Teaching Pronunciation to ESL/EFL students.pptx

This lesson can be helpful in ESL/EFL Classroom

1. TEACHING PRONUNCIATION PHORN Sophannarith 04-01-2025

2. Where and what did you do for the New year? Check-in

3. How do you feel about your pronunciation skills today? What specific sounds or words do you find most challenging to pronounce ? Can you share a recent success you've had with your pronunciation?

4. 1. The Goals of Pronunciation I nstruction A native speaker- target? Arguments against a NS target Largely unattainable Not necessary Learner may not seek it

5. 2 . Prounciaition and Intelligibility Because native listeners rely on both the word-stress patterns in the speech signal, the interaction between the two is important, so it makes little sense for the learner to focus just on the production of sounds or just the production of word stress patterns. Special attention needs to be given to the accuracy of segments within strong syllables as they provide a source of information upon which native listeners depend.

6. 3 . The Phonological Core (Jenkins) All the consonants are important except for the initial sounds as in ‘thin’ and ‘this’. Consonant clusters are important at the beginning and in the middle of words. For example the cluster in the word ‘string’ cannot be simplified to ‘sting ’ or ’ tring ’ and remain intelligible. The contrast between long and short vowels is important. For example the difference between the vowel sounds in ‘sit’ and ‘seat ’.

7. 3 . The Phonological Core (Jenkins) Nuclear (or tonic) stress is also essential. This is the stress on the most important word (or syllable) in a group of words. For example, there is a difference in meaning between ‘My son uses a computer’ which is a neutral statement of fact and ‘My SON uses a computer’, where there is an added meaning (such as that another person known to the speaker and listener does not use a computer).

8. 4 . Not Part of the Core “ th ” sounds Vowel quality, that is, the difference between vowel sounds where length is not involved , for example a German speaker may pronounce the ‘e’ in the word ‘chess’ more like an ‘a’ as in the word ‘cat’.

9. 4 . Not Part of the Core Weak forms such as the vowels in the words ‘to’, ‘of’ and ‘from’, whose vowels are often pronounced as schwa instead of with their full vowel quality. Other features of speech such as assimilation, where the final sound of a word alters to make it more like the first sound of the next word, so that, for example, ‘ red paint’ becomes ‘ reb paint ’ Pitch movement Stress timing

10. 5 . Features that might impede communication Mispronounced words that confuse Mispronounced words that elicit a negative reaction

11. 6 . The nature of English Pronuciaition Vowels 15 vowel sounds in AE 20 vowel sounds in BE Dipthongs and thripthongs New Englishes have different vowel sets

12. 7. Teaching Vowel Distinctions 1. Focus first on the four tense vowels of English (e.g. in ‘beat’, ‘bait’, ‘boot’, and ‘boat’). 2. Give examples of words with tense vowels and exaggerate the pronunciation of the vowels (e.g. with words like ‘bee’, ‘leave’ ‘see ’). 3. Work on each vowel in isolation.

13. 7. Teaching Vowel Distinctions 4 . Do linking exercises in which a tense vowel is followed by a word beginning with another vowel: “I see it”. “I play at it ”. 5. Have students concentrate on lengthening the vowels . 6. With words of more than one syllable , use words in which the tense vowel receives major stress: ‘payment’, ‘seaside’, ‘movement’.

14. 8 . Teaching lax vowels Illustrate the lax vowels by showing that the mouth is relaxed when producing them. 2. Emphasize that lax vowels are short, e.g. by bringing hands together quickly in a clapping motion . 3. Have students practice words with these vowels: e.g. ‘sit’, ‘lip ’, ‘live’, ‘said’, ‘ red’, ‘send’, ‘ book’, ‘push’, ‘could’.

15. 9. Consonants Difficulties for L2 learners of English 1. Transfer due to lack of correspondence between L1 and L2. 2. Similar consonant but different articulation 3. Similar consonant but different distribution 4. Consonant clusters 5. Blends and reductions

16. 9. Blends and reductions Final consonants joined to a following vowel: bothof you stopit fixit Final stop consonant unreleased if followed by a different consonant: kee [p] trying bla [ ck ] shoes kee [p] trying Final consonants linked to beginning vowels: see [y] it my [y]uncle ho [w] easy Words blended in rapid speech: laschee (last year) wouldja (would you) wanna go (want to go) Unstressed words “disappearing” in rapid speech: black n white (black and white) need te go (need to go) bag ov books (bag of books) Syllables disappearing in rapid speech: robri (robbery) intresting (interesting) commentri (commentary)  

17. 10. Teaching Consonants 1. If learners want to use aspiration with the consonants /p/, /k/, and /t/ (i.e. so that ‘paper” does not sound like ‘ baber ’, or ‘time’ like ‘dime”), aspiration can be demonstrated by holding a piece of paper close to the mouth when saying words beginning with these consonants .

