Practice Teaching

 1.     What are the characteristics of teaching-learning materials (TLM)?

Teaching aids are cheap and easy to carry. Teaching aids should be simple and able to adjust to classroom situations. Teaching aids make lessons enjoyable and interesting for the students. These aids save time, energy and the burden of a teacher. The characteristics of good teaching-learning materials are The TLMs need to be attractive to the children, Familiarity of TLMs will help to introduce new concepts, Novelty of the material also attracts the children, and the material should have utilitarian value. The role of TLMs in the classroom are to make learning real, practical and fun for children. Teachers use TLMs to illustrate or reinforce a skill, fact or idea. TLMs also help in bringing novelty and freshness in classroom teaching as it relieves learners from anxiety, fear and boredom. The TLM is a spectrum of educational materials that teacher uses in the classroom to support specific learning objectives, to help students improve or reinforce special skills and sometimes to make learning fun. In short, we can say Teaching Learning Materials are must for constructive knowledge.

2.     Explain the different types of teaching aids.

The traditional teaching aids involve the usage of blackboards, posters, globes, charts, textbooks, etc. However, as technology grows, teaching aids have also improved a lot, and today's teaching aids are classified into audio aids, visual aids, mechanical teaching aids, audio-visual aids, and more.

Different list of teaching aids classified as follows:

Traditional Teaching Aids: Traditional teaching aids include learning through Books, Periodicals, Blackboard etc.

Visual Teaching Aids: Visual Teaching aids include posters, model, figure, chart, graph etc. It also includes graphics such as diagrams, cut-outs, globe, objects, cartoon, info-graphs, bulletin board, flannel board, picture, map and others.

Mechanical Teaching Aids: Mechanical teaching aids include an Audio teaching machine, tape recorder, radio, motion picture, Projector, epidiascope, filmstrips.

Audio-Visual Teaching Aids: This type of teaching aid includes video, Cassettes, Films, television, and others.

Visual Material Teaching Aids: Outline charts, organization charts, tabular charts, flow charts etc. are also used in visual Material Teaching aids.

3.     List any two important teaching aids and explain them in detail.

Visual aids are the most essential teaching aid that teachers always use in their teaching-learning process every day. Books, blackboards, indicators, pictures, maps, graphs, bulletin boards, museums, projectors are necessary visual aids.

Books:

A textbook is a collection of the knowledge, concepts, and principles of a selected topic or course. It's usually written by one or more teachers, college professors, or education experts who are authorities in a specific field. Most textbooks are accompanied by teacher guides, which provide you with supplemental teaching materials, ideas, and activities to use throughout the academic year.

Textbooks provide you with several advantages in the classroom:

Textbooks are especially helpful for beginning teachers. The material to be covered and the design of each lesson are carefully spelled out in detail.

Textbooks provide organized units of work. A textbook gives you all the plans and lessons you need to cover a topic in some detail.

A textbook series provides you with a balanced, chronological presentation of information.

Textbooks are a detailed sequence of teaching procedures that tell you what to do and when to do it. There are no surprises—everything is carefully spelled out.

Textbooks provide administrators and teachers with a complete program. The series is typically based on the latest research and teaching strategies. Good textbooks are excellent teaching aids. They're a resource for both teachers and students.

Blackboard is a teaching aid with a reusable writing surface. The teacher uses the blackboard to facilitate learning, improve reading skills and present new lessons. The blackboard is probably the simplest, cheapest, most convenient, and widely used non-projected visual aid in extension teaching.

Using Blackboard can be helpful to you and your students. Blackboard is a course management system that allows you to provide content to students in a central location, communicate with students quickly, and provide grades in an electronic format to students.

4.     How do students commit spelling errors?

The major cause of the of learners' spelling errors is due to the wrong use of vowels and pronunciation. Why do students commit spelling mistakes?

Due to deficiency of teachers' guidance, lack of proper spelling instruction at schools, they do not know how to produce a word correctly for appropriate spelling. Poor Reading and Listening Skill: According to majority of the students, they committed spelling errors due poor reading and listening skill. Common Spelling Errors and caused by students due to Single/Double Letters. Sometimes, you may be getting confused in some words as to whether you should put a single letter or double letters in those words. ...

Silent Letters. ...

Position of 'i' and 'e' ...

Confusion with 'or' and 'er' ...

Writing How you Speak. ...

Words that Sound Similar.

5.     How can errors and mistakes be avoided in class-room teaching/

A grammatical error is an instance of faulty or controversial language use. It makes it hard for the reader to understand what you're saying. One of the most common grammar errors is to have a subject and a verb that don't agree in number. Whenever a sentence has a single subject, it should use a singular verb (such as "he is"). When a sentence has multiple subjects, it should use a plural verb (such as "they are").

Pronoun mistakes occur in sentences where the pronoun does not agree in number with the noun to which it refers.

A modifier is a word or phrase that gives the reader more information about a subject.

It's important to make sure your modifiers are attached to the right subject in the sentence.

If they are not, the modifier becomes a dangling modifier, which is a word or clause that's attached to the incorrect subject.

Sentence fragments occur when you write a sentence that doesn't include a subject, a verb, and a complete thought. If you've forgotten to include a subject or a verb in the sentence, that means your sentence is incomplete. That's why we call it a fragment—it's only one part of the whole.

There can either be an adverb, adjective, or pronoun depending on how it is used, and usually indicates place.

Their is a plural possessive pronoun that means “belonging to them.”

Mixing up which and that is a common grammatical error made by experienced and novice writers alike. These two words serve similar functions in a sentence, but they are not interchangeable.

The word which should be used to introduce non-restrictive clauses—an additional, but not essential, part of a sentence.

The word that introduces a restrictive clause, which is a necessary part of a sentence that cannot be removed.

Who and whom are two commonly confused pronouns. Who refers to the subject of a sentence, while whom refers to the object of a sentence.

6.     How do you rectify concord errors in English?

Concord is the relationship between the subject (Who or what the sentence is about) and the verb in a sentence. If the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular. If the subject is in the plural form, the verb must also be in the plural form.

In the above sentence, the subject is “Group” and it is in the singular. (Do not get confused by the word, “Boys, “ which is in the plural). The sentence is about a group; boys are mentioned only as a way of specifying what the group is made up of.

The verb in this sentence is, “Are hoping.” The word, “Hoping,” is the main verb describing the action being done and the verb, “Are,” is the auxiliary verb helping us to quantify how many people are doing the action of hoping. “Are,” refers to many people and therefore makes the verb plural.

The relationship between the subject and verb is therefore faulty because we have a Singular Subject-Plural Verb situation. To correct a concord error, one must always change the verb, not the subject. What or who the sentence is about must not change just because you want to have correct concord.

After changing the verb, “Are,” to the singular form (“Is”), a Singular Subject-Singular Verb relationship is created. The new corrected sentence thus reads:

The group of clever students is hoping to earn distinctions in all their examinations.

What are the possible mistakes that may be committed by teachers?

Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) is a major challenge when teaching English to Indian students. This is because Indian languages and English have different phonetic structures. In India, there are many different dialects and languages spoken, each with its own unique set of sounds and pronunciation patterns.

1. Don't use imprecise language in teacher talk.

Studies have shown that teacher-talk helps students learn the terminology that they will later use and provides a model for the students' own use of language. If you talk about "words" or "doing-words" so will they.

INSTEAD, start with the basics. Don't talk about "words" talk about nouns, verbs, adjectives etc.

Modelling should not stifle students but allow them to have fun with their work. Copying is passive, boring and although it may tick boxes, feels a little bit like plagiarism. Modelling when done well can transform learning, but it is complex and can go wrong. It needs to be an embedded technique that students are used to, along with all the mistakes that they will make along the way. 

Grammar really does deserve better treatment than this. Research shows that teaching grammar exercises by worksheet or rote learning does not work. It is also boring and turns students off learning. Drill should not be banned but used as a tool in the correct place when needed.

By using a drill activity for writing, then seeing it used in context before being asked to try it in their own writing, the grammar is contextualised, helps with learning and helps with the memory processes needed to learn. Do use drill, but like sugar, use sparingly and for maximum effect.

Grammar in speech is just as important. When children from disadvantaged backgrounds start school, not only do they have a disadvantage in the words that they know and can understand but also a disadvantage in the grammatical constructions that they use in speech. Speech has an impact on learning in two ways: the language they hear and the language they use. If a student can't say it, then they won't write it. 

 

INSTEAD, make sure students use correct grammar in their speech and are corrected if they do not. Sloppy speech = sloppy writing.

Give some examples of common error committed while using ‘articles’ in English

7.     Common errors in the use of articles

Incorrect: We live in village.

Correct: We live in a village. OR We live in the village.

Incorrect: She works in pub.

Correct: She works in a pub. OR She works in the pub.

 

A singular common noun (e.g. boy, girl, tree, country, teacher, village etc.) must have an article. A plural common noun can be used with or without an article.

Incorrect: He is best player in the team.

Correct: He is the best player in the team.

Incorrect: She is fastest runner.

Correct: She is the fastest runner.

 

The definite article the must be used with superlative adjectives.

Incorrect: The Paris is big city.

Correct: Paris is a big city.

Incorrect: I live in the Mumbai.

Correct: I live in Mumbai.

 

If the noun is proper it will take no article. Note that a proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or thing. Examples are: Sam, Mary, India, Paris, London etc.

Incorrect: The iron is a useful metal.

Correct: Iron is a useful metal.

Incorrect: The gold is yellow.

Correct: Gold is yellow.

 

Articles are not used with material nouns. Examples are: gold, silver, iron, wheat, rice etc.

