On Using the Phonemic Script in Language Teaching

My aim in this article is to examine the issue of whether or not to use the phonemic script in the language classroom. I began looking at this question in the context of two language classes I had who were preparing for an entrance test to enter the Air Traffic Control training school in Madrid. The English component of this test comprises a listening and an interactive section. Of the listening section, a large proportion of the marks are accounted for by a set of minimal pair discrimination exercises, perhaps reflecting the degree of aural accuracy required of air traffic controllers. Consequently, I found myself having to investigate methodological issues at the level of segmental phonology at a time when the mainstream of thought in pronunciation teaching was moving towards supra-segmental phonology. While the needs of these classes with regard to pronunciation skills are clearly rather specialized, I hope to show in this paper that the issue it addresses is of more widespread importance in language teaching.