Making Pronunciation Work for Your Learners
Adrian Underhill
International House Teacher Training,
England |
I was fascinated by the Marilyn Higgins, Michael Higgins and Yukiko Shima
article entitled "Basic training in pronunciation and phonics: A sound
approach" which appeared in the April 1995 issue of The Language
Teacher (pp. 4-8, 16). I was particularly interested in their use of
a pronunciation chart since I too use a chart, though mine displays IPA
phonemic symbols. I thought the best way I could contribute to the discussion
was to outline aspects of my approach in order to promote some debate.
I am also pleased to be attending my first JALT Conference this year
and to be offering a Pre-Conference Workshop "Making Pronunciation
Work for You and Your Learners," which will develop in more detail
some of the material presented here.
Make Pronunciation Physical
One of my aims in teaching pronunciation is to get pronunciation work
"out of the head and into the body." Though this is what I say,
what I really mean is to make pronunciation a physical as well as a cognitive
activity. First I help learners to stop thinking about pronunciation in
the abstract by focussing them on the muscles that produce sound, rhythm
and articulation. I use a number of simple and attractive activities that
do this. Then I engage their minds in sensing, noticing and being fascinated
by what their muscles are doing, and in how the movements of those muscles
affect what they hear. Their emerging curiosity and engagement is quickly
upgraded into awareness of the total interaction between muscle movement,
sound production and aural perception. There is a link here between pronunciation
work and coaching in sport, athletics, dance or movement.
In its broadest sense pronunciation (and articulation generally) represents
the physical aspect of language because it is the muscular amplification
of a minute impulse in the brain into a spoken utterance that vibrates the
air. It is a highly sophisticated and unbelievably sensitive physical activity.
And when we look at it this way we immediately find some quite different
ways of studying it. By contrast, I feel that the mainstream way of approaching
pronunciation teaching and learning is rather cerebral and disconnected,
resulting in approaches that are either too academic (theoretical rather
than experiential) or too much based on habit formation (leading to dull
repetition of correctness at the expense of insight, curiosity, awareness).
There are a number of advantages to a physical approach:
- Activities that encourage conscious contact with articulatory muscles
give learners a way of intervening in their own pronunciation. They find
there are quite systematic things they can do to change the way they say
a sound or stress a syllable once they start to become aware of how to
contact the muscles that make the difference. Making conscious contact
with the muscles is not new, since everyone did this as a baby when learning
their first language.
- Muscles move, and movement can be visible. Deaf people in every language
can lip-read by watching the sequence of muscular movements with their
eyes. In fact the muscular movements of pronunciation cannot be heard at
all, it is only their effect on the vibrating airstream that can be heard.
(Imagine trying to learn T'ai Ch'i or gymnastics only by listening
to the movement of the muscles of the demonstrator! You have to see it
with your eyes to inform your muscles). As soon as we realise this we can
introduce the visible aspect to pronunciation work.
- The movement of muscles yields an internal sensation, or feeling of
movement, through the nerves in the tissue at points connected with the
movement. Registering this internal sensation provides another "fix"
on what is happening, that can feed the awareness of the learner.
So, in addition to hearing sounds with the ear, we can see movements
with the eye and also feel movements through the internal sensation of muscles.
We can also provide the learner with a more concrete point of conscious
intervention -- the muscles. Thus we have a much richer web of information
feeding back into the awareness of the learner and helping to promote conscious
choices.
Here are some examples of activities suggested above:
Activity 1. Example of Working with what is Visible
I can give models of individual phonemes (and later of words and even short
phrases) by miming them rather than by saying them. When I mime I make the
muscular movements associated with the sound very clear, but without actually
voicing the sound. Thus the students have to use their eyes, and their eyes
inform their muscles as I invite them to try the sound. They say the sound
aloud, and I invite them to listen to the differences between each person,
in which I take a real interest myself. Then I indicate those which were
nearer to my (albeit silent) model.
Activity 2. Example of Working with what is Tactile
When working with monophthong vowels, I take such front and back vowels
as the learners can already manage, and help them to do a series of simple
but powerful awareness raising activities. First I ask them to glide between
/i:/ and /u:/ like this /i: i: i: i: ...... u: u: u: u: ...... i: i: i:
i: ...... u: u: u: u:/. When this is more or less established I ask them
to put the tip of the thumb on one corner of the mouth and the tip of the
forefinger on the other corner. And again they make this glide back and
forth. This gives them tactile feedback on the movement of the lips between
the spread and the rounded position. Then I ask them to touch the forefinger
to the front of the lips, and again make the glide. This time they get the
sensation of the lips moving back and forward (pouted). Then, still with
the same pair of sounds I ask them to touch the tip of the tongue (with
finger or pen) while in the / i: / position and then to slide to the /u:/
position but without losing contact with the tongue. Apart from causing
laughter, this gives them the sensation of the tongue moving forward and
backwards in the mouth.
Later I establish a pair of high-low sounds such as /i:/ and /{:/ and
in the same way help them to slide between the two. This time I ask them
to place the forefinger on the bridge of the nose and the thumb on the point
of the chin. As they slide between these sounds they get tactile confirmation
that the jaw opens and closes, and that this movement is sufficient to produce
a range of perceptibly different sounds.
