pentru obținerea gradului didactic I Coordonator științific , Conf. univ. dr. Alina Preda Candidat, Mătieș Adriana -Maria CLUJ -NAPOCA Seria 2013… [600946]

UNIVERSITATEA BABEȘ -BOLYAI CLUJ -NAPOCA
DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC
FACULTATEA DE LITERE

LUCRARE METODICO -ȘTIINȚIFICĂ
pentru obținerea gradului didactic I

Coordonator științific ,
Conf. univ. dr. Alina Preda

Candidat: [anonimizat] 2013 -2015

UNIVERSITATEA BABEȘ -BOLYAI CLUJ -NAPOCA
DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
CLUJ -NAPOCA

LUCRARE METODICO -ȘTIINȚIFICĂ
pentru obținerea gradului didactic I

PREDAREA ELEMENTELOR DE FONETICĂ
PRIN INTERMEDIUL JOCURILOR DIDACTICE
LA CICLUL PRIMAR

Coordonator științific,
Conf. univ. dr. Alina Preda

Candidat: [anonimizat] 2013 -2015

UNIVERSITATEA BABEȘ -BOLYAI CLUJ -NAPOCA
DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
CLUJ -NAPOCA

LUCRARE METODICO -ȘTIINȚIFICĂ
pentru obținerea gradului didactic I

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION THROUGH GAMES
TO PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Coordonator științific,
Conf. univ. dr. Alina Preda

Candidat: [anonimizat] 2013 -2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
1.Theoretical considerations
1.1 Features of pronunciation
1.2 The most problematic sounds for Romanian students
1.3 Reasons for teaching pronunciation
1.3.1 Intel ligibility
1.3.2 Model
1.4. Teaching and learning pronunciation
1.4.1 Pronunciation teaching
1.4.2 Teacher’s role
1.4.3. Student’s role
1.5 Factors influencing pronunciation learning
1.5.1 The a ge factor
1.5.2 The role of the mother tongue
1.5.3 Motivation
1.5.4 Learner’s attitude and sense of identity
1.6 Consonants and production of ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘th’, ‘ph’, ‘kn’, ‘wr’, ‘j’ and ‘ge’
1.7 Teaching E nglish through games
2. Practical activities
2.1 Games focused on the pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr” and
“kn”
2.2 Introduction of the students
2.3 Recordings
2.3.1 Assessing recordings
2.3.2 Pre -test
2.3.3 Post -test
2.3.5 Summary of the recordings
Conclusion s
References
Appendix

Introduction

English is one of the languages extensively used by people all over the world in order
to communicate and understand each other. This is why it is very important for the people who
learn this language to produce it in a clear way so that everybody may understand it. Lately its
importance has increased due to the European Union , where the people who are part of it have
the possibility to travel, work and study and , therefor e, need to have a means to communicate
easily. English pronunciation is very impor tant for a successful communication, even if while
studying and teaching it many teachers do not seem to realize its importance , or feel more secure
to teach vocabulary and grammar.
Many teachers have recognized that some L2 students need direct assistanc e with
pronunciation: for the last two decades, considerable numbers of people have come out of
communicative classrooms , people who, despite large vocabularies and good comprehension
skills, have difficulty making themselves understood. Children who learn a language in
authentic contexts meet a natural process of language internalization that is subconscious,
automatic and effortless; it is this type of language internalization that is referred to as
acquisition. With age, adults begin to lose their adeptn ess in the automatic and subconscious
internalization of pronunciation. As a result, the process of mastering the pronunciation of a
second language becomes increasingly more conscious, mechanical and effortful. During my
teachin g practice at primary classes I came to realise the difficulties my students have in
pronouncing English words. Intelligible pronunciation is essential during a listening process ,
whilst clear and correct pronunciation makes a conversation more comfortable for both the
speaker and the listener and helps to avoid misunderstanding. I decided to focus this paper on
teaching pronunciation through games to primary school students, because it is very important
for them to start pronouncing the words correctly and games are more appeal ing for them at
this stage.
The first part of the paper is focused on the theory that is appropriat e for the teaching of
pronunciation and it is meant to inform the practical activities . It deals wit h the issue of
pronunciation in everyday communi cation, it underlines the fact that pronunciation has to be
taught and it emphasizes the most problematic sounds for the Romanian learners of English. I
decided to focus this paper on the teaching of pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”,

“wr” and “kn”. The second part deals with the hypothesis whether Romanian primary students
have problems with the pronunciation of certain sounds in English, a nd with the assumption,
that primary school students can improve their pronunciation through games.

1. Theoretical considerations

In this part of my paper I will present the most relevant theoretical background. I will study
how and mainly why pronunciation should not be neglected and should become an inseparable
part of a teaching process, and what the roles and aims of the teacher and students are. I will
outline the importance of learner’s intelligibility and its effect on understanding during the
process of communication, then a model of pronunciation will be discussed and also the
limitations of spea kers e.g. learners’ first language and culture, the age of learners and their
attitude towards the language; speakers’ learning experience, motivation and so on will be
outlined. Lastly, I will deal with the production of the most problematic consonants f or
Romanian s peakers of English and the importance of games in our students’ education and
learning.

1.1.Features of Pronunciation

Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning. It
includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond
the level of the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its broadest
definition, attention to gestu res and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a
language.
According to Lynda Yates “ Pronunciation refers to how we produce the sounds that we
use to make meaning when we speak. It includes the particular consonants and vowels of a
language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual segments, such as
stress, timing, rhythm, intonation, phrasing, (suprasegmental aspects), and how the voice is
projected (voice quality)”. (Yates & Zielinski 2009, 11) Anne Burns say s that „ Pronunciation
refers to the phonology of the language – or the meaningful perception and production of the

sounds of that language and how they impact on the listener.” (Burns & Claire 2003, 5)
Phonetics divides, or segments, concrete utterances in to individual speech sounds. It is divided
into three phases:
– Articulatory phoneti cs which describes in detail how the speech organs, in the vocal
tract are used in order to produce, or articulate speech sounds.
– Acoustic phonetics which studies the physical properties of speech sounds, the way
in which the air vibrates as sounds pass from speaker to listener.
– Auditory phonetics which investigates the perception of speech sounds by the
listener, how the sounds are transmitted from the ear to the brain , and how they are
process ed. (Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 3 )
Phonemes represent different sounds of a language. Every person articulates the words
in a different way, but we can describe how each sound is produced in an accurate way. There
are two categorie s of phonemes: vowels and consonants. The vowel sounds are voiced and can
appear single or in combinations of two or three vowels called diphthongs or tripht hongs.
Consonants can be voiced or unvoiced. Voiced consonants are produced when the vocal cords
in the larynx are vibrated.
In the following table I listed the English phonemes with an example:
Vowels Diphtongs Consonants
i: eat eɪ baby p put s sun
ɪ sit ɔɪ boy b boat z zebra
ʊ look aɪ bike t tree ʃ shape
u: moon ɪǝ year d doll ʒ treasure
e bed ʊǝ pure k cap h horse
ǝ another eǝ there g goat m man
ɜ: skirt ǝʊ boat ʧ chair n nice
ɔ: ball aʊ mouse ʤ jazz ŋ sing
æ rat f fox l lamp
ʌ under v van r real
ɑ: car Ɵ mouth j you
ɒ fog ð father w way

Suprasegmental features apply to groups of phonemes. In English the most i mportant
suprasegmental features are stress and intonation. English dictionaries show how each word is
stressed. “Intonation can be thought of as the melody of the language – the way the voice goe s
up and down according to the context and meanings of the communication.” (Burns & Claire
2003, 7) Lane said that “Every syllable is spoken with a particular level of pitch (a note), but
only pitches that are noticeably higher or lower than others are imp ortant. These occur on the
stressed syllables of word that the speaker wants to make prominent and highlight.” (Lane 2010,
85) Other important features are linking, which refers to the way the last sound of one word is
joined to the next word, voice qualit y – the way the voice is projected and body language – eye
movement, facial expression and gestures.
“The rhythm is part of the general look of how the speakers of their language speak it.
It is intimately bound in with the whole muscular setting which characterizes the speakers of
different languages – the way the head is held and move during speech, the way the lower jaw
and tongue are held in relation to the upper jaw, the great variety of body movement of different
kinds which help us to identify spea kers of different languages even without hearing them to
speak.” (Brown 1990, 43) Linda Lane said that “English rhythm is characterized by an
alternation of meaningful words (like two or day), which are long in duration and stressed, and
grammatical words (like the preposition to, or the article the), which are short and unstressed.”
(Lane 2010, 45)
“Many significant sound contrasts are not the result of differences between phonemes.
For example, stress is important: when the word 'import' is pronounced wit h the first syllable
sounding stronger than the second, English speakers hear it as a noun, whereas when the second
syllable is stronger the word is heard as a verb. Intonation is also important: if the word 'right'
is said with the pitch of the voice risi ng, it is likely to be heard as a question or as an invitation
to a speaker to continue, while falling pitch is more likely to be heard as confirmation or
agreement. These examples show sound contrasts that extend over several segments
(phonemes), and such contrasts are called suprasegmental. ” (Roach 2009, 47)

Figure 1: The English Phonemic Chart

1.2.The most problematic sounds for Romanian students

Our students are usually influenced by their mother tongue when they pronounce words
in another language. When we learn another language we have to understand that it can use a
different set of sounds and different orthographic rules than our mother tongue. For example
when we read Romanian words we read them how they are written, we read every letter. There
are few exceptions to this rule. English words on the other hand are not pronounced in the same
way they are written, so many Romanian students make mistakes when they read, because they
are not familiar with this system. “Although pronunciation is a featur e of speech and spelling a
feature of writing, spelling will often have an influence on the learning of pronunciation as the
majority of learners use w ritten texts i n their studies. The relationship betwe en them in English
is often thought to be complex an d chaotic. A single written letter mi ght have a number of
different pronunciations in different words, a single sound might be represented by a number
of letters or letter combinations i n different words, and written letters may not have a directly
corresp onding pronunciation. ” (Hewings 2004, 9)

O’Connor says in the Introduction of his book that “Language starts with the ear. When
a baby starts to talk he does it by hearing the sounds his mother makes and imitating them. If a
baby is born deaf he cannot hea r these sounds and therefore cannot imitate them and will not
speak. But normal babies can hear and imitate; they are wonderful imitators, and this gift of
imitation, which gives us the gift of speech, lasts for a number of years. It is well known that a
child of ten years old or less can learn any language perfectly ; if it is brought up surrounded by
that language, no matter where it was born or who its parents were. But after this age the ability
to imitate perfectly becomes less, and we all know only too well that adults have great difficulty
in mastering the pronunciation (as well as other parts) of foreign languages.” (O’Connor 1980,
I)
Language teaching practice often assumes that most of the difficulties that learners face
in the study of English are a consequence of the degree to which their native language differs
from English (a contrastive analysis approach). A native speaker of Japanese , for example, may
face many more difficulties than a native speaker of German , because German is more closely
related to English than Japanese is. This may be true for anyone of any mother tongu e setting
out to learn any other language. Language learners often produce errors of syntax , vocabulary ,
and pronunciation thought to result from the influence of their mother tongue, such as mapping
its grammatical patterns inappropriately onto the second language, pronouncing certain sounds
incorrectly or with difficulty, and confusing items of vocabulary known as false friends . This
is known as mother tongue transfer or "language interference". Some students may have very
different cultural perceptions in the classroom as far as learning a second language is concerned.
Cultural differences in communication styles and preferences are also significant.
Some students have great difficulty hearing pronunciation features which we want them
to reproduce. Romanian students have difficulties for example in pronouncing the sounds /Ɵ/
and /ð/ because these sounds do not exist in Romanian. So teach ers have to teach them how to
pronounce these sounds by showing them e ffectively how to produce them. The following table
demonstrates the most frequent pronunciation mistakes Romanian students make while
speaking or reading English. I begin with the targe t sounds I am going to study in my paper.
The first column presents the sounds that are frequently mispronounced and the second column
provides information about which sounds are used instead.

