Teaching Pronunciation in ContextCBESOL Conference October 15, 2016

Lauren Evans Lang, OutdoorLangs@gmail.com

Agenda1. Introduction to English Pronunciation

2. General Tips for Teaching Pronunciation

3. Sounds of American English- segmentals

4. Suprasegmentals and the Prosody Pyramida. Thought Groupsb. Focus Wordc. Stressd. Peak of Information

5. Teaching pronunciation for a variety of learning styles.

6. Wrap Up- Resources

A              

B

(modified from Prator and Robinett’s fourth edition of Manual of American English Pronunciation, 1985) From: A New Perspective on Teaching English Pronunciation: Rhythm. Chi-Fen Chen, Chuen-Yn Fan, and Hsiang-Pao Lin Accessed from: http://chifenchen.tripod.com/papers/paper-2.html

Teaching Pronunciation - General Tips

1. The goal is for students to be:a. easy to understand

Which picture

represents the rhythm of English?

b. confident in the communication tasks they need or want to engage in, and c. use strategies for modifying speech when communication breaks down

The goal is not perfect, native-like pronunciation. Keep this in mind, and focus on errors that affect comprehensibility.

2. Provide a safe climate for practicing pronunciation. Ice breakers, humor, and building a strong sense of community can help students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes.

3. Provide a good model of English for your students. Keep your language simple, succinct and natural.

4. Listening to natural English is crucial to improved pronunciation- but it must be at a level the student can understand, and will be more effective if it is meaningful to their everyday lives. Exposure to native speakers is invaluable- through radio, tv, movies, friends, neighbors, grocery store clerks, or coworkers. The manner in which words are stressed and unstressed in natural speech often greatly distorts the sound of a word when spoken in isolation.

Ex: say the word ‘to’, then say it within this sentence, “I have to go home.”

5. The majority of your class time should be practicing English through authentic communication. Focus on a specific sound or skill taken from this natural communication for a small part of each lesson.

6. Give students time to hear, process, and practice before they speak in ‘public’. For example, Say a sound, word, or phrase several times while students listen Say it again, and have students try to visualize how they will say it by silently ‘saying’ it, and

thinking about the position of their lips and tongue. Have students say it all together in unison, then have half the class say it, then the other half, all

males, then females, etc. Then have students practice in pairs while you walk around to assess what needs to be retaught

7. Research has demonstrated that stress and rhythm affect intelligibility more than getting the sounds exactly right. We store vocabulary according to their stress patterns, so if the stress is off, it’s very difficult to understand. "Ordinary people …have difficulties in understanding slow speech composed of perfect sounds, while they have no difficulty in comprehending an imperfect gabble if only the accent and rhythm are natural." Alexander Graham Bell, 1916

8. Poetry, Limericks, songs, and Jazz Chants are a great way to work on the stress and rhythm of English.

9. Whenever possible, try to tailor your teaching to a variety of learning styles. Think about how you can present the information in…

a visual way- like modeling the lip and tongue position of a sound, and have students use mirrors so they can see their own lip and tongue position.

An auditory way- for example, a minimal pair activity in which you contrast two similar sounds.

A kinesthetic way- tap out the stress pattern, or move your hand to show rising and falling intonation.

10. When a student speaks, listen to the person, not only their language.

Teaching Segmentals

1 Feeling Voiced Sounds

Help students understand the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds by: Putting their hand on their neck and/or covering their ears with their hands while they say voiced and unvoiced sounds You can visually show what the vibrating vocal cords are like by blowing up a balloon

and let the air out slowly so it squeals.

Directions: try putting your hand over your throat, and then covering your ears as you say the following words:

f/v fan/van leaf/leave s/z sue/zoo sip/zip d/t do/to dime/time p/b pit/bit path/bath

th thick/this think/them

2 Feather Aspirated Sounds Activity

Help students understand the difference between aspirated sounds and similar unaspirated sounds by having them hold a feather (or tissue) in front of their mouths as they say word pairs such as pin/bin, tall/hall, pie/spy.

pin/bin tall/hall keep/leap pie/spy

spit/pit cane/gain tore/sore

3 Mouth Position MirrorsModel lip and tongue position of sounds. Then have students use mirrors to see their

own lip/tongue position, while continuing to model the position, so students can compare your position with theirs. You can also video tape yourself correctly pronouncing tricky sounds on student’s phones, so they can have a model to practice with at home.

