Report on a Work in Progress : Using Colors to Teach the English Sound System

Abstract

Traditionally the English sound system has been taught by imitation. However, is imitation an effective way to learn pronunciation? Often students can't remember sounds for very long. Furthermore, if a native speaker isn't present, students are forced to try to pronounce words using the symbols from dictionaries. An additional difficulty with English pronunciation is there is often little or no correlation between writing and pronunciation. One letter can be pronounced many ways, and one sound can be written many ways. This paper presents an alternative way of teaching pronunciation using colors to represent sounds while avoiding having the students imitate the teacher's pronunciation. By associating each sound with a color, students can learn pronunciation without worrying about the relationship between writing and pronunciation. They can develop their own criteria for producing correct sounds. Disassociating pronunciation from the writing system is an effective way to teach the English sound system.