Teaching Pronunciation in the Learner-Centered Classroom
Teaching Pronunciation in the Learner-Centered
Hsiang-Pao Lin, Chuen-Yn Fan, and Chi-Fen Chen
This paper will present specific tools and techniques to help students
overcome problems with English pronunciation. The selection of problems
is based on both the frequency and seriousness of errors which many Chinese
students may produce. Ways to resolve the various problems, such as missing
final consonants, misplaced stress in sentences, and misused intonation
patterns, will be discussed in the three areas of pronunciation: sounds,
stress & rhythm, and intonation. Activities related to the correction
of these errors are designed to meet students' different learning styles,
namely auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learning. In this way,
the goal of the “learner-centered”
classroom is hoped to be pragmatically achieved.
1. Introduction
&&&&&&& How important is pronunciation
instruction and how much time should be allotted for it in such a crowded
curriculum where general English is taught , for instance, 3 hours per
week as at most junior colleges? Some teachers might argue that pronunciation
is not important at all for very few of the tests require students to show
their speaking ability. Others, however, find that they do not know how
to teach pronunciation, even if they want to teach it . It is because of
these conventional notions about pronunciation that the teaching of it
has, for too long, been neglected in many ESL/EFL curriculums all over
the world.
&&&&&&& Recently as English teaching
has moved to language functions, and communicative competencies, a new
urgency for the teaching of pronunciation has arisen (Celce-Murcia, 1987;
Morley, 1994; Gilbert, 1994). In Taiwan, however, we found that pronunciation
had not yet received similar attention. According to our teaching experience,
a great number of our students have many difficulties in pronunciation.
When speaking English, with very little or poorly trained pronunciation
skills, they have problems either making themselves understood or understanding
&&&&&&& This paper will attempt to
address the common and serious pronunciation errors that Chinese students
produce. Activities related to the correction of these errors are designed
to meet students' different learning styles, namely auditory, visual, tactile,
and kinesthetic learning. As for the paper's title, the "learner-centered"
classroom, we take the term from a broader perspective, meaning that it
is a class where students can feel, experience, and monitor their own learning
of pronunciation. The paper will cover the three areas of pronunciation:
sounds, stress & rhythm, and intonation with the expectation that it
will provide the audience with comprehensive insight into ways of teaching
pronunciation. The presentation is by no rather it
is an opportunity for sharing what we know about new perspectives in pronunciation
instruction. The workshop which this paper is based on was presented at
the 12th Annual R.O.C. TEFL Conference at Tunghai University on May, 20,
&&&&&&& Teaching sounds involves
several steps: first, identify your students' second, find
a meaningful context for the problem sounds, and then develop communicative
or relevant tasks that i third, develop at least three
or four exercises so that students can keep practicing target sounds in
new contexts. ( Celce-Murcia, 1987 ). For the sounds part, we intend to
offer teachers some remedial teaching techniques for sounds which they
can apply in regular English classes to help students overcome problematic
&&&&&&& Vowel length and final consonants
are commonly found difficult for most Chinese students to master in English
classes. What teachers confront is that no effective technique has been
found to help students to pronounce some problematic vowel contrast such
as / i / and / I / correctly in sentences, in dialogues or even in reading
passages. Traditionally, teachers will model the sounds and then students
repeat them or teachers show a facial diagram which allocates various sounds
positions in the mouth to enhance correct pronunciation. In order to provide
teachers with more effective and interesting teaching techniques, the first
part of this paper will present some new teaching tools and activities
to solve the problems mentioned above.
&&&&&&& In the second part of the
section on sounds, we will address the problem of dropping final consonants
while students are speaking. In Chinese, there is no CVC structure ( consonant
+ vowel + consonant); consonants would never appear at the end of the word.
This is quite different from English. Influenced by Chinese, students omit
final consonants while speaking and this result in semantic misunderstanding
with each other. The activities adopted tend to alert students to final
consonants and regulate their English language habits in putting final
consonants on in speech.
