Teaching English Pronunciation in EFL Classes: Background & Methodology

Chapter OneBackground and Methodology

1.1 Introduction

Language is the first aspect that discriminates human

beings from the other species. It has two features of

communication to convey different forms of a single

language. They are, fundamentally, speech and writing. More

specifically, the researcher sheds light on the spoken

mode, namely pronunciation.

This chapter represents the background and

methodology of this work. The former gathers some key

concepts and funnels through the English language, moving

toward speech and coming at the target point, i.e.,

pronunciation. Moreover, it attempts to clarify the

relationship between pronunciation and the oral

communication skills, as speaking and listening are

concerned. The importance and the problems of teaching /

learning pronunciation take also a portion from this

chapter. However, the latter focuses on the important

research question to be answered, and describes variables,

tools and procedures that the researcher has leant on to

shed light on the problematics and highlights how the

hypotheses have been tested.


1.2 The English Language Language is a very complex concept, far from easy to

define it in any stringent manner that actually captures

its richness. A commonly held belief states that language

is an aspect of the biological system, since the capacity

to acquire a language is innate. However, Edward Sapir

asserts:

Not so language. It is of course

true that in a certain sense the

individual is predestinated to

talk, but that is due entirely to

the circumstance that he is born


not merely in nature, but in the

lap of a society that is certain,

reasonably certain, to lead him to

its traditions.

(Sapir, 1921: 1)

On the contrary of the first belief, Sapir focuses on the

idea that a language is, surely, acquired from society.

Likewise, he adds (1921:3): “Language is a purely human

and noninstinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions,

and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced

symbols.” In this sense, language is a human feature,

beyond to be innate. It enables the human being to

communicate by producing sounds voluntarily.

Nevertheless, the concept of language has, obviously, a

myriad of definitions. They are provided by many linguists

to explain, indeed, this intricate phenomenon. They

unanimously agree that language is a system of arbitrary

vocal symbols used for human communication, i.e., language

is shaped by a set of oral- auditory symbols that ease

humans to communicate, and they are produced by the so-

called “organs of speech”.

Hence, from a functional perspective, language is a

crucial means of communication. It is merely overcome when

the mutual intelligibility is occurred between the speaker

who encodes a message and the hearer who decodes it.


1.3 Speech 1.3.1 Definition

Speech is one of the chief features of the human

being. It is regarded as the human natural language in

which the words are uttered through the mouth and heard

by the ear. The spoken language enables the person to

communicate to his fellows complicated messages

concerning every aspect of daily life. A.C.Gimson states

concerning speech:

A man possessing the normal human

faculties achieves this exchange

of information mainly by means of

two types of sensory stimulation,

auditory and visual.

(Gimson, 1965: 1)

In other words, speech is a human verbal and ephemeral

tool of communication. It is the everyday spoken

utterance of the average person.

Thereupon, Sapir supplements:

Speech is a human activity that

varies without assignable limit as


we pass from social group to

social group, because it is purely

historical heritage of the group,

the product of long-continued

social usage.

(Sapir, 1921: 1)

Sapir focuses on the fact that speech is a heritable

social product that discriminates one social group from

another.

Basically, language is spoken in form of organized

sounds. Thus, speech is said to be a decisive means that

people use to communicate and maintain conversations. It

remains the primary form of language vis-à-vis the

written language which is secondary and derivative as

Barber (1999) views.

1.3.2 Characteristics of SpeechIn ordinary life, the spoken and written modes of a

language are more interrelated than we are accustomed to

think, and in fact, they are thought to be complex and

chaotic. However, speech has some characteristics that

make it the most distinguishable impressive motor skill.

They are as follows:


Speech is oral-auditory: it is transmitted by means of

voice and sounds; it is addressed by the mouth and

received by the ear.

It is a process: speech is both time-bound and dynamic.

It is produced and received almost instantaneously and

is an online process; the recipients can follow its

production from the beginning to the end.

It is temporary: speech is gone immediately after the

process of speaking / listening is stopped. It is

stored in short-term memory for a very short time that

is why we can tolerate false starts, pauses, gapes…

etc, that we forget quickly. But a very small portion

of an instance of spoken interaction is stocked into

long-term memory.

