T h e P r o n u n c ia tio n

B ook
S tu d e n t-

c e n tre d

a c t iv it ie s

fo r

p r o n u n c ia tio n

w o rk

INTERNATIONAL H O U i>S

l l - n o Krakow, ul.CzapAkii 5
t e l . 2 1 -9 4 -4 0 . 22-64-82

N -('S7- Oi
1^1
Pilgrims
T im B o w e n
a n d J o n a t h a n M a rk s L ongm an-
 Index of activities

ACTIVITY LEVEL FOCUS

1 THE BASICS 1.1 The pronunciation n/a W hat the teacher needs
teacher's tool kit
1.2 Teaching sounds n/a Teacher aw areness
1.3 Pronunciation in Any Using dictionaries as a pronunciation
dictionaries resource
1.4 Opportunities for Any Attention to pronunciation in non
pronunciation work pronunciation orientated lessons
in grammatically
and functionally
orientated lessons
1.6 Using dialogues Any Pronunciation focus through dialogues
1.6 Using written texts Elementary + Relationships b etw een spoken and
written form s of English

2 THE BEGINNINGS 2.1 Pronunciation Any A w areness of the scope and importance
OF AWARENESS questionnaire of pronunciation
2.2 Radio dial Pre-beginner Awareness of general features of
English pronunciation
23 Comparing sounds Beginner + Sensitising learners to differences in the
sound of their m other tongue and
English
2.4 Bilingual minimal pairs Any A w areness of w hat is involved in
learning the accent of a foreign language
25 Finding missing Any Articulating new vowels
vowels
26 Throwing a phoneme Beginner + Producing sounds
27 Vowel chanting Any Recognising and producing long vowel
sounds; Developing confidence and
group trust; Lowering inhibitions
28 Introducing syllables Beginner + Introducing th e concept of the syllable
\
3 LEARNING THE 3.1 Exploiting the Beginner + Familiarising learners with the content
INVENTORY OF phonemic chart and layout of the phonem ic chart
SOUNDS 3.2 Phoneme exchange Beginner + Warming up; Pronouncing phonemic
symbols
33 User-friendly tongue Any Producing difficult sounds
twisters
3.4 /h/ through Any k
whispering
3.5 Test the teacher Any Sound contrasts; Any aspect of
pronunciation
3.6 Finding missing Any Producing the 'm issing' m em ber of a
sounds: Using voiced/voiceless fricative pair
voicing
3.7 Odd one out Elementary + Discriminating b etw een similar sounds
33 Sounds hangman Beginner + Recognising and producing individual
sounds and combinations of sounds in
words
3.9 Guess the phoneme Beginner + Producing individual sounds
3 10i Initial 'A* Beginner + Different w ays of pronouncing a in
initial position
3.11 Sounds Beginner + Recognising minimal differences
discrimination betw een individual phonem es
exercise

VI
 ACTIVITY LEVEL FOCUS

3.12 Sounds vocabulary ; Elementary* Pronouncing known vocabulary

game
3.13 Sounds anagram Elementary* Recognising sounds; Combining
race sounds into words
3.14 Sounds bingo Beginner + Recognising sounds

r SPELLING TO 4.1 Sounds maze Beginner * Recognising phonemic symbols;

SOUND AND Relationships between sounds and
BACK AGAIN spelling
4.2 Phonemic snap Beginner Relationships between sounds and
spelling; Practice in the pronunciation of
sounds in words
4.3 Rhyming sounds Elementary * Links between sounds and speUmg.
Recognising sound/spefing patterns
4.4 Ongoing vocabulary Any Relationships between pronunciation
record and spelling
4.5 Sounds search Beginner* Recognising individual sounds and
relating sounds to spe&ng
4.6 Sounds scrabble Elementary* Relationships between sounds and
spelling
4.7 Using sounds for Elementary * Relationships between sounds and
word building speSng
4.8 Sounds crosswords Elementary* Relationships between sounds and
spelling
4.9 Phonemic word race Beginner*. Relationships between sounds and
spettng

S SOUNDS IN Assimilation Elementary* Awareness of featues or connected

5.1
| SEQUENCE awareness exercise speech
52 Producing weak Elementary * Producing weak forms
forms
5.3 Using listening Beginner* Stressed syllables and weak forms
material
5.4 How many words7 Elementary* interpreting sounds in fast coikx^ral
speech
5.5 Connected speech Elementary * Sensitising learners to assarxtaoon and
dictation elision; Changes in the pronunoabon of
some words n connected speech
5.6 Completing limericks Beginner* Rhythm, syllable reduction and rhyme

6 WORD STRESS 6.1 Introducing word Beginner * Introducing the concept of stress
stress
6.2 Stress patterns Beginner* Word stress patterns in Engfish
6.3 Word stress Elementary* Recognising and producing correct
awareness exercise stress placement
64 Guess the stress Any Predicting word stress
65 Stress matching Elementary* Accurate stress placement
game
66 Vocabulary revision Any Pronunciation as a ewe for recalling and
categorising vocabulary items
67 Moving stress in Elementary Stress variations according a h e
phrases position of a word m a pmase
68 Stress in compounds/ Beginner + Stress patterns in compounds and two/
two-word multi-word expressions
expressions
 ACTIVITY LEVEL FO C U S

7 TONE GROUPS. 7 1 Tonic prominence Elementary + The function of tonic prominence

recognition exercise
RHYTHM AND
72 Tonic prominence Elementary + Placing tonic prominence according to
INTONATION production exercise intended meaning
72 Twenly questions to Elementary + Contrastive intonation
drawing
7.4 Ido Elementary + Assigning tonic prominence according to
discourse conditions
75 Correct the teacher Elementary + Assigning tonic prominence according to
discourse conditions
7.6 Create your own Lower Rhythmic structures
verse form intermediate +
7.7 Metronome Any Rhythm and compression of unstressed
syllables
7.8 Shadowing Elementary + All aspects of pronunciation
7.0 Video viewing Elementary + Awareness of body language as a way
into stress end rhythm
7.10 Pronunciation role Elementary + Differences between the pronunciation
play of English and that of the mother tongue
above the level of individual sounds

TROUBLE 81 Problems with M Any Ideas for working on M /

SHOOTING 82 M for M Any Avoiding /w/
83 A//p/confusion Any Awareness of where the sounds are
produced
84 Insenion of/e/before Any Removing intrusive/e/
consonant clusters
85 /p/AV confusion Any The question of voicing '
8 6 ft/ pronounced as /dtJ Any Using f\ -Jto arrive at ftl
87 Initial/h/ Any Getting louder
88 Intrusive AV Any Through /j/ to /h/
8 9 Problems with /6/ Any Tongue and teeth
and AY
810 Dental A/and/d/ Any Moving the tip of the tongue back
811 Intrusive la/ in final Any Holding the final fricative
position
8.12 Incorrect stress Any Awareness of what makes a stressed
patterns syllable

viii

I
Introduction
T he P ro nun cia tio n B o o k Is a im e d a t th o s e te a c h e r s w h o w ish to
in c o r p o ra te m o r e ( o r p e r h a p s s o m e ) p ro n u n c ia tio n w o rk in to th e ir
g e n e ra l E n g lish te a c h in g . It will b e o f u s e to all te a c h e r s of E n g lish w h o
feel th e n e e d b o th t o in c r e a s e th e ir o w n re p e r to ire o f p ro n u n c ia tio n
te a c h in g te c h n iq u e s a n d s tra te g ie s , a n d to d e v e lo p th e ir o w n a w a re
n e s s of a n d s e n s itiv ity to w a rd s a s p e c t s o f E nglish p ro n u n c ia tio n . It will
b e s u ita b le fo r t h o s e te a c h in g d iffe re n t le v e ls of le a r n e rs from b e g in n e r
to a d v a n c e d a n d w ill b e o f u s e t o th o s e te a c h in g y o u n g e r le a r n e rs a s
w ell a s a d u lts . T h e b o o k w ill a ls o b e n e fit te a c h e r s ju s t e n te r in g th e
p ro fe ssio n , a s it c o v e r s b a s ic a r e a s o f s o u n d re c o g n itio n a n d p ro d u c
tio n . As s u c h , it w ill a ls o b e a v a lu a b le s o u r c e of te a c h in g m a te ria l for
tu to r s a n d p a r tic ip a n ts o n te a c h e r tra in in g c o u r s e s (e.g . th e RSA/
C a m b rid g e C e rtific a te in TEFLA) fo r b o th n a tiv e a n d n o n -n a tiv e sp e a k
e rs alike.

C O N TEN T

T h e b o o k in c lu d e s a c tiv itie s th a t a r e b a s e d o n a n u m b e r o f a s p e c ts of
p ro n u n c ia tio n : s o u n d s , w o rd s tr e s s , p ro m in e n c e , a s p e c ts o f in to n a
tio n a n d fe a tu r e s o f c o n n e c te d s p e e c h . T h e s e a r e g ro u p e d in to e ig h t
c h a p te rs . T h e firs t d e a ls w ith th e b a s ic fa c to rs in v o lv ed in p ro d u c in g
s o u n d s a n d p ro v id e s a g e n e ra l m e th o d o lo g y fo r th e te a c h in g o f s o u n d s .
T h e s e c o n d c h a p te r c o v e rs th e p ro m o tio n of a w a re n e s s of a s p e c ts o f
p ro n u n c ia tio n . T h e th ird c h a p te r lo o k s a t w ay s in w h ic h le a r n e rs c a n
b e h e lp e d to a c q u ir e a n d b u ild o n th e ir o w n in v e n to ry o f so u n d s . T h e
fo u rth c o n ta in s a n u m b e r of a c tiv itie s d e sig n e d to p ro m o te a c tiv e
a w a re n e s s o f th e re la tio n s h ip s b e tw e e n s o u n d s a n d sp e llin g in E nglish.
T h e fifth c h a p te r is c o n c e rn e d w ith s o u n d s in s e q u e n c e a n d th e effect
o n s o u n d s o f th e ir e n v iro n m e n t in c o n tin u o u s s p e e c h . T h e s ix th
c h a p te r d e a ls w ith w o rd s t r e s s o r a c c e n t, w h ile th e s e v e n th lo o k s a t
a s p e c ts of rh y th m a n d in to n a tio n . T h e final c h a p te r is a tro u b le
s h o o tin g ' c h a p te r , in w h ic h p o s s ib le so lu tio n s a r e s u g g e s te d fo r fre
q u e n tly o c c u rrin g p ro n u n c ia tio n p ro b le m s. T h is is fo llo w ed b y a
g lo s sa ry of te r m s u s e d in th e b o o k , a p ro n u n c ia tio n ta b le , a n d a s h o r t
b ib lio g ra p h y o f b o o k s o n p h o n e tic s a n d p h o n o lo g y th a t th e a u th o r s
h av e fo u n d u sefu l.

1
AIMS
The book is intended sim ultaneously to heighten te a c h e rs (and
learn ers) aw areness of features of English pronunciation and to
provide a range of practical classroom activities th a t tea c h e rs can
easily incorporate into lessons of all types. T he basic aim of th e book
is to enable teach ers to affect their learners pronunciation in a positive
sen se in th ree general ways. Firstly, by increasing th e le a rn e rs aw are
n ess of different asp ects of pronunciation. Secondly, b y helping them
to identify their own particular pronunciation targ ets in w h at (w ithout
th is help) might seem a hopeless and limitless task. Finally, b y enabling
learn ers to realise th at pronunciation is n eith er dull n o r difficult, but
th at it can be a pleasurable and stress free p a rt of th e language learning
process.

APPLYING THE ACTIVITIES

The activities and procedures described and illu strated in th is book

a re not intended to be pronunciation lesso n s in them selves. T hey
could, however, be extended, combined o r a d ap te d to form com plete
pronunciation-based lessons if this seem ed a p p ro p riate. R ather th an
com plete lessons, they are pronunciation com ponents th a t you can
integrate into o th e r lessons. Suggestions a re m ade a s to why, w here
and how you can use the activities and how you can link th em to other,
non-pronunciation activities. With most of th e activities, th e re are also
guidelines for th e am ount of time a particular activity m ight norm ally
be expected to take and th e materials th at you will n eed . As far as th e
language level of th e learners Is concerned, m ost of th e activities can
be used at virtually any level from beginner to adv an ced , although
indications of th e suitability for particular levels a re given a t th e
beginning of each activity.