Try these examples using the mirrors:l/r, low/row, lent/rentc/g cold/gold, coat/goat class/glass

b/v boat/vote, best/vest, ban/van

4 Lip Reading Have students practice trying to identify words or phrases by watching someone silently mouthing them. Students will notice mouth and jaw position for clues as to which word or phrase the speaker is ‘saying.’ You can use vocabulary and phrases from a class theme, such as health. Or you can practice minimal pairs with sounds students are having trouble with such as the words below.

Partner A: Choose one word from each pair to say. Say it 3 times. Partner B will try to listen and watch as you pronounce it and circle the correct word.

Partner B: Listen and watch as partner A pronounces one of the words. Circle the word you think he/she said.

1. van/ran

2. thick/sick

3. said/sad

4. bus/boss

5. This pan leaks./ This pen leaks.

1. van/ran

2. thick/sick

3. said/sad

4. bus/boss

5. This pan leaks./ This pen leaks.

Partner A: Listen and watch as partner B pronounces one of the words. Circle the word you think he/she said.

Partner B: Choose one word from each pair to say. Say it 3 times. Partner A will try to listen and watch as you pronounce it and circle the correct word.

1. fat/hat

2. sink/think

3. she/see

4. vest/best

5. Ten leather gloves were stolen./

Tan leather gloves were stolen

6. fat/hat

7. sink/think

8. she/see

9. vest/best

10. Ten leather gloves were stolen./

Tan leather gloves were stolen.

5 Mouth Position Diagrams and Videos

Show students diagrams or videos of lip, jaw, and tongue position for various sounds.See bibliography for textbooks and web sites with diagrams and video clips of lip, jaw, and tongue position

Figure 6: Illustrates tongue and mouth shifts for vowel sounds (from Clear Speech, Gilbert 2005)

Road Signs of Prosody

Peak of Information

Stress one syllable of the focus word

Focus Wordthe most important word in the thought group

Thought GroupA group of words that form one thought or idea

The stressed syllable of the focus word is emphasized by a longer, clearer vowel length and a change in pitch

What the speaker wants the listener to focus on. The focus word is stressed, the other words are weakened.

Prosody PyramidProsody is the rhythm, tempo, pitch, and loudness a speaker uses to signal their intention to

the listener.

We want a sausage pizza

We want a sausage pizzaThe end of a thought group is clearly marked by: -A pause -A drop in pitch -Lengthening of the last stressed syllable

Prosody Pyramid Concept is adapted from Teaching Pronunciation Using the Prosody Pyramid by Judy B. Gilbert

The stressed syllable in the focus word

Example Sentence: We want a sausage pizza with a side of breadsticks.

SAUsage

Jigsaw Activity Questions:Thought Groups: (Pages 6 and 8)1a. What are thought groups? Write an example

1b. What signals thought groups in spoken English? (the ‘road signs’)

1c. Give an example of how changing the way thoughts are grouped can change the meaning of a sentence:

1d. Give two examples of ways to teach thought groups

Focus Word: (Pages 6 and 10)2a. What is a focus word?

2b. What type of words are typically focus words?

2c. Show an example of how changing the focus word changes the meaning of a sentence

2d. Give two examples of ways to teach focus words

Stress and Peak of Information: (Pages 3 and 8)3a. What is stress?

3b. What 3 things highlight stress in spoken English?

3c. Give two examples of ways to teach stress

3d. What is the Peak of Information?

The Prosody Pyramid has four levels:Thought Group, Focus Word, Stress, Peak of Information

Thought Groups: When we eat a bowl of rice, we group the rice into manageable bites. We don’t put the whole

bowlful in our mouths at once, and we don’t eat one grain at a time. Similarly, when we speak, we group words into manageable chunks, not the whole thing at once, not one word at a time.

We group words together that form one thought or idea, and pause between the groups. Thought groups make meaning clear, and help the listener process the information. Thought groups help listeners distinguish between important and background information. While some thought groups are never broken up, like a noun phrase, “the tall man”, other sections of text can be correctly divided in different ways. Words in a thought group run together, linking them as much as possible into a group.

In written English, punctuation marks, such as commas, periods, and semi-colons, act as road signs to signal where to pause for thought groups.

