2. The Use of Mobile Phones in Improving English Pronunciation

The Use of Mobile Phones in Improving English Pronunciation

M.Kalaiarasan M.A., M.A., M.Phil.

Coimbatore.

Dr.G.Somasundaram, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Pudukkottai.

Abstract

In the modern world, English occupies the foremost position. Internationally, people need one common language and English is the most common world-wide language spoken everywhere. For this reason, we need to follow new trends, new gadgets and technology to learn English skills, i.e. Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Vocabulary and Pronunciation. It is not difficult to acquire these skills in the modern world. Pronunciation is possible only by the continuous effort in listening and practicing the Received Pronunciation. Modern mobile phones help the learners to speak English with right pronunciation. There are some mobile dictionaries and applications which enhance the learners’ pronunciation. By using the mobile phone applications the learners can achieve their skills promptly. The mobile dictionary helps to learn vocabulary and at the same time it facilitates to speak with appropriate pronunciation.

The word English cannot be used without communication. In multi-lingual countries like India, English occupies the foremost position in use of communication. English communication should be needed for the following reasons: finding a first-rate employment, communicating with the international world and accessing sources in the student’s major fields. The better communication one must have the best proficiency. Pronunciation is a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood. The main problem is because of our mother tongue influence and lack in teaching pronunciation in the educational institutions. English skills are learned after the great effort of the learners.

Improving India's Education System through Information Technology, IBM states, “We have elected to focus on areas in which we believe that IT can make a significant difference. For each such are, we will present our principal findings and enumerate some solutions, restricting ourselves in the former to problems that we believe can be addressed by the use of information technology.” Due to the emergence of modern technology the learning becomes easy. The mobile phones help the learner’s need. Through mobile phones one can watch videos, hear some audio files, access internet, and use dictionaries, which are related to learning English language.

“Received Pronunciation (RP) is the standard accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms. RP is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary as "the standard accent of English as spoken in the south of England", although it can be heard from native speakers throughout England and Wales.” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. RP is the accent of Standard English. International Phonetic Alphabets (IPA) contains of sound symbols. The learners must know what sound each symbol stands for and how to pronounce it. By using these symbols the learners have to practice the words which will help them to get idea how other words should be pronounced as well.

English is not our native language and it is very difficult for us to understand what is being said. So we have to practice much audio files again and again to learn Standard English. One cannot depend on TV or Computers all the time and it is difficult to carry where ever we want. We carry mobile phones to all the places and using it even in the bed. The salient features of mobile phones help the learners throughout the day.

Few streams of researches have focused on self directed problem solving and active learning. Auchey, Mills and Beliveau suggest that ‘self-directed problem solving’ in a classroom provides construction students in the USA with experience, practices and skills. The claim that solving problems affords motivation is supported by research in the UK. After this research Student-centred Learning in Construction Education (SLICE) has developed. The applications in the mobile dictionaries are based on the students centered learning, which evacuate the problems in pronunciation. Prince has defined active learning as ‘any instructional method that engages students in the learning process’ that takes place in the classroom. Though using mobile phones differs from the traditional way of classroom teaching learning, it helps the learners to reach their goal. It is just like the language lab which helps the learners to acquire the language skills.

The free offline English dictionary application explains the meaning of 159000 English words and its definitions are based on English Dictionary. It works faster in offline from the SD card. The learners can listen to the word pronunciation, provided that voice data is installed in the phone i.e. text-to-speech engine.

Mobile Dictionaries:

- Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary (Audio)
- English Dictionary 1.3.6
- Advanced English Dictionary & Thesaurus
- Oxford Dictionary of English

Dictionary Pro Features of Mobile Dictionaries:

Vocabulary: The learners can browse the words with its meaning including noun and verb.

Phonetic Symbols: Words are given with the phonetic transcriptions, which help to pronounce exactly.

Audio: Audio icon is placed after the word. By clicking the icon learner can hear the word.

History: It contains the words which are recently viewed list.

Information: It includes the new brand words as well as up-to-date encyclopedic information.

Search Option: By typing the letters immediately we can get words

Special Topics: Grammar Codes and Pronunciation symbols.

The mobile dictionary is like our pocket dictionary. Even in the travelling time one can use it. It has more advantages than the printed dictionaries. In the printed dictionary we have to search page by page but in the mobile dictionaries help us to get the word quickly. The phonetic transcription is very difficult to pronounce from the printed one but in the mobile dictionary we can hear the sound. So it is easy to pronounce the same. If we want to browse the same word again we can go history and get the word immediately but in the printed dictionary we have search page by page again.

Invention of android mobile phones helps the learners to achieve their requirements. In the field of education all the universities offer the degrees in English. All the materials are in English language. The learners must have good English skills to read the book. When they are asked to present the content matters they are using the language with their mother tongue influence. So the learners must practice the Standard English. By using these application and continuous practice definitely one can achieve good pronunciation skill. It is sure that these applications will make them as Standard English speakers. These dictionaries are ideal for everyone who needs a comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of current English, for professionals, students, academics, and for use at work or at home. It is practical and easy to use and the students learn more by doing. It increases time on learning and promotes academic skills. It improves performance on standardized tests and speech and increases student learning opportunities. The teachers play a minor role in learning the English pronunciation skills and teacher can monitor student performance.

Video Files and Audio Files:

Penny Ur says, “To be provided by the definition of a pre-set-task, which should involve some kind of clear visible or audible response (UR, 1999, p. 108)”. Learning English with Audio is a good way to study the language, because it is a portable format. Unlike books, which you have to stay stationary to read, CDs can go with you in your car or on your bike and you can transform commuting drive into language-learning time. Learning English with audio is best done if we follow a program whereby we study every day. Consistent listening to our audio produces the best result. The free multimedia website to learn and practice authentic English has fun. The website contains videos and songs with transcripts, comments and explanations, jokes, multimedia activities, phonetics, video lessons, beautiful slideshows, chats and more.

The students from ESL countries like India are using English only in the classroom. So the learners feel quite difficult to improve their English proficiency. Learners are interested in learning English in any way. We can use these files in our mobile SD cards by download from the website and using some CDs. This will help the learners any time. The emergence of multimedia reduces the classroom hours. This type of multimedia leads to genuine learning. It motivates the learners in learning English language in a cheerful way.

Documents: By using the office suit application the learners can use word documents, power point slides and PDF documents. They can read the files what they need. Most of the websites provide short stories, fictions and other literary works in the form of PDF. By downloading these files in our mobile phones we can read the files any time.

The younger generations are highly interested in mobile phones and computers. The mobile phones become equal to computer applications. Mobile phones become easy to access the multimedia as the part of their education. The insufficiency of classroom training is equaled by the mobile phones, when it is used for the educational purpose. The mobile phones acts as a guide in learning Standard English pronunciation. The use of internet also brings advantage for the language learning through mobile phones.

Reference:

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, International Phonetic Association