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1. Introduction

ThispaperfollowsonMosher(2019),whichexplorestheteachingofpronunciationinuniversityreadingclasses.Inthispaper,itwasarguedthatduetothetimeconstraintsofonceaweek90-minuteclassesandthelackofaclassdevotedtotheteachingofpronunciation,itwasbesttofocusonfosteringintelligiblepronunciationratherthantheachievementof“perfect”ornativespeakerlikepronunciation.Forthispurpose,itwasconcludedthattheteachingofpronunciationinthebroadsense(i.e.,inclusiveofprosody)shouldfocusontheteachingandpracticeofgoodvoiceinflection(Harrington&LeBeau,1996)andofEnglishvowelssoundswhicharethelociofwordandsentencestressinordertohelpstudentsavoidthetransferofL1suprasegmentalpatternsofstress,length,toneandintonation(Katayama,2010). FollowingNagasawa(1994), itwasarguedthatreadaloudpracticewasnotonlyessential,but

alsoarelativelyeasystartingpointforthelearningandpracticingofbothsegmentalandsuprasegmentalEnglishpronunciation.Nagasawafurtherstatesusingbeforeandafteraudiorecordingsofstudents’read-aloudsisanexcellentwaytoassessstudents’progressandtomotivatethemtoworkhardertoimprovetheirpronunciationskills. Themainfocusofthispaperistodescribeaprocedureforrecordingstudents’oralreadingson

theirsmartphones.First,theauthorwillexplainvariouswarm-uporpreparationinstructionalactivitiesthatareemployedbeforethestudentsrecordtheiroralreadings.Second,aprocedureforrecordingoralreadingswillbedescribed.Next,theauthorwilldiscussinstructionalfollow-upactivitiesbeforeofferingconclusions.

2. Oral Reading Warm-up Activities

Whenconsideringhowtoteachpronunciation,Celce-Mucia,Brinton&Goodwin’s(2010)listoftenapproaches/techniquestraditionallyappliedintheCLT(communicativelanguageteaching)classroomisagoodstart.Theyareinbrief:(1)listenandimitate:(2)phonetictraining;(3)minimal-pairdrills;(4)contextualizedminimalpairs;(5)visualaids;(6)tonguetwisters;(7)developmentalapproximationdrills;(8)practicingvowelandstressshiftsrelatedtoaffixation;(9)readingaloudandrecitation;and,(10)audioorvideorecordingoflearners’production.Tothispointintime,theauthorhasemployedallbuttypes(3),(4),(7)and(8). ThetextbookusedforEnglishCommunicationIandIIisEssential Reading(Tennant,A.,Miles,

S.&Gough,C.,2015).Inclass,studentsregularlydosomelistenandrepeatorshadowingpracticewiththereadingpassages intheirtextbook.Beforetheyareaskedtorecordthemselves, theyreviewthepronunciationofEnglishvowelsusingthev-shapedvowelchart(Sells&Cosgrave,1975;Mosher,2019;SeeAppendix1)withemphasisbeingplacedonunderstandingthepositionandmovementofthebasicarticulators(i.e.,thetongue,lowerandupperjawsandlips),thedifferencebetweenlong(ortense)andshort(orlax)vowelsoundsaswellaswellasthemovementorlackthereofofthearticulatorswhenbeing

AReportontheUseofSmartphonestoTeachPronunciation

DavidM.MOSHERKeyWords:teachingEnglishpronunciation,readaloud,smartphonerecording,EnglishCommunicationI&II

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stressed.Thistrainingemploystechniques(1),(2)and(5).AdditionalfiguresofthelocationofthetongueforeachoftheelevenNorthAmericanEnglish(NAE)vowelsand/r/,theshapeofthelipsandtonguemovementforthepronunciationofthethreeNAEdipthongsareprovidedforreferenceandvisualsupport(SeeAppendix2). Studentsalsoreviewandpracticethebasicsofvoice inflection.Theyareremindedthatvoice

inflectionmeanstochangeyourvoiceandthatusinggoodvoiceinflectionwillmaketheirEnglishmucheasiertounderstand.It isstressedthatforintelligibility,goodvoiceinflectionismoreimportantandrealisticthanperfectpronunciation.Studentsareremindedthat,inEnglish,wechangeourvoiceinthreebasicways:

(1)Stressimportantwords.キーワードに強制を付ける。(2)Stretchthestressedwords.強制される音節を伸ばす。(3)Pausebeforeorafterkeywordsandphrases,andattheendofsentences.Besuretopauseatcomas