Incorrect: We should not make noise.

Correct: We should not make a noise.

Incorrect: I have an urgent business.

Correct: I have urgent business. OR I have some urgent business.

 

Note these fixed expressions.

Incorrect: Do you sell eggs by kilo or by dozen?

Correct: Do you sell eggs by the kilo or by the dozen?

 

8.     Suggest a few remedial strategies to avoid errors and mistakes.

Use much if the noun is non-countable (e.g., water, sand). Use many if the noun is countable (e.g., oranges, children). For example:

I don't have much money.

They own many houses.

few vs little

A very common English mistake is the wrong use of little and few. Remember that little refers to non-countable nouns, and is used with the singular form to indicate that something exists only in a small amount or to a slight degree. Few, on the other hand, refers to countable nouns, and is used with the plural form to indicate not many persons or things. For example:

I've got little money left in my account.

Ben has few friends in London.

some vs any

One way to avoid common English mistakes is to keep in mind that you use some when the context is positive and any when it is negative. Additionally, use any in most cases when asking a question. For example:

I have some money / I don't have any money

I put some jam in the sandwich / I didn't put any jam in the sandwich

some vs many

Use some in a positive context when you don't want to specify the number or quantity. Use many with countable nouns, when you want to refer to a large but indefinite number. For example:

I bought some apples / I bought many apples.

She made some friends in NY / She made many friends in NY

little vs less

Little refers to non-countable nouns, and is used with the singular form. Less is the comparative form of little. Use less in comparative structures, especially before uncountable nouns. For example:

I have less homework to do today than I had yesterday.

I have little homework to do before I leave.

a little vs a lot

Use a lot for non-countable nouns (e.g., jam, time) to indicate many, or a large number. Use a little for non-countable nouns to indicate a small number. Notice that a lot is followed by the word of (unlike a little). For example:

I don't have a lot of money.

I owe him a little money.

fewer vs less

Less is the comparative form of little. It is used especially before uncountable nouns. Fewer is the comparative of few. It is used before plural nouns. For example:

Jeff drinks less alcohol than John.

I have fewer pairs of shoes than I used to have.

farther vs further

As a rule of thumb, use farther to indicate physical distance and further to indicate metaphorical, or figurative, distance. For example:

How much farther is the sun than the moon?

The product needs further testing.

later vs latter

Use later when referring to time. Use latter when referring to the second of two persons or things mentioned previously. For example:

Brenda said that she would call me later.

"There are two kinds of worries: those you can do something about and those you can't. Don't spend any time on the latter." (Duke Ellington)

last vs latter

Use latter to refer to the second of two persons or things that have been mentioned. When more than two have been mentioned, use last. For example:

He preferred oranges to apples, because the latter were not as juicy.

He saw Leathal Weapon 1, 2, and 3 and liked the last one most.

 

9.     Explain error analysis in language learning

Error analysis is defined as a technique for identifying, classifying, and systematically interpreting the unacceptable form produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics. Error can be classified according to basic type: omissive, additive, substitutive or related to word order. They can be classified by how apparent they are: overt errors such as "I angry" are obvious even out of context, whereas covert errors are evident only in context. Errors analysis helps learners to create connections between ideas and concepts. Errors analysis help teachers to understand the weak lesson of the students so that they can improve them by applying different teaching-learning methods. While interlingual errors are caused mainly by mother tongue interference, intralingual or developmental errors originate in the following factors: simplification, overgeneralization, hypercorrection, faulty teaching, fossilization, avoidance, inadequate learning, and false concepts hypothesized. The aim of error analysis is to find and to know the characteristics of error that is done by students in their writing and make reconstruction in the students writing. The error analysis is not only done for correcting but also reflecting for the learning and teaching strategies to be made.

 

10.  What are the various factors of committing errors?

The two major causes of error, coined by the error analysis approach, are the Interlingual error which is an error made by the Learner's Linguistic background and Native language interference, and the Intralingual error which is the error committed by the learners when they misuse some Target Language rules. It reveals that the errors found are classified into 24 types, and the top ten most common errors committed by the students are article, preposition, spelling, word choice, subject-verb agreement, auxiliary verb, plural form, verb form, capital letter, and meaningless sentences. Sources of error are divided into 5 types, namely interlingual errors, intralingual errors, teacher-induced errors, language-learning strategies, and communication strategies. Interlingual errors are errors caused by the source language or language that the learner has. There are many kinds of errors that may be produced by language learners, both second and foreign languages. For example, spelling errors (mashroom, successfull, deligent, etc), grammatical errors (I cooking fried rice, she have a lot of money, game was begun, John reads book everyday, etc). According to Keshavarz (2012: 89), errors are classified into 4 categories, namely orthographic errors, phonological errors, lexico-semantic errors (errors between words and meanings), and morphological-syntactic (errors between word forms and grammar).In addition to the 4 categories of errors above, Kotsyuk (2015: 393) added several categories of errors namely punctuation errors and style errors. Punctuation errors are those related to punctuation such as periods (.), Commas (,), semicolons (;), upper quotes ("), question marks (?), Exclamation points (!), and so on. For example: each sentence usually ends with a question mark (?). If there is a question sentence with an exclamation point (!) Then the sentence has an error in its punctuation. Style errors are those regarding the format that is not appropriate, for example, there is no space after the comma punctuation (I have novels, drama, and poetry) or capital letters (john has many books).

 

11.  Is error a problem or a teaching strategy? Offer your perspectives.

Controlled error is highly motivating in the learning process because the possibility of undoing a wrong action, without leaving sequelae, helps the learner to participate without fear, reinforce knowledge and predict errors that have already been experienced in each performance. Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning. If used constructively, errors can be a wonderful tool in a teacher’s stockpile of resources for instructing students. Another extensively used resource is visual presentation — the art of conveying an idea or concept with a picture, a diagram, or flow chart. A recent study shows that these two teaching aids can be combined to help students gain a better understanding of abstract concepts. The study demonstrates that when students are given a flawed diagram explaining a concept and asked to spot and explain errors in it, they attain a better grasp of that concept than those asked to learn with accurate diagrams. However, this approach requires three specific conditions — that the symbology in a diagram must be absolutely clear, that students must already have a good understanding of the subject, and finally, students must be willing to study such diagrams closely and thoroughly. The idea of deliberately introducing errors, a concept known as ​‘negative knowledge’ or the ​‘knowledge of how something is not, in contrast to how it really is’ has been applied in teaching mathematics, its use in classrooms to tackle conceptual misunderstandings however, is not widespread.  However, a student in a hurry may simply memorize the wrong facts without bothering to check the instructions accompanying the material. In conclusion, deliberately introduced errors in visual aids can foster an error-tolerant classroom culture by showing that learning from errors is not only possible, but also desirable. 

 

12.  Committing errors are inevitable. Do you agree? – justify

Most, if not all, of your mistakes, can be excellent learning opportunities. In fact, learning from failure is often the key to success. By getting things wrong, you'll improve your skills and grow in various ways. If you're learning, you won't go wrong. Foreign language learning is a process of hypothesis and trial and error occurrence is inevitable. So the teacher should learn to tolerate some errors, especially some local errors. Errors bear the potential to improve knowledge acquisition, provided that learners are able to deal with them in an adaptive and reflexive manner. However, learners experience a host of different—often impeding or maladaptive—emotional and motivational states in the face of academic errors.

When you, or one of your team members, make a mistake:

Own up to it. ...

Reframe your mistake as an opportunity to learn and develop.

Review what went wrong, to understand and learn from your mistake.

Identify the skills, knowledge, resources, or tools that will keep you from repeating the error.

Review your progress.

 

11. Define Stress and Intonation

 

Stress and intonation are important elements of speaking that can greatly impact how a message is perceived by the listener. Stress refers to the emphasis placed on particular syllables or words, while intonation refers to the melody or pitch changes used in speech to convey meaning.

Stress in Speaking:

Stress is often used in speaking to convey emphasis, contrast, and importance. By placing emphasis on a particular word or syllable, speakers can draw attention to important information and convey meaning more effectively. For example, in the sentence "I didn't say he stole the money", the meaning can be changed depending on which word is stressed. If the word "didn't" is stressed, it implies that someone else said he stole the money. If the word "say" is stressed, it implies that the speaker communicated the information in a different way, such as through body language.

Practicing stress in speaking can help you convey emphasis and importance in your message. Here are some ways to practice stress:

Use stress in everyday speech: Make a conscious effort to stress important words in your everyday speech. This can be as simple as emphasizing key words when you're telling a story or making a point.

Practice with tongue twisters: Tongue twisters are a great way to practice stress because they often contain words with multiple syllables. Try saying tongue twisters slowly and then gradually increasing your speed while maintaining the correct stress patterns.

Record yourself and listen back: Record yourself speaking and listen back to it. Pay attention to your stress patterns and identify areas where you can improve.

Practice with poetry: Poetry often contains stressed and unstressed syllables, making it a great tool for practicing stress. Choose a poem and practice reading it aloud with the correct stress patterns.

Practice with dialogue: Practice dialogue with a partner and experiment with different stress patterns to convey different emotions and attitudes. Focus on using appropriate stress patterns for questions, statements, and exclamations.

Intonation in Speaking:

Intonation refers to the melody or pitch changes used in speech to convey meaning. It can include changes in pitch, tone, and stress within a sentence or phrase. Intonation is particularly important in conveying emotions and attitudes in speech. For example, a high-pitched, excited intonation might be used to convey enthusiasm or joy, while a low, monotone intonation might be used to convey boredom or disinterest. In English, there are two main types of intonation patterns: rising and falling. A rising intonation indicates a question or uncertainty, while a falling intonation indicates a statement or assertion. For example, the sentence "You're coming with me?" would typically have a rising intonation, indicating a question, while the sentence "You're coming with me." would typically have a falling intonation, indicating a statement.