ORIGINS OFTHE BOOK

We have found th a t many teachers, consciously o r unconsciously,

avoid teaching pronunciation because they regard it as difficult. But
when teach ers try out a few simple pronunciation activities of th e kind
included in this book, they are often surprised at th e ir effectiveness
and popularity with learners. We hope th a t th e activities and proce
dures described in this book will help many m ore te a c h e rs to becom e
m ore confident when dealing with pronunciation in th e classroom , and
th at th e application of th ese activities and p ro ced u res will contribute
to a growing aw areness of th e role and im portance of pronunciation in
th e language learning process as a whole.
 IN T R O D U C T IO N

A ckno w ledgem ents

T h an k s a re d u e to A drian U nderhill for h is inspirational ph o n em ic

c h a rt, to th e s tu d e n ts of ILC, H astings, w ith w hom many of th e id e a s
o u tlin ed in th is b o o k w e re first trie d o u t, a n d to th e te a c h e rs of Je re z
d e la F ro n te ra , M unich, S tu ttg a rt, B ratislava a n d Brno for th e ir helpful
co m m e n ts o n th e a ctiv ities.

Tim B ow en
Jonathan M arks
A pril 1992
 CH A PTER 1

The basics
THE PRONUNCIATION TEACHER'S TOOL KIT

The exercises and activities contained in this book re q u ire th e use of

a num ber of classroom aids. In so m e cases, th e s e are available com
mercially, but in o th ers you might find th a t th e sim plest solution is to
make your own.
Wa regard the following as essantial:

A phonemic chart

This is a ch art o r tab le show ing th e 44 p honem es of th e variety of

sta n d a rd British English th at is o therw ise known as RP o r Received
Pronunciation. In corresponding to a sta n d a rd m odel (RP), su c h a ch art
d o es not include phonetic variations on th e basic 44 p h o n em es found
in various British regional accen ts and o th e r varieties o f English. The
type of phonemic c h art referred to in this book an d used a s th e basis
(or many of the activities is not intended as a p rescrip tiv e m odel, but
rath er as a general structural guideline. One way of using a c h a rt based
on th e 44 phonem es of RP English is to regard th e c e n tre of each
phonem e square as th e sta n d a rd m odel, while v ariations a re included
around the centre of th e square and, in som e cases, may even to u ch the
edge of th e square and resem ble th e adjoining phonem e v e ry closely.
We are both speakers of non-standard varieties of English and have
never found this to be a barrier to using a phonem ic ch a rt b a se d on RP
o r to teaching th e so u n d s it contains!
The 44 phonem es of English are given, w ith exam ples o f w ords in
which they are found, in m ost learn ers' dictionaries. T h e se 44 break
down into 12 vowel sounds, 8 diphthongs and 24 co n so n an ts. One of
th e m ost effective c h a rts as a teaching aid is Adrian U nderhills Sound
Foundations chart, w here th e position of th e phonem es on th e chart is
determ ined by th e place and m anner of th eir articulation. A reduced
form of this chart is show n on th e opp o site page for referen ce pur
poses. Copies of th e ch a rt may be obtained from Adrian Underhill,
International Language Centre, Palace Court, W hite Rock, Hastings,
East Sussex, TN34 1JY.
Many teachers like to display a phonem ic ch a rt in th eir classroom s
and to use it both to help in th e teaching of so u n d s and to deal with
pronunciation problem s as th ey arise. If, for exam ple, a learn er pro
nounces th e w ord village as V illage, th e teac h er might point to the
 THE BASICS

p h o n e m e /v / o n th e c h a rt, th e r e b y In d ic a tin g t o th e le a r n e r w h e r e th e
p ro n u n c ia tio n e r r o r lies. In a d d itio n , t h e c h a r t c a n fu n c tio n a s a
p ro n u n c ia tio n sy lla b u s' fo r th e le a r n e rs . It p ro v id e s a v is u a l r e p r e s e n
ta tio n of th e s o u n d s of E n g lish a n d c a n th u s h e lp th e m , w ith t h e a id of
th e te a c h e r, to re c o g n is e w h ic h s o u n d s th e y c a n a lr e a d y p r o d u c e w ell
a n d , m o re im p o rta n tly , t o d e te rm in e w h ic h s o u n d s th e y n e e d t o w o rk
o n . A s s u c h , a p h o n e m ic c h a r t is a v a lu a b le to o l b e c a u s e It c a n h e lp t o
p ro v id e th e le a r n e r w ith a fin ite g o al th e 7 s o u n d s th e y p a r tic u la r ly
n e e d to w o rk o n , fo r e x a m p le .

L: I (J l I: i s e i :K ,
e a 3: cx OcJ 31 9 U
x a a: id e3 a i a u
P b t L tr d3 K |9
f V 0 a5 S 2 / 1
m n 10 *\ L r vo I i
Fig. 1 Sound Foundations chart

U sing a p h o n e m ic c h a r t p r e s u p p o s e s a n e e d o n th e p a r t o f b o th
te a c h e rs a n d le a rn e rs to le a rn p h o n e m ic s c r ip t. T h e a d v a n ta g e s o f
d o in g s o a re th a t p h o n e m ic s c r ip t p ro v id e s a c o n v e n ie n t ( a n d q u ic k )
re fe re n c e p o in t. It is a ls o m u c h m o re c o n c is e th a n t h e c o u n tl e s s
sp ellin g c o m b in a tio n s th a t c a n r e p r e s e n t th e s o u n d s o f E n g lish , it is
also a g o o d d e a l m o re s y s te m a tic a n d a c c u r a t e th a n h o m e m a d e *
p h o n e tic tra n s c rip tio n s th a t ta k e th e le arn ers* m o th e r to n g u e a s th e
m o d el fo r th e s o u n d s of E nglish. W e h a v e g e n e ra lly fo u n d little r e s is t
a n c e am o n g le a rn e rs to u sin g p h o n e m ic s y m b o ls , a lth o u g h w e w o u ld
THE PRONUNCIATION BOOK

suggest that teachers need to be sensitive to problems of overload,

particularly at lower levels, with learners whose mother tongue uses
non-Roman script. Talking to learners about the importance of good
pronunciation and explaining the function of phonemic symbols and
the phonemic chart is extremely helpful. When it comes to actually
learning phonemic symbols, we have found it particularly important to
begin by emphasising the fact that these are symbols representing
sounds and not letters, /e/, for example, is /e / as in bed* and not fvj.
We favour a gradual approach, introducing sounds and their sym
bols as they arise over a series of lessons, rather than presenting all the
symbols in a single lesson. We typically introduce up to four sounds in
a single lesson, beginning with familiar symbols such as /m/, /s/ and
/p/. We also often introduce sounds in contrasting pairs, where we feel
the difference in sound quality is particularly important (Jbf and /i/, for
example). We try to consolidate use of the phonemic symbols by
quickly contextualising sounds into whole words (/six/ and /sit/, for
example), by giving phonemic transcriptions of new vocabulary items,
and by encouraging our learners to use monolingual learners' diction
aries (with consistent phonemic pronunciation guides for each word)
and to research the pronunciation of new vocabulary items for them
selves. We feel it is essential that the learning and use of the symbols
is non-pressurised and that learners should be allowed to acquire the
symbols at a pace which suits them, but with a little help from the
teacher! Further ideas for exploiting a phonemic chart are contained in
section 3.1.

A mouth diagram
Like a phonemic chart, a poster-sized mouth diagram is a convenient
and useful teaching aid. You can use it to help your learners Identify the
parts of the mouth where particular sounds are produced, it is quite
difficult to describe the alveolar ridge, for example, and some relatively
complex language would be required to do so. Likewise, we do not
recommend live demonstrations for this purpose - too messy! A
cross-section diagram, with all the major articulatory organs labelled
should enable you to refer clearly and simply to these organs whenever
necessary. (See Fig. 2 opposite.)

One or more sets of phoneme cards

These are relatively easy to make and form the basis of a number of the
activities suggested in this book. You will need several sheets of fairly
robust card cut into sets of 44 cards. Each card should be roughly the
size of a playing card (approximately 10cm x 7cm). Draw one phone
mic symbol on each card using a thick felt tip pen. In the case of /v/ and
/ a/ and /e/ and /a/, you will need to indicate, using a small arrow or line,
which is the top of the card and which is the bottom.
 THE BASICS

C Longman C roup UK Ltd 1992

A tape recorder and some blank tapes

You m ay find it useful to ta p e pronunciation listening e x e rc ise s for
your learners. This is particularly im portant w hen you w ish to h av e
your learners distinguish betw een vowel sounds, s tre s s p a tte rn s o r
different intonation p atte rn s. T hus, w hen we sa y 'R ead th e s e n te n c e s
aloud ...', you m ay find it helpful to ta p e y o u r reading b e fo re h a n d .
There a re tw o big advantages to taping. Firstly, you c a n p ro v id e a
constant and consisten t m odel. Secondly, yo u r learn ers c a n liste n in
their own tim e (p erh ap s In a self-access ce n tre o r language la b o ra to ry ,
or even for homework).
Another role of th e ta p e re co rd er is to reco rd th e learners* ow n V
pronunciation. This Is a v ery effective way of giving th em fe e d b a c k on
their own perform ance. If th ey h ear th e c o n tra st betw een a m o d el
sentence read by you (o r one taken from a coursebook d ialo g u e, for
example) and their ow n version of th e sentence, th is can h e lp th e m in
a num ber of ways. It can show them th at they still need to Im p ro v e (an
Im portant factor, particularly a t higher levels). It can also m a k e th e m
aware of e rro rs in th e ir own perform ance. In term s of ev alu a tin g th e ir
own perform ance. It can also help to encourage and m otivate th e m by
making progress evident.

7
THE PRONUNCIATION BOOK

W* regard the following as desirable but not essential:

A set of Cuisenaire rods

These are boxes of small wooden bars of different colours and sizes.
Their original use was as aids In the teaching of mathematics at Junior
schools, but many teachers now also use them in language teaching. In
teaching pronunciation, the different colours can be used as memory
aids to represent different sounds or (see 2A Introducing syllables and
6.1 Introducing word stress) as memory aids to represent different
words. If you do not have access to Cuisenaire rods, then some
equivalent form of memory aid (such as a set of coloured counters,
board magnets or buttons) is a perfectly adequate substitute.
(Cuisenaireoils may be obtained from Educational Solutions (UK) Ltd,
1i Crown St, Reading. RG1 2TQ.)

An emphasis pointer
An emphasis pointer is a little like a car aerial - but we do not advise
breaking them off as a substitute! We have found the emphasis pointer
to be particularly useful when working with a phonemic chart - you
point silently to particular symbols and ask learners to produce the
corresponding sounds. From the point of viewof logistics, a pointer can
help you to give your learners a clearer view of the chart as it does not
obscure the chart in the same way that an arm does. You can also use
one to show rhythm and intonation patterns (in much the same way
that a conductor might lead an orchestra), or to point out phonological
features (stress, Intonation patterns) In example sentences written on
the board.

A pocket mirror
A small mirror is useful so that learners can observe their own lip and
jaw position when articulating particular sounds (the contrast be
tween /:/ with spread lips and /ix/ with rounded lips, and /i:/ with jaw
almost closed and / s / with jaw open, for example).

A metronome
You can use a metronome to provide a completely regular beat in
activities practising stressed and unstressed syllables. (See 7.7 Metro
nome.)
TEACHING SOUNDS 1.2
You will probably need to h e lp your le arn ers b eco m e aw are of what
happens w hen they p ro d u c e sounds in th e ir ow n language o r in
English. It is not norm ally sufficient sim ply to re p e a t th e so u n d and
expect learners to get it right through h earin g alone. Som etim es you
will have to show th em o r explain to th e m w h a t h ap p en s w hen a
particular sound Is p ro d u ced . You will also p ro b ab ly need to show
them how to im prove th e ir pronunciation of th e p articular so u n d s th at
they are finding difficult. In th is section, w e a re going to a d d re ss you,
the te a c h e rs, and suggest th a t y o u yourselves follow th e ste p s outlined
below. You can th en p a ss th e process on to y o u r learners.
W h a t fa c to rs d o y o u n e e d t o co n sid e r?

