CC BY
110THE ROLE OF PRONUNCIATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Musurmonova Sh.I.
Musurmonova Shokhista Ilkhomovna — student, ENGLISH FACULTY, UZBEK STATE UNIVERSITY OF WORLD LANGUAGES, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: in this article, we will see that the pronunciation of the students is important in studying foreign languages. Although the usefulness of teaching pronunciation is one of the most widely debated subjects in the field of language teaching, current pedagogical thinking and research on pronunciation reveals that intelligible pronunciation is a very essential component of communicative competence.
Keywords: pronunciation, consonants, intonation, songs, games, tongue-twister.
We know that in the process of globalization, the pronunciation of a foreign language plays an important role. This has led to controversy over many controversial issues. The growing emphasis on communicative approaches for the teaching of English has placed higher demands for correct pronunciation. In some countries, including Indonesia, tests for both listening and speaking now comprise portions of high school. Despite this fact, the usefulness of teaching pronunciation still remains one of the most widely debated subjects in the field of language teaching. On the other hand, the opponents of pronunciation instruction, also supported by some research results, would suggest that teachers can make little or no difference in improving their students' pronunciation. In the field of language teaching, the role of pronunciation has varied widely from having virtually no role in the grammar-translation method to being the central focus in the audio-lingual method where emphasis is on the traditional notions of, minimal pairs, drills and short conversations (Castillo, 1990). Changing outlooks on language learning and teaching have influenced a move from teacher-centered to learner-centered classrooms. Concurrently, there has been a shift from specific linguistic competencies to broader communicative competencies as goals for teachers and students (Morley, 1991: 481 -520).
Morley states the need for the integration of pronunciation with oral communication, a change of emphasis from segmentals to suprasegmentals, more emphasis on individual learner needs, meaningful task-based practices, development of new teacher strategies for the teaching, and introducing peer correction and group interaction. Without adequate pronunciation skills, the learner's ability to communicate is severely limited. Morley believes that not attending to a student's pronunciation needs, 'is an abrogation of professional responsibility' .The current research and the current trend reversal in the thinking of pronunciation shows there is a consensus that a learner's pronunciation in a foreign language needs to be taught in conjunction with communicative practices for the learner to be able to communicate effectively with native speakers. According to Morley (1991: 500), the goal of pronunciation should be changed from the attainment of 'perfect' pronunciation (a very elusive term at the best of times), to the more realistic goals of developing functional intelligibility, communicability, increased self-confidence, the development of speech monitoring abilities and speech modification strategies for use beyond the classroom. The overall aim of these goals is to develop student' spoken English that is easy to understand, serves his individual needs, and allows a positive image of himself as a speaker of a foreign language. The student needs to develop awareness and monitoring skills that will allow learning opportunities outside the classroom environment. To achieve it, pronunciation teaching requires teaching methods and objectives that include 'whole-person learner involvement', which could be realized by providing three dimensions: the learner's intellectual involvement,
affective involvement, and physical involvement. By comparing the sound system of the students' native language with that of the target language, the teacher can predict the likely that his students will encounter and plan teaching strategies accordingly. Pardede's (2007) study, for instance, revealed that five sounds of English fricatives, namely were difficult to produce by the Indonesian students. They are often replaced either by a similar Indonesian consonant or by another English one. For instances while pronouncing 'that', some said /det/; to pronounce 'with', the majority of subject said /w It/ and some other said /wld/; and to pronounce "issues", some of the subjects said /Dsu:s/ and some others said /Isu:z/. Consequently, Indonesian speaker of English tend to pronounce all consonants without any aspiration at all.
Using songs, games, and tongue twisters can increase students' motivation in a pronunciation class: motivation is a highly significant factor in pronunciation. The more motivated the student is to improve his speech, the more rewarding the teaching will be. In choosing songs, the first consideration is that they should be simple enough for the students to practice stress and rhythm as well as individual sounds. Eventually, the song helps the students pronounce the phoneme and allows the weaker ones to feel a real sense of achievement when they are able to sing it. Using games in a pronunciation class can also increase students' motivation. Pronunciation and sound-discrimination games can make practice in this area lively and entertaining. MINI-BINGO is a good game for discriminating sounds and WILD GUESS is suitable for practicing the uses of intonation. Tongue twisters are particularly useful for the students who have unique pronunciation problems. Before teaching the students the English /s/ and /x/.
To sum up, It is obvious that if the students and the teacher participate together in the total learning process, all students can do well in learning the pronunciation of a foreign language. With this in mind, the teacher must then set achievable goals that are applicable and suitable for the communication needs of the student. The student must also become part of the learning process, actively involved in their own learning.
References
1. Baker, A. (1992) Introducing English Pronunciation: A Teacher's Guideto Treeor Three? And
Shipor Sheep? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Castillo, L. (1990) "L2 Pronunciation Pedagogy: Where have we been? Where are we headed?"
The Language Teacher. Vol.XIV, No. 10. 3-7.
3. Fangzhi, Cheng. (1998). "The Teaching of Pronunciation to Chinese Students of English."
English Teaching Forum, Volume 36, Number 1, Jan-Mar 1998.