2.1 Vowel Length
(1)Rubber bands. Students like to have the chance to experience
how sounds can be produced through operating a rubber band. For example,
using a rubber band in / i / sound, students have to pull both sides of
the rubber band to the end to feel the strength and tense of
/ i /. On the other hand, while practicing / I /
, students just have to pull both sides of rubber bands slightly apart,
as shown below.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
/ i /&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&(Adopted from the illustrations from Gilbert, 1993, Clear
Speech, 2nd. ed., p. 54)
&&&&&&&& By doing this, students
can clearly distinguish the length of the two vowels and experience the
real difference between both sounds. Other vowel sounds can also be demonstrated
by rubber bands in the same way.
&&&&&&& One important aspect that
teachers have to inform students about vowels is that if the vowel sound
follows a voiced consonant then the vowel sound will be pronounced a little
bit longer than when followed by a voiceless consonant. For example:
&&&&&&& Has he used this bet
? Has he used this bed ?
&&&&&&& Students may hear two different
vowel lengths of “bet”
and “bed”.
The "e" sound of “bed”
is pronounced a little bit longer than the one of “bet.”
In speech, “bet”
and “bed”
can not be distinguished clearly by hearing the final consonants, so the
length of the vowel can be an important clue to understanding the real
communicative meaning of the speaker. Using rubber bands can help students
to build up their listening comprehension ability and clarify the slightly
different vowel length.
&&&&&&& If the final sound is voiced,
the vowel before it is long. Pull the rubber band at both sides to the
end. If the final sound is unvoiced, then the vowel before it is short.
Pull the rubber band slightly toward both sides.
Examples:&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
rise&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(Gilbert, 1993, p.45)
&&&&&&& Practice the rubber band
with different words within the same vowel but followed by voice and voiceless
consonants, such as:
&&&&&&& back bet cap plants cart
sink ice bucks
&&&&&&& bag bed cab plans card sing
&&&&&&& (Dauer, 1993)
&&&&&&&& Then, do some minimal
pairs to practice these similar word sounds in sentences to reinforce the
pronunciation. One student is speaking the sentence and the other is operating
the rubber band according to what he/she heard from the partner. For example:
&&&&&&& a. Please take this back.
Please take this bag.
&&&&&&& b. Has he used this bet?
Has he used this bed?
&&&&&&& c. I need a cap. I need a
&&&&&&& d. Where are your plants?
Where are your plans?
&&&&&&& e. Give him a cart. Give
him a card.
&&&&&&& f. She is going to sink.
She is going to sing.
&&&&&&& g. I wish I had blue ice.
I wish I had blue eyes.
&&&&&&& h. I found ten bucks. I found
&&&&&&& (Dauer, 1993)
&&&&&&&&& (2) Mirrors.
In addition to rubber bands, mirrors are a strong self-correction tool
for students to modify or imitate sounds. Teachers can ask students to
take out mirrors to do peer-correction or self-correction while approaching
some problematic sounds.
&&&&&&&& (3) Rhymes. To avoid
boring students with continuous practicing and drills, use rhymes with
a regular beat and the same vowel sound. This will lead students to master
the target sound unconsciously. For example, we take /e / sound into rhymes.
Ask students to snap their fingers, clap, or tap on the desks to keep the
beat and read aloud the rhyme:
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Pretty birds don't fly away
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Stay with me all the day
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
You can sing while I play
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
So, pretty birds don't fly away
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(Tay, 1986, p.28)
&&&&&&&&& (4) Mother tongue.
This is an added bonus if students find some way to apply their mother
tongue to some English sounds. For example: / e / sound can be applied
to Chinese as "累& " in an expressive
situation. Examples can be found successfully in class or in students'
notebooks.
&&&&&&&& (5) Role play. A brief
role play puts students into a realistic and communicative situation and
will allow the sounds to be spoken more naturally and necessarily. We have
used a short dialogue which happened in a railroad station between Mr.