kn at the beginning of a word is
pronounced as /n/, e.g. ‘knee’ Romanian students pronounce it
/kn/ since in Romanian they read
every letter
wr at the beginning of a word is
pronounced /r/, e.g. ‘wrist’ Romanian students pronounce it
pronounce it /vr/ or /ur/
ch is pronounced /ʧ/, e.g. ‘church’;
/ʃ/, e.g. ‘chef’ or /k/ e.g.
‘character/ Romanian students pronounce it
/k/
sh is pronounced / ʃ/, e.g. ship Romanian students pronounce it
/s/
ph is pronounced /f/ Romanian students pronounce it
/p/ or /ph/
th is pronounced in English either
/ð/ or /Ɵ/ , e.g. ‘mother’ and ‘ thin’.
The former is pronounced
similarly as /t/ and the latter
similarly as /d/, but the tongue
comes between the teeth. Romanian students pronounce it
/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/ or /f/.
j is pronounced / ʤ/, e.g. ‘jacket’ Romanian students pronounce it
/ʒ/, as this is how this letter is
pronounced in Romanian.
ge is pronounced / ʤ/, e.g. ‘page’ Romanian students pronounce it
/ʤe/ as this is how they pronounce
this group of letters in Romanian.

Other common mistakes are:
ps at the beginning of a word is
pronoun ced /s/, e.g. ‘psychology’ Romanian students pronounce it
/ps/
pn at the beginning of a word is
pronounced /n/, e.g. ‘pneumonia’ Romanian students pronounce it
/pn/

gu is pronounced /g/ , e.g. ‘guide’
or ‘guitar’ Romanian students pronounce it
/gu/
/r/ is a post alveolar sound /r/ is a tongue tip roll in Romanian
gn at the beginning of a word is
pronounced /n/, e.g. ‘gnome’ Romanian students pronounce it
/gn/

1.3.Reasons for teaching pronunciation

“Human language is a code of communication that is a gene tically determined cognitive
potential before being a set of physical manoeuvres which serve to activate the cognitive
potential and reinforce it. Stated differently, language is in the brain before being i n the mouth.”
(Odisho 2007, 7) In a study conducte d by Breitkreutz, Drewing & Rossiter in 2001 they found
out that “the majority of respondents disagreed that the goal of a pronunciation program should
be to eliminate foreign accent. They also indicated that they believed instruction to be effective
after the first few years in an English -speaking country. Two thirds of the respondents
recognized that there is an age -related limitation on the acquisition of native -like pronunciation,
yet three quarters believed that teaching pronunciation resulted in perma nent changes.”
(Breitkreutz, Drewing & Rossiter 2001, 56)

1.3.1. Intelligibility

It is very important to set a goal while teaching our students pronunciation. Harmer said
that “The degree to which students acquire ‘perfect’ pronunciation seems to depend very much
on their attitude to how they speak and how well they hear. In the case of attitude, there are a
number of psychological issues which may affect how ‘foreign’ a person sounds when they
speak English.” (Harmer 2007, 249) This is why it depends on each student how far we go
teaching pronunciation and how well they acquire the foreign accent. Language teachers have
to focus on intelligibility when they teach pronunciation. Our students ought to use
pronunciation which i s clear enough so as they can communicate. If they don’t reach this goal
then it is possible for them to fail to communicate. In Harmer’s opinion “If intelligibility is the
goal, then it suggests that some pronunciation features are more important than oth ers. Some

sounds, for example, have to be right if the speaker is to get their message across (for example
/n/ as in / sɪnɪŋ/ versus /ŋ/ as in /sɪŋɪŋ /), though others (for example /d/ and /ð/ in ELF) may not
cause a lack of intelligibility if they are used interchangeably. In the case of individual sounds,
a lot depends on the context of the utterance, which frequently helps the listener to hear what
the speaker intends. However, stressing words and phrases correctly is vital if emphasis is to be
given to th e important parts of the message and if words are to be understood correctly.
Intonation is a vital carrier of meaning; by varying the pith of our voice we indicate whether
we are asking a question or making a statement, whether we are enthusiastic or bore d, or
whether we want to keep talking or whether, on the contrary, we are inviting someone else to
come into conversation. ” (Harmer 2007, 249)
Poor pronunciation can be difficult to listen to, as it demands greater effort and
concentration on the part of t he listener. In addition, poor pronunciation can lead to
misunderstandings, even a breakdown in communication. On the other hand, if a speaker has a
clear pronunciation, this has immediate benefits : listeners judge the speaker’s overall language
ability mu ch more favorably, even to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errors.
Moreover, a good pronunciation is an asset to the speaker himself, as it provides him with a
valuable confidence boost.
Linda Lane stated that “Research on the contribution o f pronunciation to intelligibility
has asked which features of pronunciation have the greatest impact. Accurate use of
suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm, and intonation) appears to have a greater impact on
intelligibility, although a large number of grammati cal errors, together with pronunciation
errors, can reduce comprehensibility, as can non -pronunciation discourse errors. (Lane 2010,
2) Currently, pronunciation theory, research, and practice are in transition. Widely accepted
assumptions such as the prima cy of suprasegmentals, the superiority of inner -circle models, and
the need for native instructors have been rightly challenged. ESOL professionals are
recognizing that judgments of intelligibility involve nonlinguistic as well as linguistic factors,
and t hat even completely intelligible pronunciation may be evaluated negatively. Decisions
about adjusting accent are not value free because accents are intimately tied to speaker identity
and group membership. Increasing evidence also shows that the context of instruction directly
affects how pro nunciation should be addressed.

1.3.2. Model

Although there are around 4,000 languages spoken in the world, English slowly
become s a lingua franca for business and political negotiations of non -native speakers.
Therefore when teaching pronunciation we need to think not only about the varieties of English
in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand but also about the countries
where English is not the first language. Harmer underlined the fact that “Until comparatively
recently in Britain, it was customary for people to talk about ‘BBC English’ to describe an
accent which derived from the ‘received pronunciation’ (RP) recorded by the phonetician
Daniel Jones in the first half of the twentieth century, and which was considered a sign of status.
In Britain, while some accents are admired (such as ‘BBC English’ and some Scottish varieties),
others (such as the ‘Birmingham’ accent) are still seen by many as less attractive. Though it is
true that such attitudes diminished towards the end of the twentieth century – and some accents
as ‘Cockney’ and ‘Geordie’ became widely admired, particularly in broadcast media – it is still
the case that many British people ascribe status, educational background and social position to
a person largely on the basis of accent.” (Harmer 2007, 22) Teachers need to think whether they
want their students to speak with an RP accent or whether they want them to be able to
pronounce accurately enough to be understood and be able to communicate efficiently.
Although teachers use one model of accents which will always be marked with their mother
tongue and modified in favour of their students, they shou ld also be aware of other varieties of
English and introduce the varieties to their students with them.
According to Kelly “As a teacher the model one uses in the classroom will usually be
close to the language one uses outside the classroom. Many teacher s modify their accent slightly
for the benefit of their students, but few could consistently teach with an accent significantly
different from their own, even if they wanted to. However, language teachers need to be aware
of variations and differences, and the more knowledge one has with regard to different accents
and varieties of English, the more informed one’s teaching is likely to be.” (Kelly 2000, 15) He
also said that “In work on reception, teachers can, for example, focus on vowel differences
betwee n British and American English, or the rising intonation of Australian utterances in
contrast to the way such utterances are completed by speakers of other English varieties. The

best advice for teachers is to teach what they know and use, and be informed as they can about
other varieties.” (Kelly 2000, 150)

1.4.Teaching and learning pronunciation

The central issue of pronunciation teaching is how to maximize the beneficial effects of
instruction for students. One aspect of this issue is what should be taught in class. Earlier
teaching approaches focused on the segmental features of pronunciation, w hile more recent
approaches have emphasized supra -segmental features such as sentence rhythm and intonation.
The growing trend in today’s pronunciation curriculum design is to integrate both the most
important segmentals and supra -segmentals appropriately in one course. Another aspect of the
issue is how to teach effectively. Along with the development of instruction approaches,
traditional teaching methods and techniques have been advocated or challenged during different
times while new methods and techniq ues have been created .
Pronunciation must be viewed as more than correct production of individual sounds or
isolated words. Instead, it must be viewed as a crucial part of communication that should be
incorporated into classroom activities. English pronunciation instruction should be viewed in
the same light as the other aspects and skills of the English language, such as vocabulary,
grammar, reading, writing since it is an important part of communication, particularly through
listening and speaking. Therefore, pronunciation components have to be incorporated in the
materials, classroom activities and testing tools; and the teachers have to be trained in English
pronunciation instruction. The teaching of English pronunciation has to aim at intelligibl e
pronunciation considered as an essential component of communicative competence. Teachers
can help students by highlighting elements such as sounds, syllables, stress and intonation.
Teachers can actively encourage the students’ actual production, build p ronunciation awareness
and practice through classes. They can encourage them repeatedly to monitor their own
pronunciation and practice their speaking skills as much as possible in and outside the
classroom.
“The advent of the communicative approa ch to la nguage teaching marked the decline
of pronunciation instruction. This was due both to an increasing emphasis on in put-based
instruction and to the perception that pronunciation issues were related more to accuracy than

to communication. Although the commun icative approach represented an advance, it eventually
became clear that there are some aspects of English that are not influenced by inpu t alone.”
(Breitkreutz, Drewing & Rossiter 2001, 52) Odisho says that “ any instruction in pronunciation
should target both the cognitive potential for perception and recognition prior to the necessary
physical manoeuvres of production.” (Odisho 2007, 7)
“Finally, it is important to distinguish between a model as a 'target ' and as a 'point of
reference'. A target is some standard of pronunciation to which the students aspire or which the
teacher selects as a goal f or students; for example, it might be a native -speaker variety, such as
'general American' or a second -language variety such as 'Singaporean English'. As a poin t of
reference, a mode l is presented as a guide to English pronunciation with the understanding that
variation from this mod el is acceptable provided it does not get in the way of effective
communication .” (Hewings 2004, 13)