From these four exercises they begin to discover for themselves that
movement of tongue, lips and jaw enables them to make a whole range of perceptibly
different sounds.
Activity 3. Working with what is Audible
So far I have not referred to the more usual approach in pronunciation teaching
-- working with what is audible. This gains in precision from the supporting
work with the visual, the tactile and the muscular. When I give a spoken
model (whether of a sound, a word, or a phrase) I try to go against two
of the firmly entrenched legacies of behaviourism. First I try to say the
model only once, rather than repeating it several times, and second I try
to leave a silent space (just two or three seconds) for conscious internal
processing of the audible signal. Here is an example.
I give the model, let's say it's the vowel phoneme /ae / I say
it once, clearly, making sure the learners see my mouth movement as well
as hear the sound. I gesture that they be silent a moment, and that they
try to keep hearing the sound, in my voice, internally in their "mind's
ear." Then I ask them to say the sound aloud. Again I ask them to listen
to each other and to notice the differences. Then if they need to hear the
sound again I give it, once only. Giving a model once carries a more positive
message than repeating it several times, and it also makes them more alert,
which seems to make them more engaged. My aim is to see what they can do
with one model, then if they need it to give another, and see what they
can do with that.
This activity becomes quite natural to them since I often ask them to
hold, and "replay" sounds and sentences in their heads. This natural
but under-exercised human capacity develops very quickly, and becomes a
powerful ally, not only in pronunciation learning, but in all aspects of
listening, speaking, grammar and vocabulary practice.
So far I have tried to give an idea of how the muscular, the tactile,
the visible, and the auditory can reinforce each other to thicken the web
(or gestalt) of experience. I have also suggested that internal representation
of sounds by learners can be used in the place of teacher repetition. The
findings of my colleagues and trainee teachers seem to indicate that this
can help to make pronunciation work more vivid and engaging.
A Chart
I have designed a phonemic chart that shows all the phonemes of the language
being taught, and whose layout presents the symbols in a significant visual
relationship to each other. Built into this design are references and indications
as to how and where each sound is produced and many other clues that help
learners to recognise, correct and recall sounds. Each symbol has its own
box which can be seen as containing all the allophones of that sound. Sounds
are selected for attention by simply touching them with a pointer.
Aims of the Chart
- To provide learners with a map of the sound system of the target language.
Such a sound map can be used to identify sounds that the student has already
explored, or knows well, and it can be used to identify sounds that the
student has not yet explored or is uncertain about.
- To see all the sounds of the target language in one visual sweep. To
reinforce the message that for practical purposes the number of different
sounds is limited. ("The whole of the spoken language is here on this
chart!")
- To provide a permanent reference. The chart is always visible at the
front of the classroom, and can be referred to at any time in any lesson.
Not only can the chart be used for pronunciation work such as changing
and correcting sounds, syllable stress, linking in connected speech, comparing
sound and spelling, (spelling problems can be exaggerated by not getting
the pronunciation right in the first place), but it also has more general
classroom applications such as correcting word endings and syntactical
features, introducing new vocabulary, providing prompts silently by pointing
instead of by speaking or writing on the board, and so on).
- To learn sounds not symbols. The aim of this approach is to enable
learners to experience sounds and sound sequences in a personal and vivid
way, and to use the symbols as memory hooks that can trigger that auditory
and physical experience. Once you have the sound it is very easy to link
it to the symbol.
Working at Three Levels
The first level involves work with individual sounds. At the second level
we string the sounds together into words, adding the distinctive energy
profile called wordstress. At the third level we string words into connected
speech, adding the energy distribution of intonation, as well as the various
simplifications of connected speech. All three levels are available, according
to nature of the work that needs to be done.
Behind the teacher's set of technical facilities lies the teacher's set
of psychological attitudes that can help or hinder the work in hand. Here
are some of the questions that I like to keep asking myself while I am working
with pronunciation: Can I find it in me to respond to classroom events in
a spontaneous rather than a routine way? Can I be intrigued and curious
about what may happen, and then delighted by what does happen
- whatever it is? Can I be "a student of learning" even while
I am teaching? Can I be on the same side of the learning fence as the learners
themselves, so that while they are learning the topic I am learning about
their learning?
The Pre-Conference Workshop
If you are interested in this kind of work then I cordially invite you
to attend The pre-conference workshop and to explore these ideas in greater
depth. Amongst other things we will study the significance of the layout
of this chart, the mimes and gestures used for teaching sounds, and demonstrate
a possible way of introducing this to a new class.
Reference
Higgins, Marilyn, Higgins, Michael, & Shima,
Y. (1995). Basic training in pronunciation and phonics: A sound approach.
The Language Teacher, 19 (4), 4-8, 16.
Adrian Underhill's workshop is sponsored by Heinemann ELT. Underhill
is Director of International House Teacher Training in Hastings, England.
His institute specialises in short courses for English language teachers
from all over the world. He is author of Sound Foundations: Living
Phonology and editor of the Heinemann Teacher Development Series of
handbooks for teachers.
Article
copyright © 1996 by the author.
Document URL: http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/96/sept/pron.html
Last modified: March 25, 1997
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