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Teaching Pronunciation Beyond Phonics: The Emo Pron Approach
Abstract
Pronunciation may be regarded as a difficult and an even insufferable topic by teachers and learners alike. The present paper purports to explore Emo Pron (short for Emotional Pronunciation) as a teaching approach that combines emotional engagement and storytelling techniques to enhance pronunciation instruction while also supporting the development of reading and writing skills in EFL (English as a foreign language) young learner classes. Emo-pron stories provide a narrative thread tailored to young learners, where a conflict must be resolved through incidental learning of pronunciation content. This approach ensures an accessible and engaging learning process, specifically designed to meet the needs of EFL learners integrating pronunciation to reading and writing in an EFL context. In sum, Emo-pron stories prioritize emotional engagement in pronunciation acquisition. Aligned with contemporary neuro-linguistic research, a storytelling process can encourage children to interact with English sounds in playful and imaginative ways. This approach helps children acquire pronunciation naturally, bringing language learning to life through meaningful and engaging practice.
1. Introduction
Pronunciation may be regarded as a difficult and an even insufferable topic by teachers and learners alike. Granted that some aspects may indeed be challenging, but this is not always the case. Maybe teaching has been too narrowly focused on listening to and repeating oral drills selected by the teacher, in the rather overambitious assumption that every student will master these patterns. This approach often overlooks the meaning-making process that speakers engage in during communication.
The present paper purports to explore Emo Pron (short for Emotional Pronunciation) as a teaching approach that combines emotional engagement and storytelling techniques to enhance pronunciation instruction while also supporting the development of reading and writing skills in EFL (English as a foreign language) young learner classes.
2. The Emo Pron approach: the basics
By embedding linguistic concepts within narratives, this approach creates a more enjoyable and memorable learning experience. It emphasizes the pivotal role of emotions in improving learners’ pronunciation skills and facilitating the acquisition of sounds in the target language.
This method addresses a common challenge faced by EFL teachers: implementing effective reading and writing techniques that are closely tied to the acquisition of English sounds—many of which may not exist in a young learner’s mother tongue. When it comes to teaching reading and writing in English as a foreign language, many teachers turn to the well-known phonics approach, owing to its playful method of connecting sounds with spelling. However, phonics was originally designed for native English speakers, incorporating games, songs, and stories that reflect how they naturally acquire language (Palavecino, 2022a).
For non-native English speakers, though, mastering sounds that are absent from their mother tongue often poses significant challenges. This issue needs to be addressed before introducing reading and writing in English (Reilly & Reilly, 2005). After all, how can a child connect spelling to a sound that they have not yet mastered? This fundamental mismatch highlights the need for an approach that bridges this gap.
This difficulty highlights what might be called the missing link—bridging the intuitive phonics experience of native speakers with the unique needs of EFL learners, who require additional scaffolding to acquire sounds. Emo Pron addresses this gap by adapting phonics principles to focus on emotional connection and storytelling, promoting the natural acquisition of new sounds. This approach is particularly effective with children, as teachers cannot rely on meta-linguistic explanations in the realm of teaching young learners.
Emo-pron stories provide a narrative thread tailored to young learners, where a conflict must be resolved through incidental learning of pronunciation content. The conflict plays a crucial role as it propels the need to learn something—such as articulating a new sound—to solve a problem within the story. From the child’s perspective, this problem appears as non-linguistic, as the linguistic challenge is embedded seamlessly into the narrative. All of this is achieved with humour and fantastical characters, woven into the emotional core of the stories.
This approach ensures an accessible and engaging learning process, specifically designed to meet the needs of EFL learners integrating pronunciation to reading and writing in an EFL context.
3. The Role of stories in learning new sounds
In the EFL classroom, learners are tasked with remembering a multitude of new things. New words, for instance, are often easier to retain when introduced within the context of a story. However, these words frequently bring new sounds, requiring learners to develop unfamiliar articulatory habits—a process further complicated by the influence of their mother tongue.
