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Phonetics: How can Phonemic Awareness Facilitate Effective Reading? - TEFL Blog
Fri, 20 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
Phonetics: How can Phonemic Awareness Facilitate Effective Reading?
Phonemics according to the Merriam Webster dictionary is a branch of linguistic analysis that consists of the study of phonemes. In other words, it could be explained as the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its phonemes. Phonemics awareness, on the other hand, is the ability to examine language independently to its meaning and to manipulate its component sound[1].
Table of Contents
Difference between phonemes and phonics
Universal way of acquiring a language
Why phonemes are important?
Correlation between phonemic awareness and spelling ability
Teachers' Role
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Tefl reviews - Pronunciation And Phonology/phonetic Alphabet Issues - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
Pronunciation and Phonology in the EFL Classroom - Issues with the International Phonetic Alphabet
There are two issues that need to be stressed when working with the international phonemic alphabet. First is the fact that we are no longer concerned with how a word is traditionally spelled. Additionally we need to stress that we are only concerned with the sounds needed to correctly produce a word. So rather than numerous spellings, which can often be pronounced in different ways, we have one symbol representing one sound. Once we can isolate a sound, rather than juggling various spellings, we can work with our students on how to say that sound. Doing that successfully is related to manner and place of articulation, which will be covered shortly. To get a better understanding of... [Read more]
Tefl reviews - Pronunciation And Phonology/phonetic Alphabet - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
Pronunciation and Phonology in the EFL Classroom - International Phonetic Alphabet
A better way to go about imparting how to make sounds or what sounds are utilized in a word, is this international phonemic alphabet. Now we have as mentioned one symbol being used in all the words which share that same sound. Now once we get a little bit more familiar with our phonemic alphabet we can also show how different our different sounds can be as in this symbol for ?ooh?, this symbol for ?ow? and this symbol for ?uh?.
Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design... [Read more]
English as a Non-Phonetic Language - TEFL Blog
Wed, 20 Feb 2019 Linda Dunsmore
Alumni Experiences
English as a Non-Phonetic Language
Like we all know, the English alphabet has 26 letters. These 26 letters can make 44 different sounds or phonemes – 20 sounds come from the vowels a, e, i, o and u; and 24 sounds come from the remaining 21 consonants. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change the meaning of a word.
Table of Contents
The Vowel Sounds
The Consonant Sounds
Syllable Stress
Without Jumping to Conclusions
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If we consider sounds made simply by the letter 'a' for instance, in the word 'apple' – it's /ae/, in 'car' – it's /a:/, in amount – it's /a/, and so on. This, consequently, makes English a... [Read more]
Should Chinese ESL Students Have Explicit Phonetic Instruction? - TEFL Blog
Mon, 20 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
Should Chinese ESL Students Have Explicit Phonetic Instruction?
During nine years of teaching English as a Second language, I have discovered how important phonetics is in learning the correct pronunciation of the English language, and in fact, in any language. Derwing and Munro (2005) emphasize, "It is essential to have an accurate understanding of the target language phonological system to enhance the quality of pronunciation".
Table of Contents
We should look at some of the problems that L2 learners have when trying to produce accurate L1 language patterns.
We also have to take into account the students.
Chinese students are very reluctant to speak in a classroom setting.
So what pronunciation mistakes are most common?
Do you... [Read more]
Phonetics Difficulties for French Students - TEFL Blog
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
Phonetics Difficulties for French Students
One of the most important problems encountered while learning a foreign language is undoubtedly pronunciation. Knowing a language fluently may not always be enough. Fluency level may be open to discussion if an accurate pronunciation is not used. Therefore as teachers, we must teach our students how to use the correct pronunciation. However, pronunciation can be a nightmare for some students, especially for young learners.
Table of Contents
Common Errors in Pronunciation
/h/ Sound
Ways to Fix Errors
Articulation
Simple Way to Overcome the Problem
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Why Learning Phonetics is Important - TEFL Blog
Fri, 22 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Why Learning Phonetics is Important
Linguistics is the scientific study of the human language and its structure, and as any other science, it is divided into different branches or areas of analysis. One of these divisions examines the articulation of sounds and has a name that corresponds to its function: phonetics. Despite the crucial character it plays in its scientific field, the one it performs in teaching is considered roughly secondary. Nonetheless, a change in role assignment could improve the learning of the English language immensely.
Table of Contents
Speaking as a skill
What aspects should you teach?
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Teaching Phonetics - TEFL Blog
Mon, 11 Nov 2019 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teaching Phonetics
This will be a discussion aimed at presenting both the advantages and disadvantages of teaching phonetics. We will show how teaching phonetics help create approachability and reinforce language similarities. Inversely we will look at how English suffers from inconsistent phonetic rules and the conflict between words as written and words as said. We will also look at methods to mitigate these issues.
