Teaching Phonology

Teaching Phonology is integral to the course curriculum offered by any standard, accredited English teachers Training program; be it Online TEFL Course or in class TEFL Diploma. rnWhat is Phonology?rnSimply speaking Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages and Phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior to knowledge of the language being spoken. For all English language learners it is imperative to understand and learn the use of English Phonics. Using Phonics in class is a convenient way for developing the new language learners listening skills, decode new written words, and articulate English Phonemes and comprehend the correlation between sounds and spellings. rnWhy study Phonology and Phonetics?rnEnglish teachers Training program; be it Online TEFL Course or TEFL Diploma should incorporate study of Phonology in their teacher training curriculum as trainee teachers must realize that spoken language is totally dependent on the production of sound in order to make sense of what is being said. A word must have a particular recognizable sound shape when it is pronounced. And this is something that TEFL trained English teachers must impress upon their students who will be learning English as a foreign language in future. The language students must be made to recognize how the word ‘rip’ has a /r/ sound at the beginning, followed by /i/ and ends with /p/ sound. If the first sound is replaced by a /l/ then the entire meaning of the word changes- ‘lip’. Hence for effective communication it is important torn• Listen to correct pronunciationrn• Understand the correlation between sound and spellingrn• Practice saying the word in correct mannerrnFurther more for speakers of English it is essential to be aware of the stress in spoken language. English is a stress-timed language and the way a particular word is stressed affects its contextual use or function. For example: for the word ‘record’ when the stress is on the first syllable it is used as a noun but when the stress is on the second syllable it is used as a verb. Importance of using Phonics in classrnAn aspiring ESL teacher who is serious about his chosen profession would naturally opt for a TEFL Diploma or Online TEFL course that teaches her ways to effectively teach Phonology to her students who might be school goers or professional corporate employees.rnNon native speakers of English specially the ones learning the language as a foreign language, have a pronounced Mother tongue influence which hampers their communication skills as they can’t be understood. Hence they must be trained by English teachers who have TEFL certification. Especially so as most language learners learn to speak English using the “strong form” when native speakers most of the time use the “weak form”. It means only an English teacher who has undergone an english teachers training program where she learnt about Phonology and was trained in teaching Phonics can suitably help the students learning English as a foreign language. And without employing Phonics in English language class one can’t effectively help the language learners.