The application of Audio Articulation Method to rehabilitate/u/উ// Sound in tertiary level students of Bangladesh

Abstract

The target of this paper incorporates rehabilitation of /u/ sound in Bangladeshi adult speakers of English in classroom practice. The phoneme /u/ is a short vowel and /u:/, a long vowel in English phonemic inventory. But long and short vowel distinction is not a phonemic feature in Bangla. That is why, many Bengali speakers of English pronounce /u/উ/ in both the cases as there is /উ /u/ sound in Bengali language.  This creates problem for the listeners specifically the native speakers to understand the speech of the Bengali adult speakers of English and the comprehensibility level of their pronunciation is very low. The researcher, from his practical experience, finds that Phonological establishment of /উ /u/ sound in the tertiary level students of Bangladesh is one of the main reasons of this problem. This paper is a pedagogically designed lesson plan to rehabilitate the fossilized /u/উ / sound in Bengali speakers by applying Audio Articulation Method in the class hour. By operating various kinds of drills such as, interaction drill, substitution drills, minimal pairs, tongue twister etc in the class hour, the teachers can conduct the class to rehabilitate the fossilized sounds in the learners and both the trainers and trainees in Bangladesh can get the chance to defossilize  the fossilized sound by these  drillings.