The role of transcription in the process of reading in English.

I I I Областная научно-практической конференции

«Лингвистика в XXI веке»

 

Секция: Иностранный язык в ХХI веке

Название работы: « Crazy English Spelling »

 

 

Автор работы: Дыбцева Елизавета,

ученица 9Г класса, МАОУ Гимназии № 2, г. Балаково,

Саратовской области

Научный руководитель: Шакина Наталья Евгеньевна

учитель английского языка МАОУ Гимназия № 2

 

 

Балаково 2020

 

 

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION...………………………………………………………………3                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I. THEORETICAL PART………………………………...............................4 

1.1 English spelling: is it so illogical?..............................................................4

1.2 The role of transcription in reading in English ……………………………6

II. THE PRACTICAL PART ……………………..………………….……..…..7   

CONCLUSION ………………...………………………………………...………12                                                                                             

LIST OF LITERATURE ……………………………..………..…………….…..13                                                                         

APPLICATIONS

 

INTRODUCTION

 

If you’re learning English, you need to learn to spell in English. Two big reasons contribute to English spelling being so complicated, both for second language learners as well as native speakers. The first is that English has borrowed words from so many languages, and as it did it often borrowed the spelling of those words as well. Think about words like hours d’oeuvres and tsunami. They are both English words, but neither follows the patterns we are accustomed to for most English words. The second thing that makes spelling in English tough is that spelling has remained static. Pronunciation of words has changed over the years, but often the spelling of the same words has remained the same. So often English words have spelling patterns which correlate with an extinct pronunciation of those words.

Spelling is the main problem of learning English. Spelling words in English is a challenging work. Plenty of native speakers find it confusing, too

The actuality of this work lies in the fact that English language learners make a lot of mistakes when they read different texts. In our opinion, children do not pay attention to the phonetic side of English words. They try to spell words and remember the basic rules of reading, and they often forget about exceptions.

My scientific research deals with the problems of using the transcription of the students in  the reading process in English.

The aim of my work is to study English spelling rules and to determine the role of transcription in the formation of reading skills in English.

To achieve this aim we have learnt a great amount of information from the Internet, books and periodicals and held the investigation. We asked our schoolmates some questions connected with the topic.

   Before I got down to my research work, I formulated the hypothesis: due to the illogical nature of English spelling, knowledge of the rules of reading does not guarantee a competent reading of many English words, so systematic use of transcription plays an important role in overcoming difficulties when you read unfamiliar words.

Methods of research:

ü studying reference books and Internet resources;

ü holding an interactive opinion polls;

ü statistics.

 

THEORETICAL PART

English spelling: is it so illogical?

English spelling is represented by the word spelling, and spelling and spelling correctly can be expressed by a single verb to spell.

An example of the difficulties encountered in learning English is a poem by Roald Dahl.

When the English tongue we speak,

Why is "break" not rhymed with "freak"?

Will you tell me why it's true

We say "sew" but likewise "few";

And the maker of a verse

Cannot cap his "horse" with "worse"?

"Beard" sounds not the same as "heard";

"Cord" is different from "word"

Cow is "cow", but low is "low";

"Shoe" is never rhymed with "foe"

Think of "hose" and "does" and "lose";

And think of "goose" and yet of "choose".

Think of "comb" and "tomb " and "bomb";

"doll" and "roll" and "home" and "some".

And since "pay" is rhymed with "say",

Why no "paid" with "said", I pray?

We have "blood" and "food" and "good";

"Mould" is not pronounced like "could".

Wherefore "done" but "gone" and "lone"?

Is there any reason known?

And, in short, it seems to me

Sounds and letters disagree.

To read this poem correctly, I had to turn to the dictionary for help, or rather to the transcription of words that caused me some doubts… Why is there such a gap between spelling and pronunciation in English? How can I overcome difficulties when I read unfamiliar words?