Practicing intonation can greatly improve your speaking skills and help you convey your message more effectively.

Effective use of stress and intonation in speaking can greatly enhance the clarity and impact of a message. By emphasizing important words or using appropriate intonation patterns, speakers can help ensure that their message is received and understood as intended.

12. Write a note on the sound system in English

The English Sound System is complicated for a number of reasons. One is that English is in fact a “Creole”, a language that has developed from several other languages, especially French, Latin and Greek words being especially common.

Phonology is a word that comes from Greek, and means the study of (logos) sound (phono). Phonetics is the writing of sounds, and includes all of the sounds you can hear in a language whether they are significant or not. Phonetic symbols are usually written in square brackets. Phonemics is about the significant sounds in a language, and they are usually written between slash brackets / /. For example, there are a number of different /p/ sounds in English. There is the [ph ] sound that is generally heard at the beginning of a word along with a small aspiration of air.

Every language has a limited number of speech sounds. All speech sounds including the English sounds are usually classified into two broad categories: vowels and consonants. There are 24 consonants and 20 vowels in English language. The air comes out freely through the mouth in the production of vowels. There is no partial or complete closure of the air-passage. There is no narrowing in the passage, which makes audible friction or noise. Therefore, vowels are voiced sounds. “A consonant is a speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed, and which forms a syllable combined with a vowel”. Many modern phoneticians and linguists, such as Daniel Jones, Bloch, and Trager, agree that a consonant is a sound that is articulated by a complete or partial closure of the breath. During the production of a consonant, the movement of air from the lungs is obstructed because of the narrowing or the complete closure of the air passage. Thus, consonants are either voiced or voiceless.

13.  List and name the consonant sounds in English

Consonants There are 24 consonant sounds in most English accents, conveyed by 21 letters of the regular English alphabet (sometimes in combination, e.g., ch and th). THE CONSONANTS OF ENGLISH Sound:

English Consonant Sound & IPA symbols

Take a deep dive into each IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) Consonant Sounds with examples in common English words. In the table below, you can listen to each English consonant sound pronounced by a native English speaker.

	Lips (Bilabial)	Lips-Teeth (Labio-dental)	Tongue-Teeth (Dental)	Tongue-Gum Ridge  (Alveolar)	Tongue-Palate (Palatal)	Tongue-Soft Palate  (Velar)	Throat (Glottal)
Stops	p b		Value	t d		k g
Fricatives		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ  ʒ		h
Affricates					tʃ dʒ
Nasals	m			n		ŋ
Liquids				l	r
Glides	w				y

 

The Technical Names of the consonants are:

b	voiced bilabial stop
d	voiced alveolar stop
f	voiceless labiodental fricative
h	voiceless glottal fricative
k	voiceless velar stop
l	voiced alveolar lateral liquid
m	voiced bilabial nasal
n	voiced alveolar nasal
p	voiceless bilabial stop
s	voiceless alveopalatal fricative
t	voiceless alveolar stop
v	voiced labiodental fricative
w	voiced velar glide
z	voiced alveopalatal fricative
g	voiced velar stop
j	voiced palatal glide
ŋ	voiced velar nasal
dʒ	voiced palatal affricate
tʃ	voiceless palatal affricate
ʃ	voiceless palatal fricative
ʒ	voiced palatal fricative
θ	voiceless interdental fricative
ð	voiced interdental fricative
ʍ	voiceless velar glide

 

 

14.  Transcribe the following

Advertisement:

Spectacle :

Computer:

Education :

College :

Charger :

Food :

 

 

15.  Explain Received Pronunciation

 

Received Pronunciation is a way of pronouncing British English that is often used as a standard in the teaching of English as a foreign language. Received Pronunciation, also known as "RP," is a British accent known as the "Standard British" accent. It is spoken mostly in London and South East England but is also the accent most often used in formal education and the media (such as news broadcasts). The Queen's own way of speaking became something of a hallmark of Received Pronunciation which is otherwise called “Queen’s English”.  In RP there are 44 phonemes. Of these, 24 are consonant phonemes, and 20 are vowel phonemes. From the fact that there are many more phonemes in RP than the 26 letters of the English alphabet, it is fairly clear that some phonemes have no predominant one-letter spelling. Because RP is relatively clearly denned and is fully described, writers of textbooks and dictionaries choose it, as a standard, to present to the learner. And the learner, if given the choice, often prefers it, as something relatively easy to hear.

 

RP speakers pronounce the h sound at the onset of words, whereas speakers of some other British accents do not. For example, the RP pronunciation for happy is /ˈhæpi/ and not /ˈæpi/, as it is with other accents. Other examples of words with the vocalized h sound include house /haʊs/, help /hɛlp/, and hello /həˈləʊ/.

 

16.  Write a short note on the role of language lab in teaching pronunciation

The language laboratory is a very helpful tool for practicing and assessing one's speech in any language. It provides a facility which allows the student to listen to model pronunciation, repeat and record the same, listen to their performance and compare with the model, and do self-assessment. Language labs allow students to practice the language with a much wider variety of activities and exercises based on the computer. Learning occurs in a structured way, in a real context and visually attractive way that immerses the student in the language learning environment and promotes language use. Self-learning: The structure of a language lab is user-friendly where a student can learn and practice exercises of grammar, vocabulary, spellings, etc. Better revision: Language lab software allows the students to revise the matter learned in the classroom at home with the login facility. The components of the Modern language lab are: A server computer is installed to store all the information about the software. Software works on the local area network. Students have audio and video facility. Students and teachers are provided a headset for conversation

Advantages

Individualized Instruction. English Language labs offer individualized instruction to students.

 

Interactive Learning. Language laboratories provide an interactive learning experience that makes the learning process highly engaging. Language lab saves time in teaching-learning process. As it is technology based, it helps increase the confidence of the learners.

 

17.  Explain Vowel sounds in English:

A vowel sound is “a speech sound in which the mouth is open, and the tongue is not touching the top of the mouth, the teeth, etc., so that the flow of air is not limited”. There are only five vowels in the English language, but there are twenty vowel sounds in total. Out of the twenty, twelve are pure vowels and eight of them are called diphthongs.

Pure Vowels

Vowels which have a single vowel sound when pronounced are called pure vowels. The twelve vowel sounds we have mentioned earlier are pure vowels.

List of Pure Vowels with Examples

The 12 vowel sounds in English have been provided below with examples:

Vowel sounds	Examples
/ʌ/	cut, butter
/aː/	park, far
/æ/	bat, fan
/ɒ/	goggles, fog
/ɔː/	more, warn
/ɜː/	bird, worm
/e/	pet, ten
/ə/	vendor, monitor
/ɪ/	sit, pin
/iː/	theme, fleet
/ʊ/	cook, put
/uː/	flute, boon

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are speech sounds formed by the combination of two vowel sounds. They do not resemble the speech sound of either vowel sound, instead form an entirely new speech sound.

List of Diphthongs with Examples

Given below is a table with the eight diphthongs in the English language:

Diphthongs	Examples
/aɪ/	fight, write
/aʊ/	plough, cow
/eə/	their, chair
/əʊ/	soak, rodent
/eɪ/	fate, pain
/ɪə/	here, cheer
/ʊə/	poor, sure
/ɔɪ/	toy, exploit

 

 

17.  What is Phonetics?

1. The study of speech sounds, their production and combination, and their representation by written symbols. 2. The description and analysis of the sounds of a particular language.  The traditional method of describing speech sounds is in terms of the movements of the vocal organs that produce them. The main structures that are important in the production of speech are the lungs and the respiratory system, together with the vocal organs. The airstream from the lungs passes between the vocal cords, which are two small muscular folds located in the larynx at the top of the windpipe. The space between the vocal cords is known as the glottis. If the vocal cords are apart, as they are normally when breathing out, the air from the lungs will have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the vocal cords are adjusted so that there is a narrow passage between them, the airstream will cause them to be sucked together. As soon as they are together there will be no flow of air, and the pressure below them will be built up until they are blown apart again. Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to those in which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be voiceless.

The air passages above the vocal cords are known collectively as the vocal tract. For phonetic purposes they may be divided into the oral tract within the mouth and the pharynx, and the nasal tract within the nose. Many speech sounds are characterized by movements of the lower articulators—i.e., the tongue or the lower lip—toward the upper articulators within the oral tract.

The major division in speech sounds is that between vowels and consonants.

 

18.  Discuss the psychological factors that affect the learning of pronunciation.

 

Psychological factors that affect language learning include: Parent's encouragement and motivation: Motivation plays a pivotal role in learning and it is an academic reality. In fact, it serves to activate, guide, and maintain learning. In a sense, motivation is an index of the eagerness of an individual to learn. Psychological factor is a factor that is mentally or spiritually concerned with the aspects in students' acquisition. At least, four of many factors, such as anxiety, attitude, aptitude, and motivation influence the students' process of language acquisition. The physiological factors include how people feel, their physical health, and their levels of fatigue at the time of learning, the quality of the food and drink they have consumed, their age, etc.