1.4.1. Pronunciation teaching

Teachers have to decide how and when to include pronunciation in their teaching. They
can plan whole pronunciation lessons, but it is a bit difficult to spend a whole class working on
few sounds. These classes can also focus on listening, word stress and s ounds and spelling. The
majority introduce separate sequences of pronunciation work into their lessons. These
pronunciation slots can be introduced in a creative way , in a game form for example, being very
useful in changing the pace of the lesson. All in all, pronunciation is not a separate skill but it
is a part of the speaking skill.
Pronunciation teaching is a prominent factor in foreign language teaching. Since sounds
play an important role in communication, foreign language teachers must attribute pro per
importance to teaching pronunciation in their classes. However, this fact is very much neglected
by many foreign language teachers. It is evident that communication is a mutual relationship
between the speaker and the hearer. This means that one must c omprehend what he hears in the
target language and must produce the sounds of the language he is trying to learn accurately.
Unless he has sufficient knowledge of the sound patterns of the target language, he can neither
encode a message to anybody nor dec ode the message sent by another person by learning the
sounds of the target language within his mother tongue. Hence, pronunciation teaching is of

great importance for successful oral communication to take place since it is an important
ingredient of the c ommunicative competence.
In their study from 2001 , Breitkreutz, Drewing and Rossiter questioned teachers about
their teaching pronunciation whether they emphasized mainly prosodic features or individual
sounds “89% stated that they teach a combination of the two. Nine percent reported an emphasis
on prosody alone, whereas 2% taught segments only.(…) When asked which aspects of
pronunciation were perceived to be most difficult to teach, 64% of respondents identified
segments, 21% named prosodic features, an d 15% provided both segmental and prosodic
examples” (Breitkreutz, Drewing & Rossiter 2001, 56) They also asked the respondents “to
indicate on the checklist provided what the best strategies are for L2 learners when faced with
communication breakdown as a result of a pronunciation problem. The most popular response
was to focus on troublesome sounds (85%), followed by repetition (74%), and paraphrase
(57%). Speaking more slowly was chosen as the best strategy by 42% of respondents and
speaking more loudly by 6%.” (Breitkreutz, Drewing & Rossiter 2001, 56)
According to Odisho “ Pronunciation is not a solely audio -lingual activity; rather, it is
the function of a much broader base of sensory and physical activities. An integration of
auditory, visual and tactile / kinaesthetic sensory modalities is indispensable for the proper
mastery of speech, in general, and pronunciation, in particular. Serious consideration, for
instance, should be given to the visual sensory modality in the form of facial and body gestures
that are intert wined with the overal l dynamics of speech production (…) teachers and learners
have to be prepared not just to hear and produce the sounds, but also, and equally importantly,
to see and feel the sound in conjunction with the concomitant sensations and phys ical gestures
in the context of authentic speech. In light of this principle, a certain category of consonantal
sounds, such as the bilabial, labio -dental, interdentals and dentals should squarely be identified
as visible sounds. Additionally, many vowel s ounds are better taught and learned by visually
monitoring the lip configurations rather than by repeating after a model only.” (Odisho 2007,
8)
Pronunciation teaching should follow according to Odisho the three stage procedure of
sound acquisition: “perc eption, recognition and production” (Odisho 2007, 11) He also said
that “ Perception is used to denote the condition of feeling and sensing the presence of a given
sound; recognition includes the condition of perception as well as the condition of being abl e

to distinguish the given sound from others. As for production , it satisfies the above two
conditions of perception and recognition in addition to the ability to retrieve the sound and
reproduce it at will with different acceptable degrees of proficiency and accuracy. (2007, 11)
There have been many differences of opinion over the years about the role of pronunciation in
language teaching and about how best to teach it. The grammar translation method and reading –
based approaches have viewed pronunciation a s irrelevant. In the direct method, pronunciation
is very important; however, the methodology is primitive: The teacher is ideally a native or
near-native speaker of the target language presenting pronunciation inductively and correcting
through modeling. In the audio -lingual approach, pronunciation is likewise very important and
there is a great emphasis on the traditional notions of pronunciation, minimal pairs, drills and
short conversations. The Communicative Approach, which persists today with criticis m from
some quarters, sprung into prominence in the 1980’s. This approach holds that oral
communication is the primary use of language and therefore should be central to the mode of
instruction.

1.4.2. Teacher’s role

It is very important for teachers to teach pronunciation because in this way the students
are aware of different sounds and sound features and they can improve the way they speak in a
conscientious way. Teachers can show where the sounds are made in the mo uth and how to
stress them. “Almost all English language teachers get students to study grammar and
vocabulary, practise functional dialogues, take part in productive skill activities and try to
become competent in listening and reading. Yet some of these same teachers make little attempt
to teach pronunciation in any overt way and only give attention to it in passing. It is possible
that they are nervous of dealing with sounds and intonation; perhaps they feel they have too
much to do already and pronunci ation teaching will only make things worse. They may claim
that even without a formal pronunciation syllabus, and without specific pronunciation teaching
many students seem to acquire serviceable pronunciation in the course of their studies anyway.”
(Harme r 2007, 248)
Teachers have to help students perceive the sounds, because they have the tendency to
hear the sounds of English in terms of their native language. (Kenworthy 1987, 1) Learners

cannot tell if their pronunciation is right, this is why teachers have to provide feedback.
Teachers have to tell students what to pay attention to and what to work on. Teachers need to
make learners aware of the potential of sounds – the resources available to them for sending
spoken messages. They also have to establi sh priorities for their students, to decide what to
concentrate on. Learning pronunciation is complex so the teacher must consider what types of
exercises and activities will be helpful. Assessing progress is another way through which a
teacher may help hi s students. (Kenworthy 1987, 2)

1.4.3. Student’s role

Each student learns how to pronounce words in their own way. Some students hear
sounds better than others. Other students learn better how to pronounce words because they
have a better auditory memory. So e ach student has different problems, needs and attitudes to
the subject. A very useful way to see what problems each student has is to tape them, although
this is a time consuming task. After we tape them we can hear what their problems are and we
can deal with that specific problem including it into our lesson if it is a common problem for
more students, or to work individually if it is a rare problem. Another way is to ask students to
identify their own pronunciation difficulties.
“When the students firs t begin to learn a language, they neither know enough language
nor have the required skills to produce messages on their own, so that the teacher’s basic aim
is to introduce vocabulary and develop basic language skills. At this stage, the students need a
model for their own language and they rely largely on the text and on the teacher for the
language they begin to produce. Consequently, the initial stage in language acquisition is
basically imitative: the students listen to the teacher and repeat the words and structures, or read
aloud the dialogues in their textbooks. With beginners, reading aloud (in fact, a basic speaking
activity) is very important: the students practice pronunciation, stress, intonation, etc., and the
teacher corrects their mistakes.” (Vizental 2008, 220) Pronunciation is something that students
often feel is important to them in their language learning. Most want their pronunciation to be
easily understandable and are often prepared to work hard to achieve this. Sometimes, however,
teaching doesn't always reflect this wish, and pronunciation is treated as a low priority area of

study. But if students give pronunciation a high priority in their learning, then we should
recognize and respond to this in our teaching.

1.5. Factors influencing pronunciation learning

While we teach pronunciation we have to pay attention to the factors that can influence
this process. I have thought of different factors that have an impact on our students, these are
the age factor, the mother tongue, the amount of exposure, the phonetic ability, motivation and
attitude and identity. I will refer to four of these I think they are more important.

1.5.1. The age factor

The age of our students is a major factor in how we teach pronunciation. We can use
games to teach young students, whereas teenagers and adults can use their abstract thought and
we can use other means of teaching pronunciation. It is believed that young c hildren learn faster
and more effectively than other age group. When they move to another country children tend
to learn the language easier than the adults. Children who learn a new language have a facility
with the pronunciation, but older children acqui re other aspects of the language better.
Lightbown and Spada underlined in their book that “Many adult second language learners
communicate very successfully in the language even though subtle differences of accent, word
choice, or grammatical features dis tinguish them from monolingual native speakers and from
second language speakers who began learning the language while they were very young.”
(Lightbown and Spada 2006, 68) They also say that “Developmental changes in the brain, it is
argued, affect the na ture of language acquisition or second language acquisition, and language
learning that occurs after the end of the critical period may not be based on the innate biological
structures believed to contribute to first language acquisition or second language acquisition in
early childhood.” (Lightbown and Spada 2006, 68)
Most studies that focus on learners ’ pronunciation have concluded that older learners
have a foreign accent in general. A foreign accent can span from a barely perceptible accent to
strongly accented, unintelligible speech. In recent years, the study of foreign accents has
attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of fields, from first – and second -language

acquisition to speech perception and production, from sociolinguis tics to appl ied linguistics.
Studies on foreign accents have investigated what factors contribute to our perception of foreign
accent vs. unintelligible speech and why human beings have difficulties acquiring L2 speech
articulatory pat terns while no other limitation in their motor -control system is reported that
would prevent them from learning any other articulatory behavio ur. And Harmer says that
“They may have a greater difficulty in approximating native speaker pronunciation than
children do, but sometimes this is a deliberate (or even subconscious) retention of their cultural
and linguistic identity.” (Harmer 2007, 82)
Generally children are willing to use a language. When they learn the first language they
play with words, they invent words and sometimes they even invent new languages. So they
are explorers of languages. This is why when they learn the second language they try to use it
even if their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation is limited. On the contrary,
teenagers and adults are afraid to use the second language if they cannot express themselves
clearly and correctly.

1.5.2. The role of the mother tongue

When a person begins learning a second language , this means that that person already
speaks one language. So learning a second language may be easier because he or she already
has an idea of how languages work. But it can also lead learners to make mistakes because the
first language may have other rules than the second language and they may interfere.
Harmer said that “So me language groups may have particular intonation or stress
patterns in phrases and sentences which sound strange when replicated in English, and there are
many individual sounds which cause difficulty for spea kers of various different first
languages.” (H armer 2007, 248) Lightbown and Spada stated that “According to the CAH
(Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis), where the first language and the target language are similar,
learners should acquire target language structures with ease; where there are difference s,
learners should have difficulty. However, researchers have found that learners do not make all
errors predicted by CAH. Instead, many of their actual errors are not predictable on the basis of
their first langu age.” (Lightbown and Spada 2006, 34) They a lso said that “Like fi rst language
learners, second language learners do not learn language simply through imitation and practice.