Gray and the conductor adopted from Pronunciation Pairs (Baker &
Goldstein, 1990) to let students practice the target sound / e /. One student
acts as Mr. Gray who is complaining about the delay of the train, and the
other student is the conductor who is trying to understand what's going
on with Mr. Gray.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Mr. Gray: Hey, the train's late! I've been waiting
here for ages.
Conductor: Which train are you waiting for?
Mr. Gray: The 8:18 to Taipei.
Conductor: The 8:18? I'm afraid you've made
a mistake, sir.
Mr. Gray: A mistake? but I take this train every
Conductor: Oh, no sir. The train leaves at 8:08.
Mr. Gray: At 8:08?
Conductor:& That's right. They changed the time at
the end of April. Today's the
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
eighth of May.
Mr. Gray:&& Changed it? I guess they changed
it while I was away on vacation.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Hm! So the train isn't late. I'm late.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&& (6) Tongue twisters. Tongue
twisters are also an interesting way to practice and contrast similar sounds
and have fun at the same time. But there is a huge challenge for the teacher
and students to do it well. Teachers should tell students at first not
to feel upset at making mistakes because even for native speakers, it is
difficult. Examples for practicing / e / , /& / and /ae
/ are below:
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Henry, age eight, etched the letter
h on the edge of the desk.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
It made me laugh to see a calf go down the path
a mile and a half to take a bath.
2.2 Final Consonants
&&&&&&& (1) Song lyrics. Teachers
can ask students to read some popular song lyrics aloud to practice final
consonants. In our classes, students omit final consonants often or pronounce
them too lightly to be heard. For example, they pronounce student as "studen".
Therefore, we ask them to read the marked song lyrics of "Silent Night"
in which the final consonants in each sentence have been underlined, and
then to listen to the song to notice how the singer produced final consonants.
&&&&&&&&&&& Silent
night, holy night. All is calm. All is bright.
&&&&&&&&&&& Round
young virgin, mother and child.
&&&&&&&&&&& Holy
infant, so tender and mild,
&&&&&&&&&&& Sleep
in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.......
&&&&&&& (2) Numbers. Besides song
lyrics, numbers can be a good aid in helping students put final consonants
on. For example, teachers can set up some particular numbers to have students
practice final consonants.
&&&&&&&&&&&
A: What is your telephone number?
&&&&&&&&&&& B:
3. Stress and Rhythm
&&&&&&& Why is it necessary to teach
stress and rhythm? Every language in the world has a characteristic speech
rhythm. English tends to be a stress-timed language with rhythmic patterns
based on a fairly regular recurrence of stressed syllables (Browne &
Huckin, 1987). However, Chinese tends to give equal weight to each syllable,
making the rhythmic patterns appear to be more syllable-timed. In Taiwan,
many students often use the Chinese rhythmic pattern when speaking E
as a result, even though they can pronounce each English sound correctly,
their speech doesn’t sound like English.
&&&&&&& Their problems with the word
rhythm of English are that they often misplace the stress and give each
syllable, whether it is stressed or unstressed, thus,
the vowels in the unstressed syllables are not reduced. As for their problems
with the sentence rhythm of English, one is that they put stress on too
many words, for they don’t know what
kinds of words n the other is that they tend to separate
words during speech without linking them together. In order to help Chinese
students speak English naturally, we English teachers should pay more attention
to teaching the rhythm of English. Two aspects of English rhythm, stress
and linking, and some teaching tools and techniques related to these two
are now discussed.
3.1 Stress
&&&&&&& It is important for our
students to know the different rhythmic patterns of Chinese and English.
The teacher can show them a visual contrast between the two languages to
indicate that Chinese is syllable-timed while English is stress-timed.
&A. Stress-Timed Rhythm&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
B. Syllable-Timed Rhythm
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&& Pronunciation is important.