These questions are formed the basis of our research work. Bernard Shaw  made fun of English spelling by saying that the word fish could be written in English in this way ghoti, since gh is read as [f] in the word enough, the letter o is read as [ı] in the word women, and the letter ti is read as [ʃ] in the word nation.

In modern English, there are about 90 reading rules, some of which are presented in the following tables. As we can see, the same consonant letter has an additional reading option in addition to the main one. For example, the letter c is usually read as [k], and before the letters e, i, y as [s], which is also stipulated in the reading rules, and can also be read as [tʃ] and [ʃ] (Appendix 1). The reading of vowel letters has the rules of reading, although here we also find some exceptions (Appendix 2). For example, in the famous phrase of Shakespeare's king Lear "Nothing will come of nothing "(only emptiness can be born from emptiness), the letter o is not read according to the rules in any of the four words.

Attempts to read an unfamiliar word may lead to an error while the combinations of vowels and consonants are read differently .

For example, the well-known word " suit "[sju:t] – suit, match, fit. If you put an " e " at the end, then...at first we think it's a mistake. Well, if intuition makes us look in the dictionary, we will see that this is just another word, with a different pronunciation suite [swi: t] – set, set, hotel apartments. We don't see the word suite very often, so it may confuse us

As we can see from the data in the following table, consonant sounds can be recorded in any of these ways . The same applies to vowel sounds. Different letters and letter combinations convey the same sound, i.e. they have the same way of reading.

In English, there is also the infamous letter combination ough, it is pronounced in at least ten different ways, six of which are shown in the phrase Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through. (Though a violent cough and hiccups shook him) Robert Heinlein used it in the novel the Door to summer to illustrate the complexities of automatic reading and speech recognition.

Historical changes in English spelling indicate that the spelling was originally phonetic in English as well. Only it was in the old English period, before the conquest of England by the French Normans in the XI century. Then English spelling, under the influence of French and for a number of other reasons, began to move away from the phonetic principle of writing, and it ended with the fact that in our time English spelling reflects the medieval rather than modern pronunciation of words.

 

The role of transcription in the process of reading in English.

At first glance, the transcription of the English language does not arouse much interest. Representing a system of certain characters, it seems to be suitable for use in some special cases, for example, for encrypting words. In fact, English transcription is a set of special phonetic symbols that convey the sound of a letter or word, and is the key to correct reading. In a language with so many exceptions to the rules of reading, which are difficult to learn, to put it mildly, transcription is simply necessary.

To accurately and correctly pronounce any English word, you must be able to master its sound designation. In order not to make a mistake in reading unfamiliar words, you need to pronounce each sound of a specific word. Of course, during the lesson, we have the opportunity to clarify the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word from the teacher or hear the speaker read unfamiliar words, but how do I do my homework? Any exercise should be read, translated, or retold. To understand the meaning of what you read, you need to work hard on new words.

In each lesson, we get a certain number of words that we pronounce, remember, and apply in our own speech (written or spoken). We pronounce new words, do their phonetic analysis, pay our attention to sounds. To determine the role of transcription in reading "difficult" words, we decided to conduct a practical study.

 

 

I. THE PRACTICAL PART

In the practical part of our research work, 7 students of the 9th "C" class of MAOU Gymnasium No. 2  took part in

The study was conducted in 3 stages:

1.  Survey respondents

2.  Reading the poem "Sounds and letters" by Rowld Dahl»

3. analysis of the mistakes when  they read "difficult" words, determining the role of transcription in the reading process.

At the first stage of our research, we conducted a survey that helped determine the respondents ' attitude to the transcription of English words. The survey results are presented in diagrams.

 Diagram 1

 

Answers to the second question, "how often do you record the transcription of an unfamiliar word?" we were very pleased. We didn't expect to see any other results.

Diagram 2

As can be seen from figure 2, most children write it always, only 2 respondents write it often, and 4 students make transcription recordings in rare cases. Of course, those guys who don't attach importance to transcription, they don't write it down.