They produce sentences that are not exactly like those they have hea rd. These new sentences
appear to be based on internal co gnitive processes and prior knowledge that interact with the
language they hear around them. Both first and second language acquisition are best described
as developing systems with their own evolving rules and patterns, not as imperfect versions of
the ta rget language”. (Lightbown and Spada 2006, 78)
There are many inferences between first and second language when learning
pronunciation. For example the Japanese have problems in pronouncing ‘l’ and ’r’ because
these sounds are not distinct in their languag e. In French, the stress comes usually on the last
syllable, this is why when learning English they tend to stress the last syllable of the word. The
‘th’ sound does not appear in many languages, including Romanian, this is why learners have
the tendency t o replace this sound with other sounds like ‘t’, ‘d’, ‘s’, ‘z’, or ‘f’. According to
Linda Lane “The ability of native speakers to recognize specific foreign accents once they have
experience with them attests to the influence of the native language on pro nunciation of a new
language. The native -language sound system (consonants, vowels, stress, rhythm, intonation,
and voice quality) affects not only how learners pronounce English but how they hear it. For
example, the two vowels in the English words ‘scene ’ and ‘sin’ correspond to a single vowel in
Spanish. Beginning and low -intermediate Spanish -speaking students are likely to have
difficulty hearing the difference between ‘scene’ and ‘sin’ and may transfer their native –
language vowel into the pronunciation of these words. As proficiency increases, students
become better able to hear differences and notice pronunciations that are not present in their
native languages.” (Lane 2010, 5)

1.5.3. Motivation

Gardner’s definition of the concept is: “Motivation (…) refers to the combination of
effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes toward
learning the language. That is, motivation to learn a second language is seen as referring to the
extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do
so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity.” (Gardner 1985, 10)
Teachers think that motivated students are those who express interest in the subject
matter , participate in the classroom dynamics, and study individually. Also teachers can

motivate their students by creating a safe learning environment, by delivering interesting and
relevant lessons for stud ents’ age. They also have to use different teaching styles so as all the
students to be integrated into the lesson. It is stated that warming -up activities are very
important because they focus on students’ attention and interests. Also the teacher has to vary
the activities and the materials he or she uses. Furthermore, the cooperative activities are very
important, because students can learn from each other.
Lightbown and Spada underline in their book that “The fact that some people who are
exposed to la rge quantities of comprehensible input do not necessarily acquire a language
successfully is accounted for by Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis. The ‘affective filter’ is a
metaphorical barrier that prevents learners from acquiring language even when a ppropriate
input is available. ‘Affect’ refers to feelings, motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states. A
learner who is tense, anxious, or bored may ‘filter out’ input, making it unavailable for
acquisition”. (Lightbown and Spada 2006, 37)
They also say that “Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon.
It has been defined in terms of two factors: on the one hand, learners’ communicative needs,
and, on the other, their attitudes towards the second language community. If learners ne ed to
speak the second language in a wide range of social situations or to fulfil professional ambitions,
they will perceive the communicative value of the second language and will therefore be
motivated to acquire proficiency in it. Likewise, if learners have favourable attitudes towards
the speakers of the language, they will desire more contact with them.” (Lightbown and Spada
2006, 63)

1.5.4. Learner’s attitude and sense of identity

The social factors are very important in learning a second language. In Rom ania, for
example, there is a very favourable attitude towards learning English. This is why the majority
of our students have a positive perception regarding the need to learn English. Lightbown and
Spada say that “Social factors at a more general level c an affect motivation, attitudes, and
language learning success. One such factor is the social dynamic or power relationship between
the languages. For example, members of a minority group learning the language of a majority
group may have different attitud es and motivation from those of majority group members

learning a minority language. Even though it is impossible to predict the exact effect of such
societal factors on second language learning, the fact that languages exist in social contexts
cannot be o verlooked when we seek to understand the variables that affect success in learning.
Children as well as adults are sensitive to social dynamics and power relationships.”
(Lightbown and Spada 2006, 65)
According to Gardner “In the language learning situati on, if the students’ attitudes are
favourable, it is reasonable to predict , other things being equal, that the experience with the
language will be pleasant, and the students will be encouraged to continue. Simply, favourable
attitudes tend to cause the ex perience to be perceived positively. If, on the other hand, attitudes
are negative, the experiences will tend to be perceived unfavourably.” (Gardner 1985, 8) In
many studies of attitude and motivation in language learning, it has been shown that those
learners who show positive feelings towards the speakers of the new language tend to develop
more accurate, native -like accents. These positive feelings have been related to their ‘integrative
motivation’; the language lea rner is willing to be integrated into the new speech community
and is genuinely interested both in the speakers and in their culture. (Kenworthy 1987, 8)

1.6.Consonants and production of ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘th’, ‘ph’, ‘kn’, ‘wr’, ‘j’ and ‘ge’

Linda Lane states that “Since many English consonants have close counterparts in other
languages, students may find consonants, at least at the beginning of words, easier to learn than
vowels.” (Lane 2010, 117) In Dauer’s view teachers find consonants easier to teach than vowels
(Dauer 2005). And Tench says that “consonant contrast s are not as d ifficult perceptually as
vowel contrasts (Tench 2003). “Because consonants involve touching one part of the mouth to
another (or moving one part of the mouth close to another part), the student has fixed reference
points, w hich are often easy to visualize and control; instructing a student to touch the top teeth
to the bottom lip, for example, is usually sufficient to enable her to pronounce the first sounds
in fish and van.” (Lane 2010, 117)
Kelly classifies the consonant s in three categories:
– The manner of articulation – the manner in which the air stream is obstructed ;
– The place of articulation – place where the air stream is obstructed in the vocal tract ;
– The voicing – whether the vocal cords are vibrating as the consona nt is produced .

According to the manner of articulation consonants can be:

Plosives

Plosives are produced when a complete closure is made somewhere in the vocal tract,
and the soft palate is also raised. Air pressure increases behind the closure, and i s then released
‘explosively’, e.g. /p/ and /b/ (Kelly 2000, 6) English has three fortis plosives : /p/, /t/, and /k/,
and three lenis plosives: /b/, /d/, and /g/. (Sandera & Burleigh 2005, 22) Plosives have four
phases in their production:
– The closing phas e, when the articulator or articulators move to form the stricture for the
plosive.
– The compression phase, when the compressed air is stopped from escaping.
– The release phase, when the articulators used to form the stricture are moved so as to
allow air to escape.
– The post -release phase, which comes immediately after the third phase. (Roach 2009,
37)

Affricate

To produce affricates, a complete closure is made somewhere in the mouth, and the soft
palate is raised. Air pressure increases behind the closure, and is then released more slowly than
in plosives, e.g. / ʧ/ and /ʤ /. (Kelly 2000, 6) An affricate is a complex sound that combines a
stop consonant with a fricative. (Lane 2010, 120) The definition of an affricate must be more
restricted than what has been given so far. We would not class all sequences of plosive plus
fricative as affricates; for example, we find in the middle of the word 'breakfast' the plosive k
followed by the fricative f. English speakers would generally not accept that ‘kf’ forms a
consonantal unit in the way that /ʧ/ seems to. It is usually said that the plosive and the following
fricative must be made with the same articulators – the plosive and fricative must be
homorganic . The sounds k, f are not homorganic, but t, d and ʃ, ʒ, being made with the tongue
blade against the alveolar ridge, are homorganic. (Roach 2009, 50)

Fricative

A fricative is produced when two vocal organs come close enough together for the
movement of the air between them to be heard, e.g. /f/, and /v/ (Kelly 2000, 6) There are:
– labiodental fricatives: the lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth e.g. /f/ , and /v/.
– dental fricatives: the tongue is placed between the front teeth, this is how teachers are trying
to teach students produce this sound. Normally the tongue is placed behind the teeth, with the
tip touching the inner side of the lower front teet h and the blade touching the inner side of the
upper teeth. The air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth e.g. / Ɵ/, and / ð/.
– alveolar fricatives: they have the same place of articulation as /t/, and /d/. The air escapes
through a narr ow passage along the centre of the tongue, and the sound is comparatively intense
e.g. /s/, /z/, and /f/
– post-alveolar fricatives: the tongue is in contact with an area slightly further back than for /s/,
and /z/. The air escapes through a passage along the centre of the tongue as in /s/, /z/, but the
passage is a little wider e.g. /ʃ/, and / ʒ/
– glottal fricative: the narrowing that produces the friction noise is between the vocal folds . If
you breathe out silently, then produce h, you are moving your v ocal folds fr om wide apart to
close together e.g. /h/ (Roach 2009, 54)

Nasal

A nasal sound is produced when a closure is made by the lips, or by the tongue against
the palate, the soft palate is lowered, and air escapes through the nose, e.g. /m/, /n/ and / ŋ/ (Kelly
2000, 6) . In the production of English nasals, usually all the air escapes through the nose. Other
languages have nasals where some air also passes through the mouth, as in the final sound in
the French word bon. The three English nasals are all lenis sounds: /m/ as in mango, /n/ as in
nightingale, and / ŋ/ as in England. All other English phonemes are usually produced with the
velum raised, so that the passage to the nasal cavity is blocked, and the air escapes only through
the mouth. In orde r to distinguish them from nasals, these sounds are sometimes called orals.
(Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 23)

Lateral

A lateral sound is produced when a partial closure is made by the blade of the tongue
against the alveolar ridge. Air is able to flow around the sides of the tongue, e.g. /l/. (Kelly
2000, 6) This is a consonant in which the passage of air through the mout h does not go in the
usual way along the centre of the tongue; instead, there is complete closure between the centre
of the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is to be made (the alveolar
ridge in the case of l). Because of this comp lete closure along the centre, the only way for the
air to escape is along the sides of the tongue. (Roach 2009, 59)

Approximant

An approximant sound is produced when vocal organs come near each other, but not so
close as to cause audible friction, e.g. /r/and /w/. (Kelly 2000, 6) An approximant, as a type of
consonant, is rather difficult to describe; informally, we can say that it is an articulation in which
the articulators approach each other but do not get sufficiently close to each other to produce a
"complete" consonant such as a plosive, nasal or fricative. The difficulty with this explanation
is that articulators are always in some positional relationship with each other, and any vowel
articulation could also be classed as an approximant – but th e term "approximant" is usually
used only for consonants. (Roach 2009, 60)

According to the place of articulation the consonants can be:

Bilabial

Bilabial sounds are produced with both lips. There is one fortis bilabial in English /p/,
and two lenis bilabials: /m/ and /b /. (Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 20)

Labio -dental

Labio -dental sounds are produced by a movement of the lower lip against the upper
teeth. There is one fortis labiodental /f/ , and one lenis labiodental /v/. (Skandera & Bu rleigh
2005, 21)

Dental

Dental, or interdental sounds are made with the tongue tip and rims between the upper
and lower teeth or against the upper teeth. There are two dentals in English: the fortis / Ɵ/ and
the lenis /ð/ . (Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 21)

Alveolar

Alveolar sound are made with the tongue tip coming near or touching the bony ridge
behind the upper teeth, called the alveolar ridge. There are two fortis alveolar s: /t/ and /s/, and
four lenis alveolar s: /d/, /z/, /n/, and /l/. (Skandera & Bur leigh 2005, 21)

Post-alveolar

Post-alveolar sounds are made with the tongue tip approaching or touching the rear of
the alveolar ridge or the area just behind it. There is one post -alveolar in English, /r/.

Palato -alveolar

Palato -alveolar sounds are made with the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge, and
with a simultaneous raising of the blade of the tongue towards the hard palate. There are two
fortis palate -alveolars in English: / ʧ/ and / ʃ/, and two lenis palate -alveolars: / ʤ/ and / ʒ/.
(Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 21)

Palatal

Palatal sounds are produced when the body of the tongue comes near or touches the
hard palate. The lenis /j/ is the only palatal in English. (Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 21)

Velar

Velar sounds are made by placing the back of the tongue against or near the velum, or
soft palate. There is one fortis velar in English, /k/, and three lenis velars: /g/, / ŋ/, and /w/. The
/w/ phoneme is different from the other velars in that it is labialised. Which means tha t it is
pronounced with rounded lips. The lips are secondary place of articulation. It is also called a
labio -velar. A place of articulation which adds some quality to the main articulation is called
secondary articulation. (Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 21)

Glottal

Glottal sounds are produced in the larynx when air passes through the glottis. The only
English phoneme that is articulated in this way is the fortis /h/.

The final factor that determines the sound of a particular consonant is voicing, that is if
the vocal cords are vibrating as the consonant is produced. When the vocal cords vibrate, vo iced
sounds are produced, when vocal cords do not vibrate, voiceless sounds are produced.