(Adapted from the illustrations from Prator & Robinett, 1985, Manual
of American
English Pronunciation. 4th ed.)
&&&&&&& In the above illustrations,
the Chinese rhythm is composed of soldiers (each soldier represents a syllable),
which implies that Chinese has the same length and stren
however, the English rhythm is composed of adults (stressed syllables)
and children (unstressed syllables), which implies that English has different
syllable length and strength.
&&&&&&& After having built the concept
of the different rhythmic patterns of Chinese and English, students need
to practice both word stress and sentence stress in English. Following
are some teaching techniques and activities.
3.1.1 Word Stress
&&&&&&& (1) Visual effects.
Emphasize the stressed syllable by using visual effects: thicken, capitalize,
underline, circle, or color the stressed syllable. In addition, the teacher
can put a dot for unstressed syllables and a line for the stressed one
under the word to indicate that the stressed one ne
or he can put a small dot for unstressed syllables and a big dot for the
stressed one under the word to indicate that the stressed one has a stronger
beat. Using visual effects can help students notice the place of stress
in each word and avoid misusing word stress.
&Examples: today
toDAY today today today today
&&&&&&& (2) Rubber bands. Pull a
wide rubber band between the two thumbs while saying a word. Stretch it
out during the stressed syllable but leave it short during other syllables.
It provides a visual image of the variable length of the syllables as well
as a kinesthetic tool that mimics the actual effort involved in lengthening
a stressed syllable (Gilbert, 1994). The teaching point is to help students
avoid pronouncing each syllable at the same length.
(3) Tapping, clapping, or playing simple rhythm instruments. Give
a strong beat to the stressed syllable and weak beats to the others by
clapping, tapping on the desk, or playing simple rhythm instruments like
tambourines or toy hammers. It helps students to be aware that unstressed
syllables have weak beats and so their vowels need to be reduced.
(4) Stress matching game. Have students work in groups. One member
in the group taps or claps the rhythm of a word from the vocabulary list,
and the others have to find out which word has the same rhythm as they
&&&&&&&&&&&
Examples:&&&& artist&&&& manager&&&&
secretary&&&& musician
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
politician&&&& cashier&&&& photographer
&&&&&&&&&&& You
hear :& So you choose manager.
(5) Stress and Meaning. Have students work in pairs. Student
1 says sentence (a) or (b). Notice that the stress in (a) and (b)
is put in different places. Student 2 has to identify a stressed syllable
and make an intelligent guess and then choose an appropriate answer.
This activity helps students to understand the relationship between
stress and meaning.
1. (a) Is it elementary? No, it’s
&&& (b) Is it a lemon tree? No, an orange tree.
2. (a) What’s for rain? An
&&& (b) What’s foreign?
Another language.
3. (a) Is that Europe? No, it’s
&&& (b) Is that your rope? No, it’s
(Gilbert, 1993, p.69)
3.1.2 Sentence Stress
&&&&&&& (1) Finding content words.
First, introduce the basic emphasis pattern of English to students to let
them know that content words are usually emphasized.
&The basic emphasis pattern
of English :
Content Words&
(emphasized)
main verbs&
adjectives&
question words
(who, what, where, when, why, how)
Structure Words&
(de-emphasized)
prepositions&
(of, to, at)
(a, an, the)&
conjunctions auxiliary verbs&
(and, but) (can, have, do, will)
(Gilbert, 1993, p.72)
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Then, have students circle or underline content words in
a sentence and give these words extra emphasis when speaking the sentence.
At the same time, students can tap, clap, or play simple rhythm instruments
to produce strong and weak beats in the sentence.
&Example: He wants to be an
actor, and he wants to live in Hollywood.
&&&&&&& (2) Rhymes. Apply
the rhythm of nursery rhymes to the rhythm of ordinary sentences. The reason
for this is that students can easily learn nursery rhymes and catch their
rhythm without too much effort. Practicing this way helps them to maintain
the rhythm patterns in sentences unconsciously and naturally.
