, /z/, /t/ and /d/ the must touch the gum; for th
they must avoid it (1990: 75). I found her idea with a chewing gum extremely
helpful as it offers an aid suitable for acquiring the postures needed for
pronunciation of // and //. After the introductory lesson the students felt
more relaxed and familiar with the form and production of the sounds.

37
3.2.2 Minimal pairs

A minimal pair is a pair of words which differ in lexical meaning base on


a difference in one of the sounds (Pennington 1996: 24). In general, the
objective of minimal pairs is to make a contrastive environment where a pair
of words differs by one phoneme e.g. thin and sin, the words differ by the
initial consonant //, as in the word thin, and /s/, as in the word sin.
Aims
: to raise students awareness of th sounds production
: To provide students with opportunities to practise the sounds
Aids
: handouts with minimal pairs and sentences, CD recordings

Voiceless // minimal pairs and sentences handouts3


/s/ //
mouse mouth What a sweet little mouse/mouth!
sum thumb Is this sum/thumb OK?
sick thick Its very sick/thick.
sink think He is sinking/thinking.
pass path there is a mountain pass/path.

/f/ //
first thirst He has got a first/thirst.
fin thin A fin/thin soup, please.
half hearth Id like a half/hearth.

/t/ //
tree three Its a big tree/three.
tanks thanks The President sends his tanks/thanks.
sheet sheath The knife was hidden in a sheet/sheath.

3Baker, Ann. Ship or Sheep? An internation Pronuciation Course. London: Collins, 1981. p. 162-
165.

38
Voiceless // minimal pairs and sentences handouts 4
/d/ //
Dan than Smith is bigger Dan/than Jones.
day they Day/They arrived.
dare there Jim dares/theres his friend.
doze those Doze/Those after lunch.
Ida either I dont know her sister Ida/either.
/z/ //
close clothes The shop sign said Closing/Clothing.
breeze breathe Breeze/Breathe means air moving.
boos booth The boos/booth echoed loudly.
size scythe Thats a large size/scythe.

Timing
: 30 minutes per lesson plan (2 lessons together)

Procedure

Step 1
Teacher prepares two handouts focused on the practice of minima
pairs. The first handout will deal with the difference between // and /s/, //
and /f/ and // and /t/. The second handout will concentrate on // and /d/ and
on // and /z/. The lesson plans are based on Barkers book Ship or Sheep?
An international Pronunciation Course.

Step 2
Teacher introduces the topic of the lesson with revision of th
consonants pronunciation by producing the hissing and buzzing noises.

4Baker, Ann. Ship or Sheep? An internation Pronuciation Course. London: Collins, 1981. p. 165-
167.

39
Step 3
First, students are provided with the handouts with minimal pairs
focused on discrimination of two sounds, and are asked to read the pairs for
themselves. Second, the teacher plays the CD with the recordings of the
pairs. Third, students are asked to repeat the words in chorus. Fourth, they
practise the pairs in groups and the teacher monitors them and helps if
necessary.

Step 4
Students are given second handout with simple sentences containing
the words that were already practised. First, they are played the recording
with the sentences and then they are asked to practise the sentences by
themselves. Second, each student reads one sentence and the rest of the
class guesses which word was pronounced, whether a word containing a th
sound or the non-problematic sounds with a close place of articulation.

Comments
These teaching sequences are examples of drill pronunciation activities.
They are used to raise learners awareness of pronunciation and
discrimination of // and // and the consonants with a near place of
articulation.
During the second stage students revised the problematic consonants
// and // in order to establish accurate pronunciation and focus on them.
The third stage served for realizing the difference between //, // and
consonants with a near place of articulation. The students did not have any
major problems during any stage; although the last step was more complex
they did not face up any difficulties and were able to distinguish the words
correctly. The goals of these activities are to provide students with as much
practice as possible in order to help them improve their pronunciation and
show them how intelligibility is important during communication because
mispronunciation of th sounds can lead into misunderstanding between a
speaker and a listener.

40
3.2.3 Tongue twisters

Tongue twisters are phrases or sentences that are difficult to pronounce


because of the similar sounds occurrence.