Fig.2 In pairs, the unvoiced phonemes come before the voiced phonemes. (Kelly 2000, 7)

CH

“Ch” can be pronounced in three ways / ʧ/, /ʃ/, or /k/. I am i nterested in the pronunciation
of “ch” as / ʧ/, which is a palato -alveolar sound , affricate , as /ʤ/, but this is and unvoiced, fortis
sound and affricate . (Kelly 2000, 49) The tongue tip touches the back part of the alveolar ridge,
and the soft palate is raised so that the breadth is trapped for a short time. The rest of the tongue
is in / ʃ/ position. The tongue tip moves away from the alveolar ridge a litt le way, and the whole
tongue is then in / ʃ/ position, so that a short period of this friction is heard. The friction of /ʧ/ is
not as long as for /ʃ/. In Romanian these letters are followed by the vowels ‘e’ and ‘i’, and the
sound is pronounced /k/, whic h is a velar, unvoiced and fortis sound.

Fig.3 The /ʧ/ and / ʤ/ sounds (O’Connor 1980, 47)

SH

“Sh” is pronounced / ʃ/ in English and it is a palato -alveolar sound , fricative . /ʃ/ is
unvoiced and fortis. (Kelly 2000, 51) The soft palate is raised so that all the breadth is forced
to go through the mouth. There is a narrowing between the tip of the tongue and the back of the
alveolar ridge. The front of the tongue is higher than for /s/ and /z/. The lips are slightly rounde d.
(O’Connor 1980, 35) In Romanian there is a single letter that represents the sound / ʃ/, and this
is ‘ș’. Romanian students tend to pronounce the group of letters ‘sh’ as /s/, or /sh/.

Fig.4 The /ʃ/ sound (O’Connor 1980, 36)

TH

“Th” is pronounced in English either / Ɵ/ or / ð/. They are dental sounds , fricatives . The
soft palate is raised so that all breath is forced to go through the mouth. The tongue tip makes
light contact with the back of the top, front teeth. Or, tongue tip may protrude between up per
and lower teeth. The soft palate is raised. / Ɵ/ is unvoiced and fortis and / ð/ is voiced and lenis.
/ð/ is devoiced at the end of a word . (Kelly 2000, 50) In Romanian there is no such a sound and
Romanian students tend to replace the / Ɵ/ sound by /s/, an alveolar sound, affricate, /t/, an
alveolar sound, plosive, or /f/, a labio -dental sound, fricative.

Fig. 5 The /Ɵ/ and / ð/ sounds (O’Connor 1980, 28)

PH

“Ph” in English is pronounced /f/. /f/ is a labio -dental sound, fri cative. /f/ is unvoiced
and fortis. (Kelly 2000, 50) The soft palate is raised so that no air goes through the nose and it
is all forced through the mouth. The bottom lip is very close to the upper front teeth: this forms
the narrowing and when air is push ed through the narrowing it causes slight friction. The tongue
is not directly concerned in making the sound, but it takes up the position necessary for the
following sound. (O’Connor 1980, 25) Romanian students tend to pronounce these letters /p/,
bilabia l, plosive, or /ph/, /p/ followed by /h/, a glottal, fricative sound.

Fig.6 The /f/ sound (O’Connor 1980, 25)

KN

In English the words that begin with ‘kn’ are pronounced /n/, /k/ is not heard. /n/ is an
alveolar, nasal sound. /n/ is voiced, but it may be devoiced, after /s/. (Kelly 2000, 50) The soft
palate is lowered. The mouth is blocked by pressing the tip of the tongue against the alveolar
ridge, and the sides of the tongue against the sides of the palate. Romanian students tend to
pronounce it /kn/ .

Fig.7 The /n/ sound (O’Connor 1980, 49)

WR

In English the words that begin with ‘wr’ are pronounced /r/, which is an approximant,
post alveolar sound. The soft palate is raised. /r/ is voiced. (Kelly 2000, 53) The tongue has a
curved shape with the tip pointing towards the hard palate at the back of the alveolar ridge, the
front low and the back rather high. The tongue tip is not close enough to the palate to cause
friction. The lips are rather rounded, especially when /r/ is at the beginning of word s. The soft
palate is raised, and voiced air flows quietly between the tongue tip and palate with no friction.
In Romanian some students tend to pronounce this sound / ʊr/ or /vr/ . /r/ is a retroflex sound in
Romanian. The tip of the tongue is curled back t o approach or make contact with the front part
of the roof of the mouth, called the hard palate, just behind the alveolar ridge. There are no
retroflex phonemes in RP or any other accents of English. (Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 21)

Fig.8 The /r/ sound (O’Connor 1980, 60)

J and GE

“J” and “ge” in English are pronounced / ʤ/. This is a palato -alveolar sound. The tongue
tip, blade and rims close against the alveolar ridge and side teeth. The front of the tongue is
raised and then the air is released, the re is audible friction. / ʤ/ is voiced and lenis and it is
devoiced at the end of a word. (Kelly 2000, 49) In Romanian ‘j’ is pronounced / ʒ/, which is a
palate -alveolar sound, and ‘ge’ is pronounced / ʤe/, that is the palato -alveolar sound / ʤ/ and
the vowel /e/. See fig. 3.

1.7.Teaching English through games

Language games are motivating and students like them a lot. C hildren lear n a lot
through the games they play. P laying in the classroom is a natural way for them to learn. Games
are self -motivating and stimulate learners’ interest and curiosity. Game -like activities are
meaningful and playful, this is why they motivate children to learn and develop positive
attitude s towards language learning. While pupils are enjoying playing games, they are learning
language unconsciously. Learners are immersed in using the target language in all four skills,
which assists them to better internalize a new language. Games, therefore , can be viewed as
integral parts of communicative lessons and can be used, at any time whenever necessary and
appropriate, to warm up a lesson, to present new items, to provide practice for previously
introduced language points, to serve as a substitute f or unsatisfactory materials, to end a lesson
or as follow -up activities. Different from conventional teaching methods through which many
students have frustrating experiences of language learning, games present language learners
with communicative or probl em-solving situations that are enjoyable and relatively stress free.
In game situations, the teacher encourages all attempts at communication in the target language
rather than continuous error correction. In such a way, without fear of failure or public
correction, students will feel emotionally secure and will be more confident to explore and t ake
risks with new language, which further enhances students’ active involvement as well as
intrinsic motivation, and above all, leads to better learning. (Wang 201 0, 131)
Like games in general, language games are rule governed. Their rules distinguish
language games from other classroom activities such as discussion s, songs, and role -plays. The
rules of language games describe the pattern of activity meant to take place. The rules lay out
the game organization, the procedure of the game, the behavioural restrictions and the scoring
method. Language games encourage active participation and generate fun, are rule governed,
have specific linguistic outcomes to achieve, are based on competitive and challenging
interaction. According to Hadfield “There are two kinds of games: competitive games, in which
players or teams race to be the first to reach the goal, and cooperative games, in which players
or teams work together towards a common goal.” (Hadfield 1984, 4) The emphasis in linguistic
games is on accuracy, in communicative games the emphasis falls on fluency, on successful
communication rather than on correctness of language. (Hadfield 1999, 8)

Games tend to reduce in hibition, especially if the competitive element is diminished or
eliminated. The shy or linguistically weak student s will feel more at ease and will participate
more freely, if the object is just to have fun, and not to score points and win. Although
compe tition often adds excitement and increases participation, it also intensifies the pressure to
perform well, thereby excluding the timid student and the one who is less sure of his facility
with the language. A game provides the teacher with a method of rapid rectification of students’
errors. Correcting errors immediately prevents them from becoming deeply rooted in students’
memories. Students tend to remember best the things they enjoyed doing. Hence, games help
retention . Playing games takes the drudg ery out of learning and, thus, provides motivation.
Students are very co -operative during games, since no one wants to risk being responsible for
bringing a pleasurable activity to a premature end. Consequently, games help to restrain
rebellion. (Stein berg 2009, X)
In the use of Games, t he learners ge t involved in games that imply competition and
observance of rules. The game must have the objective of improving reading and pronunciation.
For example the teacher may ask the learners to write a word and iden tify the component
sounds. He may also remove a sound segment and ask them to replace it. Again some sounds
can be written for them to match into words. Apart from enhancing pronunciation, this method
also provides opportunity for vocabulary development. A dded to this is the game in which a
learner gives a sound based on the state of the glottis or word containing a particular sound and
another provides its equivalent for example /ʃ/ or sheep and another gives /t ʃ/ or cheap.
Teachers should be introduced to traditional pronunciation exercises (e.g. drilling and
imitation) in order to help their learners establish good perception and articulatory ability and
should also be informed about the value of ‘individual’ as well as ‘choral’ responses. Teachers
should also be introduced to more modern pronunciation exercises (e.g. pronunciation games)
as well as any communicative type of exercises so that they can show their learners that
pronunciation practice can be fun. Mistakes can play different roles in social in teractions.
Usually they are associated with embarrassment or even shame, though they are often the basis
of lots of funny stories and can bring hilarity as well. Language mistakes, regardless of whether
they are errors of word choice, grammar, or pronunci ation, can also be embarrassing for the
speaker and even the listener. But in a language learning context, mistakes are treasures ; they

are keys to improvement, if identified, analyzed, and used as the basis for gaining new
understanding and forming a new habit.
Learners may be hesitant to participate in language classes because they don’t want to
make mistakes in front of their peers. Some students even refuse to read because they don’t
know how to pronounce the words. Through a game, they may become more motivated to
participate, be cause the games allow mistakes. It is very important to keep learners’ motivation
and attention at an early stage of learning when their concentration span is only from five to ten
minutes. For this reason, it is recommended to modify activities with game -like elements and
avoid long activities which would later make them bored and tired. Using games in English
lessons are according to Dunn another way how to exercise pronunciation. Games are most
beneficial and u seful if they are integrated with teaching and consolidating the use of language
items. Dunn advises to choose games having similar cognitive, physical and emotional levels
to the games the pupils already play in thei r mother tongue . Since pupils know how to play
these games, they only need to learn the linguistic labels in English. Young learners like playing
cooperative games which involve the whole classroom and allow them to participate as much
as they are able. However, games based on individual compet ition to see who wins or who
receives the highest number of points or cards are suitable for pupils who are about seven years
or older because for younger children it can be rather stressful and difficult to lose.
Pronunciation is often taught through the teacher providing a model for learners to listen
and repeat. This is a valuable way of teaching pronunciation, but it neglects a need many
learners feel to understand what they are doing. There are a great variety of games, from
competitive games to colla borative ones, from games involving learners working individually
to group and whole -class activities. Nixon and Tomlinson stated that “there are two kinds of
pronunciation skill. The first is the accurate production of English sound and minimising, as far
as possible, any trace of a foreign accent in a ‘free speech’ context. The second is the ability to
read aloud successfully from a written text. Young learners can often pronounce correctly
without seeing a written text. However, when they see English in its written form interference
from their first language leads them to distort the sounds. Sometimes we become so accustomed
to these pronunciation errors that we fail to hear them.” (Nixon and Tomlinson 2005, 9)

2. Practical activities

The aim of the pract ical part of this paper is to apply the theoretical knowledge concerning
the pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn”. In my teaching
experience I have met students with excellent pronunciation and students who couldn’t acquire
a good pronunciation only with great effort. Pronunciation practice is a neglected area by many
teachers. Usually teachers focus on teaching grammar and vocabulary, because these are safer
areas. There is a great range of materials available for these area s, and many teachers prefer to
deal with safer areas. Many teachers believe that students will learn pronunciation naturally,
without extra practice. Some students learn pronunciation of words from the regular classroom
activities, but others cannot do thi s without extra practice. Students become aware of sounds
and other pronunciation features when they are taught the pronunciation of words and this has
a positive influence on students’ speaking comprehension and intelligibility.
As I teach primary school students, I thought that teaching pronunciation through games
would be a better way because younger students are ver y receptive to new activities. The
hypothesis for the practical part is whether students have difficulties with pronunciation of ‘th’
sounds as there is no similar sound in Romanian, and they also have difficulties in pronouncing
words that have the following letters ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ph’, ‘j’, ‘ge’, ‘wr’, and ‘kn’ because they are
influenced by the pronunciation of these words in their mother tong ue or by the way the words
are written. In my paper I will deal with the question whether primary school students can
improve their production of the ‘th’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ph’, ‘j’, ‘ge’, ‘wr’, and ‘kn’ sounds through
pronunciation games.
In the first part I decided to do a survey in order to support my assumption. The research is
based on a small scale classroom study. My study group is made of 9 students, from 3rd and 4th
grade, the first and second year of studying English. I composed some texts to meet my criteria
of ‘th’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ph’, ‘j’, ‘ge’, ‘wr’, and ‘kn’ sound occurrence. Then, I asked my students to
read the texts while being recorded. Finally, I analysed the recordings. During the analysis the
attention was paid to the target sounds and the wa y my students pronounced them. I wanted to
find out if these words are read correctly or the target sounds are substituted with other
consonants or sounds.