The third question helped us identify the most difficult English sounds for each student, which create obstacles in the process of reading in English.

Диаграмма 3

 

The guys remembered all the other transcription symbols quickly and correctly. As we can see, the list of difficult sounds to remember is small. We believe that this problem is one of the reasons for incorrect pronunciation of the word. Therefore, we recommended that the children pay attention to these sounds, and, of course, as a result, remember them.

Starting the second stage of our research, we selected words from the poem "Sounds and letters" by Rowld Dahl that, in our opinion, should cause difficulties in reading. The list of these words was offered to students as a homework assignment. We explained that the process of reading in English becomes fast and correct only if we not only write new words in our dictionaries, then do their phonetic analysis, but also learn their pronunciation and spelling. Only in this manner it is possible to achieve positive results.

In the second stage of our research, we asked students to read the poem "Sounds and letters" by Rowld Dahl, paying attention to the highlighted words. Just before reading the poem, to check whether all the recommended actions were performed by our respondents, we decided to conduct an additional survey.

We asked the guys to put a " + " sign in front of the above actions that they performed.Диаграмма 4

 

As we can see from figure 4, only 3 out of 7 students fully implemented our recommendations.

At the third stage, we analyzed the causes of mistakes when we read the poem.

Table 1.  The results of reading some words from the poem "Sounds and letters"  do not follow the rules of the English language.

 «+» – правильно прочитано;

Фамилия Имя	break	sew	cow	shoe	lose	some	blood	could	said
Alexander Filimonov	-	-	+	-	-	-	+	+	-
Ilya Yevglevsky	+	-	+	+	-	+	+	+	+
Krisan Vanya	-	-	+	-	-	+	-	-	-
Azarova Nastya	+	+	+	-	+	+	-	+	+
Smyk Ira	+	-	-	+	-	-	-	+	-
Vitya Petrov	+	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	-
Goncharov Sasha	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+

 

«-» – ошибка при чтении.

After reading the poem, each student was asked the question "Why did you read this word this way?»  Their answers were:

1. According to the rule read

2. I learned this word at home

3. It rhymed with the word in the previous line

4.I read as much as I can

The children's Responses are recorded in the following tables.

Т able 2. «Why did you read that word like that? "(Errors in reading)

Фамилия Имя	break	sew	cow	shoe	lose	some	blood	could	said
Alexander Filimonov	4	1		4	1	1			1
Ilya Yevglevsky		1			1
Krisan Vanya	4	4		4	1		4	4	1
Azarova Nastya				1			1
Smyk Ira		1	1		1	1	1		1
Vitya Petrov		1	1	1					1
Goncharov  Sasha

Table 3. «Why did you read the word like that? "(Correct reading of the word)

 

Фамилия Имя	break	sew	cow	shoe	lose	some	blood	could	said
Alexander Filimonov			2				2	2
Ilya Yevglevsky	2		2	2		2	2	2	2
Krisan Vanya			2			2
Azarova Nastya	2	2	2		3	3		3	1
Smyk Ira	2			2				3
Vitya Petrov	2				3	2	2	3
Goncharov  Sasha	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

 

The analysis showed that the most mistakes were made by students who read these words in accordance with the existing rules of the English language, i.e. those children who fulfilled only 1 and 2 points of our recommendations. Students who rely on knowing the correct way to read each word, i.e. those students who followed our recommendations in full, showed the best results. From this we draw the appropriate conclusion that it is not enough just to parse the word, it is necessary to learn it so that you can freely use it in your speech. We believe that this order of homework will make the reading process not only competent, but also fluent. As we can see, when reading some "difficult" words, the children also helped rhyme to the last word of the previous line (lose, some, could).

The results showed that most children learn new words. Thus, we have identified another serious reason for illiterate reading of certain words and texts by our respondents. If you do not perform any of the suggested actions, then errors simply cannot be avoided.