Aims
: to provide students with enjoyable activities aimed at pronunciation practice
: to provide students with opportunities to practise the th sounds
Aids
: tongue twisters handout, mp3 recordings of the tongue twisters,
headphones

Tongue twisters handout:5


The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout
Thursday.
There those thousand thinkers were thinking how did the other three thieves
go through?
Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.
That's what made these three free fleas sneeze.
Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on
Thursday.
Three short sword sheaths.
I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking you.
Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks.
Then this mother soothed and bathed the other although the other didnt want
to be together.
Not these things here but those things there.
Ruth and Luthers mooses loosest tooth is uncouth.
I can think of six thin things, but I can think of six thick things too.

5 Tongue twisters: tongue twister with TH. Downloaded from this webpage
http://www.heathermeloche.com/AP%20Tongue%20Twisters.htm

41
Room Three Hundred Thirty-Three on the third floor rents for thirty-three
dollars and thirty-three cents every third Thursday.
Three free throws. Three free throws. Three free throws.

Timing
: 20 minutes

Procedure
Step 1
The teacher prepares the tongue twisters handout and the mp3
recordings of the sentences, which were downloaded from a webpage.

Step 2
Students are given the handouts, mp3 recordings and headphones.
First, they are asked to listen to the recordings and try to read the sentences
by themselves. Teacher monitors and helps if necessary.

Step 3
First, students practise saying the tongue twisters in pairs. Second, they
are asked to memorize them and then say them correctly aloud in front of the
whole class.

Comments
Tongue twisters concentrate on accurate production and help students
to improve their pronunciation skills. The second step gave students an
opportunity to hear the sentences over and over so that they could fix the
correct pronunciation of th consonants. As far as the third step is
concerned, students had to focus on faultless pronunciation. Since the texts
do not only contain th consonants but also consonants with a near place of
articulation and therefore the meaning of them would be changed completely.
The objective of the tongue twisters is to help the students to realize how
important accurate pronunciation is through enjoyable activities.

42
3.2.4 Oral reading

In order not only to practise th sounds in isolation two reading texts


containing both th consonants and other sounds were chosen as the last
practice.

Aims
: to sustain correct pronunciation of th consonants
: to provide students with pronunciation prastice
Aids
: two reading texts and a vocabulary list of the th sounds

Vocabulary list and a text focused on a voiceless consonant //6


Vocabulary list: think, thievery, thefts, three, thought, things, thieves, worth,
thousands, tenth, thoughtful, thwart

If you think you're safe from thievery, think again. Most thefts occur within three
miles of the victim's home. People often venture into the streets without giving their
valuables a second thought. They leave things out in the open, where thieves can
easily spot them. Items worth thousands of dollars can be stolen in a tenth of a
second. So be thoughtful. Only you can thwart this terrible crime. Watch your things
carefully. Thieves do.

Vocabulary list and a text focused on a voiced consonant // 7


Vocabulary list: father, weatherman, whether, neither, the, other, they, there,
then, rather, than, weather, mother, with

Even though my father is a weatherman, he can't predict with absolute certainty


whether it will rain or not. Neither can the other people who work with him. They say

6The voiceless TH sounds. ESL: English study and Learning Materials! Downloaded from
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/voiceless_sound_th.html

7The voiced TH sounds. ESL: English study and Learning Materials! Downloaded from
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/voiced_sound_th.html

43
there's only a thirty per cent chance of rain, and the next thing you know, it's
pouring. They predict snow, and there's nothing for another five days. Then, there's
a blizzard. So rather than trust my father's weather forecasts, I use a more
reasonable approach. I ask my mother.

Timing
: 20 minutes per lesson plan

Procedure
Step 1
Teacher prepares a reading text together with a vocabulary list; the
words in the list are taken from the text. The text was downloaded from the
internet focused on studying materials.

Step 2
First, teacher writes the vocabulary on the board, then reads the
vocabulary from the list and students repeat them in chorus. Second,
students are divided into pairs and are given the whole text. In the pairs they
work on the pronunciation of the whole text, the teacher monitors and helps if
necessary.

Step 3
Each student reads the text and the teacher gives him/her a feedback.