Table of Contents
Self-awareness
Noticing language similarities
English rules
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mitchell D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent... [Read more]
The Importance of Phonetics when Teaching English - TEFL Blog
Wed, 15 Jul 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
The Importance of Phonetics when Teaching English
For the longest time, people have separated teaching English from linguistics, which tends to include all their subcategories. However, phonetics, in particular, plays an incredibly integral part of the teaching of the English language. Why is an understanding of phonetics important in aiding the teaching pronunciation, articulation, and intonation? Being able to demonstrate how one changes the shape of their mouth, or the placement of their tongue can be the difference between someone speaking correct English and sounding as close as possible to a native speaker. Without at least a basic knowledge of this concept, how can we as teachers properly explain and display the way our... [Read more]
Phonetics and Phonology in the ESL Classroom - TEFL Blog
Wed, 19 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Phonetics and Phonology in the ESL Classroom
What is phonology? Most students have not even heard about it. Whenever I ask my students whether they know or have ever learned about phonetics, the same answers come out, "No, we don't know about it at all". It is no wonder they reply like this because there is no phonetic teaching lesson in English classes from KG to high school here in my country. As for me, I got to study about this only when I attended college. Even then, it wasn't taught comprehensively and I only learned very little. So I couldn't read nor write phonetic symbols very well. Thus I thought it was the most difficult part of studying English.
Table of Contents
Reasons to pay attention to phonetics
Phonetics in the... [Read more]
The Utmost Importance of Phonetics and Phonology - TEFL Blog
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
The Utmost Importance of Phonetics and Phonology
Speech has been used to communicate and express many things since the dawn of man. When we look at wildlife, we can see a pattern in a speech similar to human communication. To truly understand science speech, we must look deeper at the concept of communication.
Table of Contents
Why Speech is Important?
Word Stress
Speech and Communication
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dan S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Why Speech is Important?
World leaders, actors, entertainers, successful businessmen and other professionals... [Read more]
Rules of Phonetics and Phonology in ESL Teaching - TEFL Blog
Wed, 06 Nov 2019 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Rules of Phonetics and Phonology in ESL Teaching
In my experience tutoring students in English as a foreign language, the most overlooked learning points were undoubtedly phonetics, phonology, and their connection to pronunciation. Occasionally, there would be a few students who specifically asked for materials that would allow them to perfect or improve their English accent. Some students even requested to receive tutoring in different accents such as the Australian accent. No matter what the request was, it became clear to me over time that the missing link when teaching pronunciation was its connection to phonology and phonetics. From this point on, I became incredibly interested in this topic.
Table of Contents
My Course Research... [Read more]
The Importance of Teaching Phonetics to ESL Students - TEFL Blog
Wed, 28 Aug 2019 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
The Importance of Teaching Phonetics to ESL Students
How many of us have had to call into customer service only to struggle to understand the employee's English? The simple process to find a solution to a problem often becomes increasingly frustrating and exhausting for both parties. While monolinguistic persons may not appreciate the struggle to learn and master a new language, as instructors to those individuals working to learning English, phonetics is key.
Table of Contents
English alphabet
Why do students need phonetics?
How to teach phonetics effectively?
Practice in isolation
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Why Phonetics and Phonology are Fundamental for Pronunciation - TEFL Blog
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Why Phonetics and Phonology are Fundamental for Pronunciation
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, pronunciation is "how words are pronounced. Pronunciation can be an intimidating prospect for English language learners, especially since English phonetics and phonology hardly seem consistent. The difficulty of English pronunciation should not be underestimated as speaking is a vital component of language learning. Confidence in this skill can be closely linked to students' accuracy and fluency. Therefore, a teacher should understand the basics of phonology and phonetics to help build students' confidence in their speaking skills.
Table of Contents
Phonetics is useful in explaining how words are pronounced.
While phonetics and... [Read more]
Deciphering English Language Sounds: The Realm of Phonetics and Phonology - TEFL Blog
Thu, 12 Oct 2023 Federico Riva
TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas
Deciphering English Language Sounds: The Realm of Phonetics and Phonology
In this blog post, we'll will delve into phonetics and phonology as described in George Yule's book, "The Study of Language." Phonetic and phonology are two branches of linguistics focused on the sound system. They are critical to understanding how speech sounds are produced, which, in turn, shapes language and communication. This discussion will explore various aspects of phonetics and phonology, breaking down the complex world of sounds in the English language.