(,),hyphens(-)andperiods(.)一時停止することによって意味を聞き取り易くなる。

Studentsreviewandpracticethefollowingexamplesadaptedfrom(Harrington&LeBeau,1996)withsomeexaggerationofthestretchingofthevowelsoundsfollowingNagasawa’s(1994)“threetimes”rule.Itisalsovitaltoremindstudentsthatstressedsyllables/vowelsaregenerallypronounced(a)louder,(b)longer,and(c)withhigherpitch.Furthermore,thelocusofEnglishstressisonthevowelandthepitchisnotstatic,butgenerallyhasaraisingandfallingpitch.Inthecaseoflong(tensevowels)thisresultsinresultsinvowelshifting(Celce-Murciaetal.,2010),thatis,themovementofthearticulators,whichdoesnotoccurinthepronunciationofJapanese.Thus,itisdifficultforJapanesespeakerstodoallthreewithsuprasegmentalphonemes,suchaswhenreadinganextendedtextaloud.Theauthorhasfoundthatstudentsparticularlyneedhelpinusingappropriateraisingandfallingpitchwhenstretchingstressedvowels.

Examples:

Stress: I’vegotabigdog.Stretching: No,I’vegotab-i-i-i-gdog.Pausing: No,/I’vegota/B-I-I-I-I-Gdog!

Studentsareinstructedasfollows:Englishstressalwayscomesonvowelsounds.Asingleunderline()indicatesmediumstress,andadoubleunderline()indicatesstrongstress.Thestrongerthestressthelongerthevowelispronouncedorstretched.Forpractice,trysayingthestressedvowelsoundsthreetimes(3Xs)longerthannormal.Finally,pausesareindicatedbyslashmarks.Asingleslash( / ) indicatesabriefpause,andadoubleslash(//)equalsalongerpause. Next,studentsaregivenpracticeinreadingselectedsentencesfromthetextbookwithgoodvoice

inflectionandexaggerated(3Xs)vowelpronunciation.Studentsrepeatand/orshadowaftertheinstructor,thenpracticeinpairs.Individualsareaskedtoreadsentencesaloudfortheclassandgivenfeedback.Then,thewarm-uppracticecontinueswithtonguetwisters,suchasthoselistedbelow.

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Sentences:

1. I’ma / student //atOsakaUniversity. // I’m in the /middleofmystudies, /andmymajor isjournalism.

2. TheGreenMagic/TreeHouse,//inIndia,//istheperfecthotel/foranybody/wholikes/adventure.3. People /whogotothemoviesintheU.K. /cannowenjoyanewexperience/whilewatchingthe

movie//—4-D.

Tongue Twisters:

1. Thepeppy/puppy/ateallthepoppies.2. AreDanandDon/done/intheden?3. Howmuchwood/couldawoodchuckchuck/ifawoodchuckcouldchuckwood?//Justasmuchwood

/asawoodchuckcouldchuck/ifawoodchuckcouldchuckwood!

3. Read Aloud Recording Procedures

Afterdoingwarm-upandreviewexercisesasoutlinedabovestudentsaregiventhefollowing5-stepinstructions.Today,youwillpracticereadingaloudonereadingtextfromyourEssential Reading

textbook.Eachgroupwillbeassignedadifferentreading.Afterpracticing,youwillrecordyourreadaloudononemembersiPhoneusingtheVoiceMemoapp(ボイスメモアプリ).Attheendofclass,youwillsendyoursoundfiletotheteacherusingAirdrop.

Step1:Wewillmakefourgroups.Eachgroupwillgotoonecorneroftheroomtoensurethebestsoundqualitypossible.録音の質の向上を図るため,各グループは四方に離れてください。Step2:Eachgroupwillreadaloudonereadingfromthetextbooktogether.Eachstudentshouldreadabout5to6linesoftext.Decidewhoreadsfirst,second,third,etc.,andinwhatorder.音読課題:各学生は与えられたテキストから 5,6行程度を音読する。まず,読む順番を決めてから読む箇所を決めましょう。多少ダブルこともあるかも知れません。Step3:Practicereadingyourpassageatleastthreetimesuntilyoucanreaditsmoothlyandconfidently.Youshouldpractice simultaneously!Whenyoudonotknowhowtopronounceaword, check thepronunciationbyusingWeblio,theOxfordEnglishDictionary,oryourelectronicdictionary.YoumayALSOasktheteacherforhelp!自信を持ってスムーズに読めるまでに練習しましょう。順番関係なしに全員で声を出して練習してください。発音や語彙のアクセントが分からない時にWeblio,Oxfordや電子辞書の音声機能を使ったり,手を上げたり教員にでも聞いてください。Step4:ChooseonepersonwithaniPhonetorecordyourreadingtextaloud.OpenVoice Memoandrecord.Atthebeginning,clearlysayyournamethenreadyourlines.Example:ThisisTanaka.Read!YoumaypausetheVoice Memoaseachpersonfinishes.BesuretospeakdirectlyintotheiPhonemic.各グループはiPhoneを持っている学生を一人決めて,その人の電話で録音をする。録音の最初に自分の名前を言ってから読み初めてください。一人一人読み終わると一時停止してもいい。話す時直接にマイクに話してください。Step5:Whenyoufinishrecording,sendyoursoundfiletotheteacherusingAirdrop.