Comments
This activity is rather complex and therefore I decided to use it as the
last activity before the third recording. The reading text gave students the
opportunity to work on their pronunciation as a whole because the texts do
not only contain the target th sounds but also other consonants with a near
place of articulation and therefore mispronunciation of // and // would make
them unintelligible. At this stage it is extremely important to provide students
with an appropriate and constructive feedback. Since as stated in the
theoretical part, students are not able to assess their pronunciation. The
inability to assess their pronunciation can lead to wrong assumptions about

44
their pronunciation. These wrong assumptions can make their speech
unintelligible for a listener. The main aims of the activity are to revise
pronunciation of the target th consonants and get used to their production.

In conclusion, the activities were chosen because of the practice in


hearing and saying the th consonants, moreover, they pointed out that the
words containing th consonants are pronounced in two ways and the
spelling of th does not overlap with pronunciation. During the activities I
followed the steps, which are needed when introducing new sounds,
proposed by Kenworthy and Doff.
First, the introductory lesson was only about how to produce the sounds
and what is happening with our vocal tract during the production. The
objectives of the lesson were to explain the basic features of pronunciation
and create a friendly and supportive atmosphere in the class.
Second, the minimal pair practice activities were focused on
demonstrating the contrast between the target consonants // and // and
other consonants with a neat place of articulation. These activities helped
students to realize how different the sounds are and therefore,
comprehensible pronunciation is needed.
Third, tongue twisters were selected because they present the
difference between the // and // consonants and other sounds; and
moreover, they represent activities that are funny and enjoyable for students.
Finally, the usage of the reading texts moved students beyond
repetition and drills as they had to think about the text properly, practise how
to say each word and was encouraged to work on their intelligibility.

3.3Introductionofthestudents

The goal of the chapter is to analyze students pronunciation of th


sounds. I decided to work with a group of 11 students who attend private
secondary grammar school in Brno. There are two girls and nine boys in the
group. The students were in the third year of their studies during my survey.

45
English language is the main foreign language taught at the school
and students have four compulsory general English lessons and two
compulsory conversational lessons in the third and fourth year. Students
studying at the school are divided into two groups according to their level of
English. The group I worked with is an advanced group and their level of
English ranged from lower-intermediate to upper-intermediate.
Course books that are used at the school are New English Files by
Oxford University Press. The researched group used New English File
intermediate during their third year. The course book includes activities
focused on extending knowledge of grammar and vocabularies, practising
speaking, reading, writing, listening and pronunciation skills, but
pronunciation activities used in the textbook tend to have a same pattern and
therefore students try to avoid them.
Apart from the textbooks various supplementary materials are used
during lessons e.g. grammar, speaking and vocabulary photocopiable
exercises. Students are also exposed to different listening activities ranging
from songs, films to different listening tests, but to tell the truth no specially
designed pronunciation exercises are included and students are not forced to
work on their pronunciation intelligibility. On the basis of above mentioned
fact I decided to incorporate pronunciation activities into my lessons. The
pronunciation exercises do not only pay attention to pronunciation of th
sounds but also attention is paid to other pronunciation features, but
pronunciation activities concerning th sounds will be presented as they
correspond with the topic of my thesis.
To be able to find out whether students are able to make
improvements in their pronunciation or even attain prefect pronunciation, I
decided to record my students speech. The students were recorded three
times so as to pinpoint if activities dealing with th consonants can help them
to be more intelligible.
The following table provides information about the students level of
English. Their level of English was detected by annual tests that students
must sit for at the beginning and end of each school year.

46
Student Sex Level of English
Student 1 JP Male Lower-intermediate
Student 2 PH Male Intermediate
Student 3 DK Female Lower-intermediate
Student 4 JS Male Intermediate
Student 5 MS Male Intermediate
Student 6 ZT Male Lower-intermediate
Student 7 ID Male Upper-intermediate
Student 8 JH Male Upper intermediate
Student 9 IM Female Intermediate
Student 10 MK Male Lower-intermediate
Student 11 OZ Male Upper-intermediate
Figure 6: Level of English

The results of the table show that the group consists of students with
mixed abilities and the average level of English is intermediate, but no
general statements about their pronunciation cannot be based on the finding
from the chart.