HICKory DICKory DOCK The
MOUSE ran UP the CLOCK
Do it according to plan. I’d like
to cash a check.
Give me a burger with cheese. He’d
rather take the bus.
Who is the man I should see? I’ll
have her call you back.
(Grant, 1993)
&&&&&&& (3) Jazz chants.
A Jazz chant is a fragment of authentic language presented with special
attention to its inherent natural rhythm (Graham, 1992). It has a very
clear and strong one-two-three-four beat, so it is easy for students to
practice the sentence rhythm through Jazz chants. To establish the tempo,
students can count out the rhythm by clapping, finger snapping, or tapping
on the desk.
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Chicken, chicken soup. Rice and beans, rice and beans.
I’d like a bowl of soup. Chicken
I’d like a large bowl of chicken
(Graham, 1986, p.45)
3.2 Linking
One of the essential characteristics of spoken English is that the words
in a thought group are linked together (Gilbert, 1993). Mortimer (1977)
also talked about the importance of linking: to pronounce English fluently,
it is necessary to link words together as a native speaker of English normally
does. Chinese students often fail to do this because they pronounce one
word at a time in English just as they do when speaking Chinese. Therefore,
linking needs to be taught in order to help students to speak English more
fluently as well as to improve their comprehension of English native speakers’
normal speech. Following are some teaching techniques.
&&&&&&&& (1) Chain pictures.
Use chains to give a visual image of spoken English, but use separate circles
to represent spoken Chinese. It helps students to identify the different
speech pattern between spoken English and spoken Chinese.
&&&&&&&&&&& (2)
Magnets. Gilbert (1994) mentioned that the pull of magnets can
be a physical metaphor to emphasize the attraction between succeeding words,
especially if the following word begins with a vowel. She suggested the
use of magnets, pieces of iron, and blocks of wood to make teaching aids.
However, we used some empty audio-tape cases and magnets
to produce this effect. Flash cards (e.g., pick, it, me) were put in different
tape cases and the magnets were glued onto the two ends of each tape case.
Make sure that the two words can be attracted only when the first word’s
final letter is a consonant and the second word’s
first letter is a vowel (e.g., pick it ); otherwise, the two words are
repulsed (e.g., pick& me). It helps students remember to link words
through this physical image.
Examples: ＋ ＋－
pick it&&&&&&&&& pick me
&&&&&&& (3) Curved lines. Use the
curved line “ ” between the last and
first letters to indicate they need to be linked together. It provides
a visual image to remind students of linking words.
Examples:&& Hold on.&&&& Pick ?
it up.&&&&&&&&& I need
a cup of tea.
&&&&&&& (4) Chants, poems, or song
lyrics. Practice linking through reading chants, poems, or song
lyrics. Students need to know that English words are linked together during
speech. For example, students can read aloud the song lyrics of “Perhaps
Love” to practice linking.
Example:&&&& Perhaps love is like the ocean,
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
full of conflict, full of pain.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Like a fire when it’s cold outside,
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
thunder when it rains.
&4. Intonation
&&&&&&&&&&&&
In addition to Stress & Rhythm, Intonation, or Melody, or change
in pitch, is another significant feature in English. The purpose of intonation,
according to Gilbert (1994), is "helping the listener to follow." It is
a navigation guide for the listener. She goes on to note that "L2 learners
have difficulty hearing intonation"(p.43). Indeed, most of our students,
when listening to English, pay more attention to sounds, vocabulary, and
grammar. Seldom do they attend to pitch changes. Therefore, when it comes
to speaking, they tend to pronounce each word as clearly as possible. It
is no surprise to find that many students speak English simply by applying
the rhythmic structure of Chinese. The result is that they sound monotonous.
That is, their voice is rather flat with little or no change in pitch.
