Topic 2: Introduction to Phonology

For the second topic, we learned about Introduction to Phonology. In the topic Introduction to Phonology, we are introduced to the speech organ and English Sounds including vowel, diphthong sounds and also consonant sounds.

For me, this topic is quite difficult and complicated but after learning this topic, I realize that this topic is very important for us as a teacher. It is because we will apply what we had learned in this topic to our future students. For example, we will explain to our students how sounds are produced in the English sound system, especially when teaching the vowel and consonant sounds. At first, it is very hard for me to produce the vowel, diphthong and consonant sounds and I also confused with the phonetics, but with the help of the software called Pronunciation Chart given by our lecturer, I can master it well.

For the Tutorial Presentation 1, we were required to do the 3 types of Tongue Twister Competition. Each group will present their Tongue Twister with their own creativity. Our group had chosen tongue twister which is easy to pronoun. I found that this topic is very interesting and enjoyable. From this activity, we can improve our pronunciation accuracy. By referring to the dictionary, we manage to pronoun the word correctly and accurately. Besides, by doing this activity, I realize that how important dictionary to us. It is because before this I do not realize the important of using dictionary in learning English. Following are the Tongue Twister of our group:

Tongue Twister 1:

I wish to wish, I dream to dream, I try to try, and I live to live, and I'd die to die, and I cry to cry but I don’t know why

Tongue Twister 2:

Suzie, Suzie, working in a shoeshine shop.
All day long she sits and shines,
all day long she shines and sits,
and sits and shines, and shines and sits,
and sits and shines, and shines and sits.
Suzie, Suzie, working in a shoeshine shop.

Tommy, Tommy, toiling in a tailor's shop.
All day long he fits and tucks,
all day long he tucks and fits,
and fits and tucks, and tucks and fits,
and fits and tucks, and tucks and fits.
Tommy, Tommy, toiling in a tailor's shop

Tongue Twister 3: 

  Don't trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you! If you trouble trouble, triple trouble troubles you!

 

On the other hand, each group also required to present the five minimal pairs with initial, medial, final phonemes differences and transcribe the words in phonetics. This task is very complicated and takes time. It is not easy for us to find the correct minimal pairs. We make a lot of mistake while completing the table of five minimal pairs. From this presentation, we learned how to identify the different words with same sounds at the initial, medial and final phonemes.

To conclude, the topic Introduction to Phonology is the basic knowledge that we need to master before we move on to the higher level topic.