3.4Recordings

The following chapter will outline a description of the process of my


research. The research was conducted during the school year 2010-2011. In
this chapter research questions and methods will be presented. The
questions that I decided to deal with are:
Are secondary school students able to improve their pronunciation of //
and // consonants?
Can secondary school students achieve faultless pronunciation of //
and // consonants?

At the first stage of the research I recorded 11 students who were in


their third year of studies at the secondary school. I prepared a short text

47
containing 12 th consonants. Each student was given 10 minutes for
preparation so that they could get familiar with the text. After the period of 10
minutes I asked the students to come individually into the class. I wanted
them to come individually because I did not think that they would have been
fully concentrated on the text and moreover, they would have been distracted
by the other students. While the students were reading the text I was
recording them.
At the end of November the students were recorded again. They were
provided with exactly the same text and the conditions remained the same as
they were during the first recording.
In January 2011 they were recorded for the last time. The text,
conditions and the process of recording remained completely the same as
they were during the previous two recordings.
During the period between first and second recording, and the period
between second and third recording the students were exposed to various
pronunciation activities. The activities that were devoted to the practice of //
and // consonants were introduced in the chapter 3.2.

3.4.1 Assessing recordings

Assessing the recordings is a crucial part of the thesis, but it is not an


easy task to be done as Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin state in the
existing literature on teaching pronunciation, little attention is paid to issues of
testing and evaluation (1996: 341). I decided that the assessment of th
sounds will be focused on whether the sounds are pronounced correctly and
if not which consonants are used instead of them, the correctly pronounced
consonants will be ticked in the charts and if the consonants are pronounced
incorrectly a consonant used instead of them will be noted down.

4.4.2 First recording

At this very stage of the research I wanted to find out whether my


hypothesis, that Czech students of English have problems with th

48
consonants as there are no similar sounds in their mother tongue, is right or
not. Second, I wanted to ascertain if the students substitute the th sounds
with other consonants with a near place of articulation. Lastly, the first
recording functioned as an indicator of the initial conditions of the students
pronunciation of th consonants. The results of each student are transformed
into tables and the overall findings are presented in a graph demonstrating
percentage rate of correct production.
Student 1
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/

Student 2
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/

Student 3
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
/ t/

Student 4
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /z/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/

Student 5
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /s/ /f/ /t/ /t/

49
Student 6
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/

Figure 7: The First recording

Taking the results of the first recording as a whole my initial hypothesis was
proven right. In nearly all cases students substituted th consonants with
consonants of a near place of articulation and in one case the student 3
pronounced the word without as /w t at/.
In conclusion, there were five students missing during the first
recording, but the outcomes seem to be clear and support my initial
assumption. Students have real problems with the th consonants and
voiced consonants no matter where they occur are usually pronounced as /t/
or /d/. As far as the voiceless consonants are concerned, they are frequently
replaced with /s/ or /f/.

50
3.4.3 Second recording

During the period between the first and second recording the students
got familiar with th consonant production and were exposed to several
activities that were devoted to pronunciation practise of th sounds.
First, they were explained how th consonants are produced. Then they
were provided with opportunities to practise their production. The aims of the
activity were to raise students awareness about the ways the consonants are
produced and to focus their attention to their production.
Second, students were working with minimal pair practice activities.
These activities helped them with discrimination of th sounds from other
consonants with a near place of articulation. The objectives of these
exercises were to assist students with realization of the differences in
pronunciation of th consonants and other consonants, to raise their
awareness of th sounds production and to provide them with opportunities
to practise the sounds. Moreover, both activities demonstrated how
intelligibility is important during communication process.

In November the students were recorded again. At this stage I wanted


to find out whether they still had problems with pronunciation of th
consonants or whether their pronunciation improved and if yes which th
sounds were pronounced correctly, whether those that occur in the initial,
middle or final position.
The results of the first and the second recording of each student were
transformed into tables. The tables offer an opportunity to compare how the
pronunciation of individual th sounds changed. The overall findings are
presented in a graph demonstrating the percentage rate of correct answers.

