REVIEW OF

1

• REVIEW OF
• TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
• Kathryn Brillinger
• kbrillinger_at_conestogac.on.ca

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Pronunciation Rules! ?

• Pronunciation is necessary both comprehensible
  and effective speech and for the learning of new
  forms in an L2. It helps learners build a
  framework for how the new language functions.
• Pronunciation is closely tied to paralinguistics
  and cultural expectations which play a major
  role in successful communication but are not
  given enough time in curriculums and classrooms.
• Teachers need both background knowledge and
  techniques that can be used to add more
  pronunciation to their lessons.

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Teaching Technique 1 Teacher Repetition

• Provide a live, non-canonical target which will
  help the students develop an operational range
  (compare this to a recording).
• Repeat 7 times to expand short term memory of the
  item (this promotes efficient use of imitation
  neurons which drive us to copy what will give us
  pleasure - in this case pronouncing clearly).
• This saturating of the auditory system leaves the
  student confident that they can repeat the
  phrase. Teacher repetition allows the student to
  create an audio-motor memory.
• Paths form where you walk many times.
  Proverb

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Teacher Repetition

• T Listen carefully while I say this 7 times.
  (teacher counts on hand raising finger on each
  syllable stress.)batteries, batteries,
  batteries, batteries, batteries, batteries,
  batteries
• T Listen again and listen to how clear the
  first vowel /ae/ is.
• T Now, listen and listen to the 3 syllables.
• T Now, listen and listen to how I pronounce
  the /t/s. the plural ending /z/

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Teaching Technique 2 Choral Repetition

• People always sing better in a choir and only
  trained singers can sing against the group.
• The sound of other voices provides safety,
  reassurance and memory robustness.
• The practice is efficient in terms of use of
  class time (each student gets many chances to
  practice).
• The prosody of the phrase becomes prominent. The
  individual hears mostly through bone conduction
  rather than air conduction creating a strong
  memory of the phrase.
• Efficiently uses the brains reward system.
  Student is pleased at copying of phrase.
  Knowledge builds on pre-knowledge.

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Choral Repetition

• T Listen to me and then repeat batteries the
  same number of times after me - batteries,
  batteries, batteries, batteries, batteries,
  batteries, batteries.
• T Stretch out the /ae/ - longer and louder -
  batteries, batteries, batteries, batteries,
  batteries, batteries, batteries.
• T Now try The flashlight takes 2 double-A
  batteries. The flashlight takes 2 double-A
  batteries. The flashlight takes 2 double-A
  batteries.
• T Lets try it phrase by phrase - The
  flashlight/ takes/ 2 double-A/ batteries.//

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Teaching Technique 3 Highlighting Aspects of
the Phrase

• Training begins when the student reaches the
  target.
• Now he/she is ready to analyze the way English
  works. The choral repetition becomes a template
  that can be chopped up and looked at and put back
  together.
• Survival depends on categorical perception -
  labeling patterns that are dangerous or useful.
  If you know 10 phrases in a language you know
  most of its patterns. Olle Kjellin

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Highlighting Aspects of the Phrase

• Vowels
• Consonants
• Linking
• Focus (syllable/word/sentence stress, reductions,
  contractions, deletions)
• Phrasing
• Intonation
• Rhythm
• e.g. I haven't been to the beach since I came to
  Canada.

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Highlighting Vowels

• I /ay/
• haven't /ae/
• been /?/
• to /?/
• the /?/
• beach /iy/
• since /I/
• I /ay/
• came /ey/
• to /?/
• Canada /ae/

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Highlighting Consonants

• Canada /kh/ - aspiration on k/t/p when word
  initial
• Cat aet haet khaet
• /l/ like (liquid gesture)
• Word final consonants (focus on position but not
  release! avoid hyper-articulation)

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Highlighting Linking

• Rule If a word ends in a consonant and the
  following word begins in a vowel, link them
  together unless a strong phrase break separates
  them.
• I wont ask him.
• I went a couple of times.
• Thats all for a while.
• Its an issue of money and time.

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Highlighting Focus

• Syllable Stress
• Word Stress
• Sentence Stress
• Reductions
• Contractions
• Deletions
• Content words are made more salient by
  making the stressed syllable longer and
  louder. Unstressed function words and
  unstressed syllables generally become schwa.
• I will encourage him to accept the job for now.

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Highlighting Paralinguistic Features

• Tone of Voice (polite vs. rude)
• Speed of Speech (slowly vs. quickly)
• Volume of Voice (ridiculous vs. soothing)
• Gesturing (precisely vs. approximately)
• Facial Expression (sweet vs. bitter)
• That kid was so rude.
• What a beautiful baby!
• Is this supposed to be dinner?

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Teaching Technique 4 Exaggeration on Samples

• Learners cant recognize patterns not in their
  production repertoire.
• Exaggeration helps students to hear what to
  produce.
• There are a number of aspects that can be
  exaggerated with good results the vowel, some
  features of consonants (aspiration, their impact
  on the preceding vowel), head nod, and hand
  gesture.
• Its a bad idea to swing a bat inside.
• Its good idea to relax before you enter the
  house after work.

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Teaching Technique 5 Saturation

• Spiral through the concepts until the students
  feel ownership of the idea.
• Use a variety of techniques and materials to
  suit different learning styles.
• Present as much pronunciation as possible at the
  start of the program/course and then refer back
  to it.
• Repeat a thousand times and the meaning becomes
  clear. Chinese Proverb

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Teaching Technique 6 slow-downs/speed-ups/norma
l speech pace/whispering/ build-ups

• Just as memory is the mother of learning,
  variation is the mother of learning.
• The student needs to practice prosody intensively
  for 3-5 weeks full-time. The teacher must find
  ways to keep students noticing.
• Dont just add a little pronunciation here and
  there.
• A little learning is a dangerous thing Drink
  deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
• Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

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Teaching Technique 7 attention to
nodding/gesturing/ using an elastic

• The head and the neck are functional units in
  speech production.
• The hand movement is related to the speech
  pattern.
• Focusing on movement while producing sound makes
  the memory more salient.
• The memory stores information that can help us
  function in our world (in primitive times for
  safety). Physical memory makes the memory
  trace more robust. Olle Kjellin

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Teaching Technique 8 Anchoring/Promoting
Retention

• Personalization
• Categorization
• Repetition
• Validation
• Elaboration
• e.g. exam
• I loved history exams but hated math exams when
  I was in high school. (P) Exams, tests and
  quizzes are all forms of evaluation. (C) Exam,
  exam, exam exactly, you guys said exam
  perfectly. (R/V) In China, students have to write
  a comprehensive exam at the end of every year of
  high school. (E)

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Teaching Technique 9 Examining Rules

• People love rules. Presenting rules either
  inductively or deductively provides students with
  a way in which to analyze all of the data that
  they are being exposed to.
• Rules provide guidelines for producing speech.
• There are a limited number of rules and all
  require only basic conceptual abilities.
• Possible Rules syllables, stress, phrasing,
  grammatical endings, linking, tone, intonation
  etc.

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Teaching Technique 10 Active Experimentation

• Have the students go out to Tim Hortons, to
  another teacher and utilize practiced phrases
  such as
• Medium, double-double please.
• Could you please pronounce this word for me?

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What next?

• How will you try to learn more about
  pronunciation teaching?
• Idea 1
• Idea 2
• Idea 3
• Idea 4
• Remember to go to the TESL Ontario forum and
  chat/blog about pronunciation and other TESL
  issues and ideas!