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It's no surprise that many teachers don't feel confident about tackling it in
the classroom. When teaching grammar or lexis, we find ways of making the
language accessible to our learners. How then to do this with intonation?
What is intonation?
Conclusion
What is intonation?
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without
intonation, it's impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that
go with words.
Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to the words: the
'melody' you hear is the intonation. It has the following features:
The pitch moves up and down, within a 'pitch range'. Everybody has their
own pitch range. Languages, too, differ in pitch range. English has
particularly wide pitch range.
Statements: falling
The first thing is for learners to recognise the effect of intonation changes. I
say the word 'bananas' - firstly with an 'interested' intonation (varied tone);
then 'uninterested' (flat). Students identify the two and describe the
difference. We then brainstorm attitudes, such as 'enthusiastic', 'bored',
'surprised', 'relieved'. I say 'bananas' for these. Students then do the same
in pairs, guessing each other's attitude.
Higher level students can identify the 'new' / 'shared' information, and then
practise reading accordingly.
Use a consistent system for marking intonation on the board for example:
arrow for tone; tonic-syllable in CAPITALS; double lines ( // ) for tone-unit
boundaries.
Keep it positive and don't expect perfection. The last thing I'd want is to
make my students so anxious about their intonation that they stop speaking!