What are the road signs in spoken English?The end of a thought group is clearly marked by

A pause A drop in pitch (a bigger drop in pitch signals a more final ending- like the end of a sentence, or the end

of comments) Lengthening of the last stressed syllable

The meaning of a sentence can change based on thought grouping. Examples: “John”, said the boss, “is late”. John said, “The boss is late” Would you like the Super Salad? Would you like the soup or salad?

Techniques for Teaching Thought Groups: Understanding the concept of thought groups. A good way to help students understand the concept of thought groups is through phone numbers- pausing after the area code and after the first three digits. Another way – with the right students- is through math equations: (2 + 3) x 5- if the numbers are grouped in a different way, the answer will not be correct, just as when thought groups are misinterpreted, the meaning will be lost.

Build awareness of group boundaries. Have students analyze a piece of recorded speech or someone reading something aloud. Provide students with the written words without any punctuation. Have students put a slash between thought groups, two slashes to indicate a longer pause. The idea is to get students used to grouping words together to help their listeners understand them.

Understanding how meaning can change based on thought grouping. Student one reads the sentence with certain thought grouping, student two answers the question based on this grouping.For example, 1. a. “Mary”, said the boss, “is lazy” b. Mary said, “The boss is lazy” Who is speaking?

2. a. He sold his house, boat, and car b. He sold his houseboat, and car How many things did he sell?

Backchaining: When practicing dialogs, have students listen and repeat in thought groups, working from the end to the front, building and adding as you go. For example, Sentence: They are taking him to the hospital right now. Backchaining: right now…to the hospital/right now…They are taking him/to the hospital/right now

Focus Word:Every thought group has a focus word- the most important word in the group. The focus

word signals what is new, or especially important. Stress highlights this focus word, and other words are unstressed, letting them fade into the background. This creates the highlights and shadows within a sentence.

Highlights (stressed): Focus words are generally a content word which gives information.(a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective).

Shadows (reduced): Structure words (pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, to be verbs, and auxiliary verbs) are usually not the focus word. These words are usually de-emphasized (weakened), and are therefore hard to hear. Structure words hold the sentence together, but are not important for meaning. Using a template sentence to show how words are reduced, can help students understand the focus word.

The speaker chooses a focus word based on the meaning they are trying to convey. Words that are not the focus are de-emphasized-an important indicator that it is old information. For example:

   1. John is leaving Virginia next week.            (Emphasize the time)             2. John is leaving Virginia next week.            (Emphasize the place)         3. John is leaving Virginia next week.            (Emphasize the action)     4. John is leaving Virginia next week.             (Emphasize the truth)         5. John is leaving Virginia next week.             (Emphasize the person)  

Techniques for Teaching Focus Words:

Show students how changing the focus word can change the meaning:For example, in the statement, “I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza.” If pepperoni is stressed, the speaker is questioning the toppings on the pizza, if medium is stressed, the speaker is referring to the size.

Raise awareness of focus words. As they come up in the context of your communicative practice, have students experiment with changing the focus word to change the meaning of a sentence.

Have students do information gap activities in which changing the focus word will change their answer. Example:

Partner A reads one of these sentences:Partner B answers based on the choice of partner A:

1 Were you at the bank on Friday? Were you at the bank on Friday?

a. No, I was there Saturday.b. No, I worked Friday.

2 Were you in the bank on Friday? Were you in the bank on Friday?

a. No. but my sister wasb. No, but I was near it.

(from Rogerson & Gilbert 1990, 49)

Have students listen to a taped conversation or someone saying or reading a phrase or sentence and try to identify the focus word.

Stress: Every English word has one syllable that receives the main stress. This stress is always on a

vowel. In the focus word, this stress receives special attention because it represents the peak of information in the thought group. ** The peak stress is louder, with longer vowel length, vowel clarity, and pitch change.

Three Things That Highlight Stress in Spoken English: 1. Vowel length- the vowel at the center of the stress syllable of the focus word is noticeably

longer than the surrounding syllables. This is the variable that students find easiest to control. It is crucial to also reduce in length unstressed syllables in a focus word- ensuring the stress is clear.

2. Vowel clarity- most unstressed vowels are reduced to schwa (very short, with an unclear, obscured quality) This helps contrast with the clear stressed vowel—so students only need to produce clear vowel sounds in the peak syllable, the rest can be relatively muddy.

When misunderstandings occur, student can zero in on the focus word, and correct that vowel clarity.

