EFFECTIVENESS OF NONSENSE WORDS IN TEACHING PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION

Abstract

Phonemic transcription discards all those letters which are not required for the pronunciation of a word though they are orthographically valid. This means phonemic transcription helps learners in improving pronunciation. But still there is a problem and that of a different nature; how to learn and master phonemic transcription, especially of a language like English that is phonologically very rich as well as fertile in being capable of producing a variety of allophonic shades in different phonological environments. Therefore, foreign learners of English often find it hard to grapple with English phonemes, especially the vowels. As a result, they commit mistakes of varying nature while transcribing English words in phonemic alphabet. The present experimental study was conducted in National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad to find out the effectiveness of nonsense words in improving learners’ recognition of the phonemic alphabet and by extension their performance in the same. The study sample consisted of two equal groups- a Control Group and an Experimental Group each comprising 30 members. After the treatment phase, the Experimental Group outperformed the Control Group by scoring higher in the post test. It is suggested that foreign learners of English should be taught pronunciation through phonemic transcription.