SPECIFIC FEATURES OF TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION TO UKRAINIAN STUDENTS

Abstract

Having been teaching English Phonetics to Ukrainian students at the university for many years, we found out that teaching correct articulation of English sounds to Ukrainian students is a very difficult task, because English Phonetics is not being taught at Ukrainian schools, that is why Ukrainian students have only basic pronunciation skills in English, so Ukrainian lecturers of Practical English Phonetics at universities need to teach English pronunciations from the very beginning or even to reteach incorrect English pronunciation of the Ukrainian students. Teaching English pronunciation to Ukrainian students is also difficult because English and Ukrainian Phonetics have lots of different features, because of what Ukrainian students use Ukrainian pronunciation while speaking English. The main principles of teaching English pronunciation to Ukrainian students are to study the theory of Phonetics; to learn the rules of articulation of each English sound; to know the generally accepted transcription rules, which are presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet; to do practical phonetic tasks, which will help to acquire perfect English pronunciation, including correct articulation of English sounds, phrasal stress, aspiration, intonation; to do the tasks for self-control, for example, to record your own pronunciation using the mobile recorder or to use the function of voice texting in order to find out possible mistakes in your own pronunciation while speaking English; to use mobile applications or to listen to different free lessons on YouTube, which teach English pronunciation. Systematic performing of the above mentioned principles of English pronunciation will improve the English pronunciation of Ukrainian students, they will make the pronunciation more natural and more similar to the pronunciation of native speakers.