Such is the case of Spanish speakers from Spain, for example. When teachers introduce a word like three, they might highlight the /θ/ sound by drawing parallels to familiar words such as Cecilia, zanahoria, or zapato. These examples are meant to draw on the learners’ existing phonetic repertoire as a starting point. However, to enable reading and writing, learners also need to associate this sound with the spelling pattern th. Starting with something familiar creates a positive and motivating learning experience.
Whether we like it or not, the mother tongue serves as a crucial foundation. In Vygotsky’s terms, it represents the basis from which new articulatory habits emerge, developed through the activation of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1998; Read, 2011).
In Peninsular Spanish, the /θ/ sound occurs in words containing c or z, so it is essential to explicitly highlight the relationship between the sound and its spelling. This approach aligns with Schmidt’s (1990) Noticing Hypothesis, which emphasizes the importance of drawing learners’ attention to linguistic features. By creating a magical learning environment enriched with well-designed scaffolds—such as stories, games, and creative techniques—teachers can guide learners toward mastering these new sounds in an engaging and memorable way.
For instance, an Emo-pron story like Thumkie in Spain (Palavecino, 2024a) facilitates the implicit and natural acquisition of the /θ/ sound. Thumkie in Spain is a heartwarming story about Thumkie, a friendly thumb who feels invisible because children in Spain cannot see his /θ/ sound in English words. Through a magical rhyme and playful activities, children help Thumkie make the invisible “TH” visible, discovering his sound in words like bath, three, and tooth. This engaging narrative combines repetition, rhyme, and physical actions, turning phonics practice into an unforgettable adventure.
By embedding linguistic learning in a story-based context and coupling it with hands-on activities, learners not only understand but also emotionally and physically experience the concept. Such lived and memorable experiences make it much harder to forget the target sound-spelling relation.
Phonics, as a playful and interactive approach, provides young learners with opportunities to acquire new sounds through stories, games, and songs. A memorable story, where the conflict revolves around the target sound, serves as an effective scaffold. Through these stories, children can make sense of the new sound, relate it to words, and remember it. Stories create an emotional bond with learners, songs provide an enjoyable way to practice articulatory habits, and puppets bring characters to life in engaging games.
In the Emo-pron approach, stories play a central role in establishing strong emotional connections with children. These stories are carefully designed to help young learners acquire new sounds by embedding phonetic challenges into narrative conflicts. However, this approach must be tailored to different linguistic backgrounds.
For example, in Latin American Spanish, the /θ/ sound is absent. Here, it can be introduced through a story like Thumkie in Latin America (Palavecino 2022b). In this narrative, a fantasy character named Thumkie embarks on an adventure to discover a new place and manner of articulation, ultimately saving the main character. The story’s conflict compels learners to notice and practice the articulation of /θ/, linking the sound to its corresponding English spelling.
Now, the th combination is also connected to /ð/, the voiced dental fricative, as in this, father, and they. This sound is more commonly found in grammatical words such as pronouns or prepositions than in lexical words, unlike the voiceless dental fricative /θ/. A common mistake among Spanish speakers is saying day when they mean they. These are two distinct sounds. In Spanish, when the d appears between two vowels, it is pronounced similarly to the voiced dental fricative /ð/ in English. For example, in the word enojado (meaning angry in Spanish), the ado is pronounced ah-though because the d is intervocalic (positioned between a and o).
With a view to solving this potential problem, Heather and the Sound Cavern (Palavecino, 2024b) has been created as a story designed to help children acquire the /ð/ sound in they and contrast it with the /d/ sound in day. The story also aids learners in associating these sounds with their spelling through engaging fantasy characters.
The story centres on Heather, a baby who loves listening to her mom sing a soothing tune. Unbeknownst to everyone, there are gnomes living in the “sound cavern” (the mouth) who produce the melody. One day, an evil wizard casts a spell that causes Heather’s mom to get hiccups, ejecting the gnomes from the mouth one by one.