Student 1
// //
Recording they the that There other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
2 /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /z/ /t/ /t/ /f/

51
Student 2
// //
Recording they The that There other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/

Student 3
// //
Recording they the that There other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
/ t/
2 /dz/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /f/ /t/

Student 4
// //
Recording they the that There other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /z/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
2 /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /s/ /s/ /f/

Student 5
// //
Recording they the that There other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /s/ /f/ /t/ /t/
2 /dz/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /t/ /f/

Student 7
// //
Recording they the that There Other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/

52
Student 8
// //
Recording they the that There Other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /d/ /s/ /s/ /s/

Student 9
// //
Recording they The that There Other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/

Student 10
// //
Recording they The that There other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /t/ /t/ /t/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /t/ /f/

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
Wrong
40%
Correct
30%
20%
10%
0%

Figure 8: Second recording

In this part students pronunciation based on the comparison of the two


recordings will be analyzed.

53
Student 1:
Taking the results from the table we can say that his pronunciation was
not improved. There are only two th consonants that were pronounced
correctly. The words pronounced correctly were other and something, both
with a middle position of a th consonant.
Student 2:
Based on the results from the table his pronunciation improved only by
a third. He improved the pronunciation of th sounds in the words other,
they, something and thought.
Student 3:
When considering the results we may say that she slightly improved her
pronunciation; she did not have difficulties with pronunciation of the voiced
sound in the middle position in the word other and she also pronounced
thought and something without any problems.
Student 4:
Taking the results from the two recordings it is clear that his
pronunciation has improved. He no longer has problems with correct
pronunciation in the words they, other, than, thought and nothing.
Student 5:
The results of the second recording show that he has more or less the
same problems as the student 3.
Students 7-10:
Since the students were absent during the first recording their results
from the second recording will be overview as initial conditions.

In conclusion, the analysis of the first and second recording, in terms of


improvement of th sounds pronunciation, demonstrates that pronunciation
of the voiced th consonant is easier for the students than pronunciation of
voiceless. The students were able to improve their pronunciation of the
consonant mainly in the middle and final position, but on the other hand
pronunciation of the word this was not improved at all. As far as the voiceless
th sounds is concerned, pronunciation was slightly improved as well, mainly
in the initial position.

54
In general, although the majority of the students improved their
pronunciation they still substitute some th voiced sounds with /d/ or /t/ and
the voiceless are pronounced with /s/ rather than //.

3.4.3 Third recording

The period between the second and third recording was filled up with
activities aimed at correction of th consonants.
The first set of activities was devoted to tongue twisters. The objectives
of using the tongue twisters were to provide the students with funny and
enjoyable drilling exercises in order to practise pronunciation of the target
sounds.
The second set was aimed at oral reading text. During these activities
the students were exposed to two reading texts containing not only th
consonants but also consonants with a near place of articulation. The main
focus was paid to sustaining correct pronunciation and to demonstrate how
unintelligible pronunciation can change the meaning of the texts.

In January 2011 the students underwent the last recording.


The findings of the third recording are stated in tables that were created for
each student and the final finding are noted in a graph demonstrating the
percentage of correct answers.

Student 1
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
2 /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /z/ /t/ /t/ /f/
3 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /s/ /f/ /t/ /f/

55
Student 2
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/
3 /d/ /dz/ /dz/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/

Student 3
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
/ t/
2 /dz/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /f/ /t/
3 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /f/

Student 4
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /z/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
2 /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /s/ /s/ /f/
3 /d/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /t/ /f/ /f/

Student 5
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /dz/ /t/ /s/ /f/ /t/ /t/
2 /dz/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /t/ /f/
3 /dz/ /t/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /f/ /t/ /t/

56
Student 6
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /s/ /t/ /f/
2 - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/ /t/ /f/

Student 7
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/
3 /d/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /t/

Student 8
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /d/ /s/ /s/ /s/
3 /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/

Student 9
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/
3 /d/ /z/ /f/

Student 10
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 /t/ /t/ /t/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /t/ /f/
3 /d/ /d/ /t/ /dz/ /d/ /t/ /s/ /f/ /f/

57
Student 11
// //
Recording they the that there other than this without with something thought nothing
1 - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 /dz/ /t/ /s/ /f/

Figure 9: Third recording

In this part the results of the students will be analyzed.