The two major problems: (1) misused and (2) lack of
sentence focus, and emotions appropriate to the situation, along with some
teaching activities are now discussed.
4.1 Intonation Patterns
One way to make students become aware of their problems in Intonation
Patterns is to have them listen to contrasting recordings. The tape can
be designed in such a way that students have a chance to hear their own
voices and the native speakers'. The conversation should be deliberately
chosen with various intonation patterns so that it is easy and obvious
for them to find their problems. In the following example, two basic intonation
patterns, Rising/Falling Intonation and Rising Intonation, are presented.
The topic is identifying people. The situation is that Lee and Lisa Fong
are looking for their friend, Estelle, at the airport.
Lisa: Lee, look! Here come the people from the plane.
Is that Estelle with them?
Lee: Which one?
Lisa: The tall one.
Lee: The one with the suitcase?
Lisa: No. The one with the package.
Lee: Yes. That's Estelle.
Lisa: Hello, Estelle. How was your trip?
Estelle: Fine. It was a very good flight.
( Lado,1989, pp. 2-3)
&&&&&&& Once students hear the two versions
of the dialogue, they will immediately recognize the striking difference
in intonation between their version and the native speakers’.
Then the teacher should seek possible ways to solve their problems, such
as misused intonation patterns. We suggest that the three intonation patterns
be presented through various visual or aural effects. Some techniques include
drawing pitch lines/curves or arrows, using musical scores, and using kazoos.
Let's take a closer look at each of these techniques.
&&&&&&& (1) Pitch lines/curves.
One of the most commonly used ways to teach various intonation patterns
is to draw pitch lines/curves. Besides drawing the pitch lines/curves,
we suggest that the teacher blacken the last stressed syllable and put
a dot over it. In doing so, students can be expected to produce the appropriate
intonation with the correct word stress.
Lisa: How was your trip? (Rising/Falling Intonation)
&&&&&&& (2) Arrows. Another simple way
to teach intonation is to draw arrows over the place where pitch changes.
It is a variation, in particular, for showing how pitch rises and falls
within a sentence. The two examples are presented: a choice question as
shown in A and a statement showing a series of items as in B.
A: Can we rent it or buy it? (Combination Intonation)
B: Our class meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
&&&&&&& (3) Musical scores. The other
effective visual effect is musical scores. In the following example, the
pitch rises on “telle,”
which is the last stressed syllable. In order to be able to do that, students
need to apply their knowledge of basic emphasis patterns as has been shown
earlier in 3.1.2. That is, stress content words and not structure words.
&Lisa: Is that Estelle with them? (Rising Intonation)
telle with them?
Is that Es
&&&&&&& (4) Kazoos. In addition
to the above visual effects, another vivid way to introduce intonation
is with a toy kazoo. The sound of the kazoo is very similar to humming
except that it is louder and clearer. By humming into it, the teacher can
give a clever demonstration of the intonation of a sentence, which students
may not be able to get through the above visual aids. Since kazoos are
not available here, big-size straws are an excellent substitute. In the
following example, three intonation patterns, Rising/Falling Intonation
as shown in (a), Combination Intonation as in (b), and Rising Intonation
as in (c), are presented. The teacher kazoos the melody of the sentence
(a), (b), or (c), whereas students, working in pairs or groups, attend
carefully to the melody and tell which sentence they hear. Note that the
sentences in this activity should be of similar length so that the judgment
of the difference of the three patterns has to rely on the melody they
Examples:&&&& (a) Where are you going on Friday?
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(b) Do you want some soup or salad?
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(c) Would you like some Supersalad?
(5) Follow-ups. Often times when teaching Intonation Patterns, we found
that many students seem to have more problems with Rising Intonation than
with any other patterns. we have noticed that many of our students tend
to ask Yes/No questions with Rising/Falling Pattern instead of Rising Intonation.
Some may use Rising Pattern but tend to rise at the end of the sentence.
