1. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute OBJECTIVES You will understand: 1. A process for teaching the receptive and productive sides of pronunciation. 2. Different facets of sound production that students need to practice. 3. Interesting, motivating and effective techniques and activities for teaching the discrete sounds of English (phonemes). You will be able to: 1. Integrate interesting activities for teaching discrete sounds into your lessons in integrated, targeted or remedial ways.

2. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute INTEGRATED, TARGETED AND INCIDENTAL (REMEDIAL) PRONUNCIATION TEACHING In the ACE TESOL Certificate we introduced the three different ways in which we teach pronunciation—integrated, targeted and incidental. In integrated teaching, we make pronunciation the focus of the entire lesson, integrating pronunciation points with the other main target language. In targeted teaching, pronunciation is taught through a range of activities that take between 10 and 30 minutes to complete. This series of activities is placed within the middle of a regular lesson on a completely different topic. Finally, in incidental or remedial teaching, we do a quick review and practice of a sound in response to student errors.

3. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute A PROCESS FOR TEACHING PHONEMES The teaching process outlined below can be used in its entirety for integrated and targeted teaching and in segments for remedial teaching. 1. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS In this step the teacher introduces the sound, describes how the sound is made and contrasts it with other sounds. This step is a pronunciation Study Focus. 2. LISTENING DISCRIMINATION In this step, the focus is on sound recognition. Before students can produce a sound, they have to be able to hear it and recognize it. This step allows repeated exposure to the sound so that sound discrimination is refined. In this step we would typically use a pronunciation Study Practice. 3. CONTROLLED PRACTICE AND FEEDBACK In this step, the students are given the opportunity to produce the sound in very controlled situations, with immediate feedback. In this step we would typically use a pronunciation Study Practice. 4. FREER PRACTICE AND FEEDBACK In this final step, students engage in speaking tasks that require the use of the sound in real life situations or as close to that as possible. At this step we would typically use a speaking Activate activity.

4. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS The first step in describing a sound or phoneme in English is to determine whether it is a vowel or a consonant. When describing a consonant, there are two aspects of the sound—the place and the manner of articulation. When describing a vowel, descriptions include the shape of the mouth, how far back in the mouth the sound is made, and the length of the sound. For diphthongs, which are double vowels, descriptions include which two vowel sounds slide into each other. As part of the description of the sound, it should also be compared/contrasted with similar sounds or sounds with which it is commonly confused.

5. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute The following are some techniques to use when describing and analyzing sounds:  Phonemic Symbols  The Phonemic Chart  Mouth Diagrams  Exaggeration  Mirrors  Hands

6. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute LISTENING DISCRIMINATION You will notice that listening discrimination comes before controlled practice. Remember from the ACE TESOL Certificate that we have to divide pronunciation into receptive and productive skills; comprehension of a sound must come before production of that sound. This can be seen from the order of the process above. In our effort to be communicative in our teaching, we often forget that students need input, in order to begin to make sense of the sounds and patterns of the language. In CLT, teachers try to keep teacher talk to a minimum, which can rob students of much needed language input. The listening discrimination stage can provide students with vital exposure for receptive pronunciation.

7. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute One aspect of sound description and analysis is the effect of sound placement within a word on its sound quality. For consonants for example, there are five possible positions for consonants: syllable initial, syllable final, intervocalic, initial clusters, final clusters. Some consonants appear in all positions, some in only one or two positions. The sound of some consonants change, depending upon the position in which the consonant occurs. As another example, some consonants in the final position do not get fully released. On the vowel side of things, vowel sounds are systematically shorter before voiceless consonants than before voiced consonants, and many vowels sounds get reduced down to the schwa if they occur in an unstressed syllable.

8. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute Another issue to be considered at the description stage of the teaching process is consonant clusters. Some learners can say individual consonants, but struggle when different consonants are put together into clusters. A final issue that needs to be considered at the description stage of the teaching process is the accent or dialect that will be taught. Will Canadian, British or Australian pronunciation be taught? Should students be familiarized with a second language speaker accent? With beginner students, it is best to simply teach the accent with which you speak English. As students progress to higher and higher levels, they should be exposed to a wide variety of English accents, including those of second language speakers.

9. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute Unless otherwise indicated, the activities for listening discrimination, controlled practice and feedback, and freer practice and feedback have been taken from How to Teach Pronunciation by Gerald Kelly and Teaching Pronunciation by Marianne Celce-Murcia et al. The following are examples of activities that can be used in the listening discrimination phase:  Listen and Repeat  Circle Words with a Particular Sound  Circle the Word You Hear  Minimal Pairs  Sound Race  Phonemic Alphabet Crossword/Hangman  Phonemic Word Search/Bingo/Tic Tac Toe

10. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CONTROLLED PRACTICE AND FEEDBACK In this step of pronunciation teaching, students take part in activities that allow them minimal language choice, in order to force them into accuracy. The teacher provides immediate feedback to reinforce that emphasis on accuracy. Some examples are:  Oral Drills  Reading Aloud  Tongue Twisters  Running Dictation  Minimal Pairs  Developmental Approximation Drills  Taping  Sound Shifting

11. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute FREER PRACTICE AND FEEDBACK With free practice, students are given more language choice, but the sounds being targeted are given in the activity parameters. Some examples are:  Storytelling  Family Tree  Rhyming Poems  Rap Song  Picture Description

12. ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute Choose either Task Journal questions 1 or 2. This can be submitted via email to either jennifer@llinstitute.com or jenrjones@rogers.com (preferred), or printed and handed in.jennifer@llinstitute.com jenrjones@rogers.com