Pronunciation is all about clear enunciation of individual sounds, connected speech, rhythm, word, and sentence stress, chunking, and intonation. It involves the flow of language with appropriate pausing for word stressing and sentence stress. Having good pronunciation in English is an essential aspect of effective communication and social integration. It takes time and practice to improve pronunciation, but the effort is well worth it. Embrace the journey of learning, be patient with yourself, and continuously strive to refine your pronunciation skills. Without correct pronunciation, the vocabulary that you know will be less effective when communicating. Bad pronunciation can lead to misunderstandings that may cause mishaps. Intonation. Intonation, stress, pitch play key roles in pronunciation. In many respects it's not what we say, but how we say it that conveys meaning. You can teach or practise intelligibility with communication activities. Using the /r/ and /l/ example, you can put pairs of words such as correct and collect into a game in which success depends on the learner being able to hear and say the difference.

You can teach optional features of pronunciation to make words easier to say, such as saying gonna instead of going to. Gonna may be easier for a learner to say, and is closer to how many native speakers pronounce going to.

 

Essay Type Questions:

 

1.      Teaching Methods & Approaches:

 

Flipped Classroom: Method of Teaching. This modern concept was introduced in 2007, where the teachers record their lectures and then share them with the students.  Flipped classroom is an innovative teaching technique that works in contrast to traditional classroom learning.

Dialogic teaching: This type of teaching method is the student-centered or constructivist approach, which emphasizes active learning and puts the student at the center of the teaching-learning.

Cooperative learning: Group work is a cooperative learning strategy that allows students with various learning levels to work together. As the name suggests, cooperative learning involves a lot of group work. However, it also requires a lot of structure and intervention, and organization from the part of both the teacher and the students.

Game Based Learning: Learning activities incorporate game mechanics and principles, known as game-based learning. Learning activities help to increase the interest of the learns learning the language in a fun way. Lack of attention and lack of interest brings down the efficiency in learning.  Game-based learning is a type of teaching method that involves the use of games, either digital or non-digital, to facilitate learning.

Personalised learning: When a teacher adopts a “personalised learning” approach, students are given the freedom to choose their learning method based on their choice. Offering a personalised approach to teaching, it is a student-centred method. This method sees the teacher observing and responding to students’ learning activities. The goal of personalized learning is to tailor instruction to the needs and interests of every student. They received a learning plan based on their prior interest.

Classroom discussion: The most common type of collaborative method of teaching in a class is classroom discussion. Discussion-based learning. In discussion-based learning, you facilitate the discussion while students talk through problems in small groups. 

Group Discussion Method. In this group discussion method, there is an exchange of ideas, thoughts, examples, etc., on a given topic among the students.

Lecture Method: This is an age-old method of teaching where the teacher explains the content or lesson orally, and the students take down notes accordingly. The lecture style puts the teacher at the front of the classroom, delivering the content, while the students take notes.

Differentiation: Differentiated learning is a teaching method that tailors instructions to students depending on their individual needs. Differentiation. Differentiation is a teaching strategy that lets you assign tasks to students based on their specific academic abilities and their learning capacity.

Blended learning: Blended learning combines online learning with traditional classroom instruction.Essentially, blended learning is a combination of traditional face-to-face learning and technology-based learning. At the heart of blended learning is a philosophy of taking the time to understand each student's learning style and develop strategies to teach to every learner.

Direct instruction: In this approach, the teacher delivers the content by explicitly explaining a concept, rather than relying upon the student to discover. This is one of the traditional teaching methodologies, where direct instruction is given to the students and rather than students allowing the student learn on themselves.

Kinesthetic learning: Kinesthetic learning is a type of teaching method that involves physical activity and movement to help students learn and remember new words, phrase, and concepts.

Kinesthetic learning: It is a great modern teaching method for all learners because it gives students more ways to explore concepts and get hands-on, real-life learning experience.  Kinesthetic learning, which values movement and creativity over technological skills, is most commonly used to augment traditional types of instruction.

Demonstrations: The teacher shows students how to do something, often using props or materials.

Discussion: The teacher encourages students to share the ideas that they have learned.

Montessori: Today, the Montessori method is most popular in preschools, kindergartens, and lower elementary grades. In this method, the teacher prepares an ideal lesson content to be taught to students in a friendly atmosphere. It offers a student-centred approach to learning for kindergartens and pre-primary students.

Active learning: It puts students at the center of the classroom with active learning strategies — a teaching technique that increases student engagement in learning. It involves students being vocal and physically active in the classroom. This can be as simple as tasks that require them to move from their seats.

Collaboration: It allows student to actively participate in the learning process by talking with each other and listening to others opinions.

Brainstorming: It is a  student-centered teaching method. Brainstorming refers to a tactic or teaching tool in which the teacher engages the students asking questions in rapid to elicit answers and attention from the students.

Inquiry-based Learning: When it comes to teaching methods, inquiry-based learning has a high priority because this teaching method urges students to ask many relevant questions. In this approach, a teacher serves as a supporter and guide that merely helps the students while they actively participate in inquiry.  Inquiry-based learning is a popular method of teaching in modern education. Inquiry-based learning focuses on the student's participation in the learning process. This learning technique urges ...

Problem Based Learning: Problem-based learning is a type of learning that encourages students to take charge of their education. It helps them to build problem-solving skill.

Experiential learning: It is a great teaching method because it encourages creativity, helps students learn from mistakes, and fosters reflective thinking. The emphasis in experiential learning is on the process of learning and not on the product. A teacher can use experiential learning as an instructional teaching.

Tactile Learning: The term “tactile” signifies active collaboration and participation in an activity that an educator demonstrates for the learners. Tactile learning is an educating process of demonstration and real-time activities. This teaching method also involves online classrooms. It is also known as kinesthetic learning, because tactile learning takes place through demonstrations and hands-on activities. This teaching method also applies to online.

Team Teaching Method: Rather than incorporating only one instructor for in-class activities, two or more teachers collaborate to organise the class flow for better learning.  The biggest advantage of this type of teaching method is that the students can work at their own pace with so much ease. In this process, rather than involving only one teacher in planning the class activities, two or more teachers plan the class flow. 

The Independent learning method is a method of teaching in which students get full control of their learning process. The teacher in this method can only be a facilitator. In independent learning, students are in full control of their learning, from choosing what they'll learn and how they'll learn to evaluate themselves. Independent learning is the method where the only involvement of the educator is to provide the course and be present to answer queries.

 

2.     What is the difference between micro and macro curriculum?

While the micro focuses on the tiny details of a topic, the macro is the big picture, and too often, we can lose sight of it. In curriculum design, macro means understanding where you want to end up before you begin.

Difference Between Micro-Teaching and Macro Teaching

The delivery of teaching content could be done by teachers by blending micro-teaching and macro-teaching techniques. The right blend of these teaching strategies has to be implemented to continuously improve the learning outcomes of students along with the skills of a teacher. Each method of micro and macro teaching offers its unique benefits, shapes teaching strategies, provides different levels of learning outcomes and creates customized evaluation parameters. Following is the difference between micro and macro-teaching.

Micro-Teaching

A Teacher Delivers Content for A Short Period Of Time (Usually 10 Minutes). 

The Maximum Size of The Learners/Participants Isn’t More Than 10 In Number. 

 Micro Lesson Planning is Done For Daily Lesson Planning.

This Technique is Used To Improve The Teaching Skills Of Pre-Service Teachers.

It’s Oriented Toward Developing A Specific Skill At A Time For Teachers And Delivering A Limited Concept To Students. 

It Involves Continuous and Instantaneous Feedback And Improvement Opportunities As The Teaching Skill Sets Are Yet To Be Developed By The Teacher.

 The Learning Outcomes Are Measured for A Lesson Only.

The Focus Is Primarily on Lesson Planning or A Small Section of A Lesson/Chapter, Focused Mainly on Developing Teaching Skills And Receiving Instantaneous Feedback From An Observer Teacher and/ or Students.

Macro-Teaching

A Teacher Delivers Content for An Extended Period Of Time (Usually An Hour).

The Size of A Class Is Usually 40 For School Classrooms And May Extend To A Higher Number If It’s A Public Lecture.

It’s Used By Experienced Teachers To Introduce Various Skills To Students Throughout The Academic Year. For Example, Multiplication, Subtraction, Addition Concepts of Mathematics.

It Allows Teachers to Introduce A New Syllabus To The Students At Once.

The Measurement of The Learning Outcome Of A Learner Is Done For A Larger Syllabus And Usually Through A Written Paper Format And Multiple-Choice Questions (Mcqs).

Macro-Teaching Is More Forward-Planning-Oriented and Allows A Teacher To Stay On Track While Delivering A Syllabus. 

Lesson Planning for A Longer Time Duration Is Done for Macro-Teaching.

 

3.     Discuss the different types of tests

 

Understanding different types of tests in education

Suppose you've ever been to any educational centre. In that case, you know or must have interacted with a teaching and testing system. Situations like when teachers teach a course then provide a test or when instructors give tests before their lectures. Or even combined the two situations.

Of course, various teachers would test their students. Still, most instructors create tests to help measure or gauge their students’ levels of understanding of certain learning materials. And there are more to the advantages of educational testing, which this articles cover.

Also, we have explained some of the different types of tests in the education sector and how you can effectively create them

What is educational testing? 

Educational testing determines students' knowledge, skills, and experience of particular course material or content through tests or examinations. They aim to quantify what learners know or understand.

Identify students’ strengths and weaknesses: Through testing, students know the areas they need to put more effort into. Also, it gives teachers a view of what or areas they need to stress for better student understanding.

Learners become strong test-takers. It’s common for some students to experience test anxiety. So the best strategy for copping test anxiety is through encouraging students to take more exams and tests.

Testing help measure effectiveness. There are areas and situations when school funding was determined by students’ performance on certain or state examinations. Also, some states used students' or general students’ performances to promote or give merit raises to teachers.