Vow els and diphthongs

AIR
Say /i:/. P u t y ou r h an d in front of your m o u th . Y ou should feel som e (but
probably n o t m uch) a ir being expelled from th e lungs. M uscle effort is
involved in th e passage of th is air. All vow els req u ire an uninterrupted
passage of air, w ith th e to n g u e and o th er sp e e c h organs affecting the
quality of th is passage w ithout ever co m p letely blocking it.
VOICING
W hisper /i:/. Place y o u r fingertips lightly o n e ith e r side of y o u r Adams
apple. Notice th e a b se n c e of any v ibration. K eep y o u r fingertips in
position and now u tte r /!:/ aloud. Notice th e vibration. T h is is voicing.
Voicing (I.e. th e v ibration of th e vocal c o rd s ) is p re se n t in th e pronun
ciation of all vowels a n d diphthongs, a s w ell a s som e consonants.
JAW
Say /v,/. Notice th e position of th e ]aw. It is p ro b a b ly alm ost closed. Now
say /ae/. Can you feel any difference? T ry /k / / * / /!:/ /* / sev eral tim es in
quick succession. You sho u ld feel a c o n sid erab le difference in th e Jaw
position for th e tw o so u n d s, /i:/ is relatively d o s e d , w h ile /* / is open*.
T ry th e sam e exercise in pairs and o b se rv e th e opening an d closing of
y our p artn ers m outh. If you a re working alo n e, look in a pocket mirror
as you rep eat th e so u n d s. Next, try th e ex e rc ise w ith o th e r combina
tions of vowel sounds, e.g. /u:/ / a/ an d /*/ /o /. T h en try with the
diphthongs / / and /ax/. Notice how th e y begin w ith th e Jaw relatively
open and end with th e Jaw closing.
T o illustrate th e Im portance of Jaw p o sitio n in th e production of
vowels and diphthongs, try pronouncing /i:/ w ith your Jaw w ide open
and /* / w ith your Jaw alm ost closed. It will pro b ab ly feel very unnatural
and difficult to achieve. An even m ore m arked c o n trast can be achieved
by trying to pronounce th e diphthong /a i/, for exam ple, beginning in a
closed position and ending in an o p en one. You will find th a t it is
virtually Im possible to pro d u ce anything rem otely resem bling /ai/.
TH E PRONUNCIATION BOOK

UPS
Whisper the sound //. Notice the lips. They are spread, almost as if you
are smiling (hence the tendency of photographers to ask subjects to
say cheese' when being photographed). Now say/u^. You will feel that
the lips become rounded, almost as ifyou are whistling. Try pronounc
ing /u/ and then /uV several times in rapid succession in pairs and
observe the position of your partner's lips and how the position
changes from spread to rounded.
To illustrate the importance of lip position, try pronouncing // with
rounded lips, it will probably sound quite different. It may, for example,
sound likea French vowel sound. Now try pronouncing /u:/ with spread
lips. Notice tiie difficulty in maintaining the/u:/sound. Now, preferably
working with a partner or with a mirror, notice the lip position for the
other vowels. You will see that some tend to be more spread, while
others are more rounded. Others still are less pronounced as regards
lip position. Next, experiment with the diphthongs and notice how the
lip position changes from the starting point to the end of the glide. (For
more practice of the above activities see 2.6 Throwing a phoneme.)
TONGUE
Pronounce the sound /i:/. Notice the position of the tongue. Is it low in
the mouth? Is it flat? You will probably find that it is raised (or
humped*) towards the front of the mouth and is up and making contact
with the sides of the front upper molars. Now say /u:/. Again, notice the
tongue position, it is probably 'humped' a little further back and is not
making such noticeable contact with the roof of the mouth. In fact, it is
probably touching the sides of the back upper molars. To feel the
contrast more directly, pronounce the sounds /i://u:/ /!:/ /u:/ several
times in rapid succession. Notice the movement of the tongue. Now try
/ a/. Where is the tongue now? Contrast / a/ with /a:/. What can you feel?
Try the diphthong /oi/ and notice the movement in tongue position.
LENGTH
What do the following sounds have in common? /i:/, /a:/, /o:/, /u:/ and
/s:/? The colon indicates length and suggests that part of the quality of
these sounds is that they are longer than certain near equivalents. For
example, compare lx / and /a:/. They are quite clearly different pho
nemes in English (compare /kaet/ and /kart/) and have a different
manner of articulation, but you can still observe the length quality of
/&/. Try contrasting it with lx / by repeating the contrasting pair several
times in rapid succession. Then try the same with /i:/ and /i/, /u:/ and
/u/t loJ and /o/. and /a:/ and schwa (l.e. fof). You might also try
'shortening' the long vowels and lengthening* the short vowels. Ob
serve what effect this has.

10
 TH E B A S IC S

Front Central Back

Close /u:/

A)/
Half clo

Half op
M

lid
M
Open

Fig. 3 A diagrammatic representation of the position of English (RP) vowels

Consonants
T h e productio n of c o n s o n a n ts is affected by a num ber of factors, but
particularly by th e m a n n e r an d place of their articulation. Other
factors to co n sid e r a r e th e q u a n tity of air flow and th e am ount of
m uscle pow er in volved th e re in , a s well a s th e question of voicing.
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Prepare to say th e so u n d /p / b u t s to p ju st before releasing th e sound.
Notice th a t th e lips a re p re s s e d tightly together and th at th e passage
of air is m om entarily o b s tru c te d . Now release th e sound /p/. You will
feel th a t it is alm o st like a n exp lo sio n ' accom panied by a release of air.
Experim ent in a sim ila r w ay w ith /k/. T hese sounds are plosives
(otherw ise know n a s s to p s ). T h ey a re characterised by tw o of the
articulatory o rg a n s co m in g to g e th e r to form a com plete closure,
blocking th e p a ssa g e of a ir m om entarily. The air is then released to give
th e plosive sou n d . T h e re a re six plosives in English: /p/, /b/. A/, /d/.
/k / and /g/.
Now try th e so u n d /f/. N otice how th is sound can continue for som e
time. Unlike th e p lo siv e s, it is n o t a single explosion of air. The top
teeth and the b o tto m lip m ake co n ta c t and ob stru ct th e free passage
of air, but not co m p letely . T h e re Is also a certain am ount of friction
involved. Now try /s / a n d M and notice again th e half-obstructed
passage of air. T h e s e s o u n d s a re m em bers of th e group known as
THEPRONUNCIATIONBOOK

fricative*. The group includes /f/, /v/, /0/, /6/, fs/, /z/, // /, fz f, a n d /h/.
frj is also som etimes considered to b e a fricative, although it is
generally regarded a s being frictionless end Is often d escribed a s a
Irictioriless continuant'. Experiment briefly with th e so u n d s /( //a n d
/d i' Whisper them slowly. Notice how they begin as sto p s 0.e. th e re is
a complete blockage in th e air flow as two of th e articu lato ry organs
come together) and continue as fricatives when th e sto p is released.
These two sounds are known as affricates.
The phonemes /m //n / and / q/ form a sep arate group. P ractise saying
them ail several tim es in rapid succession. You will soon n otice th at
they have a common feature. As with th e plosive sounds, th e re is a
blockage in the passage of air som ewhere. (In th e c a se o f /m /, for
example, the lips d o s e to block th e air flow.) The air esc a p e s through
the nasal cavity, giving all three sounds a nasal quality. T hese sounds
are known, not surprisingly, as nasals.
The phoneme /!/ is In a category of its own. W hisper th e so u n d /!/
several times in rapid succession. You will probably notice th a t th e tip
or blade of the tongue comes into contact with th e ridge behind th e
teeth (see Place o f articulation below, for m ore on this ridge), while th e
air escapes down both sides of the tongue. This lateral m ovem ent of
the air flow gives rise to the name of this single-phoneme category, i.e.
lateral.
Work with a partner. W hisper th e sounds /j/ and /w / several times
each in succession but very slowly. Observe your p artn ers lip posi
tions for each of the sounds. They will probably look very m uch lijce th e
lip positions for the vowel combinations of fwf followed by /a / and /u:/
followed by /a / respectively. As you w hisper o r mime th e sounds,
notice your own jaw position. Both sounds will probably begin in a
relatively closed position and will open up a s you pronounce them .
Now experiment by saying the vowel sounds /v j and /a / together
several times, increasing the speed a Uttie each time. After a time, the
sound will probably begin to resemble /j/. You can try th e sam e
experiment with /in/ and /a / for /w/. Both /j/ and /w / have a consider
able amount of vowel quality and are therefore known as semi-vowels.
PLACEOFARTICULATION
What have /p/, /b/ and /m/ got in common? Mime the words pan, ban
and man to a partner In a random order. Your partner will probably
have difficulty in telling one from the other. The articulatory organs
you are using here are the two lips, hence the term bilabial to describe
the place of articulation of these three sounds.
Now try /f/ and /v/. Try saying them by pressing down quite hard
with the top teeth on the bottom Up. Then try with Just a very light
contact between the top teeth and the back of the bottom lip. Compare
the sounds. To emphasise the role of the teeth in the production of
, f/ and /v/, say the sounds /p/ and Iff alternately several times in rapid
succession. You may well find it difficult to do this rapidly, but It may
also give you some insight into remedies for learners whose mother
 TH E B A SIC S

to n g u e d o es n o t distinguish between /p/ and /f/ and who therefore have

problem s saying pull and full, for example. For som e light relief, try
saying /f/ and /v / using th e bottom teeth and the top lip! Just about
po ssib le, b u t som ew hat unusual! The place of articulation of /f/ and
/v / is d escrib ed a s labiodental.
W hat h ap p en s w ith /6 / and /6/? Notice that th e tip of the tongue
co m es into co n ta c t w ith th e upper teeth. These are described as dental
so u n d s. T ry saying /t/ and /d/ with th e tip of your tongue lightly
to u ch in g th e u p p e r teeth. They will probably sound rather soft, as
th e s e sou n d s a re n o t normally dental in English, while in many other
languages th e y a re realised as dental sounds.
J u s t b ehind y o u r upper teeth you will find a ridge. This is known as
th e alveolar ridge and a num ber of English sounds are produced by the
to n g u e com tng in to contact with th e alveolar ridge. Try /t/ and /d/ again
an d notice th e point where th e tongue makes contact. Now try /s/, /z/,
/!/, /r / and /n/. N otice w here and how the tongue makes contact with the
alv eo lar ridge. In term s of th eir place of articulation, these sounds are
re ferred to as alveolar.
Now try /[/. W here does th e tongue make contact? Try contrasting it
w ith /s / by saying each sound alternately several times. You will feel the
to n g u e 'm oving back' for th e /J/ sound. Try fcj, /tj/ and /ds/. Again, It
m ay b e useful to co ntrast them with /s/ or /z/. All four sounds are
a rticu lated a little further back from th e alveolar ridge, although some
c o n ta c t m ay b e m ade along th e sides. T here is contact with the hard
p a la te too. T h u s th e sounds /J/, Izl, /tj/ and /ds/ are referred to as palato-
alveolar.
For th e so u n d /j/, you will notice th at th e top middle of the tongue is
p ressin g fairly firmly on th e sides of th e palate. Thus /j/ is known as
palatal.
T h e so u n d s /k /, /g/ and /q/ form a group known as velar. Prepare to
sa y /k /, b u t d o n o t articulate it. Notice w here the stop is formed. It will
p ro b ab ly feel a s if it is som ewhere at th e back of th e mouth. It may even
feel a bit uncom fortable. If you have problems locating it, then try /p/
a n d IkJ alternately several tim es in quick succession. The /k/ stop is
form ed by th e b ack of th e tongue coming into contact with the soft
palate, o r velum , hence velar.
Finally, w e h av e th e sound /h/. Try whispering it aloud* with as much
a ir as possible. T ry this several times in rapid succession. It will
p ro b ab ly cre a te th e effect of panting as If out of breath. The point of
c o n ta c t a t th e o n se t of th e fricative will probably seem to be some
w h ere d e e p in th e throat. T here is normally som e contact at the glottis
an d th e place of articulation is thus referred to as glottal.
VOICING
As w ith vowels, voicing (or, in this case, the absence of voicing too) is
an im portant factor with consonants. For a simple experiment, place
th e fingertips lightly on either side of your throat or put your fingers in
y o u r ears, pronounce th e sound /f/ and hold it for some time. Change
TH E PRO N U N CIATIO N BOOK

to /v / and hold this sou n d . Vou will now n o tice so m e v ibration.

