MS2-Practical English Phonetics

foreign languages
obligatory courses

Classroom

The main objective of the course "Practical English Phonetics" is acquainting students with the British English system of sounds (RP), recognising sounds in terms of their quality and length, developing correct pronunciation of vowels, consonants and diphthongs.

The main objective of the course is acquainting students with the British English system of sounds (RP), recognising sounds in terms of their quality and length, developing correct pronunciation of vowels, consonants and diphthongs.

Within the course the following issues will be presented and discussed:

- the international phonetic alphabet;

- the characteristics of vowels, diphthongs and consonants;

- improving the pronunciation of vowels, diphthongs and consonants;

- acquainting with the system of stress and intonation in English;

- differentiating the length of vowels;

- excercises in minimal pairs' recognition and production;

- reading the phonetic transcription;

- writing the phonetic transcription;

- exercises on sentence intonation;

- constructing simple pronunciation exercises in early education.

Baker, A. (2003). Ship or Sheep?. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Hancock, M. (1995). Pronunciation games. Cambridge University Press.

Hewings, M. (2007). English Pronunciation in Use Advanced Book with Answers, 5 Audio CDs and CD-ROM. Cambridge University Press.

Wells, J.C. (2004). Pronunciation Dictionary. Longman Ltd.

Knowledge

On completion of the course, the student:

- the student has a basic knowledge of the relevant concepts of phonetics of the English language, such as: phoneme, minimal pair, syllable, diphthong, weak form;

- knows the system of vowels, consonants and diphthongs in English;

- recognizes various types of pronunciation errors and can identify the sources of mispronunciations.

Skills

On completion of the course, the student:

- correctly produces vowels, diphthongs and consonants within the British English (RP);

- correctly reads and writes the phonetic transcription in English;

Attitudes

On completion of the course, the student:

- evaluates the correctness of pronunciation of words in British English;

- identifies the errors and mistakes in pronunciation, corrects them;

- appreciates the importance of teaching correct pronunciation in early language education;

- can create simple pronunciation activities for the students in early education;

- integrates the pronunciation activities within the other aspects of early language education.

The assessment is based on

1) attendance,

2) preparation for classes and doing homework (exercises, assignments),

3) active participation in classes,

4) oral test at the end of the course.

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