Phonetics/Phonology

Phonetic Instruction

In order to learn to read either a native or foreign language, the reader must be able to identify words quickly and accurately. This process is known as decoding. Decoding words involves changing what the reader sees printed on a page into spoken language. The reader then decodes the word by sounding it out, using the context around the word for clues about it?s meaning. In order to sound out words, a reader must be able to relate specific spellings with specific sounds. Phonics is the process of relating the sounds of the words to their spellings. 

There are many ways to teach phonics awareness and use. However, most types of phonics instruction focus on the sound- spelling relationships so that the new reader can come up with an approximate pronunciation of the word and then check it against their own oral vocabulary in order to attempt to try to determine the meaning of the word. Research has shown that phonics instruction increases reading and spelling abilities in new readers. Most phonics activities are oral and usually offer an engaging way for new readers to differentiate the sounds that make up the new words they are being exposed to. The two primary types of activities are oral blending and oral segmentation.

Oral blending activities help new readers hear how sounds are put together to make words. They prepare the student to decode, sound out, or blend words independently. Oral blending activities begin with blending larger word parts, like syllables, and progress to whole words sound by sound. Beginning oral activities should use those that begin with continuous consonants like s, m, l, f, r, and z. This makes it easier for the student to hear the distinct sounds and to more efficiently model the principal of oral blending. For example, you can stretch out the word sat to be sssssssssaaaaaaaaatttttttttt. It is often helpful to add visual cue when there is a move from one sound to the next within a word. Oral segmentation activities held new readers to separate words into sounds. These exercises should begin with a focus on syllables because they are easier to distinguish than individual sounds. Segmentation activities prepare the student for spelling, and then writing. A student is developing segmentation skills when he/she begins asking questions like ?What makes the sh sound in shop?? or ?What makes the xt sound in next??

There are a few things to keep in mind when providing phonics instruction to new readers. Don?t stress written words or letters. Over using printed materials before the student is familiar with the alphabet can confuse a new reader. Keep the atmosphere of the class relaxed and informal. This increases STT and the confidence of the students. Monitor each student?s progress through out the term- addressing individual weakness as needs. And continue to offer ongoing praise and encouragement. Keep assessing the phonemic awareness and use by the students. Most importantly, the instructor must provide large amounts of language experiences. Nothing takes the place of reading, writing, and listening to stories or dialogues when learning a new language. 

Phonics training can have a significant impact on learning a new language. By integrating phonemic awareness and practice into their lesson plans, an ESL instructor is providing the student with a powerful tool that will continue to serve them as they develop their new language skills and abilities.

Phonetics/Phonology

Phonetics has been defined by Roach (1992) as the ‘scientific study of speech’ (Roach, 1992: 81.) It is concerned with how speech sounds are formed, how we use them in our spoken language and how we can record these speech sounds using written symbols. Phonology on the other hand has been defined by Roach (1992) as ‘the study of the sound systems of languages’ (Roach, 1992: 82.) 

According to Roca and Johnson (1999), the way in which we speak is somewhat similar to playing a recorder. This is because when you play a recorder you have to blow air from your lungs, as you do when you speak. However, to play a tune, you cannot simply blow air into the recorder; you must have your fingers over specific holes. Therefore, when we speak, we have to interfere with the air that comes out of our mouths to produce a variety of different sounds. Roca and Johnson (1999) gave the example where you ‘place your lower lip loosely on the lower edge of your upper teeth and force the air out.’ (Roca, 1999: 6) The sound that you produce here should sound like the letter ‘f’. However, a problem can occur when attempting to spell words, particularly for those learning English. For example, the ‘f’ in the word food and the ‘gh’ in the word cough are pronounced identically yet spelt very differently. This suggests that the English spelling system is not a completely accurate way of describing how we pronounce sounds. As a result, The International Phonetic Association identified a transcription system where one symbol stands for a specific sound. Consequently, if foreign students learn this alphabet, they should be able to correctly pronounce any word in English. 