Alternate rapidly betw een /f/ a n d /v/. N otice how th e v ib ratio n sto p s
and starts - /%/ is voiced but /f / is voiceless. M ost c o n so n a n ts a re
voiced (l.e. accom panied by vibration of th e vocal c o rd s ) bu t eig h t a re
not: /p/. //. | S fk j, M , IQ/, /%/ a n d III.
FORDS AND LENIS
If there is no voicing w hen th e voiceless c o n so n a n ts a b o v e a re p ro
nounced, how is it th a t we h e a r th em at all? A sim p le ex p e rim e n t w ith
a sheet of p ap er should d e m o n stra te th e essen tial q u a lity of th e
voiceless consonants. Hold th e sh e e t a b o u t n in e c e n tim e tre s in front
of your face with th e bottom of th e sh e e t a t ap p ro x im ately th e level of
your chin. Say th e sound /b / several tim es. Now sw itch to /p /. T h is tim e,
the sheet of p a p er will norm ally m ove q u ite noticeab ly . T h u s a large
amount of air (fortis) is released in th e p ro n u n ciatio n o f th e v o iceless
consonant /p / and h ard ly a n y (lenis) in its voiced eq u iv alen t /b /. T h e
same phenom enon can be o b se rv e d w ith all th e v o iceless c o n so n a n ts.
Please note th at we a re not suggesting th a t le a rn e rs n eed to know th e s e
technical' term s. Nor are we su ggesting th a t y o u n eed to know th e m
either. We do, how ever, feel th a t It is im p o rtan t for te a c h e rs to know
basically what goes on w hen so u n d s a re p ro d u ced . If y o u h a v e so m e
idea of how and w h ere a p artic u la r so u n d is p ro d u c e d , th e n you have
some chance of being able to affect th e le a rn e r's p ro d u c tio n of th a t
sound by o th er m eans th a n sim ply asking th e m to re p e a t it a fte r you.
In that respect, som e of th e w o rd s u sed ab o v e are Im p o rtan t, e.g. teeth,
tip o f the tongue, air flow, voice, vibration. M any of th e s e c a n be
dem onstrated and will gradually be picked up b y y o u r le a rn e rs th ro u g h
use. O thers can be show n on a m outh diagram (s e e p a g e 7).

U ______________ PRONUNCIATION IN DICTIONARIES

Perhaps the m ost obvious u se of d ictio n aries in foreign language

learning is as a w ay of accessin g m eanings of w o rd s, in th e form of
translations o r definitions. But dictio n aries h av e m an y o th e r uses.
Among o th er things, th ey a re a valuable so u rc e of in form ation a b o u t
the pronunciation of w ords.
You can encourage learners to ch eck p ro n u n c ia tio n s in th e c la ss
room by using th eir dictionaries. W hen th e hab it is e sta b lish e d a n d th e
learners are familiar w ith th e co n v en tio n s used, th e y will b e a b le to
make use of this reso u rce w henever th e y n eed it, in o r o u t of th e
classroom . At th e sam e tim e, how ever, looking in th e d ic tio n a ry need
not be th e first step . L earners can b e encouraged first to p re d ic t th e
pronunciation of problem atic w ords, a n d th e n to u se th e d ictio n a ry a s
a checking device. The com bination of th e s e tw o a p p ro a c h e s Is a
valuable contribution to w ard s making le a rn e rs in d e p e n d e n t in th eir
dealings with English pronunciation.
 THE BASICS

M ost dictionaries, especially those specifically Intended lor learn

ers' use, show w ord stress by small superscript marks, and show the
sequence of sounds in a word by a selection of symbols from the
International Phonetic Alphabet. The exact conventions vary some
w hat from one dictionary to another, but the divergences from a
system w hich is already familiar are easy to learn. Most dictionaries
also offer som e information about variations in pronunciation; the
g reatest detail is given in specialised dictionaries of pronunciation
such as th e Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (Wells, 1990).

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRONUNCIATION WORK IN 1.4

GRAMMATICALLY AND FUNCTIONALLY ORIENTATED ~
LESSO N S
T his Is a general procedure for integrating a phonological perspective FOCUS
into o th e r classroom work. Although it is often useful to isolate Attention to
p articu lar elem ents of pronunciation and devote activities specifically pronunciation
to them , it is also w orth rem embering that every lesson, unless it is a in non
com pletely silent one (and maybe even then!), is to some extent a pronunciation
pronunciation lesson, even though the main focus may be on some orientated lessons
thing else. Furtherm ore, in a lesson which gives high priority to oral
accuracy in th e u se of certain constructions, the learners' pronuncia
tion m ay co n trib u te to o r detract from the achievement of optimal
accuracy.

Preparation

Take key exam ples of the grammatical or functional items you want the
learners to practise in th e lesson and, alongside your preparation for
illustrating th e meaning and giving relevant practice opportunities,
think of how th e examples should be said, paying attention to natural
ness and appropriacy to context. Identify likely points of pronuncia
tion difficulty and plan ways of helping learners with these. Here is a
suggested checklist of aspects of pronunciation which may prove
relevant to particular language points:
segmentation weak forms
rhythm word stress
linking sounds
intonation sound sequences

Procedure
At th e point In the lesson when the learners begin to use examples of
th e new construction, monitor their performance carefully. Listen
both for accuracy in assembling the right words in the right order and
for accuracy of pronunciation. Correct and give help as necessary so

15
 BiMfMWI BaaHWl

THEfftOMUNQATXMBOOK

that the learners* performance becom es as good as possible. Refer

back to these corrections and improvements on su b seq u en t occa
sions, in the same lesson o r later, when the sam e co n stru ctio n s are
being practised in a controlled way. For example:
If Id known you were coming. I'd have stayed at home.
Learners often And sentences of this type difficult b ecause of th e
conceptual task of remembering the assem bly instructions for th e bits
and pieces of verb. But such sentences are also quite daunting in term s
of pronunciation, and giving due attention here can help confidence
greatly, in the example sentence above, assistance in th e following
areas would be possible:
segmentation: two parts, with a m ore o r less clearly audible
break between them, often Indicated in writing b y a comm a
rhythm: 00OO000 00O0O
finking: you.,were, Td^have* with no /ii/
intonation: probably on you were coming, on home*
weak forms: T d rather than *1had, /w a/ for *were, Id ra th e r than
I would, /ov/ for have, /at/ for a t
word stress: not much of a problem here
sounds: depends on the learners - maybe the diphthong in known,
maybe the -ng in coming
sound sequences: depends on the learners - maybe the sequence
/fst/ In have stayed.

1.5 USING DIALOGUES

Reading dialogues out loud is an age-old procedure in foreign language
teaching and learning. It can easily suffer from the drawback th at the
I reading js mumbled, stilted, lacking in confidence, and reveals little
understanding of the content or of its communicative purpose. Confi-

giving or eliciting plenty of Information about setting and role, so

that the dialogue activity takes on something of the quality of a role
play
allowing plenty of practice time, during which you monitor and help
out with any pronunciation difficulties
encouraging the readers not to keep their eyes glued to their text, but
to imagine they are rehearsing a scene in a film and to look at their
Interlocutor, safe in the knowledge that the text is there to refer to
fi they need it
getting them to act out the scene Instead of just sitting in their seats.
With a sufficiently motivated class, dialogues can be recorded on video
or audio tape for analysis of strengths and weaknesses and perhaps
further practice and recording. Work on pronunciation, and indeed on
language learning as a whole, is helped if the learners are willing to
 TH E B A SIC S

speak out loudly and clearly Instead of mumbling uncertainly. For a lot
of people, this Is easier to begin to do if there Is a role to play and a
predetermined script to follow.

USING WRITTEN TEXTS 1.6

This activity can be a main lesson activity in its own right or can act as LEVEL
a quick consolidation of certain features of pronunciation using a text Elementary
which has already been used for other purposes On the same lesson or FOCUS
at some earlier time). It also works well as a prelude to other types of Relationships
work using the same text. between spoken
and written forms
Preparation of English______
Make copies of the text if necessary. Do the activity that you are going MATERIALS
to ask the class to do, and note your answers for reference. Any short Copies of the text
piece of written English will be suitable as a text, but particularly or over^ead
something which is in some way already familiar to the learners. For *ra^sParency_-
example, a passage from a reader or courseboolq a text which they TIME
have used to work on reading, vocabulary, or grammar, an extract from Variable
something they have written themselves.

Procedure
This Is actually a group of sub-activities, any number of which can be
done at any one time. Any of them could be made into a predictive
exercise before listening to a spoken or recorded version of the text.
However, It Is important for everyone to realise that there is often not
simply one correct predicted answer. This is especially true of the sub
activities on connected speech and Intonation (8-12 below). All of
these sub-activities can involve either the entire text, one paragraph,
or Just one sentence.
1 Learners find how many times a certain phoneme (or 'sound*)
occurs. If the class are familiar with phonemic symbols, use them;
if not, give an oral model of the sound, and possibly some exempli
fying words from outside the text. For example, eye, night, right,
why, like all contain Instances of /iu/. This knowledge gives them an
informal clue about what to search for.
2 They find how many different spellings there are for a certain
phoneme. For example, in the above Ust, there are four different
spellings of /ai/.
3 They find how many different phonemes are represented by a
certain spelling. For example, the o in box* represents /o/; the o in
close represents /ou/: the o In proceed represents /a/.
4 They find how many different phonemes (or only vowels, or only
consonants) are represented in the text.
THE PRONUNCIATION BOOK

5 They find how many phonemes (or only vowels, or only conso
nants) are not represented In the te x t
6 They find how many words there are with three syllables (or one,
or two, or four...).
7 They find how many words th ere are with a certain stress pattern.
For example, important, instruction, complaining all have the pat
tern 0O0 (three syllables with the stress on the second).
8 They find examples of weak forms. For example, are and to in
'What are they going to do?
9 They find potential examples of elision. For example, Interesting -*
intresting, West Bank Wes Bank.
10 They find potential examples of assimilation. For example, followed
by /folaobbai/. Green Park * /griimpatk/.
11 They find potential examples of linking. For example, high up
(linking /if), do one (linking /w/), fair answer (linking /rf).
12 They predict how they would divide a sentence into tone groups,
where the main prominences would be, and what the Intonation
patterns would be.
CHAPTER 2

The beginnings of
awareness
PRONUNCIATION QUESTIONNAIRE 2 A ____________

Before learners embark on any serious pronunciation work, it is a good LEVEL

idea to let them air their own views and understanding of what the task Any___________
of pronunciation learning entails, and what their personal aims are. Of FOCUS
course, these may well change with time, and the questions suggested Awareness of the
here could usefully be returned to at a later stage. scope and
Importance of
Preparation pronunciation

Copy the questions onto an A4 m aster sheet. You might want to change MATERIALS
or add to the ones given here. Make a class set. A classseto f
questionnaire
What does 'pronunciation* include? handouts
How have you learned English pronunciation so far?
What have you found easy/difficult? TIME
What are the main differences between the pronunciation of English and that 10-40 minutes
of your language?
How important do you think pronunciation is? Why?
How well would you like to pronounce English?
What can you do to improve your pronunciation?
O Longman Group UK Ltd 1992

Procedure
1 Hand out the questions to groups of learners and let them think and
talk about them for a few minutes.
2 Give them a chance to report back to the whole class and compare
views.
VARIATION
In a monolingual class at a very elementary level. It would be preferable
to give the questions ip the mother tongue.
 TH E PRO N U N CIA TIO N BO O K

22____________ RADIO DIAL

LEVEL
Pre-beginner Procedure
FOCUS 1 Sw itch o n th e ra d io (o r s ta rt th e recording) and tu n e in to any
Awareness of sta tio n . Ask th e c la s s to say w h eth er o r not th ey think th e language
general features of being sp o k e n is English.
English 2 Move to a n o th e r sta tio n , a n d a n o th er, a n d so on, repeating th e
pronunciation p ro c e d u re . W hen th e c la ss h e a r a language th e y think is English, ask
MATERIALS th e m w h y th e y th in k so . Of c o u rse , o n e reason m ight be th a t they
A radio which can re c o g n ise so m e w o rd s. But th e y will p robably also com m ent on th e
receive broad ov erall so u n d of th e language. Get th em to be as explicit a s possible
casts in a variety a b o u t th is. W hat is it ex actly th a t th e y recognise a s Englishness?
of languages T hey m ay even b e a b le to im itate th e sound of th e language,
(short wave is in c lu d in g c h a r a c t e r i s ti c p h o n e m e s, rh y th m s a n d in to n a tio n
good )ora p a tte rn s .
recording made RATIONALE
by switching T he id e a of th is activ ity is to tu n e in to th e overall sound of English even
between stations at th e s ta g e w h ere th e le a rn e rs c an n o t yet identify m any w ords. In fact,
TIME identifying w o rd s a n d listening for u n d erstan d in g can be a distraction
5 minutes from th e ta s k in h an d .

u _____________ COM PARING SOU N DS

LEVEL You c a n u se tills sim p le activ ity to focus your learn ers atten tio n on
Beginner fe a tu re s of English p ro n u n ciatio n th a t are m arkedly different from
FOCUS th e ir m o th e r to n g u e. T h e activity w orks by com paring th e pronuncia
Sensitising tion of w o rd s th a t m ay b e w ritten in th e sam e way in b o th th e m other
learners to to n g u e of th e le a rn e rs a n d in English, b u t a re p ronounced in quite a
differences in the d ifferent w ay, fo r exam ple, situation in French and English. (Note that
sound of their th e m ean in g of s u c h w o rd s is not im portant to th e exercise, so if th e
m other tongue m ean in g differs in th e tw o languages, this will not affect th e aims of the
and English a ctiv ity .) If a given m o th e r tongue d o es not sh are enough common
w o rd s w ith English, o r if you have a multilingual class, u se place nam es
MATERIALS or th e n a m e s of fam ous people. In a multilingual class, th is can give rise
A list of w ords or to so m e In te re stin g com parisons!
nam es comm on to
both English and Procedure
th e m other tongue
of th e learners 1 D ivide th e le a rn e rs in to pairs.
TIME 2 Give e a c h p a ir a co p y of th e w ord list (see exam ple opposite).
Variable 3 Tell th e le a rn e rs th a t all th e w o rd s have one thing in com m on, they
a re all p ro n o u n c e d differently in English from th e way they are
p ro n o u n c e d in th e ir m o th e r tongue.