Table of Contents
Phonetics and the Sound System
Articulation Points
Manner of Articulation
Vowels and Diphthongs
Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language
Teaching... [Read more]
The Importance of Phonetics and Phonology and Suggestions for Their Effective Teaching - TEFL Blog
Fri, 08 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
The Importance of Phonetics and Phonology and Suggestions for Their Effective Teaching
Phonetics and phonology may seem like advanced or 'bonus' aspects of teaching the English language, but they are essential and fundamental to successful English communication for English students. While teaching and practicing concepts like pronunciation, intonation, stress, and articulation may be difficult (or seem outright impossible!), there are several methods and tools which English teachers can employ to help their students master them.
Table of Contents
Clear Understanding
Importance to Teach this knowledge
How to start?
Practical Work
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Tefl reviews - Pronunciation And Phonology/phonemic Spellings Part 1 - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
Pronunciation and Phonology in the EFL Classroom - Traditional Spellings to Phonemic Spellings Pt. 1
Now let's take a look at how we go from traditional spellings into the phonemic spellings. The first step in this process is identifying each unit of sound or each phoneme within a word. Let's look at bet, bit, but, and bought. The only difference in each one of these words is in the vowel sound. We have bet, bit, but and bought. Each word simply uses three sounds. Now we have photo. That's four phonemes. Wow we have taxi. That's five phonemes. We have unite with a hidden phoneme in there being the ?y? sound before anything else. Those are five phonemes as well and now we have a longer word: chemistry. Let's give that a shot. That's eight phonemes used in the word chemistry. Now... [Read more]
Phonological Awareness for Developing Language Abilities - TEFL Blog
Thu, 13 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Phonological Awareness for Developing Language Abilities
Phonology involves studying how sounds are organized in a language to create meaning. It differs in every language as sounds are organized to create words, which are then organized in sentences.
Table of Contents
Understanding both phonology and phonetics is important when teaching language to others.
The English IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) utilizes symbols to represent single sounds.
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jane M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the... [Read more]
Tefl reviews - Pronunciation And Phonology/phonemic Spellings Part 2 - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
Pronunciation and Phonology in the EFL Classroom - Traditional Spellings to Phonemic Spellings Pt. 2
"As mentioned before our four words here all are similar in using the ?b? and ?t? sounds at the end. So we know that those phonemes will be used in spelling each one of those words phonetically. Now what we're left to do is assign a phoneme for our vowel sounds. So if we analyze the word, it's ?e? as in bet. We look at our chart, we see the phoneme which corresponds to that sound and that happens to be the standard ?e? that we all recognize. Here, bet phonetically looks very similar to bet in the Roman script. Now let's take a look at ?i? bit. Now we look at our chart and we see that this symbol represents the ?i? sound and that resembles a capital I not a lowercase I but a capital... [Read more]
How Basic Understanding of Phonetics Can Help Your EFL Teaching - TEFL Blog
Wed, 12 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
How Basic Understanding of Phonetics Can Help Your EFL Teaching
Say the word 'hat' to yourself out loud. Now say 'mouth'. Was it easy? If you are a native English speaker you did it without thinking. You didn't have to contort your face into all sorts of funny shapes or feel self-conscience during the process. The reason is that you already know the phonology of those two English words. You may not understand exactly how you said those words; whether they were plosives or voiced or non-voiced, whether or not the tongue was forward touching the teeth or raised touching the soft palate. You don't need to know. You have heard and said these words hundreds if not thousands of times in your life. You already can say them easily without... [Read more]
Difficulties in English Phonetics and Phonology: How Foreign Learners Can Master it - TEFL Blog
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Difficulties in English Phonetics and Phonology: How Foreign Learners Can Master it
First and foremost I'd like to address why phonetics issues very early piqued my interest in teaching English for foreigners. Ever since childhood, I was surrounded by people with substantial articulatory and auditory phonetic problems, not so much with the acoustic ones.
Table of Contents
Natural Problems
Study Issues
Self-consciousness
Firstly, I attended the sign language and lip-reading courses.
Are my efforts worthwhile?
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Asbiorn B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or... [Read more]
Phonetics/Phonology: Why Teaching this Neglected Aspect of Language is Important - TEFL Blog
Wed, 27 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Phonetics/Phonology: Why Teaching this Neglected Aspect of Language is Important
I chose this topic for my essay because it is not something I had ever given much thought to. As a native speaker, I don't recall studying correct pronunciation in school along with other aspects of language learning such as grammar and vocabulary. Correct, or at least acceptable and understandable, the pronunciation was something that just happened.
Table of Contents
Why is Teaching Phonetics Important?
What is the Best Way to Teach Phonetics?