As babies often do, Heather picks up the gnomes she finds along her way and instinctively puts them in her mouth. To the wizard’s surprise, the tune continues despite his spell. Inside the sound cavern (Heather’s mouth), the gnomes peek out through the stalactites (teeth) to produce the part of the song that includes the, this, that.
Meanwhile, the sounds da and ddy emerge as the gnomes playfully swing inside the cavern, causing their hats to fly and strike the upper bump of the mouth, producing the /d/ sound.
This imaginative story uses humour and fantasy to create a memorable context for children to notice and practice the difference between the /ð/ and /d/ sounds. Children will remember how to produce the target sounds and relate them to their spelling. That is the primary goal of Emo-pron stories. However, the starting point is always at the level of the phonemes that are non-existent in EFL learners’ mother tongue.
This approach aligns with Schmidt’s (1993) Noticing Hypothesis, which emphasizes the importance of drawing learners’ attention to specific linguistic features. By using a magical learning environment filled with scaffolded activities, teachers can guide learners to notice and adjust their articulatory habits effectively (Palavecino, 2021).
4. Addressing sound challenges for EFL learners (what every EFL teacher should know)
An examination of the English consonant system reveals key features of spoken language. English has 26 consonant sounds, whereas languages like Spanish have only 17 or 19, depending on the regional variety. Regarding vowels, English has 20 vowel sounds, while Spanish has only 5. Therefore, for EFL learners to achieve intelligibility, they must master a broader range of sounds than those present in their native language, and it should be borne in mind that using complex meta-language to teach new sounds can add a perhaps uncalled-for extra challenge to pronunciation instruction. Instead, we should find engaging and motivating ways for students to acquire English sounds naturally.
One key focus for EFL teachers should be helping learners acquire English sounds that do not exist in their native language, such as /ʤ/ (as in George or Jack). Without this awareness, a word like gin might be mispronounced as chin, or jeep as cheap by Spanish speakers, as the pure affricate sound is absent in Spanish. This confusion arises because English has two affricates, while Spanish typically has only one.
An Emo-pron story, such as The Jawbreaker and the Sound Ticklers (Palavecino, 2022c), can facilitate the natural acquisition of these challenging sounds. This story focuses on teaching the initial sounds in words like George and jungle. The conflict in the story helps children make the articulation of these sounds memorable and easier to grasp.
In this imaginative narrative, children learn to “fight” jawbreakers which accidentally get stuck in a child’s mouth. They use a feather, which is fantastically the tip of the tongue, to “tickle” the jawbreakers and release them by producing the sound ticklers in Jack or Ginny. This creative approach in the fantasy world of Emo Pron makes pronunciation practice fun, engaging and learning-friendly.
EFL teachers often encounter specific challenges when teaching new sounds, particularly those absent from learners’ native phonetic systems. One such challenge is the lack of pronunciation features, such as aspiration. Nothing could be more effective than a story to make a new pronunciation feature noticeable. This can serve as the scaffold learners need. Children can make sense of the new sound by solving the problem introduced in the Emo-pron story, such as The Polar Bear (Palavecino, 2023a).
In this story, the main character, a polar bear, is searching for a pin that is very dear to him. It’s not just any pin—it’s a Fist Pump pin. The conflict arises because the bear cannot produce aspiration, so whenever he asks the animals in the forest for a pin, they hear bin instead.
The witty Puma takes advantage of this misunderstanding. Realizing the bear says bin instead of pin, the Puma denies having a bin (which is technically true) but secretly knows the bear is looking for the pin he has found. The problem is eventually resolved when the Parrot notices the bear’s mistake. Rather than exploiting the error, the Parrot helps the Polar Bear produce the correct aspiration for the word pin. In the end, the Polar Bear resumes his search and encounters the witty Puma once more. This time, he produces such a strong aspiration that the Puma is startled, falls to the ground, and accidentally drops the pin.