The use of prosody: the use of intonation, stress,

pitch range and rhythm serves to determine the meaning

of utterance and refers to the speaker’s quantifiers

and hedges. In addition to them, speech speed

variation, loudness or quietness, gestures or body

language influence the addressee’s feedback as well.

Speech is lexically spare but grammatically dense,

i.e., the vocabulary is simple and contains short and

less complex words and phrases, whereas the grammatical

structures are intricate and complex.

The complexity and the speed of most speech acts make

it difficult to engage in a complex advanced planning. The


pressure to think whilst speaking promotes looser

construction, repetition and redundancies.

1.4 Pronunciation

1.4.1 Definition

Pronunciation is the act of producing the sounds of a

language, and combining them to form utterances for

authentic purposeful communication. According to the

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, pronunciation is

“the way in which a language or a particular word or a

sound is pronounced.” (Oxford Advanced Dictionary,

2005:1209). Nevertheless, Heaton defines pronunciation

as:

…the ability to recognize and

pronounce the significant sound

contracts of the language. It is

the ability to hear and produce

the melody or the patterns of the

tunes of a language.


(Heaton, 1995, 4)

Pronunciation is, thereon, the concrete face of the

spoken language which is the articulation of speech

sounds that endeavour to make cohesive and coherent

utterances.

1.4.2 The Main Features of Pronunciation

In order to study how something works, it is often

needed to break it down into its constituent parts. They

are said to be segmental and supra-segmental features.

1.4.2.1 Segmental Features

The diagram that is shown below expresses the main

segmental feature of pronunciation, namely the phoneme.


D

iagram 1.1: Segmental Features (adapted from Kelly,

2004: 1)

The English phoneme is regarded as the smallest unit

within the language which is capable to change the

meaning. It goes reasonably into two different

directions: vowels and, therefore, consonants. Yet,

there is no one-to-one correspondence between written

alphabets and spoken sounds.

The most common view is that vowels are sounds in

which there is no obstruction to the flow of the air as

it passes from the larynx to the lips.

English has a large number of vowel sounds (phonemes);

they are scientifically of three kinds:

Phonemes

Vowels

Triphthongs

Single vowels

Short Long

Diphthongs

Consonants

Voiced

Voiceless


Single vowels which are in turn divided into short and

long vowels, e.g., pen /pen/, girl /gз:l/

Diphthongs which are the combination of two vowel

sounds, e.g., right /rаІt/, boy /bϽІ/.

Triphthongs which are the combination of three vowel

sounds, e.g., fire /fаІә/, lower /lәƱә/.

Notwithstanding, consonants are sounds that are

articulated with the obstruction of the flow of the air.

They may be voiced as /b/ /d/ /z/ /v/, i.e., there is a

vibration at the level of the vocal cords in the larynx

when producing them. However, voiceless sounds like

/p/ /t/ /s/ /f/ are produced without vibration. Actually,

consonants are classified into two main aspects:

1. Place of articulation: bilabial as /b/, labiodental

as /f/, dental as /θ/, alveolar as /t/, palato-alveolar

as /ʃ/, palatal as /j/, velar as /k/ and glottal as

/h/.

2. Manner of articulation: plosive as /p/, fricative as

/s/, affricate as /ʤ/, nasal as /ŋ/, lateral as /l/ andapproximant as /w/.

1.4.2.2 Supra-segmental Features

The following diagram illustrates the main supra-

segmental features of pronunciation, specifically stress,

intonation and rhythm.


Diagram 1.2: Supra-segmental Features (adapted from

Kelly, 2004:1)

Retrospectively, phonemes are units of sounds, they

are also known as segments. However, supra-segmental

features are groups of segments; monosyllabic, syllabic

or longer utterances. They are concerned with the

prosodies, i.e., stress, intonation and rhythm.