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I was initially somewhat surprised when I saw that an entire online module had been devoted to the topic, but as I read the module,... [Read more]
Which Difficulties Do German Have Learners with the Phonetics of English? - TEFL Blog
Thu, 07 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
Which Difficulties Do German Have Learners with the Phonetics of English?
In this essay, I will deal with the pronunciation difficulties of German learners of English. In particular, I will treat some issues at the segmental level.
Table of Contents
English German
I will discuss only the final devoicing in this essay
Way to pronounce
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Although both English and German are Germanic languages, the sound inventories of these two languages are quite different, especially the vowels. In the following table, the sounds are listed which exist only in one but not in the other language:
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gisella F. Please note... [Read more]
Top Reasons Why Rules of Pronunciation are Extremely Important for Teachers - TEFL Blog
Fri, 24 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
Top Reasons Why Rules of Pronunciation are Extremely Important for Teachers
Many ESL teachers have never even heard of phonetics or phonology, yet they use these aspects of speech naturally when they speak. Phonetics and phonology are two areas of linguistics that study the sounds of language. Phonetics focuses on individual sounds, while phonology studies the features and combination of sounds (McMahon, 1-3). There are two reasons why ESL teachers need to know phonetics and phonology: first, it helps them to conceptualize English in a way that their students can understand; and second, it helps them to address their students' difficult pronunciation problems.
Table of Contents
Why Students Suffer from Pronunciation Issues?
Lack... [Read more]
Teaching Key Phonics Sounds to Early Learners - TEFL Blog
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Teaching Key Phonics Sounds to Early Learners
A key barrier to achieving fluency for ESL students is a mastery of individual phonics sounds. My experience with ESL students from Southeast Asia has led me to focus on techniques for the particularly difficult L, R, M, and P phonics sounds. In this essay, I propose methods for using the straight arrow ESA lesson plan to introduce and drill phonics sounds with young learners.
Table of Contents
The Engagement Stage
The Study Stage
The Activate Stage
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ethan W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
The... [Read more]
Agency Week TEFL - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
Agency Week TEFL
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A.D. - India said:
PHONETICS?The English Language must be introduced to the Indian students by using the phonetics in all the schools?.
The English Language is difficult to learn as far as the spelling and their pronunciation goes and the same can be well understood by George Bernard Shaw?s poem ?Hints on Pronunciation for Foreigners?. The same is also evident with the examples of similar spellings but different pronunciations as well as different spellings but same pronunciations... [Read more]
Last posts written by Elizaveta from: 1788
Elizaveta Pachina
Liza is a translator, freelancer and ESL teacher from Russia. She had been teaching in a Chinese bilingual school for more than two years and recently moved to Thiland to run her blog about teaching and freelance job.
Read my articles
How Can We as Teachers Motivate Our Students? | ITTT | TEFL Blog
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their thoughts on motivating students to learn English.
Why Teachers Become Important | ITTT | TEFL Blog
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their thoughts on the teachers' importance.
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Tefl Review For In Class Phuket Course 4 - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
TEFL Review For In-class Phuket Course
This is Pam’s video testimonial after the first two weeks of her 1-month TEFL in-class course in Phuket. She learned a lot about English grammar, teaching techniques as well as phonetics. She enjoyed the non-native language classes. After several theoretical classes, the trainees were then able to prepare and teach their own lessons to local EFL students at the center in Thailand. She is excited to work on her student-profiling project as well. She highly recommends the course and is excited to complete the course soon.
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Tefl Review For In Class Beijing Course 2 - ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ITTT
TEFL Review For In-class Beijing Course
This is a TEFL review from Hsing Hui Hsu, a teacher trainer at our Beijing training center in China. She is in charge of teaching grammar and phonology. Before coming to China, she taught in France where she was in charge of phonetics and oral communication. She enjoys working at the training center in Beijing and training TEFL trainees from all over the world who are ready to teach overseas and start their careers as ESL teachers. She recommends the in-class course to anyone who wants to live abroad working as an English language teacher.
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Check out ITTT's Blog Posts
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Last posts written by Elizaveta from: 552
Elizaveta Pachina
Liza is a translator, freelancer and ESL teacher from Russia. She had been teaching in a Chinese bilingual school for more than two years and recently moved to Thiland to run her blog about teaching and freelance job.
Read my articles
Establishing a Deep Rapport In The Classroom | ITTT | TEFL Blog
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
In this article, you will learn how to build rapport between students and teachers deeply and effectively.
Phonetics/Phonology: Why Teaching this Neglected Aspect of Language is Important | ITTT | TEFL Blog
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This blog post is devoted to the problem of phonetics and phonology. Our TEFL graduate shares their thoughts on the point.
The Principles of Teaching ESL in Waldorf Elementary School | ITTT |... [Read more]