Inductive Teaching OF English Phonology Through The Four SKILLS.

Abstract

This research is on inductive teaching of phonology through the four skills. Teachers find it hard to integrate pronunciation into class. Reviewers complain that many books lack a consistent pronunciation syllabus. Pronunciation is a problematic area for many teachers, and when the researcher tough English students noticed that students find it difficult to pronounce words correctly. Phonology is the least popular topic in class .Thus the researcher investigates the problem of teaching phonology by clarifying the methods of teaching phonology, the real situation in the Sudanese Universities, the level of students and the teacher's qualifications. The researcher uses the descriptive analytic method; the case study is Sudan University of Science and Technology as a sample. The tools of the research are a questionnaire for teachers and a test for the students' .The sample consists of thirty teachers from College of Languages –the university requirements unit, English department. The students group consists of thirty students divided into two groups a case group which is fifteen students from the Faculty of Education French Department second year and a controlled group which is fifteen students from the Faculty of Education English Department third year. The researcher hypotheses are: Teaching phonology through the Four Skills enhances communication. This hypothesis is approved by the results of the questionnaire and the results of the test that is to say the low standard of the students in the case group is due to the ignorance of teaching phonology inductively .The controlled group which has the higher marks in the test due to the inductive teaching of phonology through the Four Skills. The second hypothesis is : Sudan university English language teachers teach phonology through the four skills at the university level –first year with in English for specific purposes courses this hypothesis is approved by the results of the teachers questionnaire and the students test that is to say some of the students differentiate between the various phonetic symbols . Sudan University teachers teach phonetics which is a part from phonology and this indicates that students do not have enough information about phonology which can enable them to speak fluently . The third hypothesis is Sudan University syllabi includes phonology this hypothesis isn't approved. The results of the test and the questionnaire reflect that Sudan University syllabi include phonetics not phonology. Accordingly, the researcher recommends that:- University teachers should teach phonology communicatively through the Four Skills. The pronunciation of the new item of English must be taught properly to prevent the insurgence of a wrong habit of usage which will be difficult to eliminate .The teacher and the learner can go ahead to include correct pronunciation and make it part of reading comprehension. The Sudanese learner of English transfers the norms of forming questions by intonation pattern of colloquial Arabic to form questions in English, .Thus the university teachers should avoid translation and use the target language inside the class rooms. Concerning phonological items such as stress, rhythm and intonation of English are alien to the speaker of the Arabic language. This is because the stress patterns of English and Arabic are not similar. English is stressed-timed language and the stress pattern of English cannot be predicted whereas the Arabic language is syllable –timed and has a stress pattern that tends to be predictable. In other words, Arabic has a syllable –timed stress, thus teacher should use audiovisual aide and the native speakers in order to provide the perfect model for the Sudanese learners and more research about teaching phonology can be done especially in the area of using computer or audiovisual aids to teach phonology.