Student 1:
Based on the results of all recordings his pronunciation was improved
only by a third. He mainly improved the production of voiced th consonants
but on the other hand pronunciation of the voiceless th sounds did not
improved at all.
Student 2:
His pronunciation was slightly improved in both th form sounds with
occasional slips to producing /t/ instead of //.

58
Student 3:
As far as the production of voiced consonant is concerned, some of the
words were pronounced correctly, but she still has big problems with
pronunciation of //, she kept pronouncing it as /t/.
Student 4:
Taking the results from the table we can say that he improved
pronunciation of voiced consonant, but the production of voiceless // still
causes problems to him.
Student 5:
Although he was quite successful with correction of the voiced
consonant as he pronounced a third of the words correctly, he failed with
correction of // completely, since he kept pronouncing it as /t/.
Student 6:
As the student was absent during the second recording only the first
and third results will be compared. He improved pronunciation of voiced th
consonant by a third, but on the other hand he was not able to do so in the
case of the voiceless consonant, // was frequently substituted with /t/ or /f/.
Student 7:
As far as the voiced consonants are concerned, he improved the
production in a half of the words. As far as the voiceless consonant is
concerned, it was corrected in the middle position.
Student 8:
His pronunciation of th voiced consonant was nearly faultless from the
very beginning and since he worked on his pronunciation of the voiceless
sounds as well he corrected a majority of them.
Student 9:
Based on the findings from the table she was able to correct nearly
every voiceless and a majority of voiced th consonants.
Student 10:
The production of voiceless consonant was not improved and the
pronunciation of voiced one was only slightly improved.

59
Student 11:
Although the student was absent during the first and second recording,
he worked on the activities and therefore his results are presented too. The
production of the voiced and voiceless consonant is nearly faultless.

In conclusion, the students were able to improve their pronunciation of


voiced th consonants and the highest improvement was noted in the middle
position of the word other, since every student pronounced it properly, on the
other hand they were not able to pronounce the word this correctly and they
stuck to substituting it with /d/ or /dz/, moreover, they had certain problems
with the words with and without too, as they kept pronouncing it as /s/ or /t/.
As far as the voiceless th consonant // is concerned, the results show that
not a major progress was done since the students stuck to production of /t/ or
/s/ instead of //.

3.4.5 Summary of the recordings

In this part findings of the research will be presented and the initial
questions will be answered:
Are secondary school students able to improve their pronunciation of //
and // consonants?
Can secondary school students achieve faultless pronunciation of //
and // consonants?

The analysis and assessment of the three recordings demonstrate that a


major progress in pronunciation of the voiced th can be seen. All students
were able to attain faultless pronunciation of it in its middle position of the
word other. In September nobody was able to pronounce it correctly but in
January everybody did pronounce it faultlessly, but production of the word
this was not improved at all since in the final stage nobody pronounce it as
//. The overall result of // production is 50% of correct answers; in case of
mispronunciation the students had a tendency to pronounce // as /d/, /t/ or
/dz/. On the other hand not a major improvement can be seen in production

60
of //. It was extremely difficult for the students to pronounce the sound
correctly, mainly in the initial position. The production of the sound improved
in only about 30%. In case of mispronunciation the students inclined to
pronounce // as /f/ or /t/.

It may be concluded that the second research question cannot be


proved right at all since nobody was able to attain faultless pronunciation of
// and // consonants. As far as the first question is concerned, it was
neither proved wrong nor was right since the results of the analysis of the
recordings clearly state that there is a certain amount of progress in
production of th consonants.
The findings of the slight improvement of th consonants production
can be explained on the basis of the factors influencing pronunciation
learning. These factors are outlined in the theoretical part of the final thesis.
In my opinion the dominance of the mother-tongue and the age of the
secondary school students are very limiting during the pronunciation learning
process no matter how much the students were motivated.