Another important area of pronunciation that students should study is that of stress and intonation. Harmer (1998) explains how stress is related to emphasis that is placed on specific words or sentences. Therefore, when we pronounce the syllable with the added stress; our voice will either increase in volume or change pitch. Roach (1992) explains that ‘the position of stress can change the meaning of a word’ (Roach, 1992: 102.) or sentence. For example, if the stress in the sentence ‘he played football yesterday’ was on the word ?he,? we would imagine that it was him that played football. However, if the stress was on the word ‘played’, we would imagine that he only played football, not anything else. Furthermore, we frequently vary the pitch of our voice in a sentence. Roach (1992) believes that this conveys our emotions and attitudes; an example of this is when we are excited as here it is likely we will have a higher pitch of voice yet we will have a lower voice when we are bored. Often when we speak, we use a rise/fall intonation. This is normally perceived as a polite way of speaking and inviting the next person to speak. However, we also use a fall/rise pattern which indicates an element of surprise or disagreement with something that has been said by a previous speaker. It is therefore important that stress and intonation are studied by English students as this will help them understand the meaning of others sentences.

It can therefore be seen from the above information that it is very important to teach students learning English phonology and phonetics. This is because they are essential when trying to understand the meaning of people’s sentences and when trying to learn how to pronounce certain words. 

Phonology & Phonetics

Humans are the only species in the animal kingdom that possess the ability to form a complex spoken language and use it to communicate with each other. After thousands of years of development there are hundreds of different languages and dialects spoken around the globe. Phonolgy and phonetics are concepts that describe and analyze the motor process of spoken language, that is, how the human body produces sounds, how it transmits and organizes them, and how these sounds are used to express meaning. 

In basic terms phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are made, transmitted, and received; it is the study of all possible speech sounds. (Crystal, 1987) Phonology, on the other hand, is the study of the sound system of language, the rules that govern promunication. (Parker, 1986) 

To begin with, phonology is actually a complex topic of study encompassing many different areas of study. The actual word phonology, coming from the Greek language, can be divided into two parts; phone, which means voice or sound, and logos, which means word or speech. Phonology can be considered a subfield of linguistics, which studies the sound system of a specific language or languages. (Wikipedia, 2006) There are two main areas of phonology. One has to do with anatomy and physiology, and the other with socio-linguistics. 

The anatomy and physiology of phonology have to do with the organs of speech and how we learn to use them to produce a spoken language that can be used for communicating with others. These organs make up what is called the vocal tract, the passage from the lips and nostrils to the larynx. The vocal tract is a tube that produces sound when air from the lungs is pumped through it. It is made-up of the lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, palate, velum, uvula, pharynx, epiglottis, esophagus, larynx, and trachea. Once again these specific organs are what set humans apart from other animal species in our unique ability to produce speech.

As phonology is a subfield of linguistics, it accordingly addresses the areas that are studied by socio-linguistics. One major area of study is the phoneme, which in human language is the theoretical representation of a sound. Phonemes are distinctive units of sounds, making up words or syllables. These in turn, make up the phonemic alphabet, developed to reduce the problem of orthography in the English language. The other topics include the concepts of accent, intonation and stress (also known as non- phonemic prosody), as well as topics such as assimilation, elision, epenthesis, vowel harmony, tone, and phonotactics.

Phonetics can be said to be the science of speech. It is the study of the articulatory and acoustic properties of the sounds of human language. The main aim of phonetics is to describe and classify speech sounds. These sounds can be identified with reference to their production in the vocal tract, their acoustic transmission, or their auditory reception. In speech production, phonetics is used to try to explain how the speaker converts the intended linguistic message into the working of the articulatory organs. In acoustic transmission, phonetics tries to explain what the acoustic results of the activity of the articulatory organs are. In auditory reception, phonetics tries to explain how the listener converts the sound waves back into a linguistic message. 

When making this analysis, there are generally six main factors that are referred to. The first is the air stream. The second are the vocal folds, producing a voiced sound (when vocal folds vibrate), or a voiceless sound (no vibration), the vocal folds are open. Thirdly there is the soft palate, producing nasal or oral sounds. Fourth is the place of articulation, a point in the vocal tract where the main closure or narrowing is made at the lips, teeth, or hard palate. Fifth is the manner of articulation, referring to the type of constriction or movement that takes place at any place of articulation. And lastly are the lips, whose position is an important feature of the description of certain sounds being rounded, spread, open, or closed. 

A comparison can be made between phonetics and phonology to help understand the difference between the two. Phonetics is the basis for phonological analysis, whereas phonology is the basis for further work in morphology, syntax, discourse, and orthography design. Phonetics analyzes the production of all human speech sounds, regardless of language; whereas phonology analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language by determining which phonetic sounds are significant and explaining how these sounds are interpreted by the native speaker. 

Phonology and phonetics can be complex topics, but can still be easily applied in the classroom. The teacher can apply them through the following activities: vocabulary work, listening activities, presentations by the teacher of specific rules, controlled practice, speaking, dictionary work and writing activities.