This Emo-pron story shows children not only how to produce aspiration in a memorable way, but it also presents the miscommunication problem that may be created by not producing aspiration, especially at the beginning of words with p, t, k followed by vowels.
Unlike traditional literature, these stories introduce a conflict that is not resolved with a moral lesson but through the acquisition of a new articulatory habit. This habit is demonstrated and experienced by the fantasy characters, creating an emotional bond that makes the place and manner of articulation both memorable and fun. By venturing into the world of fantasy, we can help learners generate the articulatory pattern and form a lasting association with the aspirated /p/, making the learning experience truly unforgettable.
Similarly, distinguishing between English v and b can be difficult for Spanish speakers, as these sounds are not contrastive in Spanish, leading to substitutions like ban for van. For this particular distinction, a tale was crafted: The Elves’ Magic Moves, a story designed to provide an ideal scaffold for young learners to master the pronunciation of the /v/ sound (Palavecino, 2023a).
In languages like Spanish, /b/ and /v/ are pronounced similarly, but EFL learners often do not realize that these are distinct sounds in English. The /v/ sound is particularly challenging for non-native speakers to acquire, as the natural tendency is to pronounce it using the articulatory habits of their native language. For Spanish speakers, for example, the /v/ sound is often replaced with a bilabial sound similar to the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. However, this /b/ is typically softer in Spanish than in English—especially in intervocalic positions—because the lips vibrate without fully “popping.”
To produce the English /v/ sound, the jaw remains nearly closed. The upper backside of the bottom lip is pressed gently against the bottom of the top teeth, allowing air to flow between the top teeth and the upper backside of the bottom lip. At the same time, the vocal cords are activated. However, as every teacher knows, young learners are unlikely to retain such technical descriptions, should metalanguage be attempted.
Instead, children can be guided through imagery and storytelling to conceptualize the sound. In the story, they learn about a place called Valinor, where Magic Moves bring happiness and friendship. This move is performed by gently “hugging” the lower lip and the teeth while turning their voices on to create the sound of a rap, like Vat a Vat Vet a Vet…. This visualization aligns perfectly with the climax of the story, where the “magic moves” magically bring new characters into the scene.
In the story, the magic moves unite the good characters in happiness, but the envious baddy elVes hatches a plan to sabotage them. They cause Victor and Vicky to lose their teeth, and with them, their ability to produce the magical /v/ sound. Suddenly, words like vet become bet, and very turns into berry. The conflict is resolved with the help of the Tooth Fairy, who restores Victor and Vicky’s teeth and, with them, the magic moves. In the end, the story takes an inclusive turn as the good characters forgive the bad elVes, inviting them to join in the magic moves.
Phonological awareness is essential in accurately connecting sounds to spelling, influencing reading and writing proficiency. Pronunciation is especially important for young learners; however, addressing habitual misarticulations caused by mother-tongue interference can be daunting (Swan & Bernard, 2001).
5. The need for tailored materials
One of the challenges EFL teachers face is the lack of phonics materials specifically designed for non-native speakers (Jenkins, 2000). Another challenge lies in deciding where to begin when teaching pronunciation. Should it be integrated into lesson plans? Should it be taught as a separate component? Should all the sounds be covered?
Before developing their own resources, teachers must first identify the specific sounds and phonological features that EFL learners need to acquire, foster phonological awareness, and find materials that support lesson planning—whether integrated into the curriculum or used as supplementary resources. For example, an Emo-pron story can bring joy and break the routine of a traditional lesson structure.
As is known to teachers in general, English is often considered a phonetically “opaque” language and Spanish a phonetically “transparent” language, owing to the degree of correspondence between their spelling (orthography) and pronunciation (phonology) (Katz & Frost, 1992). This difference makes it difficult to transfer teaching strategies from one language to the other. To address this, what can indeed be recommended is a syllabus that focuses on sounds likely to disrupt communication if mispronounced. Teachers can explore the Emo-pron Stories website to discover the author’s approach to designing resources tailored for young learners’ pronunciation needs.