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4. Oral Reading Follow-up

Afterthefirstattemptatrecordingstudents’oralreadings,theauthorlistenedtotherecordingsandmarked fiveorsixof themostproblematicsentences ineachof thereadaloudtexts. Inclass,studentspracticedre-readingthesesentenceswithbettervoice inflection.Theauthorfocusedonjusttheimprovementofsuprasegmentalpronunciationsinceitwasdifficultto identifyanycommonsetofsegmentalpronunciationproblems. Asanextstep, theauthorplans toholdsmallgroupplay-backsessionswithstudents.For

efficiency,theteacherwillconferencewithtwoorthreestudentsatatime.Studentswill listentotherecordingoftheiroralreadingwhilelookingatacopyoftheread-aloudtext.Theteacherwillthennoteproblematicareasandmodelbetterpronunciationforthestudentstoimitate.SpecificsegmentalerrorswillbepointedoutandlocatedonchartsthatsummarizeandclassifythemainfeaturesofNAEvowelsandconsonants(SeeAppendixes3and4).Aftersomepronunciationcoachingthestudentswillpracticereadingthetextagainontheirownbeforebeingaskedtorecordthemselvesagainafterwhichasecondfollow-upconferencemaybeheld.Overtime, it ishopedthatthiswillhelpboththeteacherandthestudentstobetteridentifyproblematicareasandleadtobettermoretargetedpronunciationtraining.

5. Conclusion

Oneunanticipateddiscoveryfromhavingstudentsrecordtheiroralreadingoftextswhichtheyhavestudiedinclass, isthat, ingeneral,theirpronunciationandvoiceinflectionismuchbetterthanwhenstudentsareaskedtoreadstoriesaloudinfrontoftheclass(c.f.,Mosher,2019).Perhapstheactofrecordingoneselfinjectsasenseofseriousnesswhilethesmallgroupsettingprovidesamorerelaxedenvironment. There isneedtodevelopavarietyofpronunciationexercises,suchasminimalpairspractice

withvowelsandconsonantsthathaveahighfunctional load(Celce-Murciaetal.,2010;Ueno,1998)andthatareknowntobeproblematicforJapaneseL1speakers.Suchpracticecouldbefollowedwithshort listeningdiscriminationexercises.Thensomeof thesamephonemescouldbereviewedusingcontextualizedminimalpairs;thatis,shiftingfromsegmentaltosuprasegmentaltraining.Theuseoftonguetwisters isyetanotherwaytoprovideusefulandenjoyablepronunciationandvoice inflectionpracticeinshortsessionsinEnglishclassesacrossthecurriculum.Suchpracticewouldaddvarietyandenablestudentstoreviewpreviouslytargetedphonemeswhileworkingonimprovingtheirstress-timerhythmatthesentencelevel. HavingstudentsrecordtheiroralreadinghighlightedtheneedtoteachEnglishpitchpatterns

bothatthesegmentalandsuprasegmental levels.Englishstressgenerallyinvolves(a)aloudervoice,(b)longerduration,and(c)higherpitch.Formanystudents,itseemstobethehigherpitchthatisthehardesttoachieve.Inadditiontoshadowingandrepetitionpractice,studentsshouldbetaughtsomeofthemajorintonationpatternsinEnglish,suchasthatforstatements,commands,Wh-questions,listingofinformation,high-lightingnewinformationandexpressingemotions.Providingvisualsupportforsuchinstructionandpracticewouldalsoseemtobeveryhelpful(SeeCelce-Murciaetal.,2010,andAppendix5). Moreattentionneedstobegiventotheneedsofnon-JapaneseL1speakers,suchasVietnamese

L1speakerswhoseemtohavemoredifficultywiththepronunciationofconsonantsandmayevendropvowelsounds(Dung,2014;Tan,2005).LearningtousingEnglishpitchandintonationpatternswillalso