The second part of my research concentrates on some pronunciation games through which
I attempted to improve the pronunciation of the target sounds of my students. After
implementing the games into my classes the students were recorded again and the first and the
second record ing were compared together to establish whether the students improved their
pronunciation. As I tried to base my paper on my own experience, I described the games that
were really used in my lessons. The conclusion of the practical part refers to the survey
outcomes and the initial assumptions.

2.1.Games focused on the pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr” , and
“kn”

Game 1

For my first game I downloaded a blank snake diagram (www.adrianbruce.com ) – see
Appendix 7 – and I made the rules for the game. First, I made a list of words with the target
sounds ‘wr’, ‘kn’, ‘ge’, ‘j’, ‘th’, and ‘ch’ .
wr kn ge j th ch
typewriter
wrong
write
writer
playwright
wrist
wrap
wrestling knight
knowledge
knock
knot
knife
know
knee
kneel village
cottage
geography
advantage
cage
courage
bridge
German journey
jump
jail
jacket
jeans
jewellery
juice
justice thousand
teeth
theatre
thing
fifth
mouth
bath
father cherry
chase
speech
coach
rich
chicken
child
beach

I made three groups of three students each. Each group was given a ‘snake board’, two
sets of words with two target sounds and a die. Each student had a different colour pawn to
mark his position on board.

Rules:
Each student had to roll the die. Then t hey had to take a word and pronounce it. If the
word was pronounced correctly the student put the word on the board counting the position
given by the die. If the student didn’t pronounce the word well, he had to put the word in the
pile of the other words and didn’t move on the board. If the position on the board was occupied
by a word, the student had to pronounce the word on the board. The students also had to follow
the rules of the board (rise up the ladder or fall of the ladder). When the first studen t riches the
end of the board he wins. Then groups change the words.

Game 2

For the second game I will exemplify with the ‘th’ words. Students were given a list of
words that contain the ‘th’ sound. After we practiced the pronunciation of the words, the
students were given a set of worksheets as you can see in Appendix 8.
(http://www.littlebooklane.com/SF1/thSet.pdf)
In the firs t activity – It’s a match! – the students had to look at the words and the pictures
on the worksheet. Then they had to cut each p icture and word and glue them together in the
boxes provided.
In the second activity – Configuration station – the students had to read the words from the
‘Word Bank’ and place them in the correct boxes. They had to pay attention to the ‘tall’ letters,
the ‘in line’ letters, and ‘tail’ letters. This is a very good exercise for spelling the words, too.
In the third activity – Circle and Write – the students had to circle the correct word from the
two written in each box that matched the image.
The fourth act ivity – Order in the Court! – consisted in placing the words from the ‘Word
Bank ’ in alphabetical order.
In the fifth activity – TH Word Search – students had to search for the words in the ‘Word
Bank ’ and circle them. The same pattern was followed for the words containing ‘ch’, ‘wr’, ‘ph’
and ‘sh’.

Game 3

The third game is made of some worksheets, each having other activities. I will also
exemplify with the words containing ‘ th’. The worksheets are presented in Appendix 9
(www.ImansHomeschool.wordpress.com )
In the first activity student s had to match the ‘th’ words with the correct pictures, and then
colour the pictures.
In the second activity students had to co mplete the words that ended in ‘th’, then they had
to copy them again, pronounce them and colour the images.
In the third activity students had to find words that end and begin with ‘th’ and circle the
words when they found them.
In the fourth activity students had to draw six things that start with ‘th’, then six things that
end with ‘th’, to write the words and pronounce them. The same activities were used with the
other target sounds.

Game 4

In the fourth game I split the students into three groups of three students each. On a big
sheet of paper (poster size) I wrote do wn some words containing all target letters, but without
writing the target letters. I draw a line where the target letter or le tters were missing. I wrote the
target letters “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn” on sticking coloured pieces
of paper. The students had to stick them in the correct place. The group that finished first won.

Game 5

The fifth game – Tic-Tac-Toe – was inspired from the web page
http://www.kidslearningstation.com/spelling/games/ and it focuses on spelling and
pronunciation of the words. This game is played with a partner. Eac h player needs a different
coloured pencil. I prepared some words with the target sounds and wrote them on slips of paper.
Player 1 takes a word from the pile of words and calls it aloud. Player 2 will pick a box and
write the word. Player 1 will check the word to make sure it is correct. If the word is incorrect,

Player 1 will show the correct spelling and the word must be erased. Then change roles. They
continue playing until one player gets three correct words in a row. See Appendix 10.

Game 6

The sixth game consists of three activities from the site urbrainy.com . The students are
given some worksheets. I will exemplify with “sh” words. In the first activity students have to
fill in the gaps to make the ‘sh’ words and then read them out loud. In the second activity
students have to choose from some ‘sh’ words to fill the gaps in the sentences. Then they have
to draw two pictures to include the words in the box. In the third activity students have a list of
‘sh’ words. They have to look at the wor d, say it, cover it, write it and check it. Then look, say,
cover, write and check again. See Appendix 11.

2.2.Introduction of the students

The goal of this chapter is to analyse students’ pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”,
“ge”, “wr”, and “kn” so unds. I focused on the primary classes the 3rd and 4th grades, because
they know how to read, and this thing is essential. In the third grade there are six students. I
chose only two of them because three students are not able to read in English and one was
absent when the study begun. In the fourth grade there are eight students, all of t hem
participated in the study, but I didn’t take into consideration one of them because the
pronunciation of the words was unintelligible. So my study group is made of nine students, four
boys and five girls. It is the first year of study for the third gra de and the second for the fourth
grade. English is a compulsory su bject and I teach them two times a week. A session lasts 50’.
All of them are beginners. The course books I use at school are Firm Steps for the third grade
and Firm Steps for the fourth gra de, different levels. The course books include activities focused
on extending knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, practising reading and writing, there are
some activities on speaking and pronunciation, but the pronunciation activities used in the
textbo ok tend to have the same pattern and the students don’t like them very much. There is
also no listening recording, the listening part being provided by the teacher. I use different
supplementary materials to give my students extra practice. Because there a re no significant

pronunciation exercises I decided to introduce into my lessons the pronunciation games which
help my students improve their pronunciation.
In order to see whether my students are able to make improvements in their pronunciation
I decided to record my students reading some texts that included the target sounds. I recorded
them two times, the first time before implementing the pronunciation games and the second
time after implementing the pronunciation games.

2.3.Recordings

This chapter outli nes a description of the process of my research. The research took place
during the school year 2013 -2014 in May and June. The question I tried to deal with was: ‘Can
primary school students improve their pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”,
and “kn” consonants through games? ’ At the first stage of my research I recorded nine students
for which I prepared six texts containing the target consonants “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”,
“wr”, and “kn”. The ‘sh’ text contains 13 ‘sh’ consonan ts. The ‘ph’ text contains 14 ‘ph’
consonants. The ‘ch’ text contains 16 ‘ch’ consonants. The ‘th’ text contains 16 ‘th’ consonants
– eight of them representing the /ð/ sound and eight /Ɵ/ sound. In the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text there are
nine words containing ‘j’ consonant and eight the ‘ge’ group of letters, representing the / ʤ/
sound. The ‘wr’ and ‘kn’ text contains five ‘kn’ consonants and six ‘wr’ consonants. I asked
each student to come individually into the class. I provided a model reading for each text and
after that the student had to read the texts while I was recording them. After I provided the
pronunciation games which lasted a month, I recorded the students again in the same conditions
as the first time.

2.3.1. Assessing recordings

Assessing the recording is not an easy task. I decided to focus my assessment on the
pronunciation of the target consonants “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn”. If the
consonant was pronounced correctly I noted down the correct sound in the cha rt and if the
consonants were pronounce d incorrectly I noted down the sound that replaced the correct
pronunciation.

2.3.2. Pre-test

In the pre -test I wanted to find out if my hypothesis, whether Romanian students have
problems with “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonant as there are no similar
sounds in their mother tongue or there is an interference with the reading in the mother tongue,
is right or not. The results are showed into tables and the overall findings are presented in a
graph demonstrating how many students had a correct production.

Recordings of ‘sh’ text.
Student 1
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 2
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /h/ /sh/ /sh/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /sh/ /ʃ/ /s/
Student 3
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/
Student 4
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/

Student 5
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 6
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /h/ /w/ /s/ /h/ /w/ /ʃ/ /s/ /h/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /w/
Student 7
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /sh/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /s/
Student 8
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/
Student 9
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/

012345678
ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoesStudents
'sh' wordsThe First Recording
Correct Wrong

Recordings of ‘ph’ text:

Student 1
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /ph/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/
Student 2
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/
Student 3
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/
Student 4
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /ph/ /p/ /ph/ /f/

Student 5
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /f/
Student 6
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /i/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/
Student 7
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/
Student 8
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/
Student 9
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/

012345678910Students
'ph' wordsThe First Recording
Correct Wrong

Recordings of ‘ch’ text:

Student 1
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 2
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 3
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Student 4
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/

Student 5
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 6
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
Stude nt 7
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
Student 8
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/
Student 9
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/

012345678Students
'ch' wordsThe First Recording
Correct Wrong

Recordings of ‘th’ text:

Student 1
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /ð/ /ð/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /r/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 2
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /t/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 3
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 4
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/

Student 5
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /r/ /th/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 6
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /h/ /ti/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /w/
Student 7
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 8
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 9
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /th/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /ʧ/ /t/ /d/ /r/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/

012345678910Students
'th' wordsThe First Recording
Correct Wrong

Recordings of ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text
Student 1
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 2
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ – /ʤ/ /ʤi/ /ʧ/ /g/ /ʤ/ /g/
Student 3
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/ – /ʤ/
Student 4
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/
Student 5
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/

Student 6
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʧ/ /h/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /j/ /h/ /ʤ/ – /g/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ – /d/ /g/ /g/
Student 7
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 8
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/
Student 9
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤǝ/ /ʤ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/