6. Emo Pron: bridging the gap
To address these challenges, Emo Pron employs a methodology grounded in engaging fantasy characters and stories. This approach uses narrative conflicts as pivotal moments where learners must solve problems by acquiring new articulatory techniques. For example, learners might be guided to produce the English th sound by protruding the tongue and expelling air—a movement introduced as part of a narrative adventure. By appealing to emotions and imagination, Emo Pron ensures learners notice, produce, and retain new sounds more effectively.
Through a Vygotskian lens, this approach leverages the zone of proximal development (Read, 2011), starting with what learners can manage and building on it to develop new articulatory habits. Rather than explaining articulatory techniques in abstract terms, Emo Pron relies on memorable stories, where discovering a new sound resolves the narrative conflict. This scaffolding makes the learning experience intuitive and enjoyable for young learners.
7. The science behind storytelling
Research confirms that stories have a profound impact on the brain, as humans are inherently wired for storytelling (Hughes, 2023). Stories create emotional connections by triggering the release of oxytocin (associated with pleasure) and dopamine (linked to empathy and love). Learners are more likely to retain content tied to emotions, laughter, or surprise than abstract descriptions of sounds and spelling.
By crafting narratives where conflicts centre around key sounds, teachers can leverage this brain chemistry to help learners develop new articulatory habits. Additionally, Emo-pron bridges the gap between traditional phonics and EFL phonics by providing an innovative approach to teaching sounds absent from learners’ mother tongues, while connecting them to their corresponding spellings. This approach enhances phonics instruction for non-native English speakers, fostering phonological awareness and seamlessly integrating new knowledge into reading and writing skills.
8. The magic of music: a gateway to mastering English pronunciation
In the vibrant realm of primary education, where mastering English as a foreign language presents multifaceted challenges, rhymes and songs become indispensable tools for meaningful repetition of challenging sounds. With Emo-pron Stories, lessons infused with melodies and rhythms transform the complexities of English pronunciation practice into an engaging adventure. Learners can repeat challenging sounds within the meaningful contexts of Emo-pron songs, turning practice into play.
What makes music truly transformative? It is simply a question of delving into brain science to uncover its profound impact: music not only reduces stress but also boosts cognitive abilities and promotes neurogenesis. The symphony of sounds triggers neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, creating a nurturing environment for retaining and practicing even the most challenging places of articulation—essential elements in acquiring new EFL sounds (Hughes, 2023).
Music is not just an auditory experience; it is a holistic journey that engages every facet of the brain, from cognitive processing to emotional well-being. As children immerse themselves in the joy of music and movement, they embark on a multifaceted voyage encompassing social, linguistic, physical, cognitive, and emotional development—all within the framework of meaningful contexts.
9. Unlocking the full potential of Emo-pron songs
If Emo-pron Stories are used, here are the keys to maximizing the benefits of Emo-pron songs in your classroom. These tales can:
▪ Immerse learners in storytelling: Begin with an Emo-pron story where the narrative introduces a conflict that, while non-linguistic, is resolved by acquiring phonological content.
▪ Leverage fantasy characters: Use the power of stories and emotions to help children notice and understand new pronunciation features without explicit instruction. Noticing a new sound in the foreign language is the first key stage.
▪ Practise with purpose: Follow the storytelling phase with practice, ensuring repetition is meaningful and memorable—not blind or mechanical.
▪ Harness music’s versatility: Integrate music introduced by Emo-pron Stories to provide a context for engaging, joyful, and purposeful repetition.
▪ Incorporate movement: Combine Emo-pron songs with movement to stimulate all senses, ensuring learning is inclusive, dynamic, and impactful.
