This course is offered in the first term of the second year of the English Studies degree. Its main goal is to provide students with a solid understanding of the production mechanisms and structure of the sound system of English and its differences with their L1 system. At a practical level it aims to develop the skills of perception, production and transcription of English sounds and the assessment and analysis of English pronunciation.

COMPETENCES



This subject belongs to the Module M03 Foundations of English Linguistics. Specifically, it contributes to the achievement of module competences CM01/ CM02:



- M03CM01 To describe and analyse the structure of English in its phonetic, morphological, syntactic and semantic components. The course will focus on one part of this module competence, specifically its phonetic component.



- M03CM02 To describe the principles/foundations and acquisition processes of English.



Final achievement of the module competences above entails the fulfilment of the degree competences G001, G003, G007, G008 and G009:



- G001 To be able to produce and understand any type of oral and written text in English.

- G003 To analyse, synthesise, and explain the grammar and use of English.

- G007 To be able to relate the specific knowledge of the degree with other areas and disciplines and to transmit that knowledge in further studies in order to favour conciliatory and tolerant attitudes towards multilingual and multicultural diversity

- G008 To be able to work autonomously and in teams, making use of the techniques and tools acquired.

- G009 To be able to transmit the knowledge acquired in different academic contexts to be used in diverse professional contexts.



LEARNING OUTCOMES



In this course students can:



- Explain the main theoretical concepts in Phonetics (M03CM01) (G007)

- Interpret phonetic symbols and diacritics and the relationship between English orthographic and phonemic symbols (M03CM01) (G008) (G009)

- Recognise the functioning of the speech organs in sound production and their acoustic and articulatory effects. (M03CM01) (G007) (G009)

- Describe the English phonemic system, its syllable structure, rhythm and phonotactics. (M03CM01) (G003) (G007) (G008) (G009)

- Assess, analyze and improve pronunciation and perception problems in English as a foreign language. (M03CM02) (G007) (G008) (G009)

- Rationalise the mechanisms and reasons for coarticulation and sound variation in English connected speech (M03CM01) (G003) (G007) (G008) (G009)

- Discriminate, identify and categorise English phonemes and their main allophones vs. the sounds of the L1. (G001) (G008) (G009)

- Produce all English phonemes and main allophones. (G001) (G008) (G009)

- Transcribe English phonemically and allophonically from written and aural input (M03CM01) (G001) (G008) (G009)

1. Introduction. Terminology, areas and units of analysis. Standard accents.

2. Sound symbols and IPA classification of sounds. Perception, production and transcription practicals.

3. English sound system. Perception, production and transcription practicals. English syllable structure and phonotactics. Transcription practicals from written texts and phonemic dications.

4. Symbols vs. orthography. Relationship between spelling and transcription. Transcription practicals from written texts and phonemic dications. Perception and production practicals.

5. Phonetics in FL acquisition. FL vs. L1 sound systems. Analysis of pronunciation and perception problems: practicals and group work.

6. Stress and rhythm. Syllable weakening. Strong and weak forms. Transcription practicals from written texts and phonemic dications. Perception and production practicals.

7. Articulatory phonetics. Physiology and function of speech organs. Articulatory description practicals.

8. Co-articulation and allophones. Types and main English allophones. Phonetic (narrow) transcription practicals.

9. Introduction to connected speech processes. Connected speech transcription practicals.

10. Acoustic phonetics. Speech transmission and main acoustic characteristics of speech sounds.

The course is divided into Lectures and Laboratory practicals, which take place in different locations.

Lectures are interactive and student-centered requiring constant student participation. Theoretical concepts are always discussed in a practical and applied way. Lectures also include practical student activities (pair and group work) which apply the concepts discussed so far.

Laboratory practicals: There are four main types of practical activities in this course:

1- Multimedia sound perception training

2- Sound production training

3- Multimedia transcription of connected speech from written input.

4- Multimedia transcription of connected speech from aural input.

Practical activities will take place in the Multimedia Lab during practical laboratory class hours. Practical activities 1, 3 and 4 are carried out individually by each student on a computer. Practical activity 2 is done in small groups and supervised by the lecturer.

Students will also be asked to do practical homework (exercises, transcriptions, analyses)- as part of their Autonomous Learning Activities (outside class hours).

• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Multiple-Choice Test (%): 60
  • Realization of Practical Work (exercises, cases or problems) (%): 40

Information on the use of resources and materials for the assessment tasks/exam:



Exam: The use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed

Home-assignments: the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by themselves. The students must identify and include the source of all facts, ideas, opinions and viewpoints of others through in-text referencing and the relevant sources should all be included in the list of references at the end of their work. Direct quotations from books, journal articles, internet sources or any other source must be acknowledged and the sources cited must be identified in the list of references.