We suspect it may have some relation with their mother tongue. Compare
the following Yes/No questions:
English: Can you speak English?
Chinese: (a) 你會不會說英文?
(b) 你會說英文嗎?
&&&&&&& The difference between English
and Chinese is obvious when asking Yes/No questions. Whereas Americans
use Rising Intonation, Chinese use Falling intonation or slightly rise
at the question word “嗎”, which
is added at the end of the sentence. Apparently, for Chinese students,
the Rising Pattern is a new habit that they need to learn how to perform.
Whenever students have problems with Rising Intonation, practicing putting
sentences on musical scores can be a useful way to help them out. Kazoos
can be another option.
&&&&&&&& Musical scores and
kazoos. Draw musical scores for the following sentences, and then practice
saying or kazooing the sentences.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(a) Could you make a sandwich for me?
(b) Will you be interested in it?
(c) Would you like some Ice cream?
4.2 Sentence Focus & Emotions
&&&&&&& Though our students have learned
the basic emphasis patterns mentioned in part 3, they should know that
these rules are not fixed. In fact, English speakers use emphasis on any
word in a sentence to achieve various results, such as introducing new
information, showing contrasts, correcting the previous information, or
creating special attention or emphases, and so on. This special emphasis
is called the sentence focus.
(1) Visual effects. One simple way to help students understand the importance
of sentence focus is through visual effects. We can show students two different
pictures. For instance, in the following pictures, what do you see?
An apple. Right. That's an easy way to make students become aware of
the importance of focus. To help students overcome the problem with sentence
focus, the teacher can easily draw from the textbook suitable situations
in which two speakers exchange information by showing contrasts. There
are a great number of topics, such as possessions, jobs, nationalities,
shopping, asking directions, talking about vacation plans, and so on, all
of which are excellent for showing contrasts. Just take "possessive" as
an example:
A: This is your book.
B: No. That's her book. or
No. That's hers.
&&&&&&& Notice that for speaker
B, the stress shifts from “book”
to “her,”
which indicates the emphasis of the response. If it is the general sentence,
it should be : That's her book. The stress falls on "book" rather
than "her."
&&&&&&& Having the knowledge of why
and how English speakers use focus, students should become familiar with
the characteristics of focus, namely vowel lengthening, loudness, and emotions
in various situations. Let’s refer back
to the previous conversation on the tape from Lado. Clearly, the
two speakers do use focus to achieve certain results, such as drawing special
attention as shown in (c), or providing new information to make corrections
as in (e). Thus they keep the conversation going, and finally, they find
the person they are looking for.
&&&&&&&&&&&
Lisa: Is that Estelle with them? (a)
&&&&&&&&&&& Lee:
Which one? (b)
&&&&&&&&&&& Lisa:
The tall one. (c)
&&&&&&&&&&& Lee:
The one with the suitcase? (d)
&&&&&&&&&&& Lisa:
No. The one with the package.(e)
&&&&&&& (2) Mini dialogues. Another
perfect topic to help students practice these characteristics is good news
or bad news. In the following two situations, students can take turns practicing
with a partner, playing with focus words “wonderful”,
“terrible”,
and “so,”
by dramatizing, lengthening and speaking louder. Encourage students to
add personal emotions with given situations. Rubber bands can also be used
here to get visual effects on vowel lengthening.
&Examples: A: I finally got a new car.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
B: That's wonderful news! I'm so glad to hear
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
A: I got fired from my job.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
B: That's terrible news! I'm so sorry to hear
&&&&&&&&&&& (3)
Follow-ups. Sometimes we may want to challenge our students with tasks
where they learn to become intelligent in using focus. For the following
activity, student A says a general sentence, “Boston
lost the game.” Student B has to, first,
look at the responding sentence, “Really?
I thought New York lost the game,” and
then figure out the focus should be on the word “New
York,” and respond to student A appropriately.
&Example: A: Boston lost the game.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
B: Really? I thought New York lost the game.
