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TESLJournal
Teaching the "Th" Sound to Young EFL Learners
Camran Shirvani
camran.shirvani{at}gmail.com
Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr (Qaemshahr, Iran)
EFL learners often mispronounce the "th" sound. What follows is an
effective technique (a tongue exercise) for in-class practice. This is
especially effective in case of young EFL learners since it is
entertaining and produces near-immediate results.
Introduction
Mispronouncing the "th" sound by making a simple "s" or "t" sound is
very common among English language learners, and the case has been
discussed for several decades. Carr (1967) in her article "Teaching the
"th" sounds of English" in the first number of the first volume of
TESOL journal begins as follow:
"There is nothing boring about teaching the ancient and honorable the
sounds of English – the phonemes which are so characteristic a part of
the stream of the speech in English but so rare among other languages
of the world. If instructor and learners keep even a few bit of
information about the structure of English in mind, these lessons can
be the most successful effort of a semester."
Since then, besides keeping "a few bits of information about the
structure of English in mind", several teachers introduced various
techniques to prevent students saying "sink" instead of "think" because
of the transfer the "s" from their mother tongue (Soullier, 2005).
What follows is a technique which I found to be successful, especially
for young learners.
The Technique
The technique I discovered to be effective has the following merits:
- It involves all students in the classroom;
- The whole job is accomplished in a few minutes, so teachers don't
have to spend the entire class on practicing the sound;
- It is entertaining, so young learners don't feel bored.
This technique has three main phases. First, the teacher illustrates to
students that how they can pronounce the "th" sound correctly, that is,
how to stick their tongue out. Almost all of the students find it a bit
odd. However, the teacher should remind them that they are speaking in
another language. The teacher can introduce the students to some
mispronounced words from their mother tongue to show them how they
would seem to be non-natives if they mispronounced words.
Second, the teacher makes sure that all of the learners can stick their
tongues out. Checking students, the teacher should keep his/her tongue
stuck out. He should ask learners to stick their tongues out for a few
seconds and repeat the action several times.
Third, the teacher devises a drill based on some familiar words with "th"
sounds. He/she can choose a number of words from the learners' textbooks and
ask them to repeat the words in groups or individually. This raises their
consciousness towards the "th" sound.
Follow-up Activity
Following the third stage exercises, practicing words with the "th"
sound,
it is important that learners practice these words in sentences and in
contrast to the "s" or "t" sound. Once they have succeeded in
pronouncing the words, the teacher provides the learners with some
sentences that include redundant "s" sounds and asks the learners to
replace the "s" sound with "th". This is exactly
the reverse of what students do in a normal situation mispronouncing
the "th" sound. The following are examples of such sentences:
- Sally sings a song on Sundays.
- Sam saw a horse and a mouse.
Concluding Points
- The above-mentioned reverse direction can increase learners'
awareness and makes them notice their mispronunciation of the "th" sound.
- The teacher can stick his/her tongue out as a corrective cue in the
proceeding sessions.
- What adds to the effectiveness of this technique is the
repetition of the follow-up activity in the proceeding sessions.
- This
technique can be entertaining for learners if the teacher include the
follow-up activity. This helps him/her to improve classroom climate.
References
- Carr, E. B. (1967) "Teaching the th sounds of English." TESOL 1
(1)
- Soullier, R. (2005) "Teaching the Th Sound to ESL/EFL Learners."
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 11 November (Retrieved from: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Soulliere-TH.html)
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XIV, No. 2, February 2008
http://iteslj.org/
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Shirvani-TeachingTH.html