Teachers can surely elevate their achievement in the classroom with Emo-pron songs and embark on a journey where learning transcends traditional boundaries. Fuelled by the transformative power of music, this approach fosters a lifelong love for language, expression, and meaningful learning (Palavecino, 2021).
10. Key Features of Emo Pron Stories
Emo-pron stories provide the scaffolding EFL learners need to acquire challenging sounds in a fun and engaging way. Key features of these stories include:
▪ Familiar starting points: Approximating the new sound based on learners’ native tongue.
▪ Playful scaffolding: Using movements to support the acquisition of targeted sounds.
▪ Conflict-driven learning: Designing narrative conflicts which are solvable through noticing and acquiring new English sounds.
▪ Memorable characters: Using figurative language to create engaging phonics characters.
Children are captivated by the imaginative worlds of Emo-pron stories. When new sounds are introduced through these narratives, memory structures are activated, enabling better retention. These stories guide learners in resolving phonetic conflicts while exploring how speech organs work to ensure effective communication as part of the story whose characters they sympathize with. This is where the fun lies.
11. Conclusions
In sum, Emo-pron stories prioritize emotional engagement in pronunciation acquisition. Aligned with contemporary neuro-linguistic research, studies show that narratives stimulate neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, which enhance attention and memory retention.
Teaching pronunciation explicitly to children can be challenging, which is why innovative methods like Emo-pron are essential for achieving mastery in this area. These charmingly illustrated stories feature fantasy characters that guide children in understanding pronunciation concepts without the need for explicit instruction.
Game-like activities and meaningful repetition, such as through songs, follow the storytelling process, encouraging children to interact with English sounds in playful and imaginative ways. This approach helps children acquire pronunciation naturally, bringing language learning to life through meaningful and engaging practice.
References
Hughes, M. (2023). Storytelling Changes our Brain and our Behavior. https://www.melissahughes.rocks/post/storytelling-changes-our-brain-and-our-behavior
Jenkins, J. (2000). The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford University Press.
Katz, L., & Frost, R. (1992). The reading process is different for different orthographies: The orthographic depth hypothesis. In R. Frost & L. Katz (Eds.), Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning (pp. 67–84). North-Holland.
Palavecino, S. (2021). Pronunciation Teaching Environments that can nourish your mind, heart and soul. IATEFL Pronsig Conference. October 2021.
Palavecino, S. (2022a). EFL Story Books & Resources. https://emopronstories.com.ar/
Palavecino, S. (2022b). Th Th Thumkie in Latin America. Autores Argentinos.
Palavecino, S. (2022c). The Jawbreaker and The Sound Ticklers. Buenos Aires English House ELT Publishing Books.
Palavecino, S. (2023a). The Elves’ Magic Moves. Buenos Aires English House ELT Publishing Books.
Palavecino, S. (2023b). The Polar Bear’s Pin. Buenos Aires English House ELT Publishing Books.
Palavecino, S. (2024a). Th Th Thumkie in Spain. Buenos Aires English House ELT Publishing Books.
Palavecino, S. (2024b). Heather and the Sound Cavern. Buenos Aires English House ELT Publishing Books.
Read, C. (2011). Carol Read’s ABC of Teaching Children. https://carolread.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/z-is-for-zone-of-proximal-development
Reilly, J., & Reilly, V. (2005). Writing with Children. Oxford University Press.
Schmidt, R. (1993). Awareness and Second Language Acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 206–226.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1998). The Collected Works of L.S. Vygotsky. Volume 5: Child Psychology. Trans. by M.J. Hall. Plenum Press.
The author has developed a collection of Emo Pron stories, songs, and games, forming the basis of what she calls the Emo Pron Method. You can listen to the stories, access material, resources and more at emopronstories.com.ar.