Vowel reduction is difficult for students whose first language does not do this- such as Spanish and Japanese. These students need to learn to hear the difference between clear and reduced vowels before they can produce them.

3. Pitch change- the peak syllable in a focus word is marked by a major change in pinch- usually, but not always, a rise in pitch.

Many structure words are contracted (‘she is’ becomes ‘she’s’)- these reductions help to intensify the contrast between the focus word and the words that surround it.

Teaching Strategies: Teach word stress when you teach vocabulary words.

Show students how stress is marked in print and online dictionaries.

Work with students on saying the stressed syllable louder, with longer and clearer vowel sound, and with a rise in pitch. You can work on vowel pronunciation using mouth diagrams and help students understand pitch through the use of kazoos to isolate the pitch from everything else.

Also teach students to do the opposite with unstressed syllables. Work on reducing vowels to schwa for example with an exercise which uses both the clear form of a vowel and the reduced one. For example, have students talk about things they can and can’t do. “I can’t play the piano, but I can sing. “

Loudness Length PitchVowel length Vowel clarity

Stressed syllables Loud Long Full High (usually)

Unstressed syllables quiet short reduced low

Peak of information is the vowel sound in the stress syllable of the focus word. Other sounds in the thought group should be muffled, so the listeners attention is clearly focused on the peak of information.

Thought Groups Activity

Directions: Listen to the dialog. What are they talking about? Do you do anything similar? Listen to the dialog again. Put a slash between thought groups, and two slashes to indicate a

longer pause.

A: Hey Michael where are you going

B: Nowhere special I was just taking a walk

A: What for

B: To get a little exercise I'm so out of shape

A: Hey I play basketball with a bunch of friends twice a week It's great exercise and it's fun too why don't you come out and play with us

B: That sounds great give me a call next time you guys play

Find audio here: Basic Listening Lesson #8: found here: http://www.talkenglish.com/listening/lessonlisten.aspx?ALID=107

Focus Word Activity

Read each sentence with the bold word stressed. Write down the implied meaning when the bold word is the focus word.

Word stressed in the sentence Meaning Implied

I did not say you stole my red hat.

I did NOT say you stole my red hat.

I did not SAY you stole my red hat.

I did not say YOU stole my red hat.

I did not say you STOLE my red hat.

I did not say you stole my RED hat.

I did not say you stole my red HAT.

Write another sentence in which changing the focus word would change the meaning:

Activities to Practice Stress6. Syllable Steps Students need to understand syllables before they can understand how one

syllable is stressed in a word.

One person will act as the teacher; the others will stand at one end of the room or hallway. The teacher calls out a word, and the students step forward one step for each syllable in the word. First person to the other side of the room wins. If a student steps forward the wrong number of syllables, they stand still for the next word.

MoneyCustomer

ReturnexpensiveChecking

Credit cardStatement

Account

CitizenshipNaturalization

HistoryGovernmentConstitutionAmendment

ResidencyDocuments

Body Movement to Indicate Stress

Have students clap their hands, raise their arm, or stand/bend their knees to indicate the stress in a word or sentence.

Directions: As a group, use claps to indicate the stress as you say the following words and sentences. Then do it again using arm motions. Then brainstorm other ways you could show stress using body movements. Think about, and then discuss the advantages (and any disadvantages) of using body movements to demonstrate stress.

Examples: MANager I’m SORry I’m LATE. appliCAtion I have NEVer taken a SICK day. SUpervisor I want a MEdium coke.

Rubber Band Stress Activity To understand stress in words and phrases, have students stretch a rubber band during the stressed syllable, and leave it slack during the unstressed syllables.

Directions: Grab a rubber band, and try saying the words and stretching the rubber band at the stress points.

VANdalism Do you HAVE an aLARM system? deTENtion ROBBery My WAllet was STOlen. eMERgency WITness The FIRE started on the STOVE. poLICEman

investiGAtion He PLEADed guilty.

Template SentencesHelp students learn the rhythm and melody of English, by teaching them ‘template sentences’ Students can then use these template sentences to analyze features of English pronunciation. The sentences should be created from content you are working on in your class- for example from a dialog or using some of the vocabulary from a thematic unit.

