Jan 2013 - New: Pronunciation Guide for English

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debbie
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Jan 2013 - New: Pronunciation Guide for English

Post by debbie »

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Pro ... nglish.pdf

I was asked to do a 'pronunciation guide' a few years ago for an adult who described himself as dyslexic and who was so delighted to find my printable Alphabetic Code Charts.

Now, Alphabetic Code Charts are designed on the basis of the sounds (phonemes) of the English language followed by a list of graphemes which ARE CODE FOR the sounds.

Alphabetic Code Charts are a really neat way of illustrating the alphabetic code - it explains the rationale from a sound-to-print approach - and enables the alphabetic code to be tangible as there are far fewer different 'sounds' than there are graphemes or spelling alternatives.

In addition, the notion of the Alphabetic Code Chart can support not only the rationale of sounds and their many spelling alternatives - but also the organisation of a phonics programme. This means that the order of introducing the letter/s-sound correspondences can be reflected in the alphabetic code chart from top to bottom - although this is not necessary and latterly I have produced some versions of alphabetic code charts which list the vowel sounds separately from the consonant sounds.

[More news about this type of order later.]

A pronunciation guide, however, can be very unwieldy. It focuses on the graphemes, or spelling patterns, first, followed by possible pronunciations. This means the list of graphemes and possible pronunciations can go on and on.

The Pronunciation Guide that I have just produced does NOT include all the sounds of English - nor all the letters which link with all the sounds. What I have done is to focus on some letters and SEQUENCES of letters which have multiple pronunciations.

This is purely to give a flavour of how complicated our English alphabetic code is and how important it is from a teacher's perspective to have some support by way of introducing the code and covering such a complicated system. So, it is not hard to teach phonics, but it is hard to teach it really systematically and comprehensively - especially from one class to the next - which is why whole schools need comprehensive programmes to provide their core body of work.

This reality of 'multiple possible pronunciations' has influenced my overarching guidance over the years. I think it essential, for example, to engage the learners in the beginning about the history of the English language and the development of its complex spelling system - and the notion of 'code' - and then to be honest that the English code is particularly tricky and will take some teaching and learning for many years.

This goes on to be my 'Two-pronged approach' - that is, introducing a body of work SYSTEMATICALLY on the one hand, but also being free to teach any code at any time INCIDENTALLY as required.

Having a main ALPHABETIC CODE CHART to support this two-pronged systematic and incidental teaching approach is a key part of the teaching and learning. It is a reference chart that would be used continuously both in the planned phonics lessons and in the wider curriculum whenever reading and writing in the English language is involved.

Indeed, there are secondary schools where, as a minimum, every class has a large-scale Alphabetic Code Chart on display for reference as required for reading and spelling purposes in the wider curriculum.

So, back to the Pronunciation Guide - this is not designed as a 'chart' for display - it is intended as information for supporting adults, parents and perhaps older learners when they get to grips with the complexities of our written code.

Please remember, it is NOT comprehensive - just a 'taster' of what is involved with reading a wide range of literature in English!

As always, your feedback is welcome!
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Post by debbie »

Please note that I made some errors in the Pronunciation Guide which have now been amended.

This means that if anyone printed off the guide yesterday or today, it may have errors.

I am very sorry about this. I'm human! :oops: :wink:
Debbie Hepplewhite
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