20
 T H E B E G IN N IN G S O F A W A R E N E S S

4 Let e a c h p a ir ex p erim en t (sim u lta n e o u sly ) fo r a few m in u te s w ith th e

p o ss ib le English p ro n u n c ia tio n of th e fam iliar w o rd s.
5 G et su g g e stio n s from th e c la s s a s to h o w th e E nglish v e rs io n s a re
p ro n o u n c e d . Give a c o rre c t m o d el w h e re n e c e ssa ry .
6 C o m p are th e m o th e r to n g u e p ro n u n c ia tio n w ith th e E nglish p ro n u n
c ia tio n . D raw a tte n tio n to w h e re th e d iffe re n c e s lie. F o r ex am p le, in
th e F re n c h a n d English p ro n u n c ia tio n s o f Paris, y o u co u ld p o in t o u t
th e different w ord stress, silen t final 's in th e F rench v ersio n , different
vow el so u n d s in th e se c o n d syllable, different pro n u n ciatio n of 'r'.
T h u s, a single w ord can reveal a n u m b e r of interestin g com p ariso n s.
Exam ple m other tongue/English w ord list
Madrid Paris Los Angeles Thatcher
Chicago Luxembourg Brazil Edinburgh
America Europe Australia Barcelona
Shakespeare Avis Heathrow Japan
L o n g m a n G ro u p UK U d 1992

B ILIN G U A L M IN IM AL PAIRS 2.4

T h is ac tiv ity is m o s t o b v io u sly su ite d to m o n olingual c la s se s, m aking LEVEL
u s e of c o n tr a s ts b etw een E nglish a n d th e m o th e r to n g u e. H ow ever, it Any_____________
c a n a ls o b e u se d w ith m ultilingual c la s se s, u sin g o n e m o th e r to n g u e o r FOCUS
a m ix tu re, a n d th e point will still b e m a d e in a m o re general way. A w areness of
w h a t is involved
P ro cedu re In learning th e
a c cen t of a foreign
1 P u t u p o n th e b o a rd o r OHP th e list of m inim al p airs. T h e ex am p le language_________
b elo w is for G erm an/E nglish.
MATERIALS
Vieh fee hier here A list of m inim al
putz puts Ei eye pairs, e a c h p air
Schuh shoe Beule boiler com prising w o rd s
denn den Oder odour from English and
Fohn fern hau how th e m o th e r tongue
vo r four Bild build w hich h av e m ore
kann can Neuft noise o r less th e sam e
Ahr are drei dry pro n u n ciatio n
Gott got
C L o n g m an G ro u p UK L td 1992 TIME
10 m in u tes *
2 T ell th e le a rn e rs y o u a re going to re a d do w n th e list, b u t ch o o sin g
o n ly o n e w o rd from e a c h pair, e ith e r In English o r th e m o th e r to n g u e. REQUIREMENT
A sk th e m to identify w h ich c h o ic e y o u h av e m a d e in e a c h case, by You m u st b e able
sh o u tin g ou t th e language On th is c a se , 'English!' o r G erm an!'). to p ro n o u n ce
3 A sk th e m to reflect o n h o w th e y iden tified w h ich language w as bein g b o th languages
sp o k en . T he d iscu ssio n m ay well beg in w ith g en e ra litie s su c h a s well
T h e y so u n d e d different* o r Language X is so fter, o r c le a re r, o r m o re

21
T H E P R O N U N C IA TIO N B O O K

m usical, e tc. T his is line as a startin g point, but ask th e learners to

focus m o re on what was happening in th e sp eak ers speech organs
th at w as different for th e tw o languages.
VARIATIONS
1 11you think It necessary, go through th e prelim inary stage of reading
down th e list saying b oth w ords in each pair, giving th e learners a
ch an ce to h e a r th e differences before they have to identify them.
2 Use intern atio n al w ords w hich a re pronounced m ore o r less the
sam e in th e tw o languages. For example, in m any languages, restau
rant, bank, telephone, com puterate p ronounced in roughly th e sam e
way.
RATIONALE
T his is a w ay o f encouraging learn ers to investigate exactly w hat they
need to d o In o rd e r to speak w ith a native-like accent. (Of course,
w hether o r n o t th ey want to aim for th is m ust be th eir choice.) Rather
th an c o n cen tratin g on particular phonem es, it invites them to con
sid er m o re general features of articulatory setting In different lan
guages, i.e. th e typical d istribution of m uscular tension and move
m ents of th e sp e e c h organs w hich c o n stitu te th e accent of a language.
They can reh earse, p erh ap s on th eir own, b oth m em bers of som e of
th e minimal pairs, and can no tice w hat differences occu r in th eir
m ovem ents of articulation and th e co rresponding sound produced.
Possible differences (of co u rse th ey will vary according to th e lan
guages in q u e stio n ) include:
C om pletely different articulation of corresponding sounds. (For
exam ple, r in d ry and d rei.)
P ossibilities of o ccu rren ce w hich exist in o n e language but no t th e
o th er. (F or exam ple, in th e list above, voiced plosives and fricatives
in w ord final position in English b u t n o t in German.)
More o r le ss tension in th e neck, ]aws, lips o r tongue.
More o r le ss tension generally.
More o r le ss active use of th e larynx.
Frequent co n tact betw een th e tongue and th e back of the to p teeth,
o r b etw een th e tongue and th e alveolar ridge.
D ifferences of vowel length.
D ifferences of co nsonant length.
Differences in degrees of lip-rounding.
More o r less tendency for vowels to be diphthongised.
All such inform ation contrib u tes tow ards a precise specification of the
task of pronouncing a language in a native-like way.
Some of th e pairs given in th e sam ple list above share th e sam e
meaning, b u t m ost of them d o not. Either way It does not m atter: the
exercise is con cern ed w ith pronunciation, not meaning.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It was B ryan Jenner who led us to think in a m ore principled way about
w hat a c c e n ts are and how th ey differ.

22
 T H E B E G IN N IN G S O F A W A R E N E S S

FINDING M ISSIN G V O W ELS 2J5___________

English h a s lo ts o( d ifferen t vow el s o u n d s , a n d th e ta s k of learning to LEVEL
p ro n o u n c e th e m all c a n s e e m d a u n tin g . H ere, w e su g g e st a sim ple Any
stra te g y w hich u s e s v o w els th a t th e le a rn e rs c a n a lre a d y p ro d u c e (or FOCUS
discovering th e artic u la tio n of o n e s th e y c a n t. For ex am p le, th e learn A rticulating new
e rs ca n p ro n o u n c e fvJ (a s in beat) a n d /u:/ (a s in boot) re a so n a b ly well, vow els
b u t n o t /i/ (a s in bit).
MATERIALS
Procedure None
TIME
1 Ask th e le a rn e rs to p ro n o u n c e M , th e n /u:/, th e n a c o n tin u o u s sound 5 m in u tes *
th a t slides from /:/ to /u:/. If th e y h a v e n t d o n e th is b efo re, it might
tak e a bit of p ra c tic e . G et th e m to s tr e tc h th e so u n d o v e r ten sec
o n d s o r so.
2 W hat th e y n e e d to d o n o w Is p ra c tis e sta rtin g th e s a m e slide, but
s to p part-w ay along, Iso latin g th e so u n d th e y a re m aking and p ro
nouncing it w ith o u t u n n a tu ra l len g th en in g . If it so u n d s to o m uch
like /u:/, th e y n e e d to g o back; if it s o u n d s to o m u ch like frJ, they
n e e d to go fu rth e r. W ith tria l a n d e rro r, th e y sh o u ld b e able to sto p
a t th e p o in t w h e re th e slid e p a s s e s th ro u g h /i/.
3 T hey will b e a b le to u s e th is s tra te g y , a s long as th e y need to. to
re d isc o v e r th e s o u n d . T h e y c a n th e n p u t th e n ew ly-discovered
so u n d to w ork in w o rd s a n d m o re a m b itio u s stru c tu re s.
EXTENSION
T hey can learn to p ro n o u n c e n o t o n ly o th e r p u re vow els, b u t diphthongs
using th e sam e stra te g y . F o r ex am p le, / / is a glide fro m /e / to .
RATIONALE
T h e vow els of an y v a rie ty of E nglish a r e o nly a sm all se le c tio n from th e
in n u m erab le o n e s w h ic h a n y h u m a n v o ic e c a n m ake. Learning new
vow el so u n d s ca n b e facilitated b y re la tin g th e m , in th e geography of
th e m outh, to fam iliar o n e s, e ith e r in E nglish o r in th e m o th e r tongue.
T h e geographical re la tio n sh ip s b e tw e e n th e English v o w els a re indi
c a te d in a sim plified form in th e S o u n d Foundations c h a rt (p ag e 5). For
instance, th e glide from /i'J to /u :/ p a s s e s th ro u g h //. a n d a glide from
/u:/ to / d/ p a s s e s th ro u g h /a:/. T h e re fo re /a :/ c a n b e fo u n d b y stopping
part-w ay alo n g th e glide; eq u ally , /o / c a n b e fo u n d by ex ten d in g th e ,'td
to /a:/ glide.
TH E PRO N U N CIA TIO N B O O K

2.6 THROWING A PHONEME

LEVEL You can use this exercise either as a warm er o r as a part of a lesson
Beginner + devoted to improving pronunciation. The exercise reveals th e im por
FOCUS tan ce of lip position in th e production of phonem es, particularly vow
Producing sounds els and diphthongs.

MATERIALS Procedure
None
TIME 1 Ask th e learners to sit in a circle.
10-15 minutes 2 Sit In th e circle yourself and start the activity by silently miming a
phonem e and throw ing it to one of th e learners In th e circle.
3 The learner vocalises th e sound which has been throw n. If th ey do
so correctly, then it is th eir turn to continue by silently miming an
o th er phonem e and throw ing it to an o th er learner. If not, thro w th e
sam e phonem e to another learner in th e circle, and so on until som e
one gets it right.
4 Continue for a s long a s seem s profitable. Errors are p art of th e fun!