18. 10. Teaching Consonants 2 . They can also learn to produce aspiration by first practicing words beginning with /h/ and then placing words beginning with /p/, /k/, or /t/ in front of these words. For example: hot p(h)pot t(h)aught c(h) ot

19. 10. Teaching Consonants 3 . To practice voicing the consonants in word like ‘vote’, ‘love’, ‘then’, ‘breathe’, ‘measure’, students can first feel the voicing involved in making vowels sounds (e.g. a prolonger /a/ sound) by placing their fingers lightly on their throats when making the sound. They should then practice making voiced consonants in pairs like ‘fan’ –‘van’, ‘sue’- ‘zoo’, ‘leaf’- ‘leave’.

20. 11. Teaching Consonants Identify students’ problem areas (different groups have different problems ) Find lexical/grammatical contexts with many natural occurrences of the problem sounds. Identify contexts for all the positions in which the sounds occur. Draw on these contexts to develop activities for analysis and listening that will assist students in understanding and recognizing the target sounds.

21. 11. Teaching Consonants Using the contexts chosen, develop a progression of controlled, guided, and communicative tasks that incorporate the sounds for practice . For each stage of practice (controlled, guided, communicative) develop two or three activities so that target sound(s) can be recycled and practiced again in new contexts.

22. 11. Teaching Consonants If students have difficulty voicing final consonants /b/, /d/ and /g/, practice minimal pairs with pairs such as ‘tap’ –‘tab’, ‘back’- ‘bag’ and point out that the vowels are longer with the voiced final consonants .

23. 11. Teaching Consonants If students have difficulty with initial consonant clusters (e.g. as in ‘grow’, ‘strap’, ‘drive’), they can first practice saying words with clusters but insert a short vowel between the consonants: e.g. ‘ girow ’, ‘ sitrap ’, ‘ dirive ’, repeating the words with increasing speed until the inserted vowel disappears.

24. 11. Teaching Consonants If students have difficult with final consonant clusters (e.g. as in ‘worked’, ‘ build’, ‘texts ’) they can be practiced using two words, gradually eliminating more and more of the second word: feel down – feel dow – feel –d field

25. 12. Word Stress 1 . Primary and secondary stress 2. Most 2 syllables nouns have stress on first syllable 3. Over 60% of 2 syllable verbs have stress on second syllable 4. Compound nouns have primary stress on 1 st syllable 5. Unstressed vowels often dropped 6. Stress-timed versus syllable timed The cat is interested in protecting its kittens. Large cars waste gas.

26. 13. Teaching Word Stress 1. Emphasize the length of stressed vowels. Stressed syllables are longer than unstressed syllables. Give lists of words (e.g. days of the month) or sentences for practice, point out the stressed syllables and have students practice them, monitoring the length of the stressed syllables .

27. 13. Teaching Word Stress 2 . Present sets of words with the same stress patterns . 3. Pronounce new vocabulary so students can hear which syllables are stressed . 4. Use pronunciation spellings to develop students’ awareness of how unstressed vowels are pronounced (e.g. fizishin for physician )

28. 13. Teaching Word Stress 5 . Point out that unstressed vowels have a short, indistinct sound regardless of spelling . 6. Teach classes of words that have predictable stress patterns.

29. 14. Teaching Rhythm and Intonation 1. Use sounds to demonstrate rhythm patterns: e.g. “The fire destroyed the building” – Da DA Da DA da DA Da . 2. Point out that content words are normally stressed and function words are usually unstressed (see chapter X). Have students identify content and function words in sentences and practice the sentences with correct stress.

30. 14. Teaching Rhythm and Intonation 3. Teach student the rhythm and intonation patterns of communicatively useful language at their level. 4. Teach students to practice linking final consonants to beginning vowels (e.g.as in ‘fix it’, ‘other animals ’).

31. 14. Teaching Rhythm and Intonation 5 . Teach the predictable rhythm patterns of phrases (e.g. ‘at my school’, ‘in the morning’, ‘need some apples”, ‘have to go ”.) 6. Use short utterances and mini-dialogs to illustrate and practice different intonation patterns.

32. 15. The Learning of Pronunciation Learning pronunciation is incremental : new sound patterns do not emerge all at once. For example a consonant such as the ‘ th ’ initially, as in ‘thanks’ medially, as in ‘author’ finally, as in ‘bath’ in initial consonant clusters, as in ‘throat’ in medial consonant clusters as in ‘ athritis ’ in final consonant clusters, as in ‘faiths ’

33. 16. The Learning of Pronunciation Learners approach second language pronunciation differently: Learners who are out-going, confident, and willing to take risks probably have more opportunities to practices their pronunciation of the second language simply because they are more often involved in interactions with native speakers . Conversely , learners who are introverted, inhibited, and unwilling to take risks lack opportunities for practice.  