Withdrawal from the Continuous Assessment: All students have the right to be evaluated according to the final evaluation procedure independently of whether or not they have participated in the continuous assessment module. In order to withdraw from the continuous assessment, they must write the instructor responsible for the course expressing their desire to do so. Students can withdraw within the first 9 weeks of the course, according to the academic calendar of their centre. The form that has to be filled in is available at the website of the faculty http://www.ehu.eus/eu/web/letrak/idazkaritza

Withdrawal from an Exam Call: Withdrawal from a call will be assessed as “no grade reported” [no presentado/a, ez aurkeztua].



1. In the case of continuous assessment:



a. If the final exam is worth more than 40%: not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.



b. If the final exam is worth 40% or less: all students can withdraw from a call until at least one month before the date of the end of the teaching schedule of the corresponding course. This withdrawal must be submitted in writing to the instructor responsible for the course.



2. In the case of final assessment, not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.

The new regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia



3. The final exam must be passed for the continuous assesments to be taken into account.

The mark will be based on an exam (100%.The new regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia



Students may keep the marks obtained in the practical assessments as long as their mean result is a pass (20%), in which case the written exam will be worth 60% of the total grade.



Information on the use of resources and materials:



Exam: The use of mobile or electronic devices, notes, books is not allowed

Home-assignments: the work submitted by the students must be their own work and must have been written completely by themselves. The students must identify and include the source of all facts, ideas, opinions and viewpoints of others through in-text referencing and the relevant sources should all be included in the list of references at the end of their work. Direct quotations from books, journal articles, internet sources or any other source must be acknowledged and the sources cited must be identified in the list of references.

The regulation about assessment can be found at the following link:

http://www.ehu.eus/es/web/estudiosdegrado-gradukoikasketak/ebaluaziorako-arautegia



Withdrawal from an Exam call: Withdrawal from a call will be assessed as “no grade reported” [no presentado/a, ez aurkeztua]. Not sitting the exam on the official date of the exam qualifies as an automatic withdrawal from the corresponding call.

Laboratory perception and transcription programmes.
Web-based programmes
Handouts in eGela.

Basic bibliography

Cruttenden, A. (ed.) (2000). Gimson's Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Arnold.

García Lecumberri, M. Luisa y Maidment, John A. (2000). English Transcription Course, London: E. Arnold.

Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wells, J. C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, London: Longman.

In-depth bibliography

Ashby, M. & Maidment, J. A. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. Cambridge: CUP.
Ashby, P. (1995). Speech Sounds. London: Routledge.
Ashton, H. & Shepherd, S. (2012). Work on Your Accent. London: Collins.
Baker, A. (2006). Ship or Sheep? Cambridge: CUP.
Bowler, B. & Cunningham, S. (2008). New Headway Pronunciation. Upper-Intermediate. Oxford: OUP.
Catford, J.C. (2001). A Practical Introduction to Phonetics. Oxford: Clarendon.
Collins, B. & Mees, I. (2013). Practical Phonetics and Phonology. London: Routledge.
Digby, C. & Myers, J. (1993). Making Sense of Spelling and Pronunciation. Hemel Hempsted: Prentice Hall.
Estebas Villaplana, E. (2009). Teach Yourself English Pronunciation. UNED. Madrid: Netbiblio.
Gómez González, M.Á. & Sánchez Roura, M.T. (2016). English Pronunciation for Speakers of Spanish. From Theory to Practice Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Harbers, H. M. (2012). A Phonetics Workbook for Students. London: Pearson.
Hewings, M. (2007). English Pronunciation in Use. Advanced. Cambridge: CUP.
Ladefoged, P. (1996). Elements of Acoustic Phonetics, U. Chicago Press.
Ladefoged, P. (2005). A Course in Phonetics. New York: Harcourt.
Mott, B., (2000). A Course in Phonetics and Phonology for Spanish Learners of English. Barcelona: EUB.
O’Connor J. D. & Fletcher, C. (2002). Sounds English. London: Longman.
Ogden, R. (2009). An Introduction to English Phonetics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP.
Roach, P. (2000). Phonetics. Oxford: OUP.
Sánchez Benedito, F. (2004). Manual de pronunciación inglesa comparada con la española. Granada: Comares.
Vaughan-Rees, M. (2002). Test your Pronunciation. London: Penguin
Wells, J.C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: CUP.
Zsiga, E. C. (2013). The Sounds of Language. An introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Journals

Journal of Phonetics
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Speech Communication
Studies in Second Language Acquisiton Language Learning
Journal of the International Phonetic Association
Speak Out: Newsletter of the IATEFL Pronunciation Special Interest Group
TESOL Journal

Web addresses

http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/phon1index.htm
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/contents.html
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/course/contents.html
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/flash/flashin.htm
http://www.linuxfocus.org/English/March2003/article271.shtml
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wtutor?tutorial=siphtra/vb1.htm
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wtutor?tutorial=siphtra/plostut1/plostut1.htm
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/siphtra/plostut2/plostut2.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/
http://blogjam.name/?cat=5
http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com.es/