2.7 VOWEL CHANTING

LEVEL
Any Procedure
FOCUS 1 The class stand in pairs, A and B, spread around th e room .
Recognising and 2 Student A ch o o ses one of th e five long vowel sounds (/i:/, /u:/, /a:/,
producing long /o:/, / x f ) and c h an ts it to B, who listens w ith eyes closed, paying
vowel sounds; close attention to th e quality of th e vowel and of As voice.
Developing 3 B closes h e r eyes again. A moves to an o th er p a rt of th e room , and
confidence and guides B tow ards him by chanting th e sam e vowel as before. B has
group trust; to hom e in on As voice am idst all th e chanting of th e o th e r mem
Lowering b ers of th e class.
inhibitions 4 A and B change roles.
MATERIALS 5 A and B change partners.
None VARIATION
TIME Everyone in the class uses th e same vowel sound.
5-10 minutes ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We learnt this from Adrian Underhill, who adapted it from a Mongolian
chanting technique.
 T H E B E G IN N IN G S O F A W A R E N E S S

INTRODUCING S Y L L A B L E S 2 J J ______________

U n d erstan d in g w h a t a sy llab le is is a n im p o rtan t precondition for w ork LEVEL

on s tre s s . H ere is th e w ay of e sta b lish in g th a t u n d erstan d in g using a M ost su ita b le for
non -in tellectu al, g u id e d d is c o v e ry a p p ro a c h . T h e u sefulness of this n ear-beginners,
ex ercise will b e p a rtic u la rly c le a r to le a rn e rs if it is closely followed by b u t m ay be
th e Introducing w ord stress a c tiv ity (6.1) a n d th e in troduction o r rem e n e e d e d a t any
dial tre a tm e n t of so m e v o c a b u la ry In w hich a n u m b er of syllables a n d / level_____________
o r s tr e s s p la c e m e n ts a re p ro b le m a tic . FOCUS
In tro d u cin g th e
P rocedure c o n c e p t of th e
sy llab le
1 Invite le a rn e rs, o n e b y o n e , to su g g e st English w o rd s - p e rh a p s
w o rd s th e y p a rtic u la rly like, o r w h ich th e y h av e recen tly leam t. MATERIALS
W ith o u t giving a n y e x p la n a tio n , re p re se n t each w ord by laying a A tab le; Som e
ro d (o r eq u iv a le n t) o n th e ta b le , s o th a t w o rd s w ith th e sam e num ber C u isenaire ro d s o r
of sy lla b le s a re c lu s te re d in d ifferent a re a s of th e ta b le (se e Fig. 4 sim ilar (s e e
below ). p ag e 8)__________
TIME
10-15 m inutes

1 Monday 5 now 8 Saturday

2 always 6 got 9 Nottingham
3 Wednesday 7 week 10 beginning
4 sitting 11 important
Fig. 4 Groups of Cuisenaire rods showing the number of s> ac ~s n efferent
words
 TH E PRONUNCIATION BOOK

Each area of the table becomes the domain of words with a certain
number of syllables, and each word is associated with its position
on the table. Its length and the colour of th e rod representing
it. Proceed slowly, pausing after the addition of each new word to
allow the class to take In the scene, and pointing frequently at the
rods to elicit recall of th e words.
2 After a while, when there are a good few rods on th e table, let th e
class begin trying to put rods into th e appropriate group to repre
sent new words which are suggested. If It seem s th at no one is go
ing to catch on, prom pt them by saying some of th e words already
on the table and simultaneously tapping th e number of syllables.
More likely, some of th e class will get the idea and try to explain to
th e others by counting o r tapping o r perhaps by using th e word
syllable or Its m other tongue equivalent. Continue with th e sam e
procedure for a while, ensuring that some responses are m ade by
learners who initially seemed unsure. Suggest words yourself and
get the class to locate them correctly.
3 Finally, using the example words on th e table, you can introduce
language such as:
Saturday has got three syllables.
How many syllables has it got?
How many syllables are there in this word?
This can then become part of the working language of th e class
room.

26
C H A PTER 3

Learning the inventory of

sounds
EXPLOITING THE PHONEMIC CHART 2 A _____________

You will find th a t a phonem ic ch art is a useful teaching aid. U you LEVEL
display o n e in yo u r classroom , you can refer to it w hen pronunciation Beginner *______
problem s occur. You can also u se it to elicit th e pronunciation of a FOCUS
p articu lar sound o r w ord and to correct pronunciation errors. Familiarising
learners w ith th e
Procedure con ten t and
layout of th e
1 Begin by pointing to familiar symbols, be. sym bols which a re either phonem ic c h a rt
identical to, o r closely resem ble th e equivalent letter of th e alpha
bet. Exam ples are: /m /, /n/ /p/, /b/, /r/, /!/, /w /, /h/, /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, M A T E R IA LS
/k / ,/g /,/f /,/v /a n d /e /. Phonem ic ch art
2 G radually introduce o th er sounds. As a rough rule of thum b, (see page 5)
introducing ab o u t four new sounds p er lesson is probably enough. T IM E
3 P oint to th e new so u n d on th e chart, for example, /!:/. Give a clear Variable
m odel and th en ask th e learners to repeat. Pay particular attention
to b o th length and lip position in th e case of vowels.
4 Now place th e so u n d in context by making a w ord o r a series of
w o rd s, pointing to th e appropriate phonemic sym bols, for exam
ple, /m id/, /p it/, /si:t/, /pi i://. and so on. Ask th e learners to repeat th e
w o rd s a s you point to th e sounds.
5 As y o u introduce m ore sounds you can invite learners to com e out
to th e ch art and point first to sounds and th en to w ords th at you call
out. Later, you can ask learners them selves to call out w ords.
It should be em phasised a t this point th at this is a relatively slow
p ro cess. It takes quite a long time for many learners to assim ilate
th e sym bols and to recognise and produce th e sounds th ey rep re
sent. O ur own preference is to introduce th e sounds gradually over
a series of lessons, in relatively short lesson sections, w ithout any
p ressu re on th e learners to learn th e sym bols. We also refer to th e
c h a rt w hen appropriate in the course of various types of non
pronunciation based activities such as a vocabulary-based lesson,
so th a t the learners becom e accustomed to th e c h a rt being used as
an integral p art of every lesson. T here may be learners w ho
q uestion its use. in su ch cases, we have found it useful to point out
th e benefits of being able to work out th e pronunciation of new

27


HUH

THEPRONUNCIATION BOOK

vocabulary Item s o n th e basis of th e phonem ic tra n sc rip tio n s given

in dictionaries a n d th e value of knowing th e sy m b o ls to th is end.
Learning more about th e chart
6 Ask th e learners to suggest why th e ch art is divided in to th re e
sections.
7 Having estab lished th a t th e se th re e sectio n s a re vow els, diph
thongs and c o n so n an ts, ask th e learners w hy th e y think th e vow els
are ordered a s th e y are. You can help h e re b y asking w hy fvJ is at
th e to p and / * / at th e bottom , and w hy /i:/ is a t th e front a n d /u:/ a t
th e back.
8 Give them tim e to d iscu ss these questions in p airs o r sm all groups.
9 Establish th e principles of open and closed vow els (jaw p osition)
and front and back vow els (tongue position). Ask them to p ro d u ce
contrasting so u n d s (e.g. /j:/ and /u-J, and / d and /sc/) a n d fe e l th e
difference in jaw and tongue position.
10 Ask th e learners to observe th e position of yo u r lips a s you
pronounce /i:/ a n d /u:/ respectively. Invite them to try to p ro d u c e
fvJ with rounded Ups and /u:/ with sp read lips. The resu ltan t stran g e
noises usually illustrate th e im portance of lip position v ery effec
tively!
11 Ask th e learners to suggest why th e first tw o lines of consonan ts a re
in pairs (e.g. /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/).
12 Establish th e principle of voiceless and voiced consonants, /s / and
/z/ are good exam ples for this purpose. You can ask th e learn ers to
place their fingertips lightly on th eir th roat (roughly in th e location
of th e Adams a p p le) and pronounce /s / a n d then /z/. Ask them if
they can feel any difference. The vibration produced b y /z / a s
opposed to /s / is usually very striking. You can also ask them how
Is/ can be heard If th e re is no vibration. Placing th e palm of th e hand
in front of th e m outh and then pronouncing /z/ and /s/ respectively
should clearly illustrate th at more air is exhaled in th e production
of /s/. You can use similar procedures with o th er pairs of voiced and
voiceless consonants, although th e fricatives work b est because
they can be continued for a certain length of tim e unlike sto p s such
as /p/ and /b/.
EXTENSION
One idea th at we have found effective is to give learners th eir own
personal mini-copy of th e phonemic chart and to ask them to shade
in th e phonemes th a t they can produce relatively accurately. (They
will normally need yo u r help to d o this.) The unshaded phonem es are
th e ones they still need to work on. In most cases, th ere will not be very
many of these, typically no more than ten. The effect of this exercise is
to focus learners on exactly which phonemes are problematic and to
give each learner a finite goal in what might otherwise seem to be an
enormous and unidentifiable task.
 LEARN IN G THE IN VEN TO RY O F S O U N D S

You m ight find it helpful to refer to Learner English (Sw an a n d Sm ith,

1987) o r Teaching English Pronunciation (K enworthy, 1987) for exam
ples of typical phonem ic differences betw een English a n d a n u m b e r of
m ajor w orld languages.

PHONEME EXCHANGE 3 2 ____________

LEVEL
Procedure B eginner *_____

1 Give e ach learner a p honem e c a rd . Tell th e m n o t t o sh o w it to th e FOCUS

o th er learners. W arm ing up;
2 Go to e ach learner in tu rn a n d c h eck th a t th e y c a n p ro n o u n c e th e P ro n o u n c in g
sound on th eir card adequately. p h o n em ic
3 Ask all th e learners to stan d u p . T h is is a mingling activity! sy m b o ls_______
4 Each learn er finds a p a rtn e r a n d sa y s th e ir so u n d o u t lo u d to th e m MATERIALS
(m ore th a n o nce if necessary ). T h e o th e r le a rn e r s a y s th e ir ow n O n e s e t of
sound o u t loud to th e first le a rn e r. T h e tw o le a rn e rs th e n exchange p h o n e m e c a rd s
cards and say th e sound o n th e ir new card . N ote th a t all th e le a rn e rs
should b e working sim ultaneously. TIME
5 T he activity continues until all th e learn e rs have a tte m p te d all of th e 5 -1 0 m in u te s
sounds. T hey may, of c o u rse, receiv e th e sam e c a rd m o re th a n o n ce.
6 Stop th e activity a t any tim e a n d a sk th e lea rn e rs to p ro n o u n c e th e
sound th e y now have o n th e ir c a rd . C om pare th is w ith th e p ro n u n
ciation a t th e beginning of th e activity.

USER-FRIENDLY TONGUE TW IST ER S 33 ______________

LEVEL
Preparation Any

You need a senten ce with fre q u e n t o ccu rre n c e of a s o u n d w h ich is FOCUS

problem atic for your learn ers, o r tw o so u n d s w hich th e y te n d to P ro d u c in g difficult
confuse. For example: so u n d s

A/andA/: MATERIALS
Thethoughtof anotherThursdaylike thelast threedidn'texactly thrill P ra c tic e
Theodore'smother. s e n te n c e s s e e
Preparation______
/K/andfc/:
Earlymorningworkerswalkingtowork. TIME
V ariab le
It Is certainly possible to u se well-known tongue tw iste rs to p ro v id e
practice of difficult so u n d s a n d so u n d c o n tra sts (e.g. S h e sells s e a
shells on th e sea shore for distinguishing betw een /s/ a n d // /) . If
learners find th ese at all m anageable, th e y can b e very useful. H ow ever,
the whole point of tongue tw isters is th a t th e y a re tricky e v e n for n ativ e
speakers. The idea that w e p re s e n t h e re is to p ro v id e s h o rt, easlly-

29
T H t PRO N UN CIATIO N BO O K

memorised practice m aterial which does n o t go o u t of its way to be as

difficult as possible, but contains a high frequency of a certain sound,
or sounds. This m aterial can be u sed in th e classroom and also offered
as takeaway pronunciation practice.

Procedure
#.
Learners practise indivldual.words, then phrases, th e n the com plete
sentence with natural speed and rhythm .
VARIATION
Get them to w rite tongue tw isters for them selves a n d each o th e r to
practise. It may well tu rn o u t th at th ese are less likely to be beyond
their productive capacity th a n th o se devised by nativ e speakers.

1 4 _____________
/h/THROUGH WHISPERING
lev el

Any /h/ is comm only eith er om itted (for example, by m any native speakers
FOCUS of French and Italian) o r replaced by a velar fricative (for example, by
many native speakers of Spanish and Russian). Although this is un
/V _____ ____ ___
likely to lead to any real m isunderstanding, it is im portant because
MATERIALS many speakers of English seem to attach a high value to the co rrect use
A list of learners' of /h/, and learners may get a friendlier reception in som e q u arters if
utterances they are able to achieve this.
involving missing
or mispronounced Procedure v
/h /-'C a n you 'elp
me?', *1don't know 1 Ask the learners to p ractise w hispering, to them selves o r to a
'ow to spell it.'___ partner, just to get th em used to th e idea, it may b e useful to suggest
TIME a topic for them to w hisper about, o r, a t low levels, a text to read.
5-10 minutes 2 They then p ractise w hispering th e following w ords, loudly and
forcefully.
heat hill hurt
who help happy
husband hard hot
hear hair hay
high whole how
C Longman Group UK Ud 1992

The vocabulary used may vary to suit th e class, bu t choose w ords

like those above w ith a variety of vowel so u n d s following th e /h/.
3 Ask learners to say th ese w ords very slowly, startin g each w ord in a
w hisper but switching the voice on (o r sw itching the w hisper off)
d u rin g th e v o w el s o u n d , w ith o u t p a u s in g . For e x a m p le ,
heeeeee(in/iispered)eeeeeat(norma//>'). Note th a t it is easiest to
stretch w ords with long vowels.
4 Finally, ask them to repeat this procedure, but to gradually speed up
until they a re saying th e w ords at norm al speed.
 L E A R N IN G T H E IN V E N T O R Y O F S O U N D S

-5 T h e w o rd s p ra c tis e d c a n b e p u t In to p h r a s e s a n d s e n te n c e s fo r
fu rth e r p ra c tic e , a n d y o u c a n fe e d o th e r /h / w o rd s in. Be c a re fu l n o t
to ask th e le a rn e rs to p ro n o u n c e /h / in u n s tr e s s e d w o rd s lik e t h e h e
of Is h e th e re ? w h e re th e /h / is n o t n o rm a lly p ro n o u n c e d .
RATIONALE
T h is p ro c e d u re is b a s e d o n th e fa c t th a t /h / c a n b e re g a rd e d n o t o n ly
a s an in d e p e n d e n t s o u n d , b u t a s a v o ic e le s s o n s e t t o th e fo llo w in g
vow el. W h isp erin g is s p e a k in g w ith o u t V oicing. (S e e 8.7 a n d 8 .8 fo r
te c h n iq u e s to o v e rc o m e o th e r p ro b le m s w ith /h /.)