Help determine awards and recognitions. Most learning institutions have used test results to choose who they give prizes. Some students would be lucky to get a scholarship, especially when they perform well on the National Merit Scholar tests.

Tests help determine academic progress and ensure instructors and parents know their students' academic progress. For instance, good test results will mean growth, while poor results indicate that more is needed to help meet the learning goals.

 

Types of test in education

Instructors can use various types of tests to achieve their learning and course objectives or goals. We can have:

Diagnostic testing

This test type is used to identify what the learners know about a certain concept beforehand.

In other words, it’s a pre-test that helps instructors determine the students' knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses before the instruction. In other words, they allow instructors to see the levels of students’ proficiency before instructions. This test is usually given at the start of a course and covers what the teachers are to teach in the coming days.

Objective tests

These are tests in which performances are measured against a specific standard set of answers. For instance, there are right and wrong answers.

Examples of objective tests include:

Multiple-choice tests

In these types of tests, a statement of fact is made, followed by other alternatives; they can be four or five. Out of these five options, four are distractors, and only the correct or the best choice should be selected. This type of questioning is effective as it can help measure different learning techniques.

Matching

As the name suggests, these types of tests in education only require students to match two sets of items that either form meaning or relate with each other. These tests help determine and evaluate students’ ability to distinguish the similarities or associations between symbols or objects.

These tests are most commonly used when the course work contains several concepts like:

Definitions of terms

Pictures, objects, and labels

Causes and effects

Scenarios and their responses

Principles and situations to which they apply

 True or false

Instructors make a factual or wrong statement with true or false items. Students respond on the correctness of the sentence or information. They’re easy to create and can test a variety of topics.  

Subjective tests

These are tests without a definite evaluation method. Instead, they are evaluated based on the opinion or judgment of the instructor or examiner.  

The tests present learners with writing prompts or questions for which they have to demonstrate their mastery of different learning objectives or goals in their responses.

When creating subjective tests, it's important that instructors clearly and precisely phrase the questions to elicit the kind of answers or skills they would want to measure.

Examples of subjective tests are:

Problem-solving questions

Performance tests

Essays; short-answer and extended-response essays. Though essays are time-consuming to administer or score, they effectively measure higher cognitive skills.

Formative testing

Formative tests are the types of tests in education that are used or given to learners throughout the teaching or lecture process to demonstrate that the students have understood the course

Summative tests

These are tests used at the end of the year or course material to assess how much knowledge students have acquired and how much they know or can do. It covers everything about the learning material, from the first page to the ideas of the last pages.

Examples of summative tests include:

Midterm or end-of-term tests and exams

End of chapter or unit tests

Cumulative tasks like a final project that goes for a certain extended period

Standardized tests to demonstrate institutional accountability like the admission and progressive tests that takes students to the next class or level of education

 

 

4.     Comment on the role of trainer in teacher training course

Teacher Trainer Responsibilities: Maintain and update curriculum and evaluation methods. Manage and maintain standards and procedures. Manage students' behavior in the classroom. Create and maintain attendance and discipline records. Trainers monitor clients' progress and adjust goals and schedules accordingly, considering factors including attitudes, achievements, and feedback. They document client progress and provide clients with updates that include starting goals and achievements alongside forward-thinking plans and goals. Trainee teachers who have earned their QTS will be teaching for around 90% of the time as experienced teachers, with the other time spent on key inductions. This means that you'll get valuable experience with the expected daily work of any teacher. Instructors provide teaching or training in a classroom setting or via a remote platform. They create and follow lesson plans, choose any necessary curriculum or resource materials, explain concepts and theories, and review assignments and examinations. Teacher motivation and professional development are important factors to maintain the effective teaching process. Hence, it might be interesting to know the role of these in-service teacher trainings in improving teacher motivation and professional development. Considering the importance of in-service teacher training at school level education, the study attempts to find the role of in-service teacher training in optimizing the teacher motivation as well as its role in developing professional development, knowledge and self-efficacy among the teachers. The study also focusses on the difference of in-service teacher training effectiveness between public and private school teachers. The study may be useful for the school administrations and training organizations to improve their teacher training programs. The findings of the study may also be helpful for the teacher trainers to see which elements of the teacher training are more motivating for the teachers and what kind of attitude teachers have towards these in-service training programs. The study may also be helpful for the future researchers and policy makers in researching and reforming the education system.  In-service teacher training as an opportunity for the teachers to develop a sense to create change in themselves. Therefore, considering in-service teacher training as an independent variable, the study finds its influence on teacher motivation, teaching skills, communication and technological skills, social and financial benefits, and self-efficacy and performance of the participant teachers.

 

5.     Advantages and Disadvantages of Teaching Aids

1) Supplement in verbal instructions.

2) Teaching aids makes learning permanent.

3) Teaching aids provide variety.

4) Teaching aids are helpful in attracting attention of the students.

5) Teaching aids saves time and energy.

6) Teaching aids encourages the healthy classroom interaction.

7) Teaching aids helps the teacher to create situations for teaching the beginners.

8) Teaching aids are helpful in creating positive environment for discipline.

9) Teaching aids are helpful in meeting individual differences.

10) Teaching aids helps in providing speech training to the pupils.

11) Teaching aids enable the children to retain language items for a longer time.

12) Teaching aids gives vividness to the learning situation.

13) Teaching aids makes the abstract ideas concrete and thus help in making learning more effective.
14) Teaching aids provide good substitutes for the real objects as they make learning equally meaningful.
15) Teaching aids help in the development of various skills such as, how to draw a diagram of the topic among the students.

6. Importance of Teaching Aids

Long lectures can bore students, leading to distractions. But, by using engaging teaching aids, teachers can spark an interest in their students. Different types of teaching aids work well with different ways of teaching. In this blog, we’ll explore the different types of teaching aids along with highlighting the importance of teaching aids.

 

Teaching aids facilitate the learning of students in various ways. Teachers use different teaching aids to make their students listen attentively and interestingly. The traditional teaching aids involve the usage of blackboards, posters, globes, charts, textbooks, etc.

However, as technology grows, teaching aids have also improved a lot, and today’s teaching aids are classified into audio aids, visual aids, mechanical teaching aids, audio-visual aids, and more. 

Types of Teaching Aids

Hands-on aids, such as models and puzzles, allow students to learn by doing, which can be really fun and effective.

Technology-based aids, including educational apps and interactive whiteboards, bring lessons to life and make learning interactive.

Audio aids, like recordings and podcasts, help improve listening skills and understanding.

 

1. Traditional Teaching Aids

Traditional teaching aids, as the name suggests, have been used for teaching for a long time. These teaching aids were so important when no technology came into existence. Still, some of them are used by schools nowadays, and they include blackboards, books, flashcards, maps, globes, etc. 

2. Visual Aids

Visual aids include teaching by means of visuals. To improve clarity, teachers rely on visual aids for teaching and use materials like graphs, charts, projectors, models, and diagrams.

Nowadays, teaching and learning are shifted online, and here visual aids refer to presentation slides, pictures, etc. Visual aids help students in grabbing concepts easily, and they are clearer and more understandable than textbooks. 

3. Audio Aids 

Audio aids help a lot in learning languages where communication and listening are important. Auditory learning makes the students develop their listening skills. It may involve playing a paragraph in audio, making your students listen to it and answer your questions, or playing some calm music in your classroom to make your students feel relieved and more. 

4. Audio-visual aids involve the usage of videos, films, documentaries, etc., to enhance the process of teaching. Sometimes students may find it difficult if you demonstrate everything by using words or images. They would find it easier when they watch it live. 

Usage of audio-visuals provides them with a live experience of learning and makes them understand everything better. 

 

 Importance Of Teaching Aids

Teachers make use of various types of teaching methods to elevate the process of teaching in an easier way. Teaching aids can even make difficult subjects look easier.

Apart from using only textbooks, the usage of various aids will make your students more interested in learning. Below are some points to prove why teaching aids are important in the process of teaching.

1. Remember Concepts Easily

Students who tend to forget the concepts easily will benefit from the usage of teaching aids in the classroom. When teaching aids are used, teachers not only define everything orally, but they use practical methods to make students understand better, such as models, graphs, etc.

Teaching aids also make learning more interesting, and students tend to remember the concepts longer if they learn them with interest. 

2. Effective Demonstration

There might be some topics that cannot be taught only using words and textbooks. They might need some effective ways to get demonstrated deeper. Those kinds of topics can be easily taught by using different teaching aids.

For example, teaching human anatomy can be easily done using teaching aids.

3. Makes Complex Concepts Easy

Students sometimes skip topics that are harder to understand and learn. Such topics can be easily taught using the appropriate teaching aids. Teaching aids help them to understand complex concepts in a faster way.

4. Improves Thinking Skills

Using teaching aids teachers can develop thinking skills in students. Instead of assuming something in their mind, students can actually see and understand how an experiment is performed.

5. Adopting Innovation in Education

Since teachers and students love innovation in learning, they won’t find classrooms boring anymore because of the usage of various teaching aids.

Final Thoughts 

Conclusion: Teaching aids help a lot to make learning attractive. Instead of relying only on textbooks and blackboards for teaching, teachers should make use of other interesting teaching aids to encourage their students. Nowadays, technology helps a lot in making learning easier, and it has introduced a lot of new teaching aids which assist the process of teaching.

 

6.     Analyse the role of black board as a visual aids in the art of teaching

Blackboard is a teaching aid with a reusable writing surface. The teacher uses the blackboard to facilitate learning, improve reading skills and present new lessons. The blackboard is probably the simplest, cheapest, most convenient, and widely used non-projected visual aid in extension teaching.

 

Even the most formal lecture is supplemented by means of visual aids, and lecture notes are also a form of teaching aid.

