Teaching Speaking andTeaching Pronunciation

Teaching Pronunciation:Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds.Word stress, sentence stress, intonation.

Make sure you have these 3 parts in everypronunciation lesson, and you are sure to see successor, shall we say, hear it.

1. Imitation: Use a recording from television, radio or theinternet for variety.

2. Explanation: Reviewing the parts of the mouth canhelp your students clearly understand how to makeappropriate English sounds. Print off and give yourstudents a diagram of the mouth. Review the obviousterms for lips, teeth and tongue.

3. Practice: After imitating the sound and learning the correct biology for producing it, now is the time to practice the use of that sound or sound pattern.

You can also teach the natural rhythm of English

through songs and poetry. Try reading a limerick with

your class, or have them write their own.

Here are some ideas for focusing on specific pronunciation features.

• Voicing: Voiced sounds will make the throat vibrate.

• Mouth Position: Have students use a mirror to see their mouth,

lips, and tongue while they imitate you.

• Intonation: This will take the students' attention off of the meaning

of a word or sentence.

• Linking: To help learners link words, try starting at the end of a

sentence and have them repeat a phrase, adding more of the

sentence as they can master it. For example, 'gowaway,' then

'aymeegowaway,' and finally 'Willaymeegowaway' without any

pauses between words.

• Specific Sounds

Minimal pairs, or words: such as 'bit/bat' that differ by only one

sound, are useful for helping students distinguish similar sounds.

They can be used to illustrate voicing ('curl/girl') or commonly

confused sounds ('play/pray'). Remember that it's the sound and not

the spelling you are focusing on.

Tongue twisters: are useful for practicing specific target sounds, plus

they're fun. Make sure the vocabulary isn't too difficult.

Definition of Phonetics and Phonology Phonetics:

Phonetics is the study of sound in speech.

Focuses on how speech is physically created and received, including study

of the human vocal and auditory tracts, acoustics, and neurology.

Phonology:

Phonology is the study (and use) of sound patterns to create meaning.

relies on phonetic information for its practice, but focuses on how patterns in

both speech and non-verbal communication create meaning, and how such

patterns are interpreted. Phonology includes comparative linguistic studies of

how cognates, sounds, and meaning are transmitted among and between

human communities and languages.

Phonetics and Phonology are related, dependent fields for studying aspects

of language.

Communication and Contextualisation

The different categories of communication are:

• Spoken or Verbal Communication: face-to-face

• Non-Verbal Communication: body language

• Written Communication

• Visualizations

Communication is simply the act of transferring information

Contextualise it is means to put the story into context as in to explain what the story is about simple as that. To put in order of events.

• Pronunciation and perception can make to

repetitive practice of rhythm and sound more

natural and meaningful through the use of

poetry and songs.

• Pronunciation teaching is experiencing a new

resurgence. It has been improved

incorporating more meaningful and

communicative practice in connected speech

rather than practice with isolated sounds.

Teachers should avoid abstract material and

apply rules on more authentic activities.

VideosI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOxfcHusbqc&index

=6&list=PLxKk5M1EjyBqM6mBgkTCSPAp6mtaIjoMg

II. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5RekixAMoM

Adrian Underhill on Successful Pronunciation 1 (Macmillan)

_________________________________________

You can watch video at home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF9qTJD25Ig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPmjGHdK5v8

(Teaching Pronunciation: Seven Essential Concepts |

The New School)

Speaking is a skill.To learn to speak

you have to practice a lot.

A skill can be “imitated and

practiced”.It is a process.

It must be:Spontaneous

Time-Constraint (answer in real

time).

Students need a lot ofexposure to the targetlanguage. They should knowthe idiomatic expressions andunderstand the culture.

“More than knowing the grammar rules , we must know how native

speakers use the language in Context.”

Language Charac-teristics

Stress and intonation

Sounds (phonology)

Pauses and fillers

Formal or Informal

Gestures-Body

language

Facial expressions

Accuracy Fluency

-Pronunciation-Intonation -Spelling-Vocabulary-Stress and-Grammar

-Spontaneous -Short answers -Improvised -Fluent-Mistakes

We need to have a balance with accuracy and fluency practices.Contextualize practice. Personalize practice (Talk about their feelings and likes)Maximize meaningful interactions.Provide enough language input. Correct errors at the end.

Factors affecting Adult Learners’ speaking skills

AGE Students who begin learning in early childhoodthrough natural exposure achieve higher proficiencythan those who begin as adults.

Aural Medium Speaking is closely related to listening.

Sociocultural Factors Language is a form of social action, it has rules ofwhat, when, how to say and what is appropriate.Culture also affects nonverbal communication.

Affective Factors • Emotions Self-esteem• Empathy Anxiety• Attitude Motivation

1.Grammatical Competence (grammar-vocabulary-mechanics)Speaking Proficiency 2.Discourse Competence (formal-informal- emphasis-turn taking)

3.Sociolinguistic Competence (appropriate comments, how to respond)

4.Strategic Competence (Know how keep or finish a conversation)

It is essential for students to interactusing the language, teachers musttailor the instructions carefully.

Small Talk: Students must know how to opena conversation, at the beginning they can starthaving short conversations but they canimprove little by little, until they will be ableto have a discussion for example.

Interactive activities:

1. Teachers must create a need or reason to speak.2.Extensive exposure to authentic language (audio-videos).3. A lot of rehearsal during the class with real world situations.4. Listen to radio reports and retell to a friend.5.Soap operas, films, documentaries, so they can observe thedifferent intonations, stresses and language usages.

Interaction as the Key to Improving Students’ Speaking abilities

Designing Speaking Tasks

We must consider:Proficiency Level: Too easy or too difficult

will demotivate students.

A successful Speaking class must have:

• Maximum foreign talk.• Even participation “Equal.”• High Motivation.• Right Language Level.• Teachers must include a variety of Speaking Activities in their plans (free practice).• Interactions SS-SS or S=S• Different activities for different Learning Styles.

•Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks, and shared knowledge.

•Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different ways of student participation.

•Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time. Step back and observe students.

•Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.

•Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean?How did you reach that conclusion?"

in order to prompt students to speak more.

•Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your voice…“

•Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking. Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.•Provide vocabulary and circulate around the class.

Suggestions for teachers

Let’s see this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sljZ1kPK1Dk

Info Gap activities

Takes place between students.

They are excellent activities as they force the students to ask each other questions; these activities help make the language classroom experience more meaningful and authentic.

These activities help move the students from working in a more structured environment into a more communicative environment; they are hopefully

Example:

• Shopping Information Gap: What did he buy? How much Was it? And How did he pay for it?

Thank You!

Cinthya Canton and Aura López