Offering Feedback

Offering Corrective Feedback for ending /s/, /z/, and /sh/ sounds

“After listening to your reading practice, I noticed some words that were missing sounds like, “because” and “sometimes”. The reason why these sounds are not heard is because we are not aware that we don’t pronounce the sound or produces the sound. Try saying the word the again.”

“To help you pronounce ending /s/ sounds, we will learn how voiced consonants and voiceless consonants are pronounced.”

A voiced consonant (or sound) means that it uses the vocal cords and they produce a vibration or humming sound in the throat when they are said. Put your finger on your throat and then pronounce the letter L. You will notice a slight vibration in your neck / throat. That is because it is a voiced sound.

A voiceless sound (sometimes called unvoiced sound) is when there is no vibration in your throat and the sound comes from the mouth area. Pronounce the letter P. You will notice how it comes from your mouth (in fact near your lips at the front of your mouth). The P sound doesn't come from your throat.

Try this with the other letters and you will "feel" the difference between a voiced and a voiceless consonant (or sound).

Another sound which is relevant to this is the sibilant sound which is produced by forcing air out toward your teeth. It is characterized by a hissing sound (sssss), a buzzing sound (zzzzz) or the sound teachers make when they want you to be quiet (shhhh!).

· Z like the sound a bee makes... zzzzzz

· S like the sound a snake makes... sssssss

· SH like the sound a teacher makes when they want you to be quiet... shhhhh

Now we know the difference between voiced, voiceless and sibilant sounds we can look at the following rules for the correct pronunciation of S at the end of words in English:

The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in the third person depend on the final consonant sound before that S.

The ending is pronounced /s/ after a voiceless sound, it is pronounced /z/ after a voiced sound and is pronounced /ɪz / or /əz/ after a sibilant sound:

· Voiceless: helps /ps/ -- sits /ts/ -- looks /ks/

· Voiced: crabs /bz/ -- words /dz/ -- gloves /vz/,

· Sibilant: buses /sɪz / or /səz /, bridges /dʒɪz / or /dʒəz /, wishes /shɪz / or /shəz /

“Now that we are aware of these sounds, we have to be conscious every time we speak and communicate to make sure we pronounce the sounds clear enough. Does it all make sense?" Student must say "Yes".

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