The document discusses issues related to teaching pronunciation. It begins by outlining the agenda, which includes a discussion of articulators, the problem of pronunciation in language teaching, and tips for teachers. It then describes the problem of pronunciation being marginalized and difficult to teach and learn. The document provides three tips for teachers: taking an intelligibility perspective rather than focusing on accent reduction; prioritizing segmentals and suprasegmentals; and using multiple modalities like software and tactile methods. It gives examples applying these tips, such as practicing vowel contrasts and nuclear stress through various activities.

1. Selected Issues in
PRONUNCIATION
Emily Magaziner
U.S. Department of State-sponsored
English Language Fellow

2. Today’s group…
• Secondary-school teachers?
• University teachers?

3. Agenda for today’s seminar
• (Amazing) articulators
• The problem of pronunciation
• Three tips
• Perspective
• Priorities
• Multiple modalities

4. Say these sentences…
• When it comes to singing, I love to sing French art
songs.
• But when I listen to music, I tend to listen to hard
rock or classic rock music.

5. Our articulators

6. The problem of pronunciation
• “…a very marginalized topic in applied
linguistics” (Derwing & Munro, 2005).
• “Pronunciation is universally considered to be a
‘difficult’ aspect of an L2 to teach and learn—and
probably the most difficult…” (Setter & Jenkins,
2005).
• Gilbert (2014): Pronunciation is the orphan in
English-teaching.

7. The problem of pronunciation

8. The problem of pronunciation
• Critical age

9. What can teachers do?
Three tips
① A new perspective. Focus on intelligibility.
② Define priorities.
③ Multiple modalities: Integrate the visual with the
auditory.

10. TIP 1: A new perspective
Adapted from Grant (2014)
• Accent seen as a problem.
• Accent accepted as part of normal variation.

11. Normal variation

12. Normal variation

13. A new perspective
Adapted from Grant (2014)
• Reduction or elimination of accent.
• Enhancement of intelligibility.
• Intelligibility: “…the extent to which a listener
understands a speaker’s message” (Grant, 2014)
• A speaker can have a strong foreign accent and
still be easily understood.

14. A new perspective
Adapted from Grant (2014)
• Native-like speech.
• Intelligibility-based goals.

15. A new perspective
Adapted from Grant (2014)
• When teaching pronunciation, give everything
equal importance.
• Focus mainly on problems likely to interfere with
intelligibility.

16. TIP 2: Priorities
• Segmental
• A unit; generally, consonants and vowels
• EX: [k], [ae], [t]
• Suprasegmental
• EX: Rhythm, word stress, intonation
• Not something that can be ordered
• Stretches over multiple segments
• The controversy

17. Jenkins (2002): Lingua Franca
• Teachable and learnable pronunciation targets?
• Consonants
• All consonants, except th (thin, then)
• Aspiration of word-initial voiceless stops [p t k]
• Clusters: Insertion is better than deletion (EX: string)
• Vowels
• Certain vowel contrasts: [i] versus [I], [u] versus [U]
• Shorter vowels: sad versus sat, hid versus hit
• Suprasegmentals
• Nuclear stress
• Division of speech into thought groups

18. Jenkins (2002): Lingua Franca
• Teachable and learnable pronunciation targets?
• Consonants
• All consonants, except th (thin, then)
• Aspiration of word-initial voiceless stops [p t k]
• Clusters: Insertion is better than deletion (EX: string)
• Vowels
• Certain vowel contrasts: [i] versus [I], [u] versus [U]
• Shorter vowels: sad versus sat, hid versus hit
• Suprasegmentals
• Nuclear stress
• Division of speech into thought groups

19. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• Segmental
• Recent conversation
• Friend: I need to feel the tea kettle for my mother.
• Emily: Oh, why do you need to feel it?
• Friend: It’s empty.
• Emily: Ohhh, you mean “fill it up!” Okay.
• Recent conversation
• kettle versus cattle

20. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• Two reasons for difficulty
• The contrast does not exist in the student’s native
language.
• The two vowels are similar in terms of where they are
produced.

21. The speech chain…
(LEARNER)

22. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• Introducing a segmental contrast (Celce-Murcia, Brinton,
and Goodwin [2010])
• STEP 1: Description and analysis
• STEP 2: Listening discrimination
• STEP 3: Controlled/guided practice
• STEP 4: Communicative practice

23. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• STEP 1: Description and analysis
• Description:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/
frameset-ad3.html

24. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• Color vowel chart:
http://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/color-vowel-chart
• “…describe any English word based on the
pronunciation of the primary stressed syllable in the
word” (Thompson & Taylor, 2013).
• green tea versus silver pin (fill)
• feel versus fill
• red dress versus black cat
• kettle versus cattle

25. sheep

26. ship

27. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• Praat: free software, used for speech analysis
• More recently: the classroom, for teachers and
learners
• http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/

28. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• STEP 2: Listening discrimination
• Red [E] or black [ae]?
• Is that an X/axe?
• You’ve ruined my hem/ham.

29. [i] versus [ı]
(Brian Hyland, 1960)
• It was an ___ ___ ___ ___ yellow polka-dot bikini.
• It was an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini.
• green tea [i], silver pin [I]
• It was an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini.

30. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• STEP 3: Controlled/guided practice
• Focused sentence practice
• Heather has seven happy hens in the back pen.
• Isn’t that Nan’s friend Jen dancing in that black leather
dress?
• Heather has seven happy hens in the back pen.
• Isn’t that Nan’s friend Jen dancing in that black leather
dress?

31. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• STEP 4: Communicative practice
• Mingle
• Two questions

32. [i] versus [I], [E] versus [ae]
• STEP 4: Communicative practice
• Story-telling
WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE HOW
[E] Esther umbrella in September dentist’s office recklessly
Ed dentist yesterday restaurant tenderly
Jenna elbow at ten o’clock wedding gently
[ae] Pam hat in the past bank sadly
Dan actor last week at the park rapidly
Ann ankle after school back yard gladly

33. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• Suprasegmental
① A b c
② a B c
③ a b C
• Jim was here.
• Three main signals to call attention to an important word
• The stressed syllable in the important word is…
• higher (pitch change)
• longer
• louder

34. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• JIM was here.

35. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• Jim WAS here.

36. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• Using stress to express different meanings
• Why don’t we go to the movies tonight?
① I don’t want to go to the ballet.
② I can’t wait until tomorrow.

37. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• Why is nuclear stress important?
• You think I saw the monster.
• (You are the one who thinks this is true.)
• You think I saw the monster.
• (This is your belief, but you are not correct.)
• You think I saw the monster.
• (Maybe someone saw it, but it wasn’t me.)

38. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• You think I saw the monster.
• (I didn’t see it; I smelled it.)
• You think I saw the monster.
• (I saw something, but it may not have been the monster
[e.g., I saw the clown].)

39. Nuclear (or tonic) stress
• Partner A: Stress one of
the underlined words.
(Stretch the rubber band.)
• Partner B: Identify the
follow-up statement.

40. Multiple modalities
• Phonetics software
• “Phonetics software [such as Praat] allows students to
see what their ears cannot ‘see’” (Ulfsbjorninn, 2012).
• Rubber bands

41. Multiple modalities

42. Multiple modalities

43. Thank you!
• Questions?