Why and how (not) to teach Polish phonetics to foreigners?

Abstract

Communicative language teaching does not focus its attention on phonetics, but it should be noted that student’s communicative efficiency also depends on his ability to reproduce the phonetic shapes of words correctly. The student’s difficulties with the correct pronunciation in a foreign language are the result of shaping his phonological hearing and automation of movements of the articulators by his native language. That is why just exposure to the sound of the L2 may not be enough. The author argues that identifying Polish phones and their correct production should be focused on from the beginning. This allows the teacher to refer to correct patterns of phones in any prospective case of wrong pronunciation and also helps prevent the formation of erroneous student’s habits of speech. In the work on phonetics, particular attention should be paid to the most characteristic phonological oppositions in Polish, also taking into account those important from the point of view of inflection. It would be advisable to introduce phonemes simultaneously with the alphabet, as in classroom learning conditions a student acquires phonic and graphic forms of words at the same time. Equipped with the knowledge about the relationship between pronunciation and spelling, he will be able to correct his own pronunciation referring to the spelling of the words and also – to write them as they are heard. It also prevents a student from reading newly learned words according to the spelling rules of another language. In the future, it will allow the student to pronounce those proper names, which are learned in graphic form, correctly.