Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
  • G09B17/00—Teaching reading
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
  • G09B19/00—Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass
  • G09B19/04—Speaking
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
  • G09B19/00—Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass
  • G09B19/06—Foreign languages

Definitions

• This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the teaching of languages and in particular relates to a method and apparatus for teaching the reading, spelling and pronunciation of a language.
• the majority of written and spo ⁇ en languages comprise series of words that are made up of a combination of letters of an alphabet. There is however a problem in learning the language in that the letters of the alphabet are pronounced quite differently depending upon their use in combination.
• Letters of the alphabet are fairly distinctive and have such common usage that it does not take long for a child or student to learn to recognize each letter.
• the pronunciation within the variations of the alphabetical transcriptions is not so easily conceivable and has no common representation which a child would readily comprehend when learning to read or pronounce.
• This fusion of the phonetical pronunciation and alphabetical transcriptions which becomes a difficulty and problem for the learner to cognitively develop his linguistic abilities to read and pronounce readily can be broken down by this invention, which usns a teaching aid as a device to draw out the embedded phonetic pronunciation of the language from its alphabetical notations dividing the phonetic pronunciation and the alphabetical notations clearly into two distinguishable and identifiable components: the phonological form and the written form.
• Fig. I is an illustration of tiles representing the phonetic vowels and
• Fig. II is a structured illustration of a possible variation in shapes of tiles for use representing different phonetic consonants and di-graphs
• 3 sets of small rectangular or square tiles are provided.
• the tiles are preferably of wood, plastic or metal and may incorporate on the inner face thereof a magnetic device so that the tiles may be magnetically secured to a vertical display board.
• a first set of 26 tiles are used to represent the upper case and lower case of the 26 letters of the Roman Alphabet and each tile prominantly displays each letter of the alphabet.
• a second set of rectangular or square tiles of similar design are used to represent the phonetic vowels that is the 11 long vowels, 7 short vowels and 1 neutral vowel.
• a different colour is used for each tile so the student, by recognizing the colour, can distinguish one phonetic vowel from the other.
• the designated phonetic vowels in application to Daniel Jones phonetic notations are:7 short vowels: / , e, i, o, ⁇ , u, ⁇ /
• Fig. II other phonetic symbols of consonants are represented by the third set of tiles which are of a different shape to the previous two sets and may or may not incorporate a variation in colours.
• different shapes are used for each of the specified consonants illustrated in the accompanying drawings (See Fig. II.), and, also, in application to the Daniel Jones phonetic notations, the designated phonetic consonants are: 6 voiceless consonants: '
• 3 voiceless consonants / semi-vowels:/w, J/
• the use of individual tiles act as a unifying element of the various spelling forms of the one phonetic sound to assist students in recognizing each of the phonetic vowels and consonants by concentrating on the colours and/or shapes of the sets of tiles.
• the use of the coloured tiles and separately shaped tiles assists both the teacher and student in readily recognizing particular phonetic symbols in the similar manner as that of the tiles of the alphabet are recognizable by their distinctive form, so in use, the kit can be utilized to illustrate word or combination of words of a language by combining the letters of the alphabet and the phonetic symbols and by interchanging the letters of the alphabet with the phonetic symbols.
• the kit can be utilized to demonstrate the difference between the written form and spoken form of a language.
• the kit can also demonstrate readily how the various combination of letters of the alphabet have entirely different pronunciations by the use of the distinctive tiles representing the phonetic symbols,
• the phonetic vowels are represented as follows: Accordingly, the phonetic vowel /ei/ as in the word "day” may be represented by the alphabet letter 'd' which is phonetically pronounced as /d/ and the red tile representing the phonetic sound /ei/ together with a white tile or neutral tile which is used to indicate the existence of a letter, but, which is not pronounced: .
• the word "maid" could be f ormed of the alphabet letter ' m ' , which is phonetically pronounced /m/ , the red tile , a white tile and the letter ' d ' phonetically pronounced /d/.:
• the phonetic vowel /i:/ as in the word 'meet' could be represented by the letter 'm' or phonetically /m/, a dark blue tile, a white tile and the letter 't' or /t/: In contrast
• kit that is the three sets of tiles, one set to illustrate the alphabet, the second set the phonetic vowels and the third set the phonetic consonants
