Job Discussion Forums

[geaaronson]

I have been sometimes faulted by not emphasizing pronunciation in my classes as much as I should and so I have been making more of an effort to incorporate it.
I often have my students read out loud short essays and works of fiction and accordingly correct their pronunciation. I have also developed a short list of difficult words to pronounce ie. invulnerable, ad valorem tax, invincibility, etc. for my most advanced students. I also have a two page list of words whose spellings would indicate pronunciation other than first surmised. But somehow, I still have the feeling that I could do more. Has anyone compiled a list of difficult to pronounce words or seen such a list on the web? Dave`s ESL has only an advertisement for some audiotape when you click on pronunciation lessons from its menu.

[gypsygirl1475]

This website might help.
http://esl.about.com/

[MO39]

[spiral78]

If you have internet access in your classroom, one way I've found that is effective for both vocab and pronunciation is to access short (4 minutes +/-) news clips on interesting topics. For example, cbc.ca has archived video and audio clips of news on a variety of topics. I've used things like 'extreme weather.'

It's useful to play the clips multiple times, for analysis first of meaning, then new words, then pronunciation.

One advantage of internet-based resources is the fact that language used is contextualized, real-life, and contemporary.

[Guy Courchesne]

[MO39]

Thanks for reminding of that technique, Guy. Though I didn't know it was called "back-chaining", I used it a lot when teaching lower-level groups back at the Community College of Philadelphia.

[chola]

Lax/tight vowels affect pronunciation, eg. bitch/beach, shit/sheet, etc. Also, many Spanish speakers have difficulty with t/th, linking of consonants, the b/v distinction. Stress timing is important as well. I use to use a game from the book "pronunciation games" called "Da-da" language (I think?) that required the students to mark works for the stress /syllables....it was good at making them aware that English pronunciation is reliant on stress and how it effects intonation. Also, the pronunciation between words that are both vowels/nouns, eg. Photograph/photography/photographer....etc.

[geaaronson]

It seems back-chaining eliminates any potential confusion between phonetics and meaning by decontextualizing the grammatical unit.

[MO39]

[geaaronson]

They don`t cover that in the TEFL, MO.
Simply stated-by reversing the sentence, students don`t pay attention to its meaning!

[MO39]

That's a good point - why didn't you say it like that in the first place?

[Guy Courchesne]

[geaaronson]

No, Guy, I was referring to Marsha`s statement that she had never taken a TEFL class and did not know what I meant about �decontextualizing the grammatical unit�. I responded to that comment by saying that expression was one would not learn in a EFL/TEFL course.

I was not referring at all to backchaining being part of any teacher training course. But yes, it is good that you do teach it which is another reason why your program is a good one. Now, I`m tooting your horn.

[Guy Courchesne]

Well thank you...a scholar and a gentleman.

But I understood what you meant, and was referring to both the activity and the concept, trying to show how you can work both ends at the word level and at the grammar level.

Let me ask you though, going back to your first post. How do you find those business English students and their attitude towards pronunciation in general? I haven't taught such a class in a little while now, but always found that the suit and tie types worried more about pronunciation than anything else.

[MELEE]