Phonology

There are four basic steps used in describing a language.  The fancy names are not important. Knowing what the basics steps are and how each step may or may not need explicit instruction and how to provide that explicit instruction is what’s key.  Below are the steps in brief.  See the references for greater depth and study.

No language has a one-to-one correspondence with its written format, thus letters or combos of letters represent different sounds. For example, the letters /o/, /u/, /g/, and /h/ each have individual or multiple sounds by themselves and when combined into ‘ough’ have as many as six depending upon the regional variation: though, through, rough, cough, thought, and bough.

Remember: Phonemes are fickle and change how they sound depending upon who they are with but are recognized by those who speak the language as being the same sound. Think about the difference of how you say the ‘t’ in the words /t/op and s/t/op. Different right? One pops out and the other is softer, but it is the same sound.

There are two basic units: consonants and vowels.  How these units are formed depends upon where in the mouth the sound is formed.  English has 5 long vowels a.k.a diphthongs, 9 short vowels, and 1 reduced vowel. English consonants are either voiced or voiceless and a variety of digraphs or trigraphs (again, combos of letters to express sounds).

What’s important? 1) know where and how these sounds are made, 2) how to demonstrate how these sounds are made, and 3) an understanding that not all languages have the same sounds and representations and not every learner implicitly knows how to make these sounds. A google search of how to make the sounds of English will show a wide variety of resources and videos to help you help your learners.

Phonemes can be individual letters or grouped as vowels or consonants as above or as long, short or reduced sounds.  Do a simple google search on YouTube and you’ll find a plethora of pronunciation videos to help with proper placement of the lips, teeth, and tongue.  It takes some practice to be able to show how to pronounce the different sounds, but keep at it.

What’s important? Again, it’s figuring out what your learners do or do not know or can or cannot produce without help, and finding the correct way to help explicitly teach them the new skill. Some languages have the same sound/letter correspondence, some do not. Some have more/ some have less. Do a little research into the phonology of your learner’s L1 to see what they might need help with.

These are those patterns that native speakers use without thinking. Sounds like /ng/ that only happen at the end of a syllable are subconscious for natives

What’s important? Knowing the basic patterns and possible skills that your students may or may not automatically know.