Focus On Learner Pronunciation Problems Essay Example for Free

Focus On Learner Pronunciation Problems EssayIn Portuguese, R at the beginning of words, at the end of words, or before a consonant is stated like H. Many Brazilian students carry this utilization into position words, pronouncing restaurant as hestaurant and far as fah. Its especially common when the English word and the Portuguese word are similar, such as in restaurant and regular. SOLUTION First, I have my students work on pronouncing the English R sound by itself. I demonstrate the correct rim position and they imitate me. Then, we work on each word while exaggerating the R sound so we say rrrrememberrrr, for example. Finally, we practice making that exaggerated R sound shorter and shorter until the student gets used to saying remember with an English R. It feels a little ridiculous, but it works PROBLEM Similar wordsFortunately, Portuguese and English have a lot of true cognates words that are similar in both languages, such as area, animal, culture, famous, music, ro mantic, hamburger, and sports. This makes it easier to remember the vocabulary but to a greater extent difficult to remember to pronounce the words the English way. SOLUTION To show the difference in the sounds, I make comparisons with words that they already know and pronounce well in English The a in animal is like the a in and, for example. I also draw attention to syllable stress common in English vs. popular in Portuguese. PROBLEM Final consonantsPortuguese doesnt have letters like D, T, G, P, and K at the end of words, so its common for Brazilian students to accidentally add a little vowel sound at the end of English words so astronomic sounds like bigg-ee and stop becomes stopp-ee. One of the most famous is difficult turning into difficulty which is also an English word, but the first is an adjective and the second is a noun. SOLUTION I start with words ending in P because theyre the easiest to practice we practice saying stop, help, and others, and I tell them to kee p their lips together for a second at the end, then release them without making an extra sound. Then we move on to rock, get, thing, good, and so on, again, holding the final consonant for a moment before releasing it soundlessly.