T E S T TH E TEA C H ER 3.5

T his is a v a ria tio n o n th e u s e o f m in im al p a ir s w h ic h tu r n s t h e ta b le s LEVEL

an d allo w s th e le a rn e rs to te s t th e te a c h e r . T h e s a m e p r o c e d u r e c a n b e A ny
ap p lied to w o rd s tr e s s p a tte r n s , in to n a tio n , rh y th m ic p a tt e r n s in FOCUS
s e n te n c e s . For th is Im ag in ary c la s s , th e c o n tr a s tin g s o u n d s a r e /s o / C o u ld b e a n y
an d /a:/, a n d th e list m ig h t be: aspect of
oh or t p r o n u n c ia tio n .
so saw T h is e x a m p le Is
low law c o n c e r n e d w ith
coal call so u n d c o n tra s ts
coat caught MATERIALS
boat bought A list o f m in im a l
C L o n g m an G ro u p UK L td 1992 p a irs c o n ta in in g
so u n d s th a t y o u r
Procedure c la s s c o n f u s e

1 W rite th e list o n th e b o a rd a s a b o v e .
2 Invite le a rn e rs , o n e b y o n e , to s a y a n y o n e o f th e w o rd s o n t h e b o a rd .
Say th a t y o u will p o in t to th e w o rd y o u h e a r , a n d th e y s h o u ld s a y
Y es if th a t w as th e w o rd th e y s a id a n d N o if it w a s n t.
3 Point silen tly to th e w o rd y o u h e a r, p re f e ra b ly w ith a p o in te r r a t h e r
th a n y o u r finger. If y o u a r e n 't s u r e w h e th e r y o u h a v e h e a r d , fo r
exam ple, coat o r caught, p o in t in b e tw e e n th e tw o . If y o u h e a r
so m e th in g d ifferen t, like curt fo r in s ta n c e , p o in t s o m e w h e r e e ls e o n
th e b o a rd .
4 If o n e of th e le a rn e rs s a y s N o to y o u r re s p o n s e , e ith e r g iv e th e m
m o re tim e s tra ig h t aw ay to tr y to re fin e th e i r in te n d e d p r o n u n c ia
tion, o r let th e m w ait a w h ile u n til th e y a r e re a d y .
VARIATION
Instead of Just a tw o-w ay s o u n d c o n tr a s t, y o u c o u ld u s e t h r e e o r fo u r
confusing so u n d s fo r th is a ctiv ity .
RATIONALE
T h e le a rn e rs a re in c o n tro l a n d th e te a c h e r g e ts th e N o fo r b e in g
w rong, w hich m ak es It, a t le a s t fo r m a n y le a r n e rs , a fairly risk -fre e a n d
enjoyable w ay of try in g o u t th e a c c u ra c y of th e ir p ro n u n c ia tio n .

31
 TH E PRO N UN CIATIO N ' B O O K

3.6_______ FINDING MISSING SOUNDS: USING VOICING

LEVEL For the sake of this example, o u r imaginary learners can p roduce /(/
Any and /v/, // and /z/. / / / but n o t /*/. r
FOCUS
Producing the Preparation
missing' member
of a voiced/ Keep a record of w ords which contain th e sounds learners are unable
voiceless fricative to produce, in this case we will deal with television, measure, pleasure,
pair garage.

MATERIALS Procedure
None
TIME 1 Ask th e class to make a long /fffflfff/ sound, then /w w w v v /.
A couple of 2 Ask them to rep eat the so u n d s, this time with th eir fingers In th e ir
minutes whenever ears, so as to highlight th e difference which voicing makes. Draw
needed, for their attention to th e fact th a t nothing else, ap art from voicing,
example, in changes a s they move from one sound to the other.
connection with 3 Ask them to make a continuous nolse^whlch changes from /f/ to / v /
vocabulary which and back again, and again, and so on until they run out of breath. Tell
contains the them th at in doing so, th ey should direct their attention to m aintain
missing* sound ing the sam e articulation except for switching the voicing on and off.
4 Repeat th e p ro cess so far w ith /s/ and /z/.
5 Repeat th e sam e process w ith ///a n d /s'. They should be able to find
th e missing sound /s / easily.

37______ ODD ONE OUT

LEVEL You can use this activity as a sounds discrimination exercise or as p art
Elementary of a lesson on th e sim ple p a st tense, the third person of th e sim ple
FOCUS present tense, o r plurals.
Discriminating
between similar Procedure
sounds
1 Divide th e class into small groups of three or four.
MATERIALS 2 Give each group a w orksheet.
A worksheet 3 The learners in each gro u p work together to agree which w ord in
(see examples each set Is different from th e others and why. Note th at there may be
o p p o site)___ several possible answ ers and any valid answ er Is acceptable If th e
TIME learners can give a reason.
10-20 minutes 4 When all th e groups have finished, the whole class com pares
answers. The class discussion should lead to som e generalisations
about the sounds highlighted in the exercise. For example, voiced
sounds are followed by /d / in regular past tense endings, whilst un
voicedsoundsarefollowed by /t/. /d/ and /t/ are them selves followed
by /id/ or /d/. In the present tense, voiced sounds are followed by
h i whilst unvoiced sounds are followed by /s/. /s/ and / z/ are them
selves followed by /iz/, as are palatised sounds in regular plurals.
32
 WM mM

L E A R N IN G T H E IN V EN TO R Y O F S O U N D S

EXTENSION
In th e p a rtic u la r c a s e g iv en in W o rk s h e e t A b elo w , u s e t h e p h o n e m ic
c h a r t (p a g e 5) fo r f u r th e r w o rk o n t h e d iffe re n t ty p e s of e n d in g s a n d
th e ir re la tio n s h ip w ith v o ic e d a n d v o ic e le s s s o u n d s , a s th e firs t tw o
lin e s of c o n s o n a n ts o n th e c h a rt a r e c le a rly la id o u t in v o lc e le s s /v o ic e d
p a ir e q u iv a le n ts.
W orksheet A
Find the Odd One Out in th e following exam ples. Say why it is different.
Note - the difference is in the ending of each word.
1 worked walked w ounded w atched
2 m ended w anted needed gained
3 rained helped cooled robbed
4 roots looks loops moons
5 brushes m ists glasses judges
6 bum s hum s hunts hurls
7 g oes knows n o tes throws
Key
1 w ounded (ends in/id/, th e others end in A/)
2 gained (ends in /d/. th e others end in Ad/)
3 helped (ends in A/, th e others end in/d/)
4 moons (ends in /z/. th e others end in /s/>
5 m ists (ends in/s/. the others end in Az/)
6 hunts (ends in /s/, th e others end in /z/)
7 notes (ends in /s/, th e others end in /zA
Longman Group UK Ltd 1992

W orksheet B
Find the Odd One O ut in the following examples.
Note - the difference is in the vowel or diphthong sound.
1 look foot pool cook 2 make tail pain fall
3 five give dive hive 4 work bird turn call
5 fern four port corn 6 neat need seat mate
7 here fair rare bear
Key
1 pool 2 fall 3 give 4 call 5 fern 6 mate 7 here
L o n g m a n G ro u p UK L td 1992

33
TH E PRONUNCIATION B O O K

3L8_______ SOUNDS HANGMAN

LEVEL You can use this activity as a wanner o r a final activity. You can also
Beginner use it as a vocabulary revision activity, particularly at low er levels.
fOCUS
Recognising and Preparation
producing
individual sounds Select a number of card s to form a particular w ord, for exam ple,
and combinations / Mnba/. Attach th e card s face down to th e board w ith blu-tack o r
of sounds in sellotape.
words
Procedure
MATERIALS
A set of phoneme 1 Ask th e learners to try and guess th e sounds on th e c a rd s and
cards; Blu-tack or p roduce the hidden word. They will norm ally attem p t th e m ost
setiotape comm on (or familiar) sounds first, for example, /s/ o r /e/.
TIME 2 II a correct sound is put forward, turn o ver the card In question and
5-20 minutes reattach it to the board with the phonemic symbol now visible to th e
class. If a sound is pronounced incorrectly, indicate th is by shaking
your head and saying quietly but audibly 'pronunciation'. If th e
sound is almost co rrect, indicate this by an ap p ro p riate g estu re and
Invite th e learner to try again.
3 If an incorrect suggestion is made, i.e. a correctly p ronounced so u n d
but not one on the hidden cards, you can use th e sam e p ro ced u re as
with th e game 'Hangman'. With m ore m ature learners, how ever, it
might be advisable to introduce either a tim e limit (five m inutes p e r
w ord) o r a fixed num ber of attem pted guesses p e r w ord (ten , for
example).
EXTENSION
Once th e rules of th e activity have been established, th e learn ers can
assum e responsibility for making the hidden w ords them selves, w ith
each group taking it in turns to be at th e board challenging th e o th e r
groups to guess th eir word.
VARIATION
The game can also be a team activity with each team taking it In tu rn s
to guess a sound and with points awarded to th e first team to guess th e
hidden word correctly. It should be em phasised th a t phonem ic sym
bols and not letters are used in this game.
 LEARN ING THE INVENTORY OF SO U N D S

G U E S S T H E PH O N EM E 3 3 _______________
Y ou c a n u s e th is a s a sim p le g a m e o r w a rm e r , o r a s a relativ ely p ain less LEVEL
w ay of re in fo rc in g th e p ro n u n c ia tio n o f t h e d iffe re n t p h o n em es. B eginner +
FOCUS
P ro ced u re P roducing
Individ u a l so u n d s
1 A sk th e le a r n e rs t o s ta n d up.
2 W ith b lu -tack o r a safety -p in , a t t a c h a p h o n e m e c a rd to e a c h learn MATERIALS
e r s back. A s e t o f phonem e
3 A sk e v e ry o n e t o c irc u la te a n d a t t e m p t t o g u e s s th e p h o n e m e o n th e ir c a rd s; Blu-tack
b a c k b y a sk in g o th e r le a r n e rs lik e th is : Is it /i:/?. T h e y a re n o t TIME
a llo w ed , o f c o u rs e , to sa y W h a t p h o n e m e h a v e I g o t o n m y back?. 5 m in u tes
4 T h e a c tiv ity fin ish e s w h e n all t h e le a r n e r s h a v e g u e ss e d th e ir own
phonem es.