 According to these research works we came to confirm our hypothesis that due to the illogical nature of English spelling, knowledge of the reading rules does not guarantee the correct reading of many English words, so systematic use of transcription plays an important role in overcoming difficulties when you read unfamiliar words.

 

CONCLUSION

Phonetic transcription is very important because it helps to pronounce words correctly. It’s necessary, especially for the English language. As you know, the same English letter or combinations of letters can be pronounced and read differently in different words. Of course, there are reading rules in English but there are a lot of exceptions too. The spelling of an English word does not always tell you how to pronounce or read this word. But if you can read phonetic transcription, you’ll be able to pronounce any English word correctly without listening to its audio pronunciation. Pronunciation is important for English learners. It helps to communicate in English. If your pronunciation is incorrect, you can be misunderstood by other people or it will be difficult for them to understand what you want to say.

In the course of our research, we conducted a detailed error analysis, which showed that those children who systematically work on transcription of new words in the classroom and at home, read quickly and correctly.

The practical significance of this study is that we were able to focus the attention of students in grade 9 "C" on the need to master the ability to read transcriptions of words in order to avoid mistakes when they read. We convinced the students that the more words they know, the easier it is for them to read, write, understand and speak English, and in order to learn a word correctly. It is necessary to make its phonetic analysis, in other words, to record its transcription. We also identified the most difficult English sounds for each student that create obstacles in the process of reading in English. We are sure if children memorize these transcription symbols,  students will use transcription more actively, which will make the reading process interesting and accessible, and, therefore, fascinating and unforgettable.

According to these research works we can see that the hypothesis is correct: due to the illogical nature of English spelling, knowledge of the reading rules does not guarantee a competent reading of many English words, so systematic use of transcription plays an important role in overcoming difficulties when reading unfamiliar words.

СПИСОК ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ

1. Журнал для изучающих английский язык “Speak Out” за 1995-2009 гг.

2. «Все правила современного английского языка», Ростов-на-Дону, 2006г.

3. Моисеев, М.Д. Справочник школьника по английскому языку /М.Д. Моисеев//справочник.-М: издательство «Аквариум»,1997.-С.12-17

 

 

Appendix 1

Sound	Spelling	Examples	Sound changes accounting for the spelling
Vowels Monoph­thongs			ME NE
Short
æ	a	cat, man	a > æ
ɔ	a after w	was, want	wa > wɔ
e	ea before d, th	head, death	ɛ: > e: > e
u	oo before t, k	foot, book	o: > u: > u
ʌ	o, u	come, nut	u > ʌ
	oo before d	flood	o: > u: >
			u > ʌ
ə	-er, -re, -or	reader, centre, tutor	r ə
Long
i:	ee, ie, e, ea	meet, field, he	e:>i:
		meat	ɛ: > i:
a:	ar	arm	ar > a:
	a before st,nt, ft	blast, plant, af­ter	a > a:
ɔ:	or, oar, ar after w	for, board, warm	or > ɔ: war > wɔ:
	au, aw	cause, draw	au > ɔ:
ə:	er, ir, ur	her, bird, turn	ir ur > ə: er
u:	oo	moon	o: > u:
Diphthongs
ei	ai, ei, ay	rain, rein, day	ai ei
	a in open syllables	make, late	a: > ei
ai	i, y in open syllables	time, my	i: > ai
	i before ld, nd, mb	mild, kind, climb	i: > ai
	i before gh, ght	sigh, night	ix' > i: > ai
au	ou, ow	sound, now	u: > au
ou	o in open	rode, no, oak	ɔ: > ou
	syllables, oa
	ou, ow, o be-	soul, row, old	ou — ou
	fore ld		ɔ: > ou
iə	ere, eer, ear	here, beer, ear	e:r > iə
			ɛ:r > iə
	ear, ere, are	bear, there, hare	ɛ:r > ɛə
			a:r > ɛə
ɔə, ɔ:	ore	more	o:r > ɔə
uə	oor	poor	o:r > uə
Triph­thongs
aiə	ire	shire	i:r > aiə
auə	our, ower	our, power	u:r > auə
Consonants
ð	th between vowels	bathe	ð — ð
	th initially in form-words	the	θ>S
z	s between vowels	choose, easy	z — z
	s finally (un­less preceded by voiceless consonants)	is, days	s > z
ʃ	sh	ship, flesh	ʃ — ʃ
	ssi, ti	passion, action	sj — ʃ
tʃ	ch, tch	chin, watch	tʃ — tʃ
	ture	nature	tj > tʃ
ʒ	g	bourgeois	ʒ — ʒ
	si, se	pleasure	zj > ʒ
dʒ	g	gender	dʒ — dʒ
s	c	certain	s — s

