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5. words which can be used as either nouns and verbs (or adjectives) - nouns are stressed on their first whereas verbs on their last syllables, e.g.: increase, overflow, export, insult, import, content, decrease, etc.

For morę examples and activities consult Kelly, 2000.

Whether a knowledgeable, learned scholar speaks or an elementary leamer listeners will not be able to appreciate the utterance unless it is intelligible. For that reason pronunciation needs to be practised to ensure that leamers achieve language mastery, which involves competence and performance at an appropriate level of advancement. It is the teacher’s task to provide ample practice so that such an aim is achieved.

11.1.8. Phonemic transcription

Whenever we wish to express our thoughts in writing in English we resort to 5 vowel and 21 consonant letters. The situation changes dramatically when orał performances are produces. Any speaker can make use of as many as 20 various vowel sounds (including diphthongs) and 24 consonant sounds. This implies that many letters can. represent morę than one sound. The lack of correspondence between the number of phonemes and the number of letters in the alphabet causes freąuent problems. According to Kelly (2000) such difficulties may have their origin in one of the following:

•    the leamer’s mother tongue may have a one-to-one correspondence between spelling and sounds,

•    the need to become familiar with new sound - spelling relationships,

•    presence of sounds, and combinations of sounds, used in English that are not present in the leamer’s first language,

•    presence of sounds, and combinations of sounds, used in the leamer’s first language, that are not present in English,

•    presence of unfamiliar stress and intonation pattems.

To remedy the situation, phonemic transcription can be introducod and used in the process of language learning. It gives’ leamers a way of correctly noting down the pronunciation of individual words and whole utterances. It is advisable, however, to work gradually and concentrate on the morę probłematic phonemic symbols first. Natural as it seems, the introduction of other phonemic symbols standing for various sounds should folio w. It is additionally beneficial to practise pronunciation of a given word or utterance before its written form is introduced. Presenting the leamers with the written form first might lead to their incorrect pronunciation of the target form that could then be carried over into orał practice. Instructors ought to make regular use of using phonemic symbols combining them with the written forms of the items practised and draw learners’ attention to the most significant sound - spelling relationships. Moreover, in order to train students to become independent from the teacher, learners ought to become familiar with the conventional information presented in dictionaries under single entries. Leamers will then become aware of what the different symbols mean, how to interpret them and, what is most important of all, how to apply them adeąuately to produce proper sounds.

11.2. Teaching Grammar 11.2.1. What is grammar?

Grammar is defined differently in various sources, but the universal, underlying features of definitions hołd that, ąuoting The Oxford Companion to the English Language, grammar is “ a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and morphology of a standard language, usually intended as an aid to the learning and teaching of that language” (1992:446).

It seems likely that different people leam grammar in different ways. Most language teaching theories are based on teaching grammar as if language consisted of grammar and little else. There are no hard rules about teaching grammar and there are lots of assumptions.

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