Teaching a pronunciation short course Jacky Springall AMEP consortium day

Planning a pronunciation course Integrated vs short course –Self-selection/ expectations –Systematic approach –Greater focus on natural speech patterns –Classroom set up & activity types But still need to consider –Relevance & engagement –Balance of activities: receptive/ productive, accuracy/fluency –Application to whole language –Low levels: limited vocabulary & grammar –Needs analysis

Specific pronunciation needs of the class Eg Mandarin speakers Consonants and consonant clusters at the end of the words When pronouncing ends of words students often –Add extra vowel after final consonant or between consonants in a cluster eg past = pasta, Blackburn = Black-er-burn Delete or not pronounce the final consonant especially /l/, /n/, /v/ and voiceless consonants /p/ / ʧ / etc.. eg feel, learn, love, keep, beach Reduce consonant clusters eg world =word Use a consonant that is easier to pronounce eg /s/ instead of /th/ so mouth = mouse Vowels –15 vowels in Mandarin & 20 in English so students often have difficulty in pronouncing vowels accurately & consistently (especially short vowels and diphthongs) Stress patterns –Most words in Mandarin made up of 2 syllables distinguished by tone rather than stress so stress patterns in individual words often challenging. Getting stress patterns right in longer words may be difficult

Course Goals; skills & knowledge We use a lot of breath to make many sounds in English eg to produce voiceless consonants, consonants at the end of words Stressed syllables are usually longer and louder than unstressed ones –Most 2-syllable nouns have front stress eg table, window, apple –Most 2 syllable verbs have end stress eg supply, collect, deserve –Most words ending in a, o, and i have stress one syllable from the end eg mango, banana, avocado, The weak and strong stresses of words give English it’s rhythm –Sentence stress falls on the important content words –Unstressed syllables and words can be “squeezed in” to keep a regular rhythm –The schwa is the shortest vowel sound and is the most common vowel in unstressed syllables We use pausing in spoken texts that corresponds to chunks of meaning –Pause-groups in speech reflects punctuation in written texts Words are not like bricks in a wall but links in a chain –You cant always hear where one word ends and another starts – Four types of linking eg one, two three four apples (focus consonant to vowel links) –Consonant to consonant linking where clusters can be made eg ice cream = I scream, next week = necks tweek The faster we speak the shorter words can become –Ellision & assimulation ( ie dropping and changing sounds) –You don't have to speak as fast as native speakers We use tone to convey emotion and meaning eg thank you very much Develop the technical terminology for talking about pronunciation eg breath, stress, rhythm, voice, vowel etc..

syllables & stress in suburbs KewO RingwoodOo HealesvilleOo VermontOo BlackburnOo Box HillOO DoncasterOoo

Stress and rhythm Onetwothreefour This is the house that Jack built Dah du du Dah du Dah Dah These are the hou ses that Jac queline bought Dah du du Dah du du Dah du du Dah How can we possibly fit this all in? Dah du du Dah du du Dah du du Dah

Fast natural speech: Elision and assimilation Elision = when one sound disappears such as /t/ & /d/ at the end of a word & between 2 consonants – eg Firs(t) boy, secon(d) girl, I don(t) know, she wan(t)s some butter, Jack an(d) Jill When 2 identical consonants meet at the end of a word –Eg Pri(me) minister, lam(p) post, goo(d) dog Assimilation = when a sound changes because of another sound such as / t / + / j / = –Eg can’t you ? = cantcha? / d / + / j / = Do you = dja?

Tone: I went to the pronunciation workshop angry sad distraught relieved happy exhausted