Emo Pron: revolutionising EFL pronunciation teaching for young learners
This article intends to provide a rationale for the use of Emo Pron method in the context of the teaching of pronunciation to young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Emo Pron, a condensed form for “Emotional pronunciation,” refers to a teaching approach or methodology that incorporates emotional engagement and storytelling techniques to facilitate pronunciation instruction and learning. This approach aims to make the learning experience more enjoyable and memorable by disguising linguistic concepts in narratives. It emphasizes the role of emotions to enhance pronunciation skills and overall acquisition of sounds in the targeted language.
This method emerges from the needs EFL teachers face when trying to apply a method of reading and writing in the young EFL learner classroom. This means resorting to Phonics. Phonics is a method used to teach reading and writing to native speakers of English because it allows children to learn the way they can best learn, that is, through games, songs and stories. However, the primary obstacle that non-native English speakers have to face is the learning of sounds which are inexistent in their mother tongue. Herein lies the missing link: trying to connect the experience of Phonics for native English speakers, whose sounds are inherent and present no difficulty, with that of EFL speakers.
Therefore, an initial challenge EFL teachers must take is the teaching of new words, with a keen focus on sounds that may disrupt or thoroughly impede communication. For instance, when teaching the word ‘three’ to an EFL learner, they might inadvertently pronounce it as ‘free’ or ‘tree’ if the required consonant sound is absent from their native tongue. The acquisition of sounds like ‘TH’ might seem straightforward for a Peninsular (Spain) Spanish learner, where teachers can relate the articulation of ‘TH’ to the initial sound in the word ‘zanahoria.’ However, in Spanish-speaking Latin America, this articulation proves troublesome as the voiceless dental fricative ‘TH’ is absent from the phonetic alphabet. Additionally, distinguishing between the sounds of English ‘v’ and ‘b’ can also be challenging for Spanish speakers, as these
consonants are not contrastive in Spanish. EFL learners may say ‘ban’ for ‘van’, without noticing the difference in the articulation. These sound differences serve to show some of the non-native speakers’ difficulties when they learn English. Phonological awareness plays a crucial role in accurately connecting sounds to spelling, thereby influencing reading and writing proficiency. Pronunciation is of utmost importance, more even so in the case of young learners, and dealing with habitual misarticulations —stemming from mother-tongue interference— often proves to be extremely difficult (Swan & Bernard, 2001).
Another challenge for the EFL teacher arises from the lack of materials tailored to the needs of non-native English speakers (Jenkins, 2000) in the area of Phonics. Before developing their own material, EFL teachers must meticulously select the specific sounds and phonological features that EFL learners need to acquire, help learners develop phonological awareness, and relate those sounds to spelling in order to facilitate reading and writing. Additionally, experience demonstrates that even if children are taught to read and write in their mother tongue through Phonics, these strategies are not transferable to learning a foreign language, in this case English since Spanish is often described as a transparent language, whereas English is considered opaque.
Hence, it is crucial to cater to these needs. Emo Pron aims to bridge this gap by employing a methodology that starts with engaging fantasy characters and stories. This approach fosters a memorable and enjoyable acquisition of the key sounds , which serve as pivotal plot points within the story. As learners encounter conflicts in the narrative, they are compelled to notice and acquire new articulation techniques. By appealing to emotions, Emo Pron ensures that EFL learners readily recognize, produce and engage with these new sounds more effectively and memorably
Viewed through a Vygotskian lens, a solid starting point is to begin with what is familiar to the learner. It is crucial to identify a movement that learners are capable of making, and which can serve as the foundation for acquiring new articulatory habits. By introducing novel sounds through a manageable “trick” or technique that learners can master, teachers activate what Vygotsky termed the “zone of proximal development” (Read, 2011), and they therefore facilitate natural learning. For instance, even though the English “TH” sound is absent in River-Plate Spanish, learners can nevertheless
produce this sound simply by protruding the tip of the tongue and expelling air. This amalgamation of movement and sound acts as the catalyst for engaging the “zone of proximal development.” It should be noted that providing elaborate explanations of this process to young learners proves futile, as abstract meta-language does not effectively resonate with children. Instead, crafting a memorable narrative – centred around the discovery of a new sound- can offer the necessary scaffolding, making the concept more memorable through emotional engagement with stories.