• other displaccable units may be used, such as objects as puppets instead of tilos or cartoon illustrations instead of the alphabet or any other concievable form which readily assists the students in their ability to develop their spoken and written skills of a language.
• the use of the blocks, cards or tiles may be the appropriate form to represent the alphabet and phonetic symbols. It is further understood that any combination of phonetic symbols may be used and that the invention is not restricted to the Daniel Jones system.
• the choice of displaceable units of tiles used in the embodiment is entirely arbitrary and can be varied to suit the particular group of students, and the choice of colours and/or other representations on the tiles are also arbitrary and can be varied to suit the particular group of students.
• system can be used to teach any language including languages which use a combination of the alphabet and phonetic symbols such as the Romanized Japanese language.
• this invention may be incorporated into any keyboard system such as that of a type- writer or a solid state electronic circuitry so that the user can simply feed in a signal, forexample, via keyboard to produce the printout or digital printout that is interposed (interjected) by the displaceable units of the alphabet and phonetic symbols which effectively serve the purpose of the displaceable tiles.
• the tiles may be provided with specially profiled symbols which can be touched by blind people so that they can readily differentiate the phonology from the v/ritten script to assist their efficiency in reading.
• displaceable units in the form of tiles or cards to reflect the intonation, punctuation stress, syllabry and other detailed features of a language. It is also envisaged that this kit could be incorporated in a form to teach local dialects and inflexions for assistance in elocution.
• this invention is a teaching aide of displaceable units which differentiates, as in this example of the English language, the written form and spoken form of a language into clear and identifiable components by extracting from the written form of the language its phonological characteristics, and simultaneously unifies coherently the pronunciation of the various written scripts of the one phonetic sound.
• the testing kit is devised for the Roman alphabet and comprises: a) The upper and lower case of the Roman alphabet b) Phonetic vowels of designated colours c) Consonants and di-graphs of the designated shapes and designs. d) Charts and manuals are at present being compiled
• the number of units per kit is based on the frequency of occurance of approximately a 25 - 30 word reading passage. Two or more kits can be combined for extended usage in build-up and follow-up work.
• the units are magnetized to adhere to a board for display and on the inner facing of the units there may be placed, if necessary, the representation of its phonetic symbol per colour, shape and design of the specified vowels, consonants and di-graphs. This is to assist in phonetic recognition although the charts are also for this purpose.
• the units are devised to move freely and independently of each other to alternate in combination to form words, sentences, or to be singled out individually from the other units.
• the displaceable units in functioning as a visual focal point for pronunciation of the various written forms of the one phonetic sound would assist students, in one aspect, to learn English as a second or foreign language.
• the letter “a” /ei/ as in words “make” /meik/, “day” /dei/, “maid” /meid/ or “a” also pronounced /ae/ as in words “apple” /aepl/, "plait” / plae ⁇ t/ have been mispronounced when not being previously taught although the students were familiar with the basic pronunciation of the Roman alphabet of the English language.
• the unit /ei/ is designated red and /ae/ is the colour pink.
• the displaceable units would function as in the following examoles:
• the v/hite unit although can be omitted, indicates the letters of a word which are not pronounced, but adds to the formation of the word.
• the other designated phonetic symbols shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, function in the same way.
• Sentence structures for drills on pronunciation can be built up:
• Grammatical syntax can be visually patterned in a similar way progressively building up from an elementary stage to an advanced stage.
• the examples below are indications of application in languages other than English: /a:/ designated the colour rust.
• words can be divided, into syllables.
• Other such linguistic applications of a language as stress, intonation, rhythm and so on can also be clearly indicated and emphasised.
• the displaceable units can be applied, which I haven't yet mentioned, but, most importantly, the kit can give the student the opportunity to gain, at his will, autonomously and independently, the pursuit of his interests in any language indescriminate of dialect or accents of that language.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Educational Administration (AREA)
• Educational Technology (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Electrically Operated Instructional Devices (AREA)

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• 1980
  • 1980-11-14 WO PCT/AU1980/000086 patent/WO1981001478A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1980-11-14 EP EP19800902218 patent/EP0040221A4/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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