1.1 The Chalkboard

Chalkboards are not just enlarged 'scribbling pads'. Effective use of a chalkboard does not occur accidentally, it has to be planned and the basic techniques must be practiced. The chalkboard is one of the oldest and best-known teaching aids and it is essential for all educators to master the technique of using it. Although they may be used informally for the explanation of a problem or for a quick calculation for the whole class to see what is going on, they can be put to much better use.

A chalkboard provides the educator with an inexpensive and adaptable visual aid which lasts indefinitely. All that is required for its continued use is a ready supply of white and colored chalk.

1.2 The uses of the chalkboard

A framework of the lecture may be set out on the board and can then be filled in during the class. Sections of the framework can be rubbed out for revision purposes, the students are then required to fill in the missing parts.

It provides a means of progressing from simple to complex ideas and developing each explanation point by point.

Diagrams, symbols, charts and even more complicated drawings can be added at the appropriate time to bring life and meaning to the subject.

Questions or problems to be discussed can be listed on the board. New or difficult words can be written down so that the students can copy them or become familiar with them.

Space is provided for the lecturer to record suggestions from the students as the class proceeds.

Tests can be written up on the board.

1.3 Effective chalkboard utilisation

Writing and drawing should be sufficiently large, clear and visible to all.

The entire surface of the chalkboard must be visible to all.

Where possible, summaries, words, sentences, figures or diagrams should be put up as they arise in the lesson. Label an elaborate drawing or diagram clearly as the lesson unfolds.

Boards and erasers should be kept clean.

Lighting should be as such to prevent glare.

Lecturers should take care to speak to the class and not to the board.

7.     How are the modern teaching aids useful in the present-day teaching?

 

The teaching aids can improve the reading, writing and communication skills of the learners. In an easy illustrative way, the teaching aids can also reinforce whatever ideas, facts or skills have already been learnt by them. User friendly and interactive teaching aids help to remove the anxiety, fear, boredom or any other complex negative feeling which the learners may develop while learning in the centre or class. Modern teaching aids include models, Audio-visual-Films and documentaries, digital storytelling, Grassroots comics, Radio or Television, Educational CDs and DVDs Projectors, Computers and Laptops, Computer based Educational Games, interactive white Board also called smart boards and many other devices currently in use.

Flannel Board: Flannel Board consists of a piece of flannel stretched tightly over a strong backing of plywood. The items to be depicted on the flannel board should be pasted with small piece of sand paper glued behind the item so that it can be made to stick on the flannel board. Depicting pictures or materials on a flannel Board facilitates the movement of the items from one place to another.

 Magnetic Boards are also very handy teaching aids: Magnetic Board is a modification of the flannel Board. Instead of flannel, a metallic sheet is fixed on the plywood. Small magnets are used to hold the materials to be exhibited on the metallic boards.

 Grassroots Comics are often used as teaching aids: Grassroots Comics are different from the mainstream comics. These comics are made by common people themselves. These comics are photocopied and distributed amongst the learners in the center or in the class room. This encourages the learners to learn. Grassroots Comics are inexpensive and method used is not complicated. You just require a pen, paper and access to a copying machine to produce one. One more important thing in these comics is the proximity of source of the communication and the learners. Comics are stories which are told with images and text that contains a lot of speech and dialogue. They become “grassroots” comics when they are made by an Instructor or teacher from the local area. Such comics deal with local issues, and use local languages as well as local visual culture and metaphors.

Digital Story-telling is an innovative teaching aid: Storytelling is the traditional form of communication. Digital story telling is the modern expression of ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories usually takes the form of relatively short story of less than 8 minutes. It combines narrated piece of personal writing, photograph and still images and a musical sound track. The role of Instructor or teacher in the centre would primarily be in using digital stories to make the teaching-learning environment lively and educational

Radio and Television also find a place amongst the modern teaching aids: At present several Radio stations including FM and community Radio regularly produce episodes for all types of people including beneficiaries of Literacy centre in remote areas. Based on numerous experiments and studies the broadcasts have been made as self-sufficient and feasible to ensure that the messages of the broadcast reach the learners in Literacy centre when the necessary assistance is not provided by the instructors or teachers. Listening to broadcast of dramas, narration of stories, rendering of classical, instrumental and light music helps towards harmonious development growth of learners and make them fit to be useful members of society.

Documentaries and Films are also used as teaching aids: A documentary film is defined as non-fiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence or may employ partial re-enactment, still animation, slow motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on factual content and not on fiction.

Projectors, VCRs, VCPs and DVD Players as teaching aids: Projectors, VCRs, VCPs and DVD Players are used for digital story-telling or during lectures, discussions, film or documentary shows and so on.

Computers: Today, Computers in its various forms like desktops, laptops, tablets, etc have assumed great importance at all levels of education. This is the basic machine on which all other electronic media of learning depend.

 Interactive Electronic White board or Smart Board: Interactive Electronic White Boards of today also known as Smart boards are the latest and modern aids that can be used in the classroom or literacy centre. These need a Computer, an overhead projector and preloaded educational software. The electronic white board is user friendly, offering a lot of interaction to its user. It is a colorful aid in the hands of the instructors or teachers. With interactive white boards, instructors can teach and save their content with important points which they want to revise and save it in computer files that cannot be done through traditional boards

 

8.     Information technology in teaching

Using information technologies students can decide about their studies, learning time, place and resources in a better way. Students can work in more supportive environments, seek help from teachers and fellows, and share their learning experiences and ideas in romantic and productive fashion. In turn these new media enable new type of messages and experiences, such as interpersonal interactions in immersive synthetic environments lead to the formation of virtual communities. The innovative kinds of pedagogy empowered by these emerging media and experiences promoted the opportunities of distance education and at present virtual education and eliminated the barriers of distance and time. New and innovative learning experiences would be enhanced and encouraged by these technologies, as by virtual communities, which exist by interactions across the globe through global network of computers round the clock. The global sharing of experiences would make possible the group presentation form of instruction in distance education. Distance education encompasses and relies on the use of information technologies to make learning more productive and more individualized, to give instruction a more scientific base and make it appropriate & more effective, learning more immediate and access to resources more equal. These remarkable aspects can expand the quality and quantity of instructional resources. They can provide real access to experts in universities, research laboratories, the business community, government agencies and political offices. Information technologies can promote the opportunities of restructuring the teaching learning process. These can transform teaching and learning by offering alternatives to the teacher provided information, access to virtually unlimited resources and opportunities for real world communication, collaboration and competition. Traditional lectures and demonstrations can become web-based multimedia learning experiences for distance learners. Web can enrich the learning resources and institutions refocus from teaching to learning, from teacher to learner. It can create learning environment throughout the world by networked learning communities. Networks may create educative environments embedded in democratic philosophy of instruction and helping learners learn. Learning may take place more effectively and dynamically in educative environments where teacher and learners are open to each other to interact and exchange information and experiences in a friendly way. Educative environments can enhance and shape the teaching learning process to achieve the desired goals. There is a natural tendency for students to learn and learning can accelerate, in interactive and encouraging environments. Accelerating the encouraging environments may be psychological climates and students’ interactions can create them. Interactions of students can make learning environment more effective and meaningful and ‘much of learning takes place in a meaningful environment’. Learners may get immediate feedback and reinforcement through web-based learning. The psychological fashion of such reinforcement and expectancy also influences the potential for any given behaviour and/or learning to occur. Desired learning always requires access to qualitative and latest information resources and web confirms the increased access to such resources at students’ pace. Internet and WWW provide learners latest relevant information at their own pace and they can form a virtual community of learners at global level. Teaching organizations are adopting information and communication technologies specially the computers, World Wide Web, teleconferencing and educational television because of their cost effectiveness, access and flexibilities of choices. Students Use Information Technologies to: 1. Participate in a media revolution, profoundly affecting the way they think about and use information technologies. 2. Improve the ways of learning in new learning fashions 3. Extend the ability and skills of applying their learning in real situation. 4. Working in groups for cooperative and collaborative learning 5. Developing self-learning habits at their own pace and time. 6. Learn with the teacher rather by the teacher. 7. Develop inquiry-learning habits. 8. Use right information at right time to achieve right objective. 9. Review and explore qualitative data. 10. Exchange learning experiences and information with others students and teachers living anywhere in the world.

 

9.     Elucidate the importance of Teacher’s attitude towards correcting Errors and Mistakes:

 Assessment in general is closely connected with Language Assessment, which can be done through language tests. A test is a method of measuring a person’s ability or knowledge on a given domain. Tests are prepared by administrators; students prepare for them, and they know that their answers will be measured through correcting errors and mistakes. A language test is a way to judge what students know, in order to help them improve their performance and give them a criteria for success. To help teachers not only correct spelling, grammar, lexical and other mistakes but also these corrections might be accompanied by certain comments on the content of the written work, showing the student where the work was effective and where it was not. There are different procedures to help teachers to correct written work: 1 – The correction of all the mistakes 2 – The correction of the mistakes selectively 3 – Underline the mistakes; write the nature of the mistake, the student has to correct them. - First phase, underline the mistakes and write the right symbol in the margin on the same line. - Second phase, underline the mistake and do not write the symbol. This helps the students find the type of the mistake themselves - Third phase, write the symbol on the margin, next to the line where the mistake is, but do not show exactly where the mistake is, and show only the line. This helps the student find the mistake, helped by the symbol put on the margin. - Fourth phase, put a cross (X) on the margin, put as many crosses as mistakes are in a line. The students will find the mistake and the type, knowing how many mistakes are in one line. - Fifth phase, put a cross next to the line in the margin, but do not show how many mistakes are. This is a more difficult way of correction; it makes the students think about mistakes, knowing that there is something wrong in a particular line. 1. Sometimes the teachers may leave the students find their own mistakes, leaving to them a certain amount of time to find and correct their mistakes, sometimes called self-correction.. This is a traditional procedure for the correction of the mistakes in a written work. 2. The correction of the mistakes selectively: This procedure presupposes that the teacher corrects not all the mistakes but only those that the teacher has decided to focus on, for example, the tenses of the verbs, articles, etc. There are cases that the teachers use only one way of correction, because they get used to it, it is easier and are swamped by routine. There are also teachers that do not accept the self-correction procedure. The procedure of self-correction helps the students develop critical thinking towards their written work. Every teacher selects himself the procedures of correction the mistakes according to the interests and needs of his students. There is a general agreement among researchers that having the teacher correct every error on students’ written work is not the most useful way of providing corrective feedback. and can help where students do not know what is wrong.  