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presentspecialproblemsforsuchstudents(Nhung,2010).Fortheteacher,itisimportanttobeawareofsomethemajorlinguisticdifferencesbetweenEnglishandothernon-Japaneselanguages.1Itishopedtheuseofpronunciationconferenceswillalsohelptoincreasemutualawarenessofthemostimportantareastoworkon. Finally, in the future, theauthorwould like to collaboratewith otherEnglish language

teaching facultymemberstodevelopofasmallpronunciationmanual (c.f.,Padeo,2017) thatcouldbeusedto integratetheteachingofEnglishpronunciationandprosodypatterns inEnglishclassesacrossthecurriculum.Inaddition,itwouldbegoodtoprovidestudentswithamenuofon-lineEnglishlanguagelearningresources(c.f.,Shigesako,MosherandChapman,inpress)thatincluderesourcesforpronunciationpractice.OneexampleistheBritishCouncil’sdownloadableinteractivephonemicchart(Kumar,2015;BritishCouncil,2009).Linkscouldbeprovidedtofreeonlinevideosandpronunciationlessonsthatcouldbesimilarlyusedinsideoroutsideoftheclassroom(c.f.,SpeakMethod,2010),andtorecommendedinternetdictionariesandsoon.

References:

BritishCouncil.(2009).Phonemic Chart.RetrievedNovember24,2018,fromTeachingEnglish:https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart.

Celce-Murcia,M.,Brinton,D.M.,Goodwin,J.M., (withGriner,B.) (2010).Teaching Pronunciation; A

Course Book and Reference Guide, 2nd Edition.CambridgeUniversityPress.Dung,N.T. (2014).Some Common Pronunciation Problems Facing Vietnamese Learners of English.

Retrievableon-lineathttp://125.234.102.27/handle/TVDHBRVT/15742.Harrington,D.&LeBeau,C.(1996).Speaking of Speech: Basic Presentation Skills for Beginners.Tokyo:

MacmillanLanguagehouse.Katayama,T.(2010).ASuprasegmentalThresholdforL2Pronunciation.Research Bulletin for English

Teaching, 7,1-23.Kumar,K. (2015).ProgressTracking;ImprovingEnglishPronunciationforJapaneseL2Learnersof

EnglishthroughGroupWorkandPeerReview.The Journal of Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies,19,37-46.

Mosher,D. (2019).Exploring the Teaching of Pronunciation in a University Reading Class.HijiyamaUniversityandJuniorCollegeKyoushokukatei Kenkyuu,5:149-157.

Nagasawa,K.(1994).AnAnalyticalApproachtoTeachingPronunciationtoAdultLearnersofEnglish.Research Bulletin for English Teaching, 25,93-104.

Nhung,L.T. (2010).ABriefComparisonofVietnameseIntonationandItsImplicationsforTeachingEnglishIntonationtoVietnameseEFLLearners.VNUJournalofScience,ForeignLanguages26,171-180.

Padeo,S.A.(2017).Speaking Training, 2nd ed.Baguio,Philippines:PinesInternationalAcademy.Sell,D.&Cosgrave,D.P.(1975).Pronunciation Manual for Japanese Speakers.Kobe:SeidoLanguage

Institute.Shigesako,K.,Mosher,D.&Chapman,D.(Inpress).An Investigation into Actual Conditions of English

1Intheauthor’steachingcontext,theothernon-JapaneselanguagesthatneedtobestudiedareChinese,KoreanandVietnamese.

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Education in Korea and Taiwan.HijiyamaUniversityandJuniorCollegeKyoushokukatei Kenkyuu,6.SpeakMethod.(2010).PronunciationinEnglish500Words.RetrievedNovember24,2018https://www.

speakmethod.com/500wordsintroduction.html.Tam,H.C.(2005).Common Pronunciation Problems of Vietnamese Learners of English.VNUJournalof

ForeignLanguageStudies21(1),35-46.Tennant,A.,Miles,S.&Gough,C.(2015).Essential Reading, Level 1, 2nd ed.MacmillanEducation.Ueno,N. (1998).TeachingEnglishPronunciation toJapaneseEnglishMajors:AComparisonofa

Suprasegmental-OrientedandaSegmental-OrientedTeachingApproach.Research Bulletin for

English Teaching, 29,207-225.

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Appendix 1: V-shaped Vowel Chart

Adapted from Sell, D. & Cosgrave, D. P. (1975).

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Appendix 2: Vowel Quadrant and Lip Shape Visuals

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Appendix 5: Visual Support for Intonation Instruction

From Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., Goodwin, J. M. (2010)