Stress: in terms of its linguistic function, stress is

often treated under two different headings: word

stress and sentence stress. To begin with a basic

point, it is almost certainly that in all languages

one syllable in a word will sound in some sense

stronger and more prominent than other (s); this

syllable have the potential to be described as

stressed, e.g., about /әʹbаƱt/. It occurs in words called neutrals that are used in isolation and serves

Supra-segmental Features

Intonation Stress

Word Stress Sentence Stress

Rhythm


to indicate their phonological structure (contrastive

stress phoneme) as well as their grammatical function

(distinction between verbs and nouns), e.g., import

(n) /ʹɪmpϽ:t/, import (v) /ɪmʹpϽ:t/. Moreover, the word

stress has another significance as regards compounds

and phrasal verbs, e.g. ʹblackboard and ʹwarm up (n),

respectively.

The sentence stress is a property specific to longer

utterances. Some linguists say that it tends to be

placed on the word which is most important to the

meaning of the sentence. Therefore, the nucleus

stressed syllable is uttered much more louder than the

remaining stressed ones. It is conventionally

symbolized by /ʹʹ/, e.g., Question: ʹʹWho ʹdid it? doer.

Answer: ʹʹI ʹdid it.

It should be noted that within the same utterance

other sentence stresses may be found, e.g.,

Question: ʹʹWho ʹʹdid it? both doer and action

Answer: ʹʹI ʹʹdid it.

In this way, the word and sentence stresses are of

paramount importance in the sense that they make a

basic distinction between linguistic elements, in


addition to conveying different messages. The

alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables

produces rhythm.

Rhythm: the notion of rhythm involves some noticeable

event at regular intervals of time. It has often been

claimed that English speech is rhythmical, and that

the rhythm is detectable in the regular occurrence of

stressed syllables. The regularity of occurrence is

only relative.

The stress-timed rhythm theory states that the times

from each stressed syllable to the next will tend to

be the same, irrespective of the number of intervening

unstressed syllables.

Intonation: another part of supra-segmental phonology

is intonation. No definition is completely

satisfactory, but any attempt must recognize that the

pitch of the voice plays the most important part. In

this sense P. Dale and L. Poms (2005: 83) view: “It’s

not what you say, it’s how you say it.” Similarly,

intonation is defined as: “The way the voice goes up

and down in pitch when we are speaking. Intonation

helps to determine meaning; it gives us clues about

the attitude of the speaker.” (Kelly, 2004: 86)

Thus, intonation refers to the variation in the pitch

of a speaker’s voice that is used to convey or alter

meaning.


Retrospectively, without a sufficient mastery of

the English prosodic system, learners’ intelligibility

and listening comprehension will not advance. In this

light, Brown (1977: 159) explains:

From the point of view of

understanding ordinary spoken

English, the failure to move

beyond the basic elementary

pronunciation of spoken English

must be regarded as disastrous for

any student who wants to be able

to cope with a native English

situation. If the student is only

exposed to carefully articulated

English, he will have learnt to

rely on acoustic signals which

will be denied him when he

encounters the normal English of

native speakers.

(Cited in Gilbert, 2008: 7-8)

In other words, the focus of English pronunciation

instruction should be to give learners the prosodic

framework within which the sounds are organized.

Instructions should concentrate on the way English

speakers depend on rhythm and melody to organize


thoughts, highlight the important words, and thereby,

guide their listeners.

1.4.3 Levels of Pronunciation

The sound quality of vowels and consonants is ranked

the first and foremost source of information to the

listener. Yet, prosody is the second source of

information. Hence, there are four levels of

pronunciation:

1. The Unintelligible Level:

It provides too little information for the listener

because the pupil makes less than the full range of

primary distinction and, consistently, any of the

secondary distinctions.

2. The Intelligible Level:

It provides the listener with enough information; the

pupil makes all the primary distinctions and some

secondary ones.

3. The Acceptable Level:

The listener can easily comprehend; the learner makes

all primary distinctions and a great deal with

secondary ones.

4. The Near-native Level:


The learner is understood and may sometimes be taken

for a native; he makes all the primary and secondary

distinction.