Have students working in pairs or groups, and take turns practicing
the conversation.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
A: George plays baseball in Boston.
&&&&&&&&&&& B:
Really? I thought George played football in Boston.
&&&&&&&&&&&
A: The score was 8 to 44.
&&&&&&&&&&& B:
Really? I thought the score was 4 to 44.
&&&&&&&&&&&
A: George talked to David at the airport.
&&&&&&&&&&& B:
Really? I thought he talked to Paul at the airport.
&&&&&&&&&&&
A: It wasn't George's fault.
&&&&&&&&&&& B:
Really? I thought it was George's fault.
&&&&&&&&&&& (Baker
& Goldstein, 1990, p.35)
5. Conclusion
Pronunciation certainly deserves strong attention in the English
class, especially in classes with a communicative approach. Poor pronunciation
will cause problems in oral communication no matter how good a speaker’s
control of English grammar and vocabulary might be. Many of the problems,
in fact, are caused by the influence of the speaker’s
Chinese students tend to use Chinese speech patterns or
styles when speaking English. Therefore, English teachers need to help
students be aware of this tendency in order to be able to speak English
clearly and intelligently.
&&&&&&& To overcome students’
pronunciation problems, we offer a variety of kinesthetic, visual, and
aural devices and activities for teaching English pronunciation. Although
we do not have pronunciation class in our current English curriculum, it
is hoped that these tools and techniques we have referred to will be a
great help to English teachers as well as students.
&&&&&&& Finally, we want to encourage
Chinese EFL teachers to have more confidence in teaching English pronunciation
even though we are not native speakers of English. With full advanced preparation,
including practicing our own pronunciation and designing effective teaching
activities, we can all be experts in teaching English pronunciation!
References
Baker, A., & Goldstein, S. (1990). Pronunciation pairs: An
introductory course for students of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Beisbier, B. (1995). Sounds great: Intermediate pronunciation and
speaking for learners of English. MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Browne, S. C., & Huckin, T. N. (1987). Pronunciation tutorials for
nonnative technical professionals: A program description. In J. Morley
(Ed.), Current perspectives on pronunciation. Washington, D.C.:
Celce-Murcia, M. (1987). Teaching pronunciation as communication. In
J. Morley (Ed.), Current perspectives on pronunciation. Washington,
D.C.: TESOL.
Dauer, R. M. (1993). Accurate English: A complete course in pronunciation.
New Jersy: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Gilbert, J. B. (1994). Intonation: A navigation guide for the listener
(and gadgets to help teach it). In J. Morley (Ed.), Pronunciation pedagogy
and theory. Bloomington: TESOL, Inc.
Gilbert, J. B. (1993). Clear speech: Pronunciation and listening
comprehension in North American English. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Graham, C. (1992). Singing, chanting, telling tales. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Graham, C. (1986). Small talk. New York: Oxford University Press.
Grant, L. (1993). Well said: Advanced English pronunciation.
MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Lado, R. (1989). Lado English series. Book 3. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
Morley, J. (1994). A multidimensional curriculum design for speech-pronunciation
instruction. In J. Morley (Ed.), Pronunciation pedagogy and theory.
Bloomington: TESOL, Inc.
Mortimer, C. (1977). Link-up: A pronunciation practice book.
Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Prator, C., & Robinett, B. (1985). Manual of American English
Pronunciation. 4th Ed.
New York: Holt, Reinehart and Winston.
Tay, M. M. E. (1986). Creative phonics. Singapore: Pan Pacific
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the R.O.C. Ministry of Education for offering us the
professional EFL Teacher Training Program at UC-Davis, USA, and to J. Gilbert,
the author of Clear Speech, for valuable discussions and innovative
ideas and techniques of teaching pronunciation during the program. We would
also like to thank Robert Hawkins, our colleague at Chia-Nan Junior College,
for providing helpful comments for the revision.