Flipping Silence: A Digital Innovation for Pronunciation Learning

Learners find it hard to master English pronunciation, especially when it comes to silent letters. This is because most of them only memorise words and don't get enough exposure to other types of learning materials. This new idea fills in the gap by creating an interactive digital flipbook that helps teachers and students learn and teach silent letters in English. This flipbook also has visual aids (pictures), audio pronunciation, and gamified learning through the built-in Wordwall exercises. It also has a sharing community where students may make and learn from examples made by other students. The invention was tested on undergraduate students at Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia who were studying TESL. Qualitative feedback showed that the innovation improved several of these areas, such as increased engagement, clearer norms for pronunciation, and more independence for learners. The results show that the flipbook's multimodal design not only helps students remember the rules for silent letters, but it also motivates them because it allows them to connect with each other outside of class. The concept has significant potential for application in ESL contexts and can be commercialised as an expanded digital toolkit for teaching pronunciation in schools, language centres, and institutions of higher education.

interactive flipbook, English pronunciation, silent letters

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