As a result, if there is only time to teach the

awareness of the core system and practice these vital

rhythmic and intonational cues, as well as sounds,

students will achieve a great deal of communication

competence. After all, practicing pronunciation by

focusing only on individual sounds is like using only

part of the language. As one teacher trainee puts it

after a training course,

Practicing pronunciation without

prosody is like teaching ballroom

dancing, only the students must

stand, still practice without a

partner, and without music.

(Cited in Gilbert, 2008: 9)

1.5 The Relationship between Pronunciation and

Speech

Real-life communication seldom involves the use of just

one language skill and so, learners are strongly encouraged

to learn and exercise the integrated use of skills for

authentic, purposeful communication. Pronunciation is an

important aspect of both speaking and listening; to make


sense of what they hear, they need to be able to divide the

stream of speech up into units and discriminate between

features of pronunciation before they can produce them in

their own speech; for example, learners have to be able to

hear the difference between /f/ and /v/ before they can say

correctly the words “fan” and “van”, as it is clarified

next:

Careful listening is the most

important thing; and careful

matching of performance with

listening will bring you nearer to

the ideal of a perfect English

pronunciation.

(O’Connor, 1998: 5)

Thus, nothing should be spoken before it has been heard. In

other words, listening and speaking do have an inseparable

link to pronunciation to quench the thirst of daily life

conversation.

Furthermore, Kelly (2004:11) asserts: “…the inaccurate

production of a phoneme can lead to a misunderstanding.”

i.e., for the purpose of reaching the intelligibility of a

spoken language, correct, accurate, and appropriate

pronunciation plays an important role in conveying meaning.

The following are offered as examples of what might be

regarded as the central principles relating to speaking and

listening, Geoff Dean (2004, 128):


Pupils know that speakers can take increasingly

purposeful control of speaking engagements in a range

of contexts (learners need to be aware of how to

direct and control spoken discourses and to recognize

the different contexts in which that control might be

exercised.).

Pupils know that effective speaking meets the needs of

particular audiences and contexts (different

circumstances and different listeners require

different approaches from speakers, knowing the

correct manner in appropriate situations is a vital

and thoroughly empowering skill.).

Pupils know that listening skills can be improved by

attending in more focused ways to particular oracy

events (being aware that it is possible to develop and

practice listening abilities is a very valuable

starting point for learning to discern all the

subtleties of spoken discourses.).


1.6 The Importance and the Problems of

Teaching / Learning Pronunciation

Pronunciation instruction is a prominent factor in

foreign language teaching. Since sounds play an important

role in communication, foreign language teachers must

attribute proper importance to teaching pronunciation in

their classes. It is evident that communication is a mutual

relationship between the speaker and the hearer. This means

the one must comprehend what he hears in the target

language and must produce the sounds of the language he is

trying to learn accurately. Unless he has sufficient

knowledge of the sound patterns of the target language, he

can neither encode a message to anybody, nor decode the

received message, as it is consented by Kelly (2004: 11):

“A learner who consistently mispronounces a range of

phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from

another language community to understand.”

A further consideration is that pronunciation is the key

that learners are often in need in their language learning.

The majority of them want their pronunciation to be easily

understandable and are often prepared to work hard to

achieve this without being in need of reaching the native-

speaker pronunciation, as Hewings acquaints: “…for the vast

majority of learners, a native-speaker pronunciation is

neither necessary nor even desirable.”(Hewings, 2004:13).


It means that the aim of most is to achieve a mutual

intelligibility in international communication. Yet,

sometimes teaching does not reflect this aim. Pronunciation

is treated as a low priority area of study vis-à-vis the

other components of language such as grammar and

vocabulary, and is sometimes relegated to an “end-of-the-

day” activity or a five minute filer to give learners some

light relief from the “real” work of language learning.

Kelly (2004) believes in a key problem with teaching

pronunciation; it tends to suffer from neglect. Yet, that

may not be due to teachers lacking interest in the subject

but rather to a feeling of doubt as to how to teach it.

Language learners, on the other hand, often show

consideration enthusiasm and a stature of awareness of the

cruciality of pronunciation. So, paradoxically, even though

both teachers and learners are keen on the subject, it is

often neglected.