012345678910Students
'j' and 'ge' wordsThe First Recording
Correct Wrong

Recordings of ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ text
Student 1
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/n/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /r/ /ur/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 2
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/kn/ /kn/ /ke/ /kn/ /kn/ /ur/ /hr/ /w/ /r/ /w/ /r/
Student 3
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/kn/ /kn/ /ken/ /kn/ /kn/ /ua/ /r/ /ŋ/ /r/ /ur/ /r/
Student 4
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/k/ /k/ /n/ /k/ /k/ /ur/ /ui/ /wr/ /wr/ /r/ /ri/
Student 5
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/n/ /n/ /kn/ /kn/ /n/ /r/ /wra/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/

Student 6
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/k/ /k/ /kn/ /kn/ /ke/ /r/ /hr/ /g/ /h/ /g/ /r/
Student 7
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/k/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /wa/ /wi/ /w/ /wo/ /r/ /r/
Student 8
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/ki/ /kn/ /ken/ /ke/ – /r/ /r/ /wr/ /r/ /ǝ/ /r/
Student 9
Recording ‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
1 knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
/kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /g/ /r/ /wr/ /r/ – /r/

0123456789
knight knocked kneeled knew wrapped wrist playwrite wrote typewriter wrongStudents
'kn' and 'wr' wordsThe First Recording
Correct Wrong

The outcomes of the first recording of the ‘sh’ text proves that my assumption was right.
The majority of my students replaced the correct pronunciation / ʃ/of the group of letters ‘sh’
with /s/. There were some words like ‘shop’, ‘ship’ and ‘sheep’ to which my students were more
exposed during the school year and they had better scores in pronouncing these words. The first
recording of the ‘ph’ text shows that my student s have problems in pronouncing the words that
contain ‘ph’ letters. Four of the words had better scores because th ey sound like the similar
Romanian words: ‘alphabet’, ‘elephant’, ‘telephone’ and ‘pharmacy’. The recording of the ‘ch’
text shows that my assumption was correct about the problems the students meet in pronouncing
the words that contain the ‘ch’ letters. T he majority of my students replaced the sound / ʧ/ with
/k/. The word ‘children’ was pronounced in a correct way, my students being familiarized with
this word during the school year. The recording of ‘th’ text showed that all the students had
problems in p ronouncing the words that contain the ‘th’ letters. This thing happens because
there are no /ð/ or /Ɵ/ sound s in Romanian and the students have to learn these sound s. The
recording of ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text showed that the majority of my students don’t have pro blems in
pronouncing the words that contain ‘j’ and ‘ge’ letters. But some of the students proved that my
assumption was correct, too. There are students who replace the sound / ʤ/ in words that have
letter ‘j’ with / ʒ/ sound because this is how they pronou nce this letter in Romanian, and there
are students who replace / ʤ/ sound with / ʤe/ because this is how they pronounce this group of
letters in Romanian. The recording of ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ text proved my assumption to be right
because all the student had probl ems in pronouncing the words that begun with ‘kn’. My
students replaced the correct pronunciation /n/ with /kn/. As for the words that contain ‘wr’ my
students had very different pronunciations, replacing the correct pronunciation /r/ with /wr/, /ǝ/,
/h/, /g/ or they avoided its pronunciation.
In conclusion, my assumption was correct and this is why I designed the pronunciation
games to improve my students’ pronunciation for these specific groups of sounds.

2.3.3. Post-test

After applying the games during a month these are the results of the post -test recordings in comparison with the pre -test
recordings:
Recordings of ‘sh’ text.
Student 1
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
2 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 2
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /h/ /sh/ /sh/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /sh/ /ʃ/ /s/
2 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 3
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/

2 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 4
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/
2 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 5
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
2 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 6
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /h/ /w/ /s/ /h/ /w/ /ʃ/ /s/ /h/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /w/
2 /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/

Student 7
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /sh/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /s/
2 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 8
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/
2 /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /s/ /s/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
Student 9
/ʃ/
Recording ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoes
1 /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/
2 /ʃ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʃ/

012345678910
ship shadow shark sharp shaking shocked shore shining shells shop shirt sheep shoesStudents
'sh' wordsThe First and Second Recording
Correct
Wrong
Correct2
Wrong2

Recordings of ‘ph’ text:
Student 1
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /ph/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/
2 /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/
Student 2
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/
2 /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ –
Student 3
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/
2 /v/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/

Student 4
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /ph/ /p/ /ph/ /f/
2 /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/
Student 5
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /f/
2 /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/
Student 6
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /i/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/
2 /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/
Student 7
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/
/f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/

Student 8
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /p/
2 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /ph/
Student 9
/f/
Recording nephew alphabet elephant dolphin telephone pharmacy photos phantom phone geography atmosphere stratosphere triumph autograph
1 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/
2 /p/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /ph/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/

012345678910Students
'ph' wordsThe First and Second Recording
Correct
Wrong
Correct2
Wrong2

Recordings of ‘ch’ text:

Student 1
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
2 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 2
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/
2 /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /t/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/
Stude nt 3
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
2 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/

Student 4
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
2 /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 5
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
2 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʃ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 6
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
2 /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 7
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/
2 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/

Stude nt 8
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /k/ /ʧ/
2 /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
Stude nt 9
/ʧ/
Recording rich bunch chain beach children chasing each chicken cheetah cheerful cherry branch charming which church
1 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /k/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/
2 /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/ /ʧ/

012345678910Students
'ch' wordsThe First and Second Recording
Correct
Wrong
Correct2
Wrong2

Recordings of ‘th’ text:

Student 1
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /ð/ /ð/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /r/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /ð/ /Ɵ/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /t/ /Ɵ/
Student 2
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /t/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /ð/ – /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /th/ /th/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/
Student 3
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /t/ /ð/ /ð/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/
Student 4
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /d/ /th/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /d/ /ð/ /ð/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /th/ /t/

Student 5
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /r/ /th/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /ð/ /d/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /r/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 6
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /h/ /ti/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /w/
2 /d/ /d/ /t/ /ð/ /ð/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /h/ /t/ /w/
Student 7
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /d/ /d/ /d/ /ð/ /d/ /t/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
Student 8
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /ð/ /d/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /th/ /th/ /d/ /t/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /Ɵ/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /th/

Student 9
/ð/ /Ɵ/
Recording father that mother father mother then they the thought thin three fourth Thursday thirteen thanked theatre
1 /d/ /th/ /d/ /d/ /d/ /t/ /t/ /d/ /ʧ/ /t/ /d/ /r/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/
2 /ð/ /th/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /d/ /th/ /d/ /t/ /th/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/ /th/

012345678910Students
'th' wordsThe First and Second Recording
Correct
Wrong
Correct2
Wrong2

Recordings of ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text
Student 1
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
2 /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 2
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ – /ʤ/ /ʤi/ /ʧ/ /g/ /ʤ/ /g/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 3
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/ – /ʤ/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 4
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/
2 /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/

Student 5
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 6
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʧ/ /h/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /j/ /h/ /ʤ/ – /g/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ – /d/ /g/ /g/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /h/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /d/ /ʤ/ /g/
Student 7
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/
Student 8
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤe/ /ʤ/

Student 9
‘j’ words / ʤ/ ‘ge’ words / ʤ/
Recording jewellery jumped June jeans jacket juice journey jail justice courage advantage geography bridge cottage fridge cottage page
1 /ʤe/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤǝ/ /ʤ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/
2 /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/ /ʤ/

012345678910Students
'j' and 'ge' wordsThe First and Second Recording
Correct
Wrong
Correct2
Wrong2

Recordings of ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ text
Student 1
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /n/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /r/ /ur/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 2
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /kn/ /kn/ /ke/ /kn/ /kn/ /ur/ /hr/ /w/ /r/ /w/ /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 3
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /kn/ /kn/ /ken/ /kn/ /kn/ /ua/ /r/ /ŋ/ /r/ /ur/ /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /kn/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 4
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /k/ /k/ /n/ /k/ /k/ /ur/ /ui/ /wr/ /wr/ /r/ /ri/
2 /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/

Student 5
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /n/ /n/ /kn/ /kn/ /n/ /r/ /wra/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 6
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /k/ /k/ /kn/ /kn/ /ke/ /r/ /hr/ /g/ /h/ /g/ /r/
2 /n/ /k/ /kn/ /n/ /kn/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 7
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /k/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /wa/ /wi/ /w/ /wo/ /r/ /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/
Student 8
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /ki/ /kn/ /ken/ /ke/ – /r/ /r/ /wr/ /r/ /ǝ/ /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /kn/ /kn/ /h/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/

Student 9
‘kn’ words /n/ ‘wr’ words /r/
Recording knight knocked kneeled knew knew wrapped wrist playwright wrote typewriter wrong
1 /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /kn/ /g/ /r/ /wr/ /r/ – /r/
2 /n/ /n/ /kn/ /n/ /kn/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/

012345678910
knight knocked kneeled knew wrapped wrist playwrite wrote typewriter wrongStudents
'kn' and 'wr' wordsThe First and Second Recording
Correct
Wrong
Correct2
Wrong2

In this part the results of the recordings will be analysed:

Student 1

Student 1 had no problems in pronouncing the ‘sh’ words. In the first recording he had
only one mistake and he didn’t make any mistakes in the second recording. In the ‘ph’ text he
had six mistakes, but in the second recording there were no mistakes. In the ‘ch’ text the student
had s even mistakes. He replaced the /ʧ/ sound by /k/. In the second recording he improved his
pronunciation by 100%. In the ‘th’ text the first student replaced almost all the /ð/ sounds by
/d/ and /Ɵ/ sounds by /d/, because there are no /ð/ and /Ɵ/ sounds in R omanian. In the second
recording there were eleven words pronounced correctly. In the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text the first student
didn’t have any difficulties in pronouncing the target sounds. In the ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ text the first
student pronounced the letters ‘kn’ – /kn/. There were no problems in pronouncing the ‘wr’
words. In the second recording he improved his pronunciation by 100%.

Student 2

Student 2 improved her pronunciation by 92%. In the first recording she pronounced
correctly only 23% of the words. I n the second text she had nine mistakes. In the second
recording her pronunciation improved by 85 %. In the ‘ch’ text she pronounced correctly only
four words. In the second recording she had a good pronunciation in eleven words. In the ‘th’
text this stud ent improved her pronunciation by 43%. In the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text the second student
pronounced the target sounds well in 58% of the situations . In the second recording she had no
problems in pronouncing the target sounds. In the ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ text this stud ent had great
problems in pronouncing the target sounds, but she improved her pronunciation in the second
recording by 100%.

Student 3

Student 3 pronounced 61% of the words in a correct way on the first recording. Her
pronunciation improved by 92%. This student had a good pronunciation in both recordings in
the ‘ph’ text. In the ‘ch’ text she pronounced half of the words well, in the second recording she
had no mistakes. In the ‘th’ text this student had the best improvement. In the first recording
she didn’t have any good pronunciation of the target sounds. In the second recording she
pronounced almost all the words correctly. In the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text this student improved her
pronunciation by 100%. Student 3 didn’t have a correct pronunciation of t he ‘kn’ and ‘wr’
words in the first recording, but she improved it in the second recording by 90%.

