Trabajos

Universidad de Costa Rica

Bachillerato en la Enseñanza del Inglés

Phonetic and Lecture

Difficulties in the pronunciation of the vowel sound /ɪ/ and /iy/, /ɔ/ and /a/ in the 7th grades at Valle del Sol private high school in Guapiles, Pococi.

CHAPTER I 4
INTRODUCTION 4
Problem and importance 5
Justification 6
General objective: 7
Specific objectives: 7
CHAPTER II 8THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 8
Pronunciations Problems 9
Pronunciation 9
Phonetics 9
Intonation 10
Standard English or Received Pronunciation 10
Vowel Sounds 11
Minimal Pairs 11
Learning a good pronunciation 12
Learning 12
Good Pronunciation 12
International Phonetic Alphabet 13
Common Teaching Strategies 13
Lecture 13
Brainstorming 14
Class Discussion 15
Small Group Discussion16
Role Playing 16
Report-Back Sessions 17
Games 18
Oral Presentation 18
CHAPTER III 19
METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 19
Methodological Framework 20
Research Team Work Process 20
Assignment of Tasks among the Research Team Members 20
Chosen Research Tool, Methods and Information Analysis 20
The Scenery 22
High School, General Information 22
CHAPTER IV 23
DATA ANALYSIS 23CHAPTER V 35
COCLUSIONS AND 35
RECOMMENDATIONS 35
CONCLUSIONS 36
RECOMMENDATIONS 38
CHAPTER VI 39
APPENDIX 39
CHAPTER VI 42
BIBLIOGRAPHY 42

GRAPHICS
Graphic #1Do you know about this vowels sounds /I/ and /iy/ and /a/ and /ɔ/? 25
Graphic #2 Read the following pairs of words and try to identify the correct vowel sounds at the time you pronounce it 26
Graphic #3 Doesyour teacher make the difference between each vowel sound when teaching? 27
Graphic #4 Do you think that is difficult to learn pronunciation? Why?....... 28
Graphic #5 Pronunciation lessons in your class are 29
Graphic #6 Which activities does your teacher usually make to teach a good pronunciation? 30
Graphic #7 What kind of the following practice do you do to improve yourown pronunciation? 31
Graphic #8 Which activities would you like your teacher use to improve your pronunciation? 32
Graphic #9 Do you think that your institution have some problems in the way to teach English pronunciation? 33
Graphic #10 What are some problems you think the high school (institution) presents for you to learn and pronounce English? 34


CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTIONProblem and importance
Nowadays the pronunciation is very difficult for students because there are different vowels and consonant sounds that they need to know in order to learn a good pronunciation.
This study was focused in the vowels /I/ and /iy/, /ɔ/ and /a/, due to those are some of the most common mistakes committed by the students in the learning process of pronunciation. It is becausethose vowel sounds are minimal pairs and can be pronounced in slightly different ways. The minor mistake could change the whole meaning of a sentence or word that we use to communicate in a real conversation.
All those who start learning English find its pronunciation rather difficult, especially the Spanish-speaking students. Why? The main reason is that many sounds typical of English do not existin Spanish. Just an example: English has 12 vowels, whereas only 5 are pronounced in Spanish.
Pronunciation is indisputably the biggest skill that people notice when you are speaking English. Good pronunciation should be one of the first things that you learn in English. It is not necessary advanced vocabulary to communicate your ideas, and neither advanced grammar, there are simple grammarstructures you can use. But there is no such thing as "simple pronunciation". If you don't have good pronunciation, you have bad pronunciation.
Bad English pronunciation tends to confuse in a way that you can be pronouncing a word that isn’t related with the topic you are talking about. In contrast, good English pronunciation makes people understand you easily and present yourself with a good...