“When students can access a model from their own memory, they have internalized the model, or taken ownership of the model and, therefore, have an instant resource to analyze various aspects of pronunciation. However, they will only own the template if they have had the experience of a great deal of repetition.” ~Teaching Pronunciation Using the Prosody Pyramid by Judy B. Gilbert

Introduce the template sentence by having students listen while you say it many times. Say it:

loud quiet low high whispering with your back to the class to help retain student interest.Make sure to maintain the natural speed and melody of the template as you vary your voice.

After students have heard the sentence many times, have students: Listen and repeat several times as a whole class Backchain- beginning at the end of the sentence, have students listen and

repeat each part, until they are saying the whole sentence. Choral practice:

o model, then one half of the class repeats, then the othero Model, then all females repeat, then all the males

Have students practice with a partner

Once students ‘own’ the template sentence, it can be used as a reference to analyze various aspects of pronunciation such as location of pitch change, stress, the length of vowel sounds, etc.

Students can them be taught longer template sentences.

Bibliography of Pronunciation ResourcesOnline Teacher Resources:Pronunciation Teaching Ideas, and Pronunciation issues for learners from different language backgrounds. (Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Thai, and Korean) Pages 115-135 of Yates, L. and Zielinski, B. (2009) Give it a go: teaching pronunciation to adults Accessed on January 15, 2016 from: http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/157664/interactive_sm.pdf

10 Common Challenges Spanish Speakers Have When Learning English Accessed on January 20 from: http://blog.rev.com/articles/language/10-common-challenges-spanish-speakers-have-learning-english/

Pronunciation Tips: Good background reading to prepare for a mini lesson on pronunciation. Information on common reductions, linking, stress and intonation. http://pronunciationtips.com/sound-changes/sound-reductions/

Detailed explanations of sounds that are difficult to pronounce in English. http://americanaccent.com/pronunciation.html

Online Activities and Resources for Students and Teachers:

Sounds of English: How to pronounce English sounds- some have photos, mouth diagrams and videos. Activities for word stress, listening, and pronouncing sounds. www.soundsofenglish.org/

Antimoon Pronunciation: Audio of all the Consonant and vowel sounds within the context of two target words. Helpful for individualized pronunciation practice http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

Rachel’s English: Over 400 videos with pronunciation lessons and practice. There is a lot here, so students would benefit from the teacher targeting specific lessons to focus on. Targeted to higher levels. http://rachelsenglish.com

High Intermediate to Advanced Online Pronunciation Practice. Be a Newcaster Upload an audiofile of yourself speaking, listen to your recording, and get feedback from others. http://my.englishclub.com/group/audiospeakinggroup

Minimal Pair Practice with Audiofiles. http://www.manythings.org/pp/

Minimal Pair Practice with instant mouse over audiofiles: http://www.shiporsheep.com/

Voice Recorders: 1. Audacity. Download the free program, then record your voice and view a visual graph as you listen to the recording https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/ , 2. Ath Tek- has voice repeating, which allows you to easily listen to a sentence over and over, you can change the speed of the play back, and allows synchronous lyric display: www.athtek.com/voice-recorder.html,

Pronunciation Texts:Gilbert, Judy B. (2012) Clear Speech From the Start: Basic Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English, 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press ISBN-13: 978-1107687158 complimentary app available

Gilbert, Judy B. (2012) Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English, 4th Edition Cambridge University Press ISBN-13: 978-1107682955 complimentary app available

Avery, Peter and Ehrlich, Susan. (1998) Teaching American English Pronunciation (Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers) ISBN-13: 978-0194328159

Graham, Carolyn. (1978) Jazz Chants (Oxford University Press) This series of books gives students repetitive speaking practice in stress and intonation, syntax, and vocabulary. The chants incorporate natural speaking rhythm in fun little poems.

Apps for IPad/IPhone/Android:Sounds: The Pronunciation App ($5.99) by Macmillan Education. Uses the phonetic alphabet, which may be very confusing for some students. There are 6 different quizzes, you can record and compare your own pronunciation.

HowJSay English Pronunciation Dictionary ($1.99) Iphone and Ipad app Requires an internet connection to look up new words. Uses a human voice for pronunciation of the words.

Supiki English Conversation Speaking Practice ($11.99) Game based lessons adjusts to how the user performs- interactive conversations in everyday situations. iphone and ipad app

The Sounds of Speech App: ($3.99) Great animated diagrams of mouth and tongue placement for each sound. Video of a person producing the sound, audio of three example words which contain the sound. http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu