Sound form signalization in L1 Polish, Czech and Slovak textbooks: In search of best practices

Abstract

Phonetic transcription is concerned with how the sounds used in spoken language are represented in written form. In specialized sources, phonetic transcription is a conventionalized notation system; in nonspecialist sources, the methods of sound form signalization (SFS) are less conventionalized, but they have important educational functions. The purpose of this study is to present the results of a comparative analysis of several L1 Polish, Czech, and Slovak textbooks to answer the following questions: how sound form is signalized and what practices are best for the development of pupils' phonetic awareness and more generally for the improvement of their spoken and written communication skills. Textbooks from the second stage of primary schools (Grades 4-6, age 10-13) were analyzed. This qualitative analysis focuses on searching for instances where orthographic representation changes to fulfil the needs of SFS and where the sound form of language represents the point of didactic interest; it illustrates the function of SFS and its means, as well as compares results obtained in three countries.