Notwithstanding, Kelly (2004:13) suggests three solutions

that teachers of pronunciation are in need:

A good grounding in theoretical knowledge.

Practical classroom skills.

Access to good ideas for classroom activities.

From another spotlight, Harmer (2001) rises the

“intonation” problem. For many teachers the most

problematic area of pronunciation is intonation. Some of


teachers and learners find it extremely difficult to hear

“tunes” or to identify the different patterns of rising and

falling tones, whereas, this does not mean that we should

abandon intonation teaching altogether, because the

inaccurate use of prosody can cause problems in

interactions.

In a nutshell, pronunciation instruction is of great

importance for comfortable, intelligible and successful

communication, since it is an important ingredient of the

communicative competence.


1.7 Research Methodology

The study is based on the problematic statement, the

research question, research hypotheses, research

objectives, the study participants, data collection and

data analysis procedures.

1.7.1 Statement of the problem

Pronunciation is the bridge through which the message

is delivered; proper and correct pronunciation is the

soul of comfortable and successful communication.

Notwithstanding, it is common knowledge that a large

number of teachers ignore pronunciation in language

teaching, and thereby, many learners also put it apart.

However, the reasons for this negligence vary greatly.

This is the case in EFL Literary as well as Scientific

streams of secondary school pupils. From the primary

survey upon the research society (participants), the

researcher has eyed a very influential and essential

point that the first year teachers of English at the

level of high school do not, really, give a great

importance and much more efforts to teaching

pronunciation, albeit it is considered as the significant

and the basic component in teaching / learning foreign


languages, and hence to make the learner of English

language comfortably intelligible.

1.7.2 Research QuestionThe last decades witness the dominance of the English

language upon the globe. Communication through speaking

is, undoubtfully, the effective means to run after this

globalization. Customarily, correct pronunciation

guarantees communicative efficiency, as Harmer (2001:183)

argues convincingly: “…pronunciation help allows students

to get over serious intelligibility problems.”

Paradoxically, it is carelessly treated in EFL

classrooms. Thus, the researcher spotlights on this

critical angle by asking the following question:

Why do not teachers focus on teaching a proper

pronunciation to reach the intelligible level of

their pupils’ ways of speaking?

1.7.3 Research Hypotheses

The question upon which this study stands endeavour to

come at the real reasons that hide behind the negligence

of teaching pronunciation. Consequently, the investigator

hypothesizes the next:


Pronunciation study is too difficult, boring and

useless for young learners of the target

language.

A foreign language acquisition is, definitely,

overwhelmed by learning grammar and vocabulary.

1.7.4 Research Objectives The prerequisite for finding out the real reasons that

stand behind the careless treatment towards pronunciation

makes this study ought to be occurred. The researcher

puts her hands on the most sensitive cellule that damages

the teaching / learning tissue, and thereby, she

endeavours to suggest the efficient remedies to get rid

of this negligence that thwarts the pupils’ improvements

in speaking skill. In this light, Harmer urges:

“Pronunciation teaching not only makes students aware of

different sounds and sound features, but can also improve

their speaking immeasurably.” (Harmer, 2001: 183)

1.7.5 Research Design / Methods / Procedures

To affirm the authenticity of the above hypotheses,

the researcher has used one research technique which is

sufficient and capable to collect the desirable data from

the chosen participants.

1.7.5.1 Sampling


To reach the objective of this study, Cohen (2000)

states that a valid sample is very important as it

represents the whole population in question. (Cited in

Meghaghi, 2011: 28). Therefore, the study involves a

sample of 40 pupils from Hamdan Khoudja secondary school.

They have been selected from the 1st Year Literary and

Scientific streams. The learners belong to the same

socio-cultural background and educational system. They

are the result of 5 years of learning English as a

foreign language including the current year.

Approximately, the chosen sample involves no autonomous

learner of English language outside the classroom and

their interests towards this language vary between

English as a required school subject and a future field

of study at the university. Whereas, 10 teachers who are

from different secondary schools vary between novices,

tenured and experienced teachers of English language.

