Náležitosti

 
3.3.2.2 Performance Training 
 
Performance Training means performance practice involving rehearsing, 
pronouncing the same phrases several times, commenting on performance and practice 
in growing out of shyness and self-consciousness. This training helps to cope with 
communication activities. Such training focuses on correct facial movement, 
management of breath, and gestures. (MacCarthy 1978, 20-67) To help learners to 
master and raise awareness in English pronunciation, the following suggestions seem to 
be useful. 
´Phonetic Placement Methodology´- according to Paulette Dale
Phonetic placement and anatomical explanations often used with multi-sensory 
methods are helpful. It is useful for students to feel tension or lack of tension 
under the chin, or the presence of vibration of the vocal cords, to see the tongue 
tip in a small hand mirror. (2003, 18) 
Piers Messum (2002, 26) and Joanne Kenworthy (1992,70) suggest that teachers should 
confirm that their learners know the vocal organs vocabulary, such as ´lips (top and 
bottom, upper and lower) ´, ´teeth (top, front, back teeth) ´, ´tongue (tip or front, back of 
the tongue and sides of the tongue) ´. These authors also recommend words such as 
´put, place, touch, near, close to, round and spread´. It should not be forgotten that 
phonetic placement terminology should be with respect to the learners´ age and level of 
proficiency.
´Phonemic alphabet / Use of International Phonetic Alphabet´ (IPA/ International 
Phonemic chart) – as most dictionaries give the pronunciation of the words in phonemic 
symbols, it seems useful for students to be aware of the different phonemes and “it is 
the clearest way of promoting awareness of sound and spelling correspondence by 
introducing the various symbols.” (Harmer 2001, 185) Alfred Gimson confirms, “The 
learner will often find it rewarding to transcribe phonetically various utterances.” (1989, 
337) However, Jeremy Harmer admits, “It is perfectly possible to wok on the sounds of 
English without ever using any phonemic symbol.” (2001, 185) Here again, target 
course group, and course aims should be taken into consideration. 

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´Tongue-Twisters´ - are either words or phrases that are difficult to pronounce because 
they contain many difficult sounds, especially ones that are very similar. They exist in 
every language and are designed for improving the articulation. (Celce-Murcia 1991, 
139) Their use will depend on the type of course, target audience, pronunciation 
element to be presented, practised, or mastered. 
´Drilling´ - “Perhaps the oldest method of teaching pronunciation involves exercises in 
elocution: imitation drills.” (Jones 2002, 80) Nowadays, there are many types of drills 
recommended, such as ´Drilling of Vowel Shifts, of Stress Shifts, Chain Drills, and so 
on. (Celce-Murica 1991, 140) Rodney Jones suggests that drills should move beyond 
the simple identification and mimicking of de-contextualised sound contrasts to both the 
perception and production integrated into effective communication by the use of 
pictures, gestures, poetry and songs, games and physical activities along the line of 
Total Physical Response
12
. (2002, 181)
´Games´ - “They are not only motivating and fun but can also provide excellent practice 
for improving pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and the four language skills.” 
(Brewster, Ellis, Girard 2002, 172) Some games are competitive, with teams or 
individual working towards being the ´winner´. Other games are cooperative, where 
teams or pairs work together to achieve a common goal, such as drawing a picture or 
solving a puzzle. (Brewster, Ellis, Girard 2002, 173) Chosen games should be 
meaningful and real-life, as only in such activities communication takes place in a 
natural way. (Dunn 1983, 3
;
Brewster, Ellis, Girard 2002, 173-176) By the use of 
regularly repeated easy language structures, in literature usually called ´prefabricated 
language´, children quickly memorize the language involved. Opal Dunn confirms 
“Once a child has memorized some prefabricated language, he has a feeling he can 
speak a lot of English.” (1983, 5)
´Communicative activities´ - include interviews, speeches, debates, role-plays and 
dramatizations. Such activities mainly aim at supra-segmental pronunciation elements. 
To deal with connected speech elements students and teachers can follow a three-stage 
procedure concerning firstly comparing words in isolation with normal connected 
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Total Physical Response - is very popular with young learners because it develops listening skills, 
introduces new language in a very visual, contextualized way, involves
activity and movement
. 
When 
you use action songs, rhymes and stories, this is a form of TPR. (Brewster, Ellis, Girard 2002,44) 

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37 
speech, secondly identifying what was said in normal connected speech, thirdly 
producing normal connected speech. (Harmer 2001, 197-198) It should not be forgotten 
that factors influencing the choice of communicative activities are the same as with the 
previous suggestions, in other words, target audience, and their level of proficiency. 
Some of the above mentioned suggestions and recommendations were used in 
teaching the course of young learners, the results are discussed in chapter No.6.