 

10.  Discuss on various possible errors and mistakes committed by students

Your instructor may or may not mark errors in your paper if he’s more concerned with its argument or structure than he is with sentence-level correctness; he could also decide an error is not serious.  Some instructors may even see the errors listed below as stylistic options. However, a large-scale study found that these errors are the most likely to attract readers’ negative attention.  Before handing in your papers, proofread them carefully for these errors:.  

1. Wrong Word

Wrong word errors take a number of forms. They may convey a slightly different meaning than you intend. So  use your thesaurus and spell checker with care. If you select a word from a thesaurus without knowing its precise meaning or allow a spell checker to correct spelling automatically, you may make wrong-word errors.

2. Missing Comma after an Introductory Element

Use a comma after every introductory element—whether word, phrase or clause—to clarify where it ends and the rest of the sentence begins. When the introductory element is very short, you can skip the comma, but including it is never wrong.

Without a comma after the introductory element, it’s hard to see the location of the subject (“they”) in this sentence:

3. Incomplete or Missing Documentation

Documentation practices vary from discipline to discipline.  But in academic and research writing, it’s a good idea to always cite your sources: omitting documentation can result in charges of plagiarism.

4. Vague Pronoun Reference

A pronoun (e.g., he, this, it) should refer clearly to the noun it replaces.

5. Spelling

Even though technology now reviews much of our spelling for us, one of the top 20 most common errors is a spelling error.  That’s because spell checkers cannot identify many misspellings, and are most likely to miss homonyms (e.g., presence/presents), compound words incorrectly spelled as separate words, and proper nouns, particularly names. After you run the spell checker, proofread carefully for errors.

6. Mechanical Error with a Quotation

When we quote other writers, we bring their voices into our arguments.  Quotation marks crucially show where their words end and our own begin. 

7. Unnecessary Comma

We often have a choice about whether or not to use a comma.  But if we add them to our sentences when and where they are not needed, then we may obscure rather than clarify our meaning. Do not use commas to set off restrictive elements that are necessary to the meaning of the words they modify.  Do not use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet). Do not use a comma before the first or after the last item in a series. Do not use a comma between a subject and verb. Do not use a comma between a verb and its object or complement. Do not use a comma between a preposition and its object.

8. Unnecessary or Missing Capitalization

Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives, the first words of sentences, and important words in titles, along with certain words indicating directions and family relationships. Do not capitalize most other words.

9. Faulty Sentence Structure

If a sentence starts out with one kind of structure and then changes to another kind, it will confuse readers. Maintain the grammatical pattern within a sentence.  Each sentence must have a subject and a verb, and the subjects and predicates must make sense together. 

10. Unnecessary Shift in Verb Tense

Verbs that shift from one tense to another with no clear reason can confuse readers.

11. Unnecessary or Missing Apostrophe (including its/it's)

To make a noun possessive, add either an apostrophe and an s (Ed's phone) or an apostrophe alone (the girls’ bathroom). Do not use an apostrophe in the possessive pronouns ours, yours, and hers. Use its to mean belong to it; use it's only when you mean it is or it has.

12. Poorly Integrated Quotation

Quotations should be logically and smoothly integrated with the writing around them, the grammar of the quotation complementing the grammar of the neighboring prose.  They usually need to be introduced (with a signal phrase) rather than dropped abruptly into the writing.

13. Missing or Unnecessary Hyphen

A compound adjective requires a hyphen when it modifies a noun that follows it.

14.  Sentence Fragment

A sentence fragment is part of a sentence that is presented as if it were a complete sentence. 

 

11.  Few steps for correcting errors and mistakes:

Learners make mistakes and reinforce them because they produce sentences (1) too carelessly or (2) too early. You will avoid mistakes if you follow rules:

Rules of error-free speaking and writing

Use simple language. Some beginners try to build very complicated sentences with things like the present perfect tense or conditionals. They make horrible mistakes. Don’t do this! Right now, your goal is not to express your thoughts freely; your goal is to learn the language.

Be slow and careful. In the beginning, you should write very slowly. If you need 2 hours to write an e-mail message with 10 correct sentences, that’s okay. That’s how long it should take if you’re just starting to write. You should check if your sentences are correct by using a dictionary and the Web. And you should look for example sentences to imitate.

When you’re speaking, it’s okay to build a sentence for some time in your head before you open your mouth.

If you’re not sure how to say something, don’t say it. (This applies to both grammar and pronunciation.) If you can’t say something correctly, it’s almost always better not to say it. You don’t want to teach yourself the wrong way to say it. You can try to look for the correct sentence in a dictionary or on the Web but when speaking, usually you don’t have time for that. So it’s a good idea to say something else — something that you know is correct.

When writing, always look things up. Whenever you’re not sure how to use a word, look it up in a good dictionary to find example sentences with it. When you’ve written something, and you are not sure if it’s correct, search for it on the Web with Google. If the phrase is found on many pages, then it is probably correct. Dictionaries and Google should be your everyday tools, and you should use them even many times in one sentence (especially if you’ve just begun writing in English). 

Know where you can screw up. Sometimes learners don’t even realize how different English is from their native language. When speaking, they translate word for word from their native language, and they think their sentences are okay.

When reading or listening to English, use the “pause and think” technique: Pay close attention to things like word order, articles, prepositions, and tenses. Compare sentences in English with equivalent sentences in your native language. Notice the differences in words and in word order. This will make you more careful when speaking in English, because you will realize which parts of your sentences can be wrong and should be double-checked.

It is much better to be slow and correct than be fluent and make a lot of mistakes. Why? Because if you are slow and correct, you can easily improve your speed and become fluent and correct. But if you are fluent and make a lot of mistakes, it is much harder to fix your mistakes and become fluent and correct.

 

12.  Enumerate some of the practical difficulties of teaching phonetics for Indian students.

This is because Indian languages and English have different phonetic structures. In India, there are many different dialects and languages spoken, each with its own unique set of sounds and pronunciation patterns. So, students have a hard time adapting to standard English pronunciation.  Use of Mother tongue.

Non-native English speakers may pronounce words differently than native speakers. This can happen either because they apply the speech rules of their mother tongue to English ("interference") or through implementing strategies similar to those used in first language acquisition. They may also create innovative pronunciations for English sounds not found in the speaker's first language.

The extent to which native speakers can identify a non-native accent is linked to the age at which individuals begin to immerse themselves in a language. Scholars disagree on the precise nature of this link, which might be influenced by a combination of factors, including: neurological plasticity, cognitive development, motivation, psychosocial states, formal instruction, language learning aptitude, and the usage of their first (L1) and second (L2) languages.

English is unusual in that speakers rarely produce an audible release between consonant clusters and often overlap constriction times. Speaking English with a timing pattern that is dramatically different may lead to speech that is difficult to understand.

Phonological differences between a speaker's native language and English often lead to neutralization of distinctions in their English. Moreover, differences in sound inventory or distribution can result in difficult English sounds being substituted or dropped entirely. This is more common when the distinction is subtle between English sounds or between a sound of English and of a speaker's native language. While there is no evidence to suggest that a simple absence of a sound or sequence in one language's phonological inventory makes it difficult to learn,^[6] several theoretical models have presumed that non-native speech perceptions reflect both the abstract phonological properties and phonetic details of the native language

 

Indian students are prone to their mother tongue. It creates a major problem. They are taught other subjects in their native languages and English fall in their ears only in the case of English. They do not get enough opportunities to speak English in or outside the class rooms.  In short, English learners frequently encounter the issues such as incorrect intonation and incorrect stress and accent. 

Many non-native speakers have trouble pronouncing these clusters, especially if their native language does not have them or has different rules for them. They may insert or delete vowels, change or omit consonants, or simplify the clusters to make them easier to say

The three main patterns of intonation in English are: falling intonation, rising intonation and fall-rise intonation. Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say, the way the voice rises and falls when speaking, in other words the music of the language. Just as words have stressed syllables, sentences have regular patterns of stressed words.

The focus of a pronunciation class should be on reducing their accent so that their pronunciation will not affect comprehensibility. The areas of pronunciation teachers should focus on are vowel and consonant sounds, word, and sentence stress, linking sounds, and intonation.

 

13.  Elaborate the important features of teaching Pronunciation:

Pronunciation is often the first thing that native speakers notice when they interact with non-native speakers. Poor pronunciation can make it difficult for native speakers to understand what non-native speakers are saying, leading to frustration and communication breakdowns.

Pronunciation also plays a role in shaping our students' confidence and self-esteem. When students feel confident in their pronunciation, they are more likely to participate actively in class and engage in conversations with native speakers.

