phonics

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Ju

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1. What are the differences between phonics and IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
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2. There is another called Jolly Phonics. What is it?
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3. It seems that British schools are not using IPA. Then what do we call this?
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4. I am getting very confused as I heard people around have been saying, "I know phonics, I learn phonics...." Do phonics apply to all ways in learning English pronounciation?

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ju
 

BobK

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1. What are the differences between phonics and IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)The IPA was internationally agreed years ago as a way of transcribing speech sounds in any natural language. The systems that call themselves 'phonics' are unilateral - not to say parochial - systems designed to help children - usually native speakers - learn English speech sounds. There's virtually no similarity between the two.
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2. There is another called Jolly Phonics. What is it?

I think it's a trade name.
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3. It seems that British schools are not using IPA. Then what do we call this?

Criminal? Short-sighted? ;-)
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4. I am getting very confused as I heard people around have been saying, "I know phonics, I learn phonics...." Do phonics apply to all ways in learning English pronounciation?
Those utterances are meaningless. They probably refer to being acquainted with a particular system.

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ju

And the answer to your final question is No - although any way of teaching the relation between written words and sounds will overlap with what Primary English teachers call 'Phonics.

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konungursvia

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Great answer.... but I'd change the first part a bit.... phonics don't teach native speakers sounds, they teach spelling to those who already say the sounds correctly.
 

Barb_D

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Great answer.... but I'd change the first part a bit.... phonics don't teach native speakers sounds, they teach spelling to those who already say the sounds correctly.

Well, it works both ways. Learning to "sound out" an unfamiliar written word (and maybe realize that you do know the word, but you just didn't recognize it in writing) is how it was taught to me, back in the last millennium.
 

konungursvia

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Right, but I'd define learning spelling as acquiring the relationships between phonemes (already known by native children) and spellings (in the process of being acquired by the same). The IPA really works both ways, as learners of English use it to acquire the full range of phonemes, which they usually lack to some extent.
 
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