Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello,

I want to improve my students' listening by making them aware of pronunciation features in English. I teach adults in Philadelphia, so it is mostly American Standard English. My questions are:

1. Which pronunciation features are most salient to listening comprehension?

2. What techniques can I use to make learners more aware of them?

Thank you

Angela

angelamm wrote: 1. Which pronunciation features are most salient to listening comprehension?

2. What techniques can I use to make learners more aware of them?

Thank you

Angela

Oh boy, Angela. This is a topic that could generate a very long response (from me at least ) The first question is what English do you want to teach them to listen to? Since I teach in a program for immigrants to the United States, I concentrate on "standard" American English. I am sure the points I would make would be different if I were teaching EFL or if I were teaching "standard" British English (presuming there is such a thing .) I always let my students know that my way isn't the only way, but if they are going to live in my city, they should be able to practice and understand the way people talk here.

If your students are in a similar situation and area, I could write that long post.

I teach adults in Philadelphia, so it is American Standard English mostly. I'm open for any suggestions.

Thanks again
Angela

Well, I've done a lot of things with pronunciation and listening. I think our students have the most difficulty with the stress and intonation of American English sentences, including in particular the reductions and liaisons. I'd recommend you get a book like "Clear Speech" to see what I mean--I'm write a whole semester's worth of material on similar things.

For my students, at the beginning of the class, I explain the problem by giving them the famous sentence (It was famous when I studied linguistics in the Stone Age.) "He took off his hat." Spoken at regular native speaker speed, the students often hear "coffee" or "office". This is because we tend to link words that end with a final consonant to words that begin with a vowel. In addition, the /h/ sound before words like "he, him, his," and "her" lose the /h/ and act as though they started with a vowel. There are a lot of "rules" for linking, to show students why we say "Doncha wanna go?" for "Don't you want to go" etc.

To teach it, I usually give dictations. I dictate a sentence three times at regular speed. Then I ask them to check their papers to see if it looks like English, and to check each other. The next time I read the sentence three times again, but the second time is very weird. I read it with all the liasons and reductions intact, but at a very slow speed. It would sound crazy to anyone passing by, but it gives them a chance to see what happens. I always end with the regular speed because that's what I want them to remember. After that, I show them the answers on an overhead projector, and I ask them what's small or together (reduced or liaison) I then mark them on the overhead and we practice together. I will say that my students have often told me how useful this is, and that we should have more of them. They claim that their listening has improved. I hope it's true

If you really want more detail about this let me know via private message. I wouldn't mind sharing some of my stuff if you are interested. That way no one has to try and read through this all.

Hiya!

I encourage my students to use the www as an additional

tool at home!

I tell them to either listen to me ranting on my homepage or use this excellent and FREE site

http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm

Best wishes
Siân

angelamm wrote:I teach adults in Philadelphia, so it is American Standard English mostly. I'm open for any suggestions.

Thanks again
Angela

Since you teach American English, I recommend you this website.

http://www.englishbaby.com/community/index.htm

Cheers

Hiya

Use these free sites -sorry my keyboard is effed up


use these for BE:



http://www.fun2learnmore.de/modules.php ... ex&catid=2


or this one

http://www.fun2learnmore.de/modules.php ... ex&catid=2

ALL FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

please give me feedback


siân

PS

American English


http://www.americanaccent.com


listen and enjoy

Siân

could you tell me how to teach pronunciation to EFL learners?