Why Teach Pronunciation from the Very First Lesson:

Pronunciation is best taught when it is closely tied to meaning and context. The earlier students are exposed to pronunciation, the more opportunities they have to practice and internalize the language's sounds, stress, and intonation patterns.

It's easier to teach and correct pronunciation when students are first learning new words and phrases, rather than trying to go back and fix bad habits later.

Effective Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation in the Classroom:

Modelling: One of the most effective ways to teach pronunciation is to model the correct pronunciation for students. As the teacher, you should be a good model of the language and use the correct sounds, stress, and intonation when speaking.

Repetition: Encourage students to repeat words, phrases, and sentences after you. Repetition helps students to internalize the correct sounds and stress patterns.

Minimal pairs: Minimal pairs are two words that differ by only one sound. This technique helps students to focus on the individual sounds of the language and to improve their discrimination skills.

Tongue twisters: Tongue twisters are a fun and effective way to practice specific sounds and stress patterns.

Pronunciation drills: Pronunciation drills are exercises that focus on specific sounds, stress, and intonation.

 

14.  Vowel and Consonant Sounds in English:

The English Language has 44 English sounds. They can be divided into two main categories: consonants and vowels. A consonant sound is a sound where the airflow is stopped, either partially or completely, when the sound is uttered. 

On the other hand, a vowel sound is a sound where the airflow is unstopped when the sound is produced. The vowel sounds are the rhyme or shift of our language. Monophthongs and diphthongs are the two categories of vowel sounds. Vowel sounds are also divided into long vowel sounds and short vowel sounds.

In English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y are the vowel letters. The rest of the letters in the alphabet represent consonants such as b, d, g, n, r, s, and t. some consonants produce more than one sound.

 

A vowel is a speech sound where the mouth is open and the tongue doesn’t touch the top of the mouth, the teeth, etc. so that the flow of air is not limited. A vowel is a sound made by blowing air out of the mouth without closing your mouth or teeth.

The English vowel sounds are written with letters in the English alphabet. All English words have vowel letters. They are vowels in English: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.  Y is “sometimes” a vowel because the letter Y presents both vowel and consonant sounds, like ‘fry’. 

Six vowel letters are used to indicate the 13-15 vowel sounds in English. This means the vowel sounds are more than letters in the English alphabet. Monophthongs and diphthongs are the two main categories of vowel sounds.

Monophthong

A monophthong is simply a vowel. The word mono represents one and phthong represents a sound. This means that monophthong represents one vowel sound in the word. If you notice the position of the tongue, the mouth will stay the same when these words are uttered.

In English – /i:/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /u:/, /e/, /ə/, /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑ:/ and /ɒ/ are 12 pure vowels or monophthongs. let’s check the list of 12 pure vowel sounds with some examples

Monophthong
Sound	Examples
/i:/	heap, leap, feet, seat, read, beat, peak, seek
/ɪ/	lift, hit, kit, pick, bill, fill, till, him, pin
/ʊ/	Food, Fool, Cool, Cook, look
/u:/	To, You, New, Who
/e/	Bet, Met, Pet, Set, Bend, Lend, Send
/ə/	The, About, Could, Us
/ɜ:/	Earl, Pearl, Sir, Worm, worth
/ɔ:/	Mall, Hall, Shall, Fall, Tall, Wall
/æ/	hand, Land, Sand, Cat, Mat, Pat, Sat
/ʌ/	But, Up, One, Much
/ɑ:/	Start, Ask, Large, After
/ɒ/	Of, On, From, Not

 What is a Consonant

A consonant is a sound that is produced by blocking air from flowing out of the mouth with the teeth, tongue, lips or palate. Consonants may come alone or in clusters but have to be connected to a vowel to form a syllable.

 

English has 21 consonant letters, for 24 consonant sounds in most English accents:  H, J, K, L, M B, C, D, F, G, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X,  Z and (sometimes Y). The letter ‘y’ produces a consonant sound if at the beginning of a word ‘yellow’ but a vowel sound if at the end of a word ‘sunny’. 

Consonant Digraphs

Digraphs are two letters that produce just one sound. These are the seven basic consonant digraphs; ch, ck, th, sh, ph, ng, wh. Yet, some digraphs have more than one pronunciation.  ‘ghosts’ are some digraphs like ‘wr’ and ‘gn’ because the first letter is not pronounced. Let’s check the list of the digraphs with examples: 

Digraph	Examples
Ch	Makes the sound /t∫/ in Chair , /k/ in chorus and /sh/ in chute
Ck	which makes the sound  /k/ sound as in click
Ff	which makes the sound /f/ sound as in stuff
Gh	which makes the sound /g/ sound as in yoghurt or /f/ as in enough
Gn	which makes the /n/ sound as in reign and foreign
Kn	which makes the /n/ sound as in know and knot
Ll	which makes the /l/ sound as in hall
Lm	which makes the /m/ sound as in calm and palm
Mb	which makes the /m/ sound as in dumb and thumb
Ng	which makes the /ŋ/ sound as in ring and hung
Ph	which makes the /f/ sound as in photo, and elephant
Sh	which makes the /ʃ/ sound as in splash and sheet
Ss	which makes the /s/ sound as in less and grass
Ss	which makes the /ʃ/ sound as in assure and issue
Th	which makes the /θ/ sound as in three and myth
Th	which makes the /ð/ sound as in that and them
Wh	which makes the /w/ sound as in where and where
Wr	which makes the /r/ sound as in wreck
Zz	which makes the /z/ sound as in jazz and buzz
Dg	Which makes the sound /ʤ/ as in edge and wedge
Ng	which makes the /nʤ/ sound as angel
Nk	which makes the /ŋk/ sound as in link

 

Teaching pronunciation:

Manner of Articulation refers to the “how” of making sounds. There are six different ways or manners of articulation. Place of Articulation refers to the ‘where’ of pronunciation. It is the location where sounds are made. Let’s check the below charts that show the manner and place of articulations of consonants and vowels.

 

15.  Suggest few ways through which English pronunciation can be improved:

When people can’t understand you because your pronunciation is not on point, they may not get a good first impression of you, especially at work. Who likes someone who speaks and only a few can understand? 

Communication is an interactive process: speaking and hearing, talking and listening, coding and transmitting your message, and receiving and decoding others’ message.

When you can’t pronounce English words correctly (and I will elaborate on that further below in this article), you receive negative vibes from the people around you since they can’t understand most of what you say. 

It can have a dramatic impact on your psychology. You may feel embarrassed and awkward. You may even doubt yourself if you can speak good English. Self-doubt and fear are the roots of all evil with motivation. 

Once you get demotivated to invest in your English communication skills, that’s it. You get into a rabbit hole of self-punishment, doubt and shyness. And it needs a lot of guts (or the professional help of a native English coach) to get out of it and rebounce. 

Now you know it’s important to learn and practice how to pronounce English words correctly. 

Speaking of right or wrong, I have to assure you about something: there is no such thing as perfect pronunciation. Even native English speakers make mistakes, or they have a different accent that makes them sound different. And it’s OK. 

Your goal shouldn’t be to sound like a native English speaker but to speak as closely as possible to a standard pronunciation so that people (both native and non-native speakers) can understand what you say. Pick the one that fits your style and professional goals and go for it. I teach British pronunciation because I was raised in the UK. 

Pronunciation VS accent: What you need to know

Pronunciation is about making the sounds of the letters and articulating words using your tongue, lips, and throat. It’s also about stressing the right parts of the words and sentences and making your voice go up or down as you speak (this is intonation).

In any case, keep in mind that pronunciation is a physical skill and not a mental one. It is how you use your muscles (tongue, lips and throat, remember?). So, take it easy and approach your pronunciation with mindfulness. You need to learn the proper ways to improve it.

Learning what the correct pronunciation is practising and noticing how you pronounce words and what mistakes you make, working on improving your pronunciation. 

1.     Use the IPA

First things first, you need to start by learning how words are pronounced. You all know how to pronounce English words, but it is often just the accumulation of listening experience. With time and the more you practice your English taking part in conversations, you get how to pronounce the words. This way is risky as you never know if you got it right when you heard a native English speaker talking. This is why I suggest learning to use the IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet. It is a tool to help you understand how to say the words rather than spell them.

2.     Discover your mistakes

Now that you know how to do your homework with the IPA’s help, you are ready to start exploring how well you do it. You need the theory but also real examples, like watching how native speakers pronounce English words. For example, watch a TV show or a TED talk on YouTube with a native English speaker do the talking. Notice how they make their mouth and lips when they pronounce certain sounds in words. Maybe their lips are stretched open, or they are round. Of course, you can’t see how they use their tongue or throat but noticing how they form their lips is a surefire way to get it right. Then stand in front of a mirror and practice sounds and words. Combine the IPA sounds and how the native speakers you watched do it. Try to imitate them.

3.     Break down words into sounds

Now comes the fun part: practising and improving your pronunciation. A good way to start is to break down words into sounds. Rather than pronounce the whole word at once, often mumbling if it is a long word, break it down into syllables and the syllables into sounds. Practice each syllable and sound one by one and then go over it again and again. Then try pronouncing the whole word again, all at once.

4.     Visualise

OK, now, this is tricky yet handy. If you have studied how you should pronounce a word that you find difficult, try to picture it. Close your eyes and visualise how you must put your tongue and lips to make the sound. If you have watched how native English speakers pronounce the difficult phoneme “sh”, like in the word “English”, visualise that you need to make your lips round and project them a little bit forward. Then say the word while executing the moves.

5.     Read aloud: Reading aloud certainly improves one’s pronunciation.

6.     Practice with tongue twisters: In order achieve good effort in pronunciation, often practice tongue twisters.