 

Appendix 2

Правила чтения
Чтение буквы «A»
A [ei] — в открытом слоге	name, face, cake
A [æ] — в закрытом слоге	hat, cat, man
A [a:] — в закрытом слоге на r	far, car, park
A [εə] — в конце слова гласный + re	dare, care, stare
A [ɔ:] — сочетания all, au	all, wall, fall, autumn
Чтение буквы «О»
O [əu] — в открытом слоге	no, go, home
O [ɒ] — в закрытом ударном слоге	not, box, hot
O [ɜ:] — в некоторых словах с «wor»	world, word
O [ɔ:] — в закрытом слоге на r	form, fork, horse, door, floor
O [u:] — в сочетании «oo»	too, food
O [u] — в сочетании «oo»	book, look, good
O [aʊ] — в сочетании «ow»	town, down
O [ɔɪ] — в сочетании «oy»	toy, boy, enjoy
O [ʊə] — в сочетании «oo»	poor
Чтение буквы «U»
U [yu:], [yu] — в открытом слоге	pupil, blue, student
U [ʌ] — в закрытом слоге	nut, bus, cup
U [u] — в закрытом слоге	put, full
U [ɜ:] — в сочетании «ur»	turn, hurt, burn
Чтение буквы «E»
E [i:] — в открытом слоге, сочетании «ee», «ea»	he, she, see, street, meat, sea
E [e] — в закрытом слоге, сочетании «ea»	hen, ten, bed, head, bread
E [ɜ:] — в сочетаниях «er», «ear»	her, heard
E [ɪə] — в сочетаниях «ear»	hear, near
Чтение буквы «I»
i [aɪ] — в открытом слоге	five, line, night, light
i [ɪ] — в закрытом слоге	his, it, pig
i [ɜ:] — в сочетании «ir»	first, girl, bird
i [aɪə] — в сочетании «ire»	fire, tired
Чтение буквы «Y»
Y [aɪ] — в конце слова	try, my, cry
Y [ɪ] — в конце слова	family, happy, lucky
Y [j] — в начале или середине слова	yes, year, yellow
Чтение буквы «C»
C [s] — перед i, e, y	pencil, bicycle
C [k] — кроме сочетаний ch, tch и не перед i, e, y	cat, come
C [tʃ] — в сочетаниях ch, tch	chair, change, match, catch
Чтение буквы «S»
S [s] — кроме : в конце слов после гл. и звонких согл.	say, books, six
S [z] — в конце слов после гл. и звонких согл.	days, beds
S [ʃ] — в сочетании sh	shop, ship
Чтение буквы «T»
T [t] — кроме сочетаний th	ten, teacher, today
T [ð] — в сочетании th	then, mother, there
T [θ] — в сочетании th	thin, sixth, thick
Чтение буквы «P»
P [p] — кроме сочетания ph	pen, penalty, powder
P [f] — в сочетании ph	photo
Чтение буквы «G»
G [g] — кроме сочетаний ng, не перед e, i, y	go, big, dog
G [dʒ] — перед е, i, у	age, engineer
G [ŋ] — в сочетании ng в конце слова	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] — в сочетании ng в середине слова	strongest

                                                                                      

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