During the fourth year of my undergraduate studies, I was able to take the course INGL-3227: Phonetics and Phonemics of the English Language. I do not have any assignments I can show from this course, since it mostly revolved around exams and worksheets that were completed in person. However, I will let you know about the valuable knowledge and skills I acquired thanks to it. Before taking this course, I knew very little about phonetics, if you had asked me to define what it was, I would have probably given a very bad explanation. Things like the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the differences between vowels and consonants, the definition of phoneme and allophone, etc., were foreign to me. I also did not know about the very important role phonetics plays when it comes to learning about the pronunciation of different languages, including English. Previously, I did not realize the complexities involved in the pronunciation of the English language, and it was surprising and eye-opening how much I did not know about it despite this being my second language, which I considered myself to be very fluent in. For example, one of the most surprising discoveries I made was that, even though there are only five vowel letters (or graphemes) present in the English alphabet, this language possesses a total of twenty vowel sounds in its oral form.

 

     As someone who is training to be an English as a second language (ESL) educator, I believe that taking this course was crucial for my professional development, as I foresee that the knowledge gained on phonetics will help me greatly when it is time to teach ESL learners. For example, if any of my students struggle with pronouncing or deciphering new sounds that are present in English but not in their mother tongue, I will be able to apply my knowledge of phonetics to help them improve in these areas. Also, after learning about this topic, I realized that I had taken part in exercises involving phonetics when I was in elementary school, though I did not know it then. When I was in first grade, our ESL teacher had two posters hanging from the wall of her classroom. One of them taught about short vowel sounds and the other about long vowel sounds. Every morning, she would make us repeat each vowel sound and the words given as examples of them several times. I now realize that she did this so that we could begin learning the English vowel system from an early age. I plan to implement phonetics in my future classroom by using the same exercises she did, as I know they work from personal experience. These will help my students to slowly build confidence in their English pronunciation skills, which will motivate them to continue speaking in the language.

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     If I become an ESL teacher someday, I will have to keep in mind that my students may come from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. In order to accommodate for all of them, I will first apply the use of phonetics in my own life. I will conduct research on the different languages and cultures of my students, learning what are the most common difficulties people from those backgrounds experience when learning English as a second language. I will even try to take lessons and learn a little of each of their languages, which will help me better understand their sound systems. Understanding this information will be crucial for me, as many pronunciation errors made by ESL learners stem from them trying to transfer the rules and sound system of their mother tongue to the new language.

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     I come from a country where, unfortunately, not much attention is given to teaching students how to properly pronounce the English language in public school ESL classes. It is possible I might become an ESL teacher in that exact environment and, if I do, I will strive to make a positive change in it by implementing some of the strategies and methods I previously mentioned. I want to help my students improve their pronunciation skills in English, while also respecting their cultural and language backgrounds, allowing them to keep a foreign accent if they so wish as long as they are able to communicate their ideas effectively. The study of phonetics will certainly help me to accomplish this goal.

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