34. 16. The Learning of Pronunciation Awareness is needed of the physical aspects of pronunciation Pronunciation features need to be noticed before they are learned

35. 16. The Learning of Pronunciation Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation include : 1. Marking a text. Students listen to a text and circle words containing specific sounds (e.g. final consonants, as in the example from the English teacher above)  

36. 16. The Learning of Pronunciation Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation include : 2 . Same or different. Students listen to pairs or sets of words or sentences which may or may not contain one different item (e.g. a feature the teacher wants them to notice). They check off whether the items they hear are the same or different .

37. 16. The Learning of Pronunciation Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation include : 3. Focussed listening. Students listen to a text, which contains a number of highlighted words. As they listen they make the stressed syllable on the highlighted words. 4. Following a script. When listening to an audio recording students can read the script and try to identify examples of features such as blended and linked sounds for example.

38. 16. The Learning of Pronunciation Techniques that focus on noticing features of pronunciation include : 5. Intonation signals. Students listen to a text and mark with an arrow, if sentences end with rising or falling intonation.  

39. 17. The Learning of Pronunciation   Features of English pronunciation need to be modelled Both controlled and communicative practice is needed Learners need to learn to monitor their own pronunciation

40. 18. The Learning of Pronunciation   Learners should receive feedback on their pronunciation:   Feedback techniques: Repeat the incorrect sound using stress and intonation to suggest that there is an error. For example if a learner substitutes ‘f’ for ‘ th ’ producing ‘ wiff ’ instead of ‘with’ the teacher could say ‘ wiff a friend’? using stress on the word ‘ wiff ’ and a rising questioning intonation.

41. 18. The Learning of Pronunciation   Learners should receive feedback on their pronunciation:   Feedback techniques: 2 . Or the teacher could query the word containing the incorrect sound, e.g. saying ‘he went what a friend ?’ 3. The teacher could repeat the student’s error, perhaps exaggerating the error to draw attention to it, e.g. by saying ‘ wifffff ’.

42. 19. The Learning of Pronunciation     Pronunciation should be linked to other lessons

43. 20. Planning For Pronunciation teaching     1. Find out who your learners are and what they need 2. Find language that is relevant to your learners to use as practice material 3. Use these samples of authentic language to illustrate and practice specific pronunciation features

44. 20. Planning For Pronunciation teaching     4 . Provide frequent and sustained choral repetition with body movement ( e.g . tapping , clapping, gesturing ) 5. Give learners a chance to practice similar language in less controlled activities 6. Record learners’ speech for feedback and review

45. 21. Planning For Pronunciation teaching     Preparing a diagnostic profile Developing a pronunciation syllabus

46. 21. Lane’s Core Syllabus     Consonants : th sound in think and then Contrasts involving the first sounds in pet, bet, fete, vet , and wet Retroflexed /r/: red, drive Final consonants and consonant clusters: bed, belt Grammatical endings  

47. 21. Lane’s Core Syllabus       Vowels The vowels in leave-live The vowels in net- nat -nut-not r - colored vowels in beard, hard and hoard   Word stress Vowel length in stressed and unstressed syllables Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables Stress patterns of classes of words  

48. 21. Lane’s Core Syllabus       Rhythm and Intonation Highlighting important words with stress and pitch Thought groups (grouping words into meaningful phrases) Linking adjacent words Intonation to mark utterance boundaries

49. 22. A Pronunciation Lesson     A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided to free practice . 1. Description and analysis (oral and written illustrations of how the feature is produced and when it occurs within spoken discourse ) : videos or animations of the position of the tongue and mouth can be effective here .

50. 22. A Pronunciation Lesson     A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided to free practice . 2 . Listening discrimination (focused listening practice with feedback on learners’ ability to correctly discriminate the feature )  

51. 22. A Pronunciation Lesson     A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided to free practice . 3 . Controlled practice (oral reading of minimal-pair sentences, short dialogues, etc., with special attention paid to the highlighted feature in order to raise learner consciousness) 4. Guided practice (structured communication exercises, such as information gap activities or cued dialogues, that enable the learner to monitor for the specified feature )

52. 22. A Pronunciation Lesson     A five stage cycle of activities moving from controlled, to guided to free practice . 5 . Communicative practice (less structured, fluency-building activities (e.g., role play, problem solving) that require the learner to attend to both form and content of utterances.  

53. Recommended reading     TIPS FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION Linda Lane Pearson/Longman 2010

54. Thank You PHORN Sophannarith