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IMPROVING LEARNER'S PRONOUNCATION SKILLS AT SCHOOL
1 2 Khujayeva S.S. , Komilova Sh.B. (Republic of Uzbekistan)
Email: [email protected]
1Khujayeva Sayyora Satimbayevna - Assistant teacher; 2Komilova Shohista Bakhodir qizi - Student, FOREIGN PHILOLOGY FACULTY, ENGLISH LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT, URGENCH STATE UNIVERSITY, URGENCH, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: aim of this article is to inform on research intended to find out how pronunciation instruction of English as a foreign language was handled in the language classroom with elementary students and also understand if pronunciation instruction had an impact on students' confidence when using it. Although it can be said that pronunciation is not the most important aspect of FL learning it needs to be acknowledged that without adequate or intelligible pronunciation we would not be able to get our messages across when interacting with others in the FL.
Keywords: English as a foreign language, EFL pronunciation instruction, students' confidence.
УЛУЧШЕНИЕ НАВЫКОВ ПРОИЗНОШЕНИЯ УЧАЩИХСЯ
В ШКОЛЕ 12 Худжаева С.С. , Комилова Ш.Б. (Республика Узбекистан)
1Худжаева Сайёра Сатимбаевна - ассистент учителя;
2Комилова Шохиста Баходир кызы - студент, иностранный филологический факультет, кафедра английского языка, Ургенчский государственный университет, г. Ургенч, Республика Узбекистан
Аннотация: целью данной статьи является информирование об исследованиях, направленных на то, чтобы выяснить, как обучение английскому языку как иностранному было проведено в языковой аудитории с учениками начальной школы, а также понять, повлияло ли обучение произношению на уверенность учащихся при его использовании. Хотя можно сказать, что произношение не является самым важным аспектом изучения FL, необходимо признать, что без адекватного или понятного произношения мы не сможем донести наши сообщения при взаимодействии с другими в FL.
Ключевые слова: английский как иностранный язык, инструкция по произношению EFL, уверенность студентов.
Pronunciation is the action of producing sounds of speech to communicate a message (Dalton & Seidlhofer, 1994). For this reason, possessing a good pronunciation of the FL is vital in oral communication. In addition, it is important to recognize that foreign language students must aim at developing a good pronunciation but this does not mean that they have to sound exactly like a native speaker. Rather, FL speakers need to be understood in the target language (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996). Therefore, the focus on pronunciation needs to be considered as a crucial aspect in FL programs since, as research has shown, some errors will probably never disappear entirely. Little wood (1984) has asserted that "such errors are often described as fossilized, meaning that they become permanent features of the learner's speech"
Consciously or unconsciously, teachers are always teaching pronunciation somehow (Pennington, 1996). There are five different levels at which teachers can handle pronunciation in the language classrooms (Pennington, 1996, p. 225):mechanical(e.g., repetition of minimal pairs);contextualized(e.g. repetition of key words in a listening passage);meaningful(e.g., choice of correct word in a sentence or reading passage);realistic(e.g., a role-play of a situation similar to one that one may face in real life);and real(e.g., discussion of the students' real-life situation or
concerns). However, in FL classrooms, explanations on aspects of pronunciation are through error-correction and seldom are explicit and detailed explanations provided (Griffiths, 2011) to students. Whether teachers are aware or not, they are always teaching pronunciation by being themselves one of the main sources of input of the FL in the classroom. For a long time teachers have used drilling as a way to teach and practice pronunciation (Tice, 2004). Although the overuse of drilling is not acceptable nowadays, this technique remains a useful activity in the classroom if it is applied appropriately. For example, drills can help students to gain confidence because they practice pronunciation as a group and there is no opportunity for others to make fun of somebody if s/he mispronounces a word. Tice (2004) has mentioned that "for drills to be meaningful, learners need to understand what they are being asked to say. Monotonous chanting of decontextualized language is not useful to anyone" ("When We Should Drill," para.
A starting point of language acquisition is that the learner has to think in that language, to deal with new grammar and vocabulary and, of course, he or she has to be willing to sound differently (Pennington, 1996). So, it is crucial to keep in mind what the position of learners is in pronunciation. During the process of FL learning, students are constantly adding words to their linguistic repertoire so they have to learn how to produce the new sounds that are in those new words. When pronouncing a word students are likely to make mistakes. It is very common to note that when a student makes mistakes, their peers are very likely to laugh at them. In turn, this makes most students feel a lack of confidence at the moment of speaking or using the TL. On the other hand, there are students who like to be corrected every single time they commit mistakes and there are teachers who consider doing so unacceptable. Nowadays, FL teachers are likely to focus more on fluency than on accuracy. So, here is a potential conflict regarding teachers' and students' perceptions as to how acquiring pronunciation should be handled.
On the other hand, teachers would say that learning pronunciation is the most difficult work in foreign language acquisition because it may cause inhibition, embarrassment, and fear of losing face (Hedge, 2000). There are FL teachers who would admit their lack of thorough pronunciation knowledge. Moreover, they may need to improve this skill themselves so that they can teach it (Da Silva, 2012). Teachers should realize to what extent their learners are motivated to make all the necessary efforts to learn and practice pronunciation. Nevertheless, although learners are the ones who are acquiring a new language and their perspective of the importance of all aspects of the language is still not formed, teachers should encourage them to do it because, although both teachers and learners are interested in pronunciation, it has for the most part been neglected in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms (Kelly, 2000).
To sum up, as learners of a second or foreign language we need to be aware of what pronunciation entails so that we can work on those areas that may be problematic due to our native language background.
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