Teaching Pronunciation Flashcards
CLT
Communicative Language Teaching: current dominant method of language teaching. Communication is central to classroom instruction. Pronunciation is important.
Intuitive-Imitative Approaches
These approaches depend on the listener’s ability to listen and to imitate the rhythms and sounds of the target language without the intervention of any explicit information. It also presupposes the availability of good models to listen to.
Analytic-linguistic approaches
These approaches utilize information and tools, such as a phonetic alphabet, articulatory descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus, or contrastive information, and other aids to supplement listening, imitation, and production. It explicitly informs the learner of and focuses attention on the sounds and rhythms of the target language. This approach was developed to complement rather than to replace the Intuitive-Imitative Approach.
Intuitive-imitative approaches, Analytic-linguistic approaches
Two general approaches to the teaching of pronunciation used used in modern language teaching.
Four Strands (Nation)
meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, fluency development
Instantiation
Illustrating abstract idea with concrete example
Community language learning (CLL; Curran 1976)
Students sit around a table with a tape recorder – a key tool – teacher stands behind a student, with hands on student’s shoulders, and asks the student, using their native language, what he or she would like to say in the target language. Teacher then translates the student’s reply idiomatically. Teacher provides the phrase, broken into chunks, the student repeats it. Once the student can say the phrase fluently, it is recorded.Next, students initiate further pronunciation practice. Human computer provides requested phrases, students practice until they are satisfied. Teaching method is intuitive and imitative, like the Direct Method, but under student control.
Fluency
The ability to read with accuracy, speed, and proper expression.
Repeated reading
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Learning to read, reading to learn
transi- tion from the learning-to-read stage to the reading-to-learn stage during the upper elementary school years
Affricates
A consonant speech sound that is produced by stopping the airstream from the lungs and then slowly releasing it with friction. The first part of and Africans is similar to a stop and the second part is similar to a fricative. /tf/ and /dz/ are the affricates.
Fricative
A speech sound that is produced by narrowing he distance between two articulators so that the airstream is not completely closed but obstructed enough that a turbulent airflow is produced. /f/, /v/, /s/, and /z/ in enough, valve, sister, and zoo.
Morpheme
The smallest meaningful unit of a language. A morpheme cannot be divided without altering or destroying its meaning. “Kind”” is a morpheme; remove the ““d”” and the meaning changes. ““Unkindness”” contains three morphemes: a negative prefix (un), a stem (kind), and a noun-forming suffix (ness).”
Diphthong
A vowel in which there is a change in quality during a single syllable. Diphthongs can be analyzed as a sequence of two vowels or vowel + glide. Three diphthongs: /ay/ (pine, fight), /aw/ (pound, foul), />y/ (poise, foil)eg.: boy, toy, buy, bow
Allophone
Any of the different variants of a phoneme.
Alveolar
Ridge behind teeth. Alvolar stops: /t/ and /d/
Epenthesis
The process whereby a vowel or consonant is inserted in an existing sequence. The most important type of epenthesis occurs with the addition of the regular plural -s and past tense ending -ed endings. In both cases, an epenthetic schwa / / is inserted to break up the resulting clusters of sibilants or alveolar stops.
Five types of adjustments in connected speech
Linking, assimilation, dissimulation, deletion, epenthesis
Sonorant
A voiced sound that can function as the peak of a syllable. Includes the following:All vowelsThe semi-vowels /w, y/The nasals m, n, ingThe liquids l, r
Thought group
A discrete stretch of speech that forms a semantically and grammatically coherent segment of discourse
Tense vowels versus lax vowels
Tense vowels are articulated with more muscle tension than with lax vowels.
Discourse
c : a linguistic unit (as a conversation or a story) larger than a sentence. (Merriam Webster)
Prominence
Which word the speaker wishes to highlight in a thought group/intonation unit.
Flap allophone
When /t/ sounds like /d/ catty sounds like caddy,
Intonation unit
Same as thought group, but also has it’s own intonation contour or pitch pattern and typically contains one prominent element.1. Is set off by pauses before and after2. Contains one prominent element3. Has it’s own intonation contour4. Usually has a grammatically coherent internal structure
Placement of stress governed by…
Prominence, emphatic stress, contrastive stress
Emphatic stress
When the speaker wishes to place special emphasis on a particular element
Intonation contour
The movement of pitch within an intonation unit.
Prosody
The combination of intonation, volume, tempo, and rhythm
Contrastive stress
Two parallel elements receive prominence within a given utterance, either explicitly or by implicationIs the a LOW or HIGH impact aerobics class?
Pitch
The relative highness or lowness of a speaker’s voice.
Segmental
Inventory of vowels and consonants
Suprasegmental
Stress, rhythm, connected speech, and other features that extend over more than one sound system.
Connected speech
Modifications that occur within and between words in the stream of speech.
Intelligibility principle (Levi’s 2005, Pickering 2006)
Teachers in lingua Franca contexts must have a highly intelligible, global variety of English pronunciation in the classroom to serve as a model for their students.
What teachers need to know (about the sounds systems in order to teach it.)
Relates to the knowledge base required of the teacher in order to teach the skill of pronunciation effectively.Knowledge of the pronunciations features (articulation rules, occurrences in discourse, etc.)Awareness of potential student problems (stemming from the students’ L1 or diagnostic work)Pedagogical priorities (which features should be taught and when)
How a given pronunciation feature is presented to learners in a given lesson.
Relates to the planning and decisions involved in constructing a pronunciation lesson.
Pronunciation in traditional approaches to language teaching.
Emphasize the accurate production of individual phonemes.
Communicative approaches to language teaching
Pronunciation is integral to communicative competence.
Communicative language teaching (CLT)
- Language is best learned within a larger framework of communication. Ultimate goal is to be able to use the language effectively for communicative purposes.2. Classroom materials and tasks reflect the interests and needs of the learners and creat a desire in them to communicate in the target language.3. Learners acquire language most efficiently when they are active participants. They are encourage to ask questions and work independently in pairs or small groups. In groups they negotiate ideas and make decisions.
Controlled Practice
Language production is typically focused on accurate production (form and accuracy).Controlled practice: Repetition practice and oral readings, especially minimal-pair words and sentences and short dialogs. Tongue twisters, jazz chants, short poems, children’s rhymes.
Focused tasks
Those where a given linguistic feature is given prominence but which also emphasize meaning. Focused tasks push learners to increase their accuracy.
Guided practice
Semi-controlled or structured practice. Context is given and much of the language is already provided. Focus is on both fluency and accuracy.Unlike controlled practice, more emphasis on learners expressing meaning by adding specific information, such as personal details or their own ideas.Activities include cued dialogs, simple information-gap exercises, and sequencing tasks such as strip stories.
phonemes
Sound differences that distinguish words
Allophones
Sounds that are perceptibly different but do not distinguish words. Substituting an allophone with another in the same family does not Chang the meaning of the word, but just indicates an atypical proununciation.Aspirated /p/ at the beginning of a syllable, as in pot.Unaspirated /p/ when preceded by /s/ as in spotUnreleased /p/ when at the end of an utterance as in type.All are heard and identified as the phoneme, /p/; the variations are all allophones of /p/.
Contrastive distribution
Minimally distinctive units if sounds that can alter the meaning of a word.
Voicing
Whether the vocal cords are vibrating
Place of articulation
Where the sound is made
Manner of articulation
How the airflow is affected
