TKT Tutoring Class

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TKT Tutoring Class

• Week 1 Part 1 Describing language and language
  skills (Unit 3 4)
• April 8, 2009

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Unit 3 Phonology

• I. What is phonology?
• -definition
• II. Key concepts
• -phoneme/phonemic symbol/phonemic script
• -individual sounds consonants/vowels
• -connected speech stress/intonation
• -sounds/spelling
• III. Classroom implications-

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I. What is phonology?

• Phonology ??? is the study of the sound features
  used in a language to communicate meaning (p.13)
• There are many different varieties of spoken
  English in the world, but all spoken English has
  the features as individual sounds, word stress,
  sentence stress, connected speech and intonation.
  (Hadfield, p.58)

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II. Key conceptsa. Phoneme??

• A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that has
  meaning in a language. (e.g. books s to show
  plurals (??)) (p.13)
• English has 44 phonemes, which can be represented
  by phonemic symbols as on Page 187 and written in
  a phonemic script.
• A phonemic symbol (??) represents only one
  phoneme it helps us know what the correct
  pronunciation is. E.g. cat kæt made me?d

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II. Key conceptsb. individual sounds
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• Vowels are all voiced the airstream (??) is not
  obstructed (??) they differ in the place in the
  mouth, lip positions, and the height of the
  tongue. (Harmer 1, p.41)
• Consonants are either voiced or voiceless
  (unvoiced) the airstream is interrupted ,
  diverted, or obstructed.

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• Learners need to be able to distinguish the
  difference between sounds by minimal pairs.
• Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ in
  only one sound, e.g. ship/sheep

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c. connected speech stress/intonation

• Connected speech spoken language in which all
  the words join to make a connected stream of
  sounds. (p.14)
• Characteristics of connected speech
• a. sentence stress,
• b. contractions and vowel shortening in
  unstressed words and syllables,
• c. intonation

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a. Stress

• (a) Word stress the part of a word which is
  longer and louder on its vowel sound
• e.g. pencil pen is the stressed syllable
• cil is the unstressed or weak
• syllable whose vowel gets
• shortened or even disappear.
• schwa ? appear often in unstressed syllables.

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• (b) Sentence stress parts of a sentence with
  more stress, i.e. slower and louder one word
  which the speaker thinks is the most important to
  the meaning of the sentence has main stress
  other words can have secondary stress or be
  unstressed.
• e.g. She came home late last night.
• Main and secondary stress are usually on content
  words, not function words.
• But it is possible to stress any word if the
  speaker thinks its important.
• Changing the stress of a sentence changes its
  meaning.

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• Content words are nouns, verbs, adverbs, or
  adjectives, i.e. words that give more
  information.
• Function/structural words are usually
  prepositions, articles, pronouns or determiners,
  i.e. words as grammatical glues to build the
  grammar of a sentence.
• e.g. The girl ran to the sea and jumped in
  quickly.
• Content words girl, ran, sea, jumped, quickly

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• The girl ran to the sea and jumped in quickly.
  (not another person)
• The girl ran to the sea and jumped in quickly.
  (not to any other place)
• The girl ran to the sea and jumped in quickly.
  (not in any other way)

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b. contractions and vowel shortening in
unstressed words and syllables

• Contractions the reduction of a linguistic form
  e.g. I will-gtIll
• The schwa sound ? in London l?nd?n

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c. intonation

• Intonation is the movement of the level of the
  voice, i.e. the tune of a sentence, (1) to
  express emotions and attitudes, (2) to emphasize
  or make less important particular things we are
  saying, and (3) to signal to others the function
  of utterances.
• Falling Rising Fall-rise

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• A statement of fact Schools just finished.
• A question Schools just finished.
• A surprise Schools just finished.
• Different intonation patterns can show many
  different meanings, but theres no short and
  simple way of describing how the patterns relate
  to meanings.

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III. Classroom implications

• Learners of English need to be able to understand
  a wide variety of accents in English.
• As pronunciation communicates meaning, producing
  sounds intelligibly is very important in language
  learning.
• A regular focus on different aspects of
  pronunciation helps to make learners aware of its
  importance.

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• Minimal pairs need to be included in listening
  and speaking activities.

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Unit 4 Functions

• What is function?
• Key concepts
• Exponents
• Formality
• Appropriacy
• III. Classroom implications

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I. What is function?

• A function is a reason why we communicate a way
  of describing language use, rather than just
  grammatically or lexically, to emphasize the
  meaning for the people who are in the context
  where it is used.(p.17)
• e.g. Apologizing, greeting, clarifying,
  inviting, advising, agreeing, disagreeing,
  refusing, thanking, interrupting, expressing
  obligation, expressing preferences
• e.g. Would you like to come around for dinner?
• -gtinviting

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II. Key concepts

• 1. Exponents
• The language we use to express one function is
  called exponent.

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• One grammatical form/exponent can have several
  functions, depending on the context.
• e.g. can
• ability I can swim.
• Requests Can you turn off the TV?
• Permission Can I smoke here?
• Possibility It can be rainy at this time of year.

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• e.g. Im tired.
• Context A boy talking to his mother when doing
  homework
• -gtRequesting to stop doing homework.
• 2. Context A patient talking to her doctor
• -gtDescribing feelings.

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• One function can also be expressed through
  different exponents.
• e.g. requesting (Hadfield, p.32)
• Can you open the window?
• Could you open the window, please?
• Would you mind opening the window?

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• Functional language is often a fixed expression
  or chunk learners can memorize the chunk in the
  same way as an item of vocabulary.
• e.g. Never mind.
• Of course.

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2. Formality

• Exponents express different levels of formality,
  i.e, more or less relaxed ways of saying things.
• a. Formal serious, careful exponents in formal
  situations
• b. Neutral in neutral situations
• c. Informal relaxed exponents in casual
  situations

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3. Appropriacy

• Its important to use the level of formality that
  suits a situation for appropriacy.
• e.g. A teacher greets the students
• Too formal Id like to wish you all a very good
  morning.
• Too informal Hi, guys!
• Appropriate Good morning, everyone.

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III. Classroom implications

• Its important that learners can take part in
  parts of exchange, i.e. asking questions and
  answering in pair work, role play or simulation.
  (Hadfield, p.33)
• The language we use depends on the situation and
  on the person we are talking to, so communicative
  competence can be gained. (Hadfield, p.33)

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• In language teaching, coursebooks are often
  organized around functions such as expressing
  likes or dislikes.
• Functions are often taught in coursebooks
  together with the grammar of their exponents such
  as I like., he/she likes.

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• Combining functions and grammar helps to give
  grammar a meaning for learners and helps them to
  learn functions with grammatical structures that
  they can then use in other contexts.
• A functional approach to teaching language helps
  teachers find real-world contexts where to
  present and practice grammar, and helps learners
  to see the real-world uses of the grammar they
  learn.

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References

• 1. Hadfield.J. Hardfield, C. (2008).
  Introduction to Teaching English. Oxford
  University Press.
• 2. Harmer, Jeremy. (2007). The Practice of
  English Language Teaching. Pearson Education
  Limited.
• 3. Harmer, Jeremy. (2007). How to Teach English.
  Pearson Education Limited.