TEACHING PRONUNCIATION English in the 21 st Century & How to Teach Segmentals

English in the 21 st Century How many people are there in the world today? How many of them speak English?

English in the 21 st Century There are over 7 billion people in the world today. More than 25% of them speak English fluently or competently (Crystal 2003, quoted in Jenkins 2007).

English in the 21 st Century This is Braj Kachru’s famous model for understanding how English functions in different countries. (in Crystal, 1995)

English in the 21 st Century How many users in each circle? million in inner circle (e.g., US) million in outer circle (e.g., India) 500 million – 1 billion in expanding circle (e.g., VN) (Figures from Crystal, 2003, quoted in Jenkins, 2007)

English in the 21 st Century

So why am I telling you this on the day we are talking about teaching pronunciation?

Nativeness versus Intelligibility Nativeness principle: the goal of pronunciation teaching is for learner to achieve native-like pronunciation in the target language Intelligibility principle: the goal of pronunciation teaching is for learners to be understood when speaking

Nativeness versus Intelligibility Which is more important and realistic in your context?

Does being a native speaker make a person a good pronunciation teacher? Go to to see the video!

Does being a native speaker make a person a good pronunciation teacher? What are some advantages NNESTs (non native English speaking teachers) have over NESTs (native English speaking teachers)?

Teaching Segmentals: Vowel Sounds What English vowels are difficult for you to pronounce? Which are easy? What strategies have you or your past English teachers used to improve your production of English vowel sounds? Which ones were the most successful?

Common Vowel Problems /iy/ vs. / ɪ /seat/sit, sheep/ship / ɛ / vs. /æ/vet/vat, pest/past / ʌ / vs. / ʊ /buck/book, cud/could

Teaching Vowels: /iy/ vs. / ɪ / What do you already know about these sounds?

Teaching Vowels: /iy/ vs. / ɪ / Help Ss understand the mouth position

Teaching Vowels: /iy/ vs. / ɪ / Help Ss understand the mouth position Exaggerate and use movement to help them pronounce the sound correctly

Teaching Vowels: /iy/ vs. / ɪ / Help Ss understand the mouth position Exaggerate and use movement to help them pronounce the sound correctly Drill using minimal pairs SLEEP SLIP GREEN GRIN LEAVE LIVE EAT IT

Teaching Vowels: /iy/ vs. / ɪ / Help Ss understand the mouth position Exaggerate and use movement to help them pronounce the sound correctly Drill using minimal pairs Give listening discrimination practice

Listening Discrimination Directions: 1) copy the words; 2) listen to the teacher (or recording) say the words and mark the one you hear. 1. ___ SLEEP ___ SLIP 2. ___ GREEN ___ GRIN 3. ___ LEAVE ___ LIVE 4. ___ EAT ___ IT

Teaching Vowels: /iy/ vs. / ɪ / Help Ss understand the mouth position Exaggerate and use movement to help them pronounce the sound correctly Drill using minimal pairs Give listening discrimination practice Do controlled practice activities Example: What’s Your Phone Number

What’s Your Phone Number 0- sleep 1- slip 2- green 3- grin 4- leave 5- live 6- eat 7- it 8- seat 9- sit

Teaching Segmentals: Consonant Sounds What English consonant sounds are difficult for you to pronounce? Which are easy? What strategies have you or your past English teachers used to improve your production of English consonant sounds? Which ones were the most successful?

Common Consonant Problems /p/ vs. /b/pat/bat, pour/bore /g/ vs. /k/gut/cut, gain/cane Final consonants false Consonant clusters months

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ What do you already know about these sounds?

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ Instruct Ss about how to form the sounds Show a picture or exaggerate your mouth position

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ Instruct Ss about how to form the sounds Show a picture or exaggerate your mouth position Practice voiced and unvoiced by touching your vocal chords

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ Instruct Ss about how to form the sounds Show a picture or exaggerate your mouth position Practice voiced and unvoiced by touching your vocal chords Use a piece of paper to demonstrate aspiration

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ Instruct Ss about how to form the sounds Drill using minimal pairs PAT BAT PIE BUY PIG BIG PAIR BEAR POOR BORE TAP TAB

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ Instruct Ss about how to form the sounds Drill using minimal pairs Give listening discrimination practice ___ PIE ___ BUY ___ PIG ___ BIG ___ POOR ___ BORE ___ TAP ___ TAB

Teaching Consonants: /p/ vs /b/ Instruct Ss about how to form the sounds Drill using minimal pairs Give listening discrimination practice Do a controlled practice activity Example: Pronunciation Journey

What are Final Consonants? Is the answer true or false? My favorite color is black. Please send those two s to me.

Teaching Final Consonants Drill the word exaggerating the final consonant BLACK FALSE S

Teaching Final Consonants Drill the word exaggerating the final consonant Give listening discrimination practice Example: Slap the board

Teaching Final Consonants Drill the word exaggerating the final consonant Give listening discrimination practice Do a controlled practice activity Example: Word Chain

Teaching Final Consonants Drill the word exaggerating the final consonant Give listening discrimination practice Do a controlled practice activity Remind students everyday by writing S or last sound on the board and pointing to it when they make a mistake

What are Consonant Clusters? a) weeks:/wi:ks/ CVCC b) months:/m ʌ nθs/ CVCCC c) twelfth: /twelfθ/CCVCCC Note that all of these words are one syllable.

Teaching Consonant Clusters Consonant clusters: 1. Write the word in phonemic script or just practice the individual sounds M O N T H S

Teaching Consonant Clusters Consonant clusters: 1. Write the word in phonemic script or just practice the individual sounds 2. Drill the word backwards, sound by sound, and build up the word M O N T H S

Teaching Consonant Clusters Consonant clusters: 1. Write the word in phonemic script or just practice the individual sounds 2. Drill the word backwards, sound by sound, and build up the word 3. Drill the whole word

Teaching Consonant Clusters Consonant clusters: 1. Write the word in phonemic script or just practice the individual sounds 2. Drill the word backwards, sound by sound, and build up the word 3. Drill the whole word 4. Practice Example: How many months until…?