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Reflection/Discussion
Question
Can you think of an instance where
mispronunciation brought about
confusion, embarrassment, or some
other type of problem?
Example from Italian: How old are you?
(literally: How many years do you have?)
= Quanti anni hai?
Issues pertaining to
Pronunciation
Spectrum of Comprehensibility
Incomprehensible
Speaker
Native
Brief intro/refresher on
phonology
SEGMENTS: (discrete sounds)
Vowels
Consonants
SUPRASEGMENTALS: (tone, stress, prosody,
nasalization, etc.)
The music of a language
Stress patterns emphasis and reduction
(rhythm)
Intonation pitch rise and fall (melody)
Pros:
Intense focus on a sound or sound
Raises awareness
Cons:
Integrating with certain communicative
approaches to FL teaching and learning?
Cons:
Focus on a particular sound may be somewhat reduced.
Is meaning being negotiated?
Cons:
Focus on a particular sound may be very reduced.
Is meaning being negotiated?
Cons:
Time-consuming, though doing them regularly
reduces time needed.
Recording and submitting requires technology.
Is meaning being negotiated?
Materials
ESL industry
Different pronunciation features, but
the types of activities may be useful.
Inspiration for materials
development.
Lunch Break
We will reconvene at 1 pm.
During your lunch break, you may
want to consider how you might
improve or extend the activity you
developed.
Suprasegmentals
Intonation
Example: the Music of English
Excuse me. Wheres the bank?
Suprasegmentals
Rhythm and stress patterns:
Rubber band exercise
Emphasizing content words
What are you studying?
Economics. What about you?
Suprasegmentals
Contractions and Reductions
Careful speech vs. quick speech
What are you studying? vs. Whaddya
studyin?
Suprasegmentals
Assimilation
The sound at the end of one word
blends into the sound of the beginning
of the next word
Hot potato = hoppotato.
Suprasegmentals
Aspiration
The burst of air accompanying certain
consonant sounds. Many consonants can
be aspirated or unaspirated, and in
certain languages, these are separate
phonemes.
Example: Where do you /p=/ark?
Suprasegmentals
Linking (usually the end sound of one
word to the beginning sound of the
following word).
Example: when the vowel sounds /iy/,
/ay/ or /ey/ link with a following vowel,
the vowel sounds are connected by the
off-glide /y/.
We agree: Weyagree.
I often say a lot: Iyoften sayya lot.
Activities for
Suprasegmentals
Same categories as the segments,
but focusing on these features.
Paradox: suprasegmentals are often
MORE impactful on comprehensibility
than segment issues, but are also
HARDER to learn.
Teachers reflect on
whether it went as you predicted,
what any problems were that you or the
students encountered.
how it could be improved.
Final activity
Groups can continue to collaborate
on developing activities, materials,
etc.
Robin is available for consultation,
feedback to those who are
interested.
Questions?
Robin Worth
raworth@wisc.edu