Introducing Phonemic Symbols in the Virtual Classroom

In our classrooms, it is not unusual to hear students with heavy accents and noticeable mispronunciations when they are speaking English. Some argue that the teacher should only point out a student’s pronunciation when it impedes communication, and the teacher should strive to teach communicative pronunciation. Others, however, believe that teaching pronunciation while learning will lead to students having a native-like pronunciation but will not emphasize communication. All the same, teaching pronunciation by introducing phonemic symbols is instrumental in reaching a competent command of the language and using it with confidence and joy.

Need for introducing phonemic symbols

Even though certain students can develop an accepted pronunciation without being taught, we teachers should still acknowledge the value of emphasizing pronunciation in our everyday classes. Then, it is fundamental for our students to understand the phonemes required to arrive at an appropriate pronunciation of the phonemic symbols. Thus, the most effective way of increasing their knowledge is to introduce the phonemic symbols little by little, for it is essential for students to comprehend and articulate each phoneme (vowels, consonants, and diphthongs). Eventually, we should choose which phonemes students should focus on for each month or cycle - three or four - depending on the level of the course and the importance of the sound.

Benefits of teaching pronunciation with phonemic symbols

What benefits come with using symbols in the foreign language classroom? We could think of these: iii) Phonemic symbols can help avoid the development of bad study habits. ii) Students can use dictionaries effectively and become independent learners. iii) Teachers can arrange the phonemic symbols in a chart are a visual aid, so students can see how words differ, or are the same, in pronunciation. iv) Phonemic symbols can help teachers cope with the inconsistency of sound–spelling correspondence in English.

Unfortunately, few of the teachers are familiar with phonemic symbols. Therefore, hardly can those teachers expect they would use the standard symbols to teach pronunciation to the students. We could solve this problem easily by joining a couple of workshops to train us teachers on the recognition and production of symbols before they teach them.

Conclusion

By introducing phonemic symbols in the classroom, we see more advantages that will allow teachers and students to engage in an enriching process of teaching pronunciation in the TEFL classroom. As they become familiar with such symbols gradually, students and teachers will discover the relevance of the phonemic symbols as part of the material for a certain course or level.