Stories hold immense significance as they establish an emotional connection with children. Emo-pron stories are narrative pieces designed to facilitate the acquisition of new sounds in EFL to young learners. These stories incorporate emotional engagement and memorable conflicts focused on specific phonetic challenges to enhance learning effectiveness. A sound such as “TH” can be emotionally addressed through the conflict presented in the book called ‘ Thumkie in Latin America’ .A fantasy character called ‘Thumkie’ engages children in the adventure of exploring and discovering an unimaginable place and manner of articulation to save the main character This fosters the acquisition of a new sound and relates it to the spelling in English. There is an alignment with the Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 1993). Teachers create a magical learning environment, complete with perfect scaffolds to introduce new sounds and alter articulatory habits (Palavecino, 2021).
Research confirms the impact of stories on the brain. Our brains are constitutionally wired for storytelling (Huges, 2023). Stories are powerful because they establish an emotional bond with the audience. Pleasurable activities trigger the release of oxytocin, the “pleasure” chemical, and dopamine, the chemical associated with sympathy and love. Learners are more likely to remember content associated with emotions, laughter, and surprise than when they passively listen to a description of sounds and are made to remember spelling by heart.
Why not encourage storytelling to develop articulatory behaviour by tapping into brain chemistry? By crafting memorable stories whose conflicts revolve around essential sounds for the non-native speaker, EFL educators can effectively guide learners in acquiring new articulatory habits. This approach bridges the gap between Phonics and EFL phonics, revealing the promise of “Emo Pron” stories (Palavecino, 2022) as a method for instructing non-native English speakers in the pronunciation of
sounds absent in their mother tongue. These stories not only cultivate phonological awareness but also seamlessly integrate this newfound understanding into reading and writing.
To conclude, Emo Pron stories embody an approach that constructs the appropriate scaffolding for EFL learners to acquire the problematic sounds through a fantasy world that invites them to produce the correct articulation for fun. Key features of an EFL Emo Pron story include:
An approximation of the new sound rooted in the mother tongue.
Playful movements serving as scaffolds to acquire the targeted sound.
The incorporation of a conflict solvable through the new articulation.
The use of figurative language to create memorable phonics characters.
Children are captured by the imaginative worlds created by Emo Pron stories. When new sounds are introduced through familiar narratives, memory structures facilitate the brain’s retention of information. These stories possess the potential to engage children in resolving conflicts centred around the understanding of how speech organs interact to ensure effective communication. This is where the fun lies.
The author of this approach has created a collection of Emo Pron stories, songs, and games, constituting what she calls the Emo Pron Method. Every teacher can create their own EFL world of phonics as well.
References
Celce-Murcia, M. et al. (2008). Teaching Pronunciation. A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge University Press.
Hughes, M. (2023). ‘Storytelling Changes our Brain and our Behavior.’ Https://www.melissahughes.rocks/post/storytelling-changes-our-brain-and-our-behavior.
Jenkins J. (2000). The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford University Press.
Palavecino S. (2021). ‘Pronunciation Teaching Environments that can nourish your mind, heart and soul.’ IATEFL Pronsig Conference. October 2021.
Palavecino, S. (2022). ‘EFL Story Books & Resources.’ https://emopronstories.com.ar/.
Read, C. (2011). ‘Carol Read’s ABC of Teaching Children.’ Https://carolread. wordpress.com/2011/08/08/z-is-for-zone-of-proximal-development.
Reilly, J. & Reilly, V. (2005). Writing with Children. Oxford University Press.
Schmidt, R (1993). ‘Awareness and Second Language Acquisition.’ Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 13.206-26.
Swam, M. & Bernard, S. (2001). Learner English Second Edition. A Teacher guide to interference and other problems. Cambridge University Press.