Do they teach the IPA (phonetic alphabet) in US/UK schools?

[fruitninja]

Hi, I'm a non-native speaker. I was taught the IPA(in US college and adult school) in order to say the new words that I haven't heard before( or simply get the idea of how they sound). But, I have wondered whether or not they teach the phonetic symbols in US/UK elementary(or intermediate) schools; because I think native speakers just listen to the sound and say it without the help (or knowledge) of the IPA.

 

[Tdol]

I went through school in the UK without it.

 

[Rover_KE]

I was an English teacher for 40 years and never learnt or taught it.

 

[Raymott]

Same in Australia. It's enough of a challenge turning out school leavers who can write in English.

 

[Skrej]

I only learned it when taking some linguistics classes in college. I have rarely used it outside of those few assignments.

In the US, there isn't much standardization with phonetic transcriptions. I do teach my students how to use a dictionary, and one of the things I have to remind them is that the phonetic representation may vary from dictionary to dictionary, and that they need to consult the pronunciation key provided in the dictionary they're using.

I frequently use this site, when dealing with particular pronunciation problems, because it has excellent animated side-views of the articulatory tract as well as frontal view of the mouth. The downside is that it's based on IPA, so I have to tell the students to ignore the symbols. I just project the website so they can see the animations and videos, and as much as possible avoid showing the IPA symbols.

IPA can be very confusing since many of the symbols are just regular alphabet letters, but those letters don't always match up the alphabetic representation we use for that sound.

For example, my Spanish speaking students frequently pronounce the letter 'y' (IPA /j/) as a 'j' (IPA /ʤ/). It's very confusing then to try to use IPA symbols where 'y' is represented by /j/.

I think IPA has its uses, but not in an ESL classroom.

 

[fruitninja]

So, it seems like official school in US/UK/AUS don't teach the IPA, and only certain English teachers have learned and teach it. I did take some ESL classes at a community college in California. My teachers know and teach that. And a textbook we used( Pronouncing American English-by Gertrude F. Orion) does have a lesson about "using a dictionary for pronunciation". Anyway, thank you all, for your replies, they did give some useful information.

 

[emsr2d2]

It certainly wasn't taught in my school in the UK and I don't think it's taught in any schools here. I didn't learn it in order to teach English either.

 

[jutfrank]

Hi, I'm a non-native speaker. I was taught the IPA(in US college and adult school) in order to say the new words that I haven't heard before( or simply get the idea of how they sound). But, I have wondered whether or not they teach the phonetic symbols in US/UK elementary(or intermediate) schools; because I think native speakers just listen to the sound and say it without the help (or knowledge) of the IPA.

Are you asking about native- or non-native-speakers? Native-speakers don't need to learn this for obvious reasons.

 

[emsr2d2]

Given that English is not a phonetic language, so you can't just "say what you see", it might actually be helpful for native speakers to learn it too. That way, when they look up a word they don't know in the dictionary, they'd be able to read the definition and the pronunciation.

 

[GoesStation]

So, it seems like official school in US/UK/AUS don't teach the IPA....

The US has 13,506 school districts, each of which may have its own curriculum. I would not be surprised if a few of them teach the IPA, but it's certainly not the norm.

 

[jutfrank]

Given that English is not a phonetic language, so you can't just "say what you see", it might actually be helpful for native speakers to learn it too. That way, when they look up a word they don't know in the dictionary, they'd be able to read the definition and the pronunciation.

Well-educated NSs can already do this, as they have an intuitive understanding of pronunciation rules. It's rare that they need to refer to the phonetics.

 

[GoesStation]

Well-educated NSs can already do this, as they have an intuitive understanding of pronunciation rules. It's rare that they need to refer to the phonetics.

They can be misled, though. A family friend who grew up in an (American) immigrant household in the Thirties often told the story of how he confused acquaintances when he started college. He used a word which he pronounced /m'aɪz.ld/. His understanding of pronunciation rules had misled him as to how to pronounce this word.

 

[fruitninja]

" Are you asking about native or non-native speaker?........" posted by jutfrank

I'm asking about native speakers. Because i'm not a native speaker(not born in an English speaking country). That's why i'm not sure what they do.

 

[andrewg927]

" Are you asking about native or non-native speaker?........" posted by jutfrank

I'm asking about native speakers. Because i'm not a native speaker(not born in an English speaking country). That's why i'm not sure what they do.

Most Americans know IPA as a type of beer, not sure many know it is a phonetic alphabet.