|
 |
Grammar or Pronounciation more important? | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | Grammar | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6471 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 25 of 28 08 November 2011 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | ||
|
When I taught English as a Second Language, I had a number of students who wanted to be drilled on pronunciation. The problem was that many of them had been studying English long enough that they seemed stuck at a low level of pronunciation, perhaps 3/10 or 4/10. One student in particular would keep making the same mistakes over and over and insist that she was improving. If she had spent half of that time and effort on grammar or vocabulary, she might have made twice as much progress.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| H.Computatralis Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 6116 days ago 130 posts - 210 votes Speaks: Polish*, French, English Studies: German, Spanish, Latin | Message 26 of 28 08 November 2011 at 3:58pm | IP Logged | ||
|
It also depends on what method you use to teach your students the pronunciation. When I showed a French vowel chart to my colleagues and explained the various contrasts (height, backness, rounding) it was an "Aha!" moment and they were able to pronounce the French u right away. You should really explain the phonology to the students just as you explain grammar, using vowel charts, consonant charts, stress marks, etc. Unfortunately, these tools are rarely used in class.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5193 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 27 of 28 08 November 2011 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||
Exactly. u is a rounded i. It's not that hard to understand or explain, but how many teachers know that? There is a serious lack of knowledge about phonology among language teachers, which leads to claims that pronunciation will fix itself or that it's not worth wasting time on. However, it's a real problem for a lot of students who have a hard time being understood by people who aren't teachers and who aren't used to foreigners and these students loose confidence and stop talking. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5193 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 28 of 28 08 November 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | ||
If a student deserves 3/10 or 4/10 on their pronunciation, I think we all agree that they need to work on that. On the one hand, you are confirming that pronunciation needs to be dealt with right from the start, because bad habits don't just fix themselves over time. On the other hand, you are saying that she wasted her time trying to improve her pronunciation. So which is it? What should she do? Should she simply continue to speak with a bad pronunciation and leave it at that, or should she be helped? 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
