Comprehensive TESOL Cities

Pronunciation Problems in FranceWhile language instructors frequently focus on conveying the grammatical foundations of english to their students, an important complementary aspect of language acquisition is frequently ignored: pronunciation. Learning to properly produce the sounds that characterize english is a crucial component of expression. A student can exhibit a mastery of english but nonetheless be limited to written communication if his or her accent is impossible to penetrate. Understanding and practicing english phonetics should form an integral part of language instruction as it is the basis for effective oral communication. I specifically discuss here the pronunciation challenges faced by french speakers learning english and the solutions that can be deployed. For any non-native speaker of english, pronunciation problems arise when the sound to be expressed in english does not have a homologue in one’s native language. For the french, one of the biggest issues arises with the consonant “th” sound (as in “the”, “that”, or “this”) and english words including “th” are common and frequently used. A french person tends to substitute a “z” or “s” sound in its place, which is the basis for caricatures of the french accent. In order to pronounce the “th”, students should perform exercises in which the tip of the tongue is placed slightly past the edge of the top front teeth and drawn back as the sound is produced. Tongue twisters could help establish the habit of tongue placement. With more advanced students, the subtleties of voiced vs. voiceless “th”s (“thin” vs. “they”). Another common problem is the lack of pronunciation of “h”s when they begin a word. While the “h” sound can admittedly be subtle in english, its complete absence is glaring and can lead to serious misunderstandings (e.g., “hungry” verses “angry”, see also vowels below). The first step is to make students aware of this common omission¸ while pointing out that some words are exceptions. The second is to have them practice the production of the sound: it can be approximated by pushing air from the throat out through the mouth. One also frequently sees a tendency by french speakers to drop the “s” at the end of plural nouns. This is a problem linked to that of the “h” in that it is an issue of non-production. However, it is different in that it stems not from an inexistence of the sound in french but rather that pronunciation of certain sounds in french is context-dependent (by the letters preceding it) and certain letters may be dropped in oral expression. For instance, in french, “noise” in the singular, “bruit”, is pronounced in exactly the same way as “noise” in the plural, “bruits”. Students need to be made conscience of this tendency and oral exercises in which they need to produce and juggle singular and plural nouns could be employed. For more advanced students, it should also be pointed out that the “s” can be pronounced differently depending on the context (e.g., “dogs” /z/ vs. “cats” /s/). A problem that is not unique to the french but that nonetheless should be addressed is the tendency to pronounce vowels in accordance with their pronunciation in french. This issue likely stems from a shared use of the Roman alphabet; speakers resort to their default native sounds when seeing a given vowel unless they are compelled to think about it. Also, the teaching of english in french schools tends to focus on written comprehension and production. As a result, french students are less exposed to differences in how a word is written versus how a word is said; as we know, the gap between written and spoken english is often quite large. Finally, they are unlikely to get targeted practice in producing the vowels correctly. One particular problem is that many english sounds tend to be longer and drawn-out relative to their counterparts in french. I think it is important to have students perform vowel pronunciation exercises. It would also be worthwhile to do exercises in which students read a text out loud to practice in situ and in which troublesome words are used as a basis for role-play dialogues. Finally, a more subtle but more global issue is that of syllable stress. The way that words are stressed is very different in french versus english. In french, it is the last syllable in a phrase group that is stressed. In english, as we learned in this course, all multi-syllable words have one or more parts that are pronounced with stress. Furthermore, stress is an important of conveying the specific interpretation of a phrase or sentence. Students should practice playing with word stress in a non-stressful way. For example, they can create sentences and practice giving different words stress to see how it changes meaning or write a sentence and figure out its proper stresses. The issues highlighted here, in addition to several others that I have neither the space nor the time to address, may lead to misunderstandings in the comprehension of spoken english and the faulty production of english sounds. While these problems may be of less consequence for those using english as part of leisure activities, proper pronunciation is a key skill to develop for those who will be using the language professionally. Also, while it is unfair to judge a person’s capabilities based on their accent, it is nonetheless a common and often unconscious occurrence in english-speaking environments. Working to refine one’s pronunciation can only enhance one’s prospects when working with native english speakers. Sources used: http://blog.instituteofaccentmodification.com/2010/12/french-speakers-challenging-american-english-pronunciation-problems.html http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/american-english-pronunciation-problems-for-french-speakers/ http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/american-english-pronunciation-problems-for-french-speakers-2/ http://yvanbaptiste.pagesperso-orange.fr/phonetik/frenchy.htm http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1french.html http://www.wfi.fr/volterre/storz.html