Based on the findings, we can say that it is very difficult for secondary
school students to improve pronunciation of th consonants and mainly of
//, but on the other hand the students admitted that the consistent and
continual work on the sounds helped them with pronunciation intelligibility
and listening comprehension.

61
4Conclusion

The goal of the final thesis was concentrated on correction of th


consonants pronunciation that contributes to intelligibility of non-native
students of English.

In the theoretical part features of pronunciation and the most


problematic sounds for Czech learners of English are outlined. In this part I
also inquire about the reasons for teaching pronunciation and how
intelligibility of learners is important in everyday communication. Furthermore,
since pronunciation teaching is still being neglected and for some reason
pushed to the margins of the language teaching teachers and students roles
are presented in the theoretical part too. Moreover, the part presents factors
that influence pronunciation acquisition. Lastly, attention is paid to production
of th consonants and characteristic features of them are outlined.

In the practical part I aimed to present my research. The research is


focused on pronunciation of th consonants by secondary school students.
The initial hypothesis (whether Czech students of English have problems with
pronunciation of TH consonants), and two questions (Are secondary school
students able to improve their pronunciation of // and // consonants? and
Can secondary school students achieve faultless pronunciation of // and //
consonants?) are answered in this part. To prove the hypothesis and the
questions correct I asked my students to undergo three recordings. The first
recording proved the initial hypothesis right since the students were not able
to pronounce th consonants correctly.
On the basis of the finding form the first recording I framed various
pronunciation activities aimed at th consonants practise. During the
pronunciation activities the students were introduced to the production of th
consonants and exposed to pronunciation practise of them. Then the
students were recorded again and I could compare the first and second
recording together. At this stage of the research I focused on how th

62
consonants are pronounced and if they are mispronounced which
consonants are used instead. After the second recording the students
worked on other pronunciation practice activities and then they were
recorded for the last time. Subsequently, I compared all three recordings
together in order to answer my questions. On the basis of the results from the
analysis of the recordings my assumption whether it is possible for secondary
school students to achieve faultless pronunciation was proved wrong, but on
the other hand the first assumption whether secondary school students are
able to improve their pronunciation of // and // consonants was neither
proved wrong nor right, since the students pronunciation of // was more or
less successfully corrected (in 50%), but in case of // the students results in
production of // were nearly the same they were at the beginning of the
research.
Nevertheless, the findings from the research demonstrate that factors
influencing pronunciation acquisition such as age of the students or the
mother tongue do play an important role in pronunciation learning process.
On the other hand, systematic and continual work on pronunciation can help
learners to become more intelligible.

In conclusion, assessing the students pronunciation turned to be the


most difficult and demanding part of the research since I found it very difficult
to set which sounds can be still considered as correct and which cannot.

63
5References

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3. Roach, Peter. English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992.
4. Roach, Peter. Introducing Phonetics. London: Penguin English, 1992.
5. Jenkins, Jenifer. The Phonology of English as an International
Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
6. Kelly, Gerald. How to Teach Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman, 2002.
7. Stern, Hans, Heinrich. Issues and Options in Language Teaching.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
8. Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching.
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9. Ur, Penny. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
10. Scrivener, Jim. Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English
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6Appendix

6.1Appendix1:readingtext

The Hunter's Boldness


When they reached the place, the hunter pointed out a small spot without
trees in the middle of the forest, with a steep rise at one end. The pilot
thought that there was not enough room to land there, but the hunter said
that the other pilot had done so the year before, so down went the plane.
When it came to the rise, it turned right over onto its back. As the hunter
climbed out, he smiled happily and said, Yes, that is exactly how the other
pilot managed it last time.

Adjusted text:
The Hunter's Boldness
When they reached the place, the hunter pointed out a small spot without
trees in the middle of the forest, with something steep rising at one end. The
pilot thought that there was not enough room to land there, but the hunter
said that the other pilot had done so the year before, so down went the plane.
When it came to the rise, it turned right over onto its back. As the hunter
climbed out, he smiled happily and said, Nothing is better than this.

67
6.2Appendix2:THfricativeconsonatns

68
6.3Appendix3:tableofconsonatnts

69

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