Student 4

All the words this student pronounced in the first recording were wrong. She replaced
the /ʃ/ sound with /s/, being totally influenced by her mo ther tongue. In the second recording
she made this mistake in only three situations , so her pronunciation improved by 76%. This
student pronounced only two words correctly in the ‘ph’ text. She mainly replaced the /f/ sound
by /p/, being influenced by read ing in her mother tongue. In the second recording she made no
mistakes. In the ‘ch’ text she had a wrong pronunciation in all words. In the second recording
she improved her pronunciation by 100%. Six out of sixteen words were pronounced well in
the second recording of ‘th’ text. In the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text this student tended to replace the ‘j’
letter by /ʒ/ because this is the pronunciation of this letter in Romanian. She also tended to
pronounce the ‘ge’ group of letters /ʤe/. She improved her pronunciation of ‘j’ words, but she
made the same mistakes in the pronunciation of ‘ge’ words. Student 4 improved her
pronunciation of ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ words by 100%.

Student 5

This student made no mistakes in pronouncing the target words in both recordings in
‘sh’ text. Student 5 made four mistakes in the ‘ph’ text. In the second recording he made no
mistakes. In the ‘ch’ text he made no mistakes in both recordings. The fifth student had only

one good pronunciation of the target sound in the ‘th’ text. In the second recording he improved
his pronunciation by 43%. This student made no mistakes while reading the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text.
Student 5 improved his pronunciation of ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ words by 100%.

Student 6

Almost all the words were pronounced incorrectly by this s tudent in the ‘sh’ text . She
replaced the /ʃ/ sound by /s/, /h/ or /w/. She is a poorer reader, so she has to practice more to
hear the sounds and read the words . In the second recording she made only one mistake where
she replaced the /ʃ/ sound by /s/. In the ‘ph’ recording this student had 28% correct answers.
She replaced the /f/ sound by /p/. In the second recording she had 64 % good pronunciation. In
the ‘ch’ text this student pronounced wrongly almost all the words. In the second reco rding she
pronounced well ten words. In the ‘th’ text the sixth student didn’t make great improvements
in pronouncing the target sound. She still has problems in learning the sound. This student had
great difficulties in pronouncing the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ words in the first recording. 76% were
pronounced well in the second recording. Student 6 still has some problems in pronouncing the
‘kn’ words, but she has no problems in pronouncing the ‘wr’ words.

Student 7

This student pronounced only two words correctly in the ‘sh’ text . She replaced the /ʃ/
sound by /s/ or /sh/. In the second recording she made no mistakes. Student 7 pronounced more
than half of the words incorrectly in the ‘ph’ text. In the second recording she improved her
pronunciation by 100%. In the ‘ch’ text this student made thirteen mistakes whereas in the
second recording there were no mistakes. In the ‘th’ text the seventh student made no progress
in pronouncing the target sound. It is still difficult for her to hear and produce the sound. This
student didn’t have great difficulties in pronouncing the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ words. Student 7 improved
her pronunciation of ‘kn’ and ‘wr’ words by 100%.

Student 8

Student 8 made ten mistakes in the first recording. He replaced the /ʃ/ sound by /s/. In
the s econd recording he made only four mistakes, so he improved his pronunciation by 69%.
In the ‘ph’ text this student made 7 mistakes. In the second recording he made two mistakes. In
the ‘ch’ text this student tended to replace the /ʧ/ sound by /k/ in twelve words. In the second
recording he made this replacement in only two words. The eighth student made a slight
improvement in pronouncing the ‘th’ words. He improved his pronunciation by half. This
student didn’t encounter any problems in pronouncing the ‘j’ words. In the ‘ge’ words he tends
to replace the /ʤ/ sound by /ʤe/ sounds. Student 8 still has some problems in pronouncing the
‘kn’ words, but he has no problems in pronouncing the ‘wr’ words.

Student 9

The final student made no mistakes, only in the second recording, one mistake in the
‘sh’ text . Student 9 made two mistakes in the ‘ph’ text and he kept the same mistakes in the
second recording. This student made only three mistakes in the ‘ch’ text. In the second
recording he had no mistakes. The nin th student pronounced only four words correctly in the
‘th’ text second recording. He tends to replace the /ð/ sound by /d/ and /Ɵ/ sound by /t/. This
student didn’t have any problems in pronouncing the ‘j’ and ‘ge’ words. Student 9 still has some
problems in pronouncing the ‘kn’ words, but he has no problems in pronouncing the ‘wr’ words.
In conclusion, my students improved their pronunciation after I applied the
pronunciation games in classroom. There are some students who overgeneralized the rules. For
example one student while pronouncing the words ‘waist’ and ‘was’ she didn’t pronounce the
/w/ sound. One of the students didn’t pronounce the sound /k/ from the word ‘kissed’. In the
first recording the students pronounced better the words they knew from the classroom practice,
but they weren’t able to transfer the pronunciation rules to the unknown words.

2.3.4. Summary of the recordings

In this part I will present the findings of my research and I will answer the initial question:
 Can primary school students improve their pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”,
“j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonants through games?
The analysis of the recordings demonstrate that all my students improved their
pronunciation of the target sounds. In the ‘sh’ text they pronounced well 48% of the target
words. In the second recording they had a score of 90%, so they improved their pronunciation
by 42%. Some of the students still use the /s/ sound in the place of / ʃ/ sound. In the ‘ph’ text my
students improved their pronu nciation by 36%. In the first recording they had a score of 52%
and in the second, 88%. Some of my students still replace the /f/ sound with the /p/ sound. I
think that more practice will improve their pronunciation. For the ‘ch’ text the students
improved their pronunciation by 52%. It is a very good score, but in this case I have to design
some pronunciation games in other to introduce the other two ways in which we can pronounce
the ‘ch’ sound /k/ and / ʃ/. In the case of the ‘th’ text there was only a sl ight improvement of my
students’ pronunciation with 17%. This sound is difficult for the Romanian students because
there is no such a sound in Romanian. I think that I have to design some more pronunciation
games for the /ð/ and / Ɵ/ sounds, and to insist o n the production of these sounds. In most cases
my student s replace the / ð/ sound by /d/ and the / Ɵ/ sound by /t/. Further research should be
done on these specific sounds. The pronunciation of ‘j’ and ‘ge’ text improved by 22%. There
were also the highes t scores in the first recording, my students being familiarized with these
sounds. Some of my students still pronounce the ‘j’ letter as / ʒ/ because this is how they
pronounce this letter in Romanian and the / ʤ/ sound as / ʤe/ also being influenced by
Roma nian. The highest score was recorded in the ‘kn’ text. My students improved their
pronunciation by 72%. In the first recording they had a score of 14% and in the second one,
86%. Some of the students keep pronouncing both sounds /kn/, but overall they all improved
their pronunciation. The ‘wr’ words were pronounced correctly by all my students in the second
recording.

Conclusio ns

The goal of my paper was co ncentrated on correction of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”,
“wr”, and “kn” consonants pronunciation that contributes to intelligibility of non -native
students of English. In the theoretical part features of pronunciation and the most problematic
sounds for Romanian learners of English are outlined. In this part I also inquire ab out the
reasons for teaching pronunciation and how intelligibility of learners is important in everyday
communication. Furthermore, since pronunciation teaching is still being neglected and for some
reason pushed to the margins of the language teaching tea chers’ and students’ roles are
presented in the theoretical part too. Moreover, the part presents factors that influence
pronunciation acquisition. Lastly, attention is paid to production of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”,
“ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonants and characteristic features of them are outlined.
In the practical activities I aimed to present my research. The research is focused on
pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonants by primary school
students. The initial hypot hesis (whether Romanian students of English have problems with
pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonants) and the question
(Can primary school students improve their pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”,
“wr”, and “kn” consonants through games? ) are answered in this part. To prove the hypothesis
and the question correct I asked my students to undergo two recordings. The first recording
proved the initial hypothesis right since the student s had difficulties i n pronouncing “th”, “sh”,
“ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonants correctly.
As a result I framed various pronunciation games aimed at “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”,
“wr”, and “kn” consonants practice. During the pronunciation games my studen ts were
introduced to the production of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”, “wr”, and “kn” consonants and
exposed to pronunciation practise of them. Then the students were recorded again and I could
compare the two recordings. The second recording proved th at my assumption whether primary
school students are able to improve their pronunciation of “th”, “sh”, “ch”, “ph”, “j”, “ge”,
“wr”, and “kn” consonants through pronunciation games was proved right as all of the m
improved their pronunciation of the target sounds.
Nevertheless, the findings from the research demonstrate that factors influencing
pronunciation acquisition suc h as age of the students or the mother tongue do play an important

role in pronunciation learning process. On the other hand, systematic and continual work on
pronunciation can help learners to become more intelligible.

References

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Teaching Practices in Canada”. TESL Canada Journal. Vol.19.no.1. Winter. 2001 .
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Oxford University Press .

Nixon, Caroline and Michael Tomlinson. 2005. Primary Pronunciation Box.
Pronunciation games and activities for younger learners. Cambridge University Press .
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2 – 2007, pp. 3 -28.
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Verlag Tübing en.
Steinberg, Jerry. 2009. Games Language People Play. Pippin Publishing ,
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consonants: Evidence from Korean Adults in U.K. International Review of Applied Linguistics
in Language Tea ching. 41. 145 -173.
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Appendix

Appendix 1: reading text 1

SH text
I went to the seaside and I got on a ship. Suddenly I saw a shadow in water. It was a huge shark.
It had sharp teeth. I started shaking because I was afraid and shocked.
Then I went on the shore. The sand was shining in the sun. There were beautiful shell s and I
started to pick them up.
After that I went to a shop and I bought a shirt with a sheep on it and a pair of shoes. I had a
great time.

Appendix 2: reading text 2

PH text
My nephew learns the alphabet. He can spell words like elephant, dolphin, te lephone, and
pharmacy.
He also likes taking photos. He even took the picture of a phantom with his mobile phone.
Geography is his favourite subject. He likes talking about atmosphere and stratosphere.
His biggest triumph was that he took an autograph from his favourite singer.

Appendix 3: reading text 3

CH text
Once I saw a rich man with a bunch of flowers in his hand. He had a golden chain at his neck.

The beach was near and there were lots of children playing and chasing each other. A chicken
and a c heetah were looking at them. They were cheerful.
There was a cherry tree nearby. On a branch there was a charming bird which flew on the top
of a church.

Appendix 4: reading text 4

TH text
My father thought that he was too thin. He spoke to my mother to see how he could lose weight.
She told him to eat three bananas every day and on the fourth day of the week, on Thursday he
had to eat thirteen cherries. My father thanked my mother and then they went to the theatre to
relax.

Appendix 5: reading text 5

J and ge words
I saw on TV a thief who stole the queen’s jewellery. He had great courage and he had a big
advantage that he knew the geography of the place. He run over a bridge and he jumped over
the fence of a cottage.
It was in June and he was wearing blue jeans and a black jacket. He was hot and he opened the
fridge from the cottage and he drank some juice.
After a while his journey ended because the police caught him and put him to jail. In the end
another page of the justice history was written.

Appendix 6: readin g text 6

Wr and kn words
The knight knocked on the door. A beautiful lady opened the door. He wrapped his arms around
her waist and kissed her. He put a beautiful bracelet on her wrist. He kneeled in front of her and
she knew that he loved her.

This is wh at the playwright wrote at the beginning of the play on his typewriter. But he knew
that it was a wrong beginning.

Appendix 7 –Game 1
(www.adrianbruce.com)

Appendix 8 : Game 2

Appendix 9 : Game 3

Appendix 10 : Game 5

Appendix 11 : Game 6

Appendix 12: Pictures