They share the same socio-cultural background with their

learners. This sample contributes widely in highlighting

the problem of teaching pronunciation negligence.

1.7.5.2 Data CollectionThe researcher attempts to employ the fittest data

collection that she reasonably sees its capability to

provide useful and usable data in order to ensure the

study hypotheses. They have been collected from the

construction of a restrictive questionnaire instrument


which was addressed to the teachers’ sample, and another

one oriented to Hamdan Khoudja 1st Year EFL pupils where

the study is conducted during the academic year 2012 /

2013. Data will be analyzed quantitavely and

qualitatively to extract the problems that hinder the

correct pronunciation teaching.

1.7.5.3 Data Analysis Procedures

Seliger and Shohamy (1989: 201) claim that the

usefulness of data analysis is to “sift, summarize, and

synthesize the data for the purpose of arriving at the

results and conclusion of the research.” (Cited in

Meghaghi, 2011: 29). The researcher addressed

questionnaires to both pupils and teachers to seek their

stances and treatments towards teaching / learning.

1.7.5.3.1 The pupils’ Questionnaire

There is no doubt that questionnaires have a strong

role in collecting more precise data and appropriate

information to decode the problematics. In this

respect, Wilson and McLean (1994: 245) point out:

The questionnaire is a widely used

and useful instrument for

collecting information, providing

structured, often numerical data,

being able to be administered


without the presence of the

researcher, and often being

comparatively straightforward to

analyze.

(Cited in Meghaghi, 2011: 30)

Thus, the 1st Year pupils’ questionnaire (see

Appendix 1) have been organized under closed questions

from which they have to select the appropriate answer

for them, also some dichotomous questions requiring ‘a

yes/ no response’. The designed questionnaire is

intended to investigate the pupils’ views towards

teaching / learning pronunciation, and furthermore, to

reach its real treatment by teachers themselves.

1.7.5.3.2 The Teachers’ Questionnaire

To find out how much ignorance that teachers give to

pronunciation and to seek why they neglect it, the

teachers’ questionnaire have been organized under 2

open-ended questions and 1 closed question, in addition

to 6 dichotomous questions requiring ‘a yes/no

response’, (see Appendix 2).


1.8 Conclusion

The first chapter comes to end, from which we recognize

that pronunciation is clearly a central factor of learners’

success since it directly affects their communicative

competence as well as performance to a substantial extent.

The researcher attempts to slim the pronunciation

background down. Yet, in a way that she does touch the main

aspects including its close relationship with the spoken

language and its importance in teaching a foreign language.


In addition to the theoretical part, the research

methodology takes place as well. It frames the study with

the problematics that occupies the researcher’s mind, the

hypotheses, the objectives and the study procedures.

It is worthy to say that the background of this chapter

serves to show the ideal image of pronunciation and how it

should be treated. Notwithstanding, the following chapter

will give the real image and how it is, in fact, treated in

the 1st Year high school EFL classes where the study

occurs.

Notes to Chapter One


Speaking skill: it is one of the basic skills in learning foreign language besides listening, reading

and writing. It is the productive (overt) skill in the

oral mode. For effective oral communication, learners

need to acquire a range of speaking skills and

strategies, these include: accuracy, fluency,

appropriateness, cohesion, coherence and interaction

strategies.

Listening skill: it is the receptive (covert) skill. It is essential for learning since it enables students

to acquire insights and information and to achieve

success in communicating with others.

Interaction strategies: such as seeking further information, asking for clarification, negotiating

meaning and taking turns appropriately at relevant

points in an oral interaction.

Pitch: it is an auditory sensation that refers to the frequency of vibration of the vocal cords, i.e., when

we hear a regularly vibrating sound such as a note

played on a musical instrument, or a vowel produced by

the human voice we hear a high pitch if the rate of

vibration is high and a low pitch if the rate of

vibration is low.


Melody: it is also called intonation. It refers to thevariations in the pitch of a speaker’s voice used to

convey or alter meaning.

Teaching English Pronunciation in EFL Classes: Background & Methodology

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