IN IT IA L 'A ' 3.10_____________

Y ou c a n u s e th is a c tiv ity a t m o s t le v e ls b y v a ry in g th e co m p lex ity of th e LEVEL

v o c a b u la ry in v o lv e d , b u t it m a y b e p a r tic u la r ly a p p ro p r ia te a t low er B eginner
le v e ls w h e re it c a n h e lp to p r e v e n t c o n s is te n t m isp ro n u n c ia tio n of FOCUS
initial a . Y ou c a n u s e it a s a n a c ti v it y in its o w n rig h t o r a s a quick Different ways of
w arm er. pronouncing a in
initial position
P ro ced u re
MATERIALS
1 W rite u p o n th e b o a rd a s h o r t lis t o f e x a m p le w o rd s (e.g. apple, army, A list of w ords
able, about, air, all, a n y ) w h ic h e x e m p lify s e v e n d ifferen t p ro n u n cia exemplifying
tio n s of th e le tte r a in initial p o s itio n . different
2 D ivide th e c la s s in to sm all g r o u p s o r p a ir s a n d a sk th e le a rn e rs to pro n u n ciatio n s of
d e c id e h o w e a c h w o rd is p r o n o u n c e d . Y o u c a n tell th e m a t th is stag e initial a
th a t e a c h a is p ro n o u n c e d d iffe re n tly . TIME
3 L isten to th e ir su g g e stio n s. C o r r e c t p ro n u n c ia tio n if n ecessary .
E stablish th a t th e se v e n s o u n d s a re : /a*/, /a:/, /e i/, /a /, /e a /, /a:/ and /e/.
4 Give th e c la s s a lo n g er list of w o r d s b e g in n in g w ith a a n d ask th em
(ag ain In sm a ll g ro u p s o r p a irs ) t o d e c id e w h ic h c a te g o ry e a c h of th e
w o rd s b elo n g s to . T h is c a n e it h e r b e d o n e b y d iv id in g th e b o a rd into
c o lu m n s h e a d e d b y th e d iffe re n t s o u n d s a n d inviting learn ers to
c o m e u p a n d a d d w o rd s to th e a p p r o p r ia t e co lu m n s, o r by giving
e a c h g ro u p a s h e e t of p a p e r w ith t h e s e v e n c o lu m n s on. O ne p o ssib le
a d v a n ta g e of th e la tte r a p p r o a c h is th a t th e re s u lts can th en be
d isp la y e d a s a p e rm a n e n t r e c o r d a n d a d d e d to w h en ev er new
v o c a b u la ry w ith initial *a is e n c o u n te r e d .
A c e rta in a m o u n t of tria l a n d e r r o r is a n in te g ra l p a rt of th is activity!
You ca n a ls o e n c o u ra g e th e le a r n e rs t o lo o k fo r p a rtic u la r p a tte rn s in
th e p ro n u n c ia tio n of initial a . F o r e x a m p le , th e te n d e n c y o f *ar- before
a c o n s o n a n t o r c o n so n a n t c lu s te r t o b e p ro n o u n c e d /a:/, and th e
te n d e n c y of u n s tre s s e d initial a to b e p ro n o u n c e d /a /.
35
 H H i

THE PRONUNCIATION BOOK

EXTENSION
You can work in th e sam e w ay on o th er letters in initial position.

3J1_________ SOUNDS DISCRIMINATION EXERCISE

le v a Tills activity can help to sensitise learn ers to minimal differences
Beginner * bet ween individual phonem es and enable th em to recognise so u n d s in
FOCUS context. It can be regarded as an initial stag e in th e p ro c e ss of learning
Recognising to produce these so u n d s accurately. You can u se it a s a w arm er o r a s
minimal a remedial slot dealing with a particular problem . It Is also useful a s a
differences basic listening exercise in term s of aural training.
between
individual Procedure
phonemes
1 Give each learner a copy of th e w orksheet a n d en su re th a t th e y
MATERIALS understand you are going to read contrastin g so u n d s o r w o rd s aloud
A minimal pairs to the class and th a t th ey must decide w hich so u n d is being u tte re d
worksheet (see each time and indicate this by ticking th e a p p ro p ria te colum n next
Example tasks to the number.
below) 2 Read the sounds o r w ords aloud, pausing for a sh o rt tim e b etw een
TIME each one to give th e learners tim e to m ake a decision.
10-20 minutes 3 Check what the learners have ticked. R epeat, If n ecessary , any item s
that are causing problem s.
EXTENSION
An activation stage can follow. D epending on th e level of th e class,
further examples can be done in small p airs o r groups, w ith th e
learners taking It in tu rn s to play th e role of th e teac h er. T hat is, o n e
learner reads out a list of sounds or w ords and th e o th e rs tick th e
sounds that they hear. A valuable side-product of th is stag e m ay be
that the learners will tick a sound th at th e sp eak er d id n o t Intend th em
to tick and will d o this because of inaccu rate p ronunciation b y th e
speaker. This often has th e effect of focusing atten tio n o n th e p ro n u n
ciation of a p articular sound.
Example tasks
Tickthesoundyouhear Teacherreads
1 M hi M
2 te l Id Id
3 Ixl h i hi
4 Id Id Id
5 Id te l /*/
6 h i hJ hi
7 m ni Ml
6 / c i / ltd led
9 Id tfl
10 hi N ni
C Longman Group UK Ltd 1992
 Tick the word you hear "Teacher reads
1 w ork w alk w oke w alk
2 m ain m ine m oan main
3 herd hard hurt hurt
4 pole Paul pale pole
5 fair four fear fear
O Longman C ro u p UK Ltd 1992

SOUN DS V O CA BU LA RY GAM E 3.12____________

Y ou c a n u s e t h i s a c tiv ity a s a w a rm e r o r a s a final a c tiv ity in w h ich LEVEL
r e c e n tly t a u g h t v o c a b u la r y c a n b e p ra c tis e d o r re c y c le d . It a ls o h e lp s E lem e n ta ry +
t o fo c u s l e a r n e r s o n t h e a c tiv e p ro d u c tio n of w o rd s th e y m a y re c o g n ise FOCUS
b u t n o t y e t b e a b l e t o p r o n o u n c e a c c u ra te ly . P ro n o u n cin g
k now n v o c a b u la ry
P re p a ra tio n
MATERIALS
Y ou w ill s im p ly n e e d t o d e c id e o n a n u m b e r o f g e n e ra l v o c a b u la ry None_____________
c a te g o r ie s (e .g . tr a n s p o r t , n a tio n a litie s , fo o d ). N o te - it is a d v isa b le to TIME
t r y th is y o u r s e lf firs t. Ju st t o e n s u r e th a t th e r e a r e w o rd s c o n tain in g 10-20 m in u tes
e a c h s o u n d in e a c h c a te g o ry .

P ro c e d u re

1 W rite a t le a s t s ix g e n e ra l v o c a b u la ry c a te g o rie s o n th e b o a rd . (See

e x a m p le b e lo w .)
2 D iv id e t h e l e a r n e r s in to te a m s o f th r e e o r fo u r a s a p p ro p ria te .
3 T e ll th e m t h a t y o u a r e g o in g t o g iv e th e m a s o u n d a n d th a t th e y h a v e
t o fin d a w o r d c o n ta in in g th i s s o u n d fo r e a c h of th e six c a te g o rie s.
T h e fir s t te a m t o d o s o s u c c e s s fu lly w ill g a in o n e p o in t.
4 G ive th e m t h e f ir s t s o u n d (e .g . /i:/).
5 C h eck t h a t t h e a n s w e r s g iv e n b y th e first te a m to p ro v id e a c o m p le te
s e t of a n s w e r s a r e c o r r e c t. If th e y a re , w rite u p th e ir w o rd s o n th e
b o a rd a n d a w a r d th e m a p o in t. If a n y o f th e s e t of six a n sw e rs is
in c o r r e c t, in d i c a t e th a t th e r e is a n in c o r re c t w o rd , b u t d o n o t sp ecify
w h ic h o n e a t th i s s ta g e . A n o th e r te a m m a y n o w su g g e st th e ir
a n s w e r s a n d w ill s c o r e o n e p o in t if th e ir s e t is c o rr e c t. At th is p o in t,
d e a l w ith a n y e r r o r s in t h e p re v io u s su g g e s tio n s .
6 C o n tin u e w ith f u r th e r s o u n d s . T h e te a m w ith th e m o s t p o in ts a t th e
e n d is t h e w in n e r.
T h e b o a r d m ig h t lo o k s o m e th in g like th is a fte r tw o ro u n d s 'u s in g th e
s o u n d s /i:/ a n d / e / , fo r e x a m p le :
Food __ Language Part o f Body Sport Animal Colour_______
fvj: c h e e s e G reek cheek skiing sh eep green
/c/: bread French leg tennis hen red
 TH f. PRONUNCIATION BOOK

3 .1 3 __________ SOUNDS ANAGRAM RACE

LEVEL You can use this exercise for a nu m b er of p u rp o ses. It can function as
E iem tnU O '* a game or a warm er (a tim e limit m ay help in th is re sp e c t). You can u se
it as a means of recycling previously taught v ocabulary. You can also
FOCUS
Recognising use it as a relatively painless way of focusing o n com b in atio n s of
sounds that may be problem atic for a p articu lar le a rn e r o r g ro u p of
sounds:
Combining sounds learners (for example, co nsonant c lu sters In initial position).
Into words
Preparation
MATERIALS
A list of word* Nothing beyond making lists of anagram s.
transcribed into
phonemic script Procedure
and then jumbled
into anagrams 1 Divide th e learners into pairs o r sm all groups.
(see examples 2 Give each pair o r group a c o p y of th e list of an ag ram s (alternatively,
below) to save paper, w rite It on th e b o ard o r show It on an OHP).
TIME 3 Ask the learners to reo rd er th e so u n d s in th e so u n d an ag ram s to
10-20 minutes produce w ords. A certain am ount of d iscu ssio n a n d ex p erim en ta
tion will be necessary, and th e re m ay also be sev eral possibilities.
Ask the learners to n o te down th e p h o n em es In th e c o rre c t o rd e r
first and then to w rite th e c o rresp o n d in g w ord next to It in norm al
script.
4 When all the pairs o r groups have co m pleted th e exercise, a sk th e
learners to com e out and w rite th eir su g g ested an sw ers on th e
board. The class as a w hole c a n th en d isc u ss w h e th e r th e answ ers
are correct.
Examples (all verbs)

e t a s s <% au L 0
ma s r pi mm r I a b e
dnetin Ai s s kd
l | a n ei p m 8 u:sjdirtn
s k r we t I kt p r i d e

Key:
suggest allow
promise remember
intend discuss
complain introduce
request predict
C Longman G roup UK Lid 1992
 LEARNING THE INVENTORY OF S O U N D S

V S O U N D S BINGO 3.14
LEVEL
P reparatio n B eginner*

P re p a r a tio n tim e c a n b e re d u c e d if y o u give all th e le a rn e rs th e sam e FOCUS

S o u n d s B ingo w o rk sh e e t a n d a sk th e m to d e le te a t ra n d o m five so u n d s R ecognising
b e fo re th e a c tiv ity s ta r ts . T h is o b v ia te s th e n e e d to p ro d u c e a different so u n d s
c a rd fo r e a c h le a rn e r. MATERIALS
O ne S o unds B ingo
P ro ce d u re w o rk sh eet p e r
le a rn e r__________
1 G ive e a c h le a rn e r a c o p y of th e S o u n d s Bingo w o rk sh eet (see
e x a m p le b elow ). TIME
2 T ell th e le a rn e rs th a t y o u will ra n d o m ly p ro n o u n c e s o u n d s from th e 15-30 m in u tes
p h o n e m ic c h a rt (e.g. N u m b e r 1 - / e / ; N u m b er 2 - / m f ) . If th ey h e a r a
s o u n d w h ic h is o n th e ir c a rd , th e y s h o u ld w rite th e co rresp o n d in g
n u m b e r n e x t to th e s o u n d . K eep a n u m b e re d list of th e so u n d s you
p r o n o u n c e in th e o r d e r y o u p ro n o u n c e th e m . T h is help s with
c h e c k in g th e le a r n e rs w ork.
3 T h e w in n e r is th e first o n e to n u m b e r c o rre c tly all th e so u n d s o n their
c a rd .
4 C h eck th a t th e w in n e r h a s c ro s s e d o u t th e c o rre c t so u n d s. If not, th e
g a m e c o n tin u e s.

e i a i 3 : 0

1 8 i: A u

b k u : z I

Fig. 5 Exampleof a Sounds Bingocard

O L o n g m a n G r o u p UK L td 1992
 HHKHp MHMhBH m SK I mmE

THE PRO N UNCIATIO N BOOK

VAWATiOMS
I The same procedure can be applied with minimal pairs/minimal
groupsreplacingthesinglesounds on th e bingo cards, for example:
work walk week woke
put port pert putt
hat heart herd had
fill feel full fool
pail pole pull pool
C Longpuui Group UK Ltd 1892

Again, askthelearners to delete at randomfive of th e words before

startingthegame. This should ensure that all the cards are different.
2 Sounds Bingo can also be played In small groups with one learner
readingout the list of sounds or words to the rest of th e group. This
bringsaproduction element to the exercise and also a degree of peer
monitoring of pronunciation. There is likely to be considerable
healthydiscussion about the pronunciation of various sounds!
CHAPTER 4

Spelling to sound and

back again
SOUNDS MAZE 4 J _____________
LEVEL
Preparation Beginner _______

Ten m inutes to prepare the maze. FOCUS

Recognising
phonemic
Procedure symbols;
1 Divide th e class into pairs. Relationships
2 Give each pair a maze worksheet. (See Fig. 6 below.) between sounds
and spelling_____

d MATERIALS
f r e n i I n a s ae t One Sounds Maze
L V n A r u: m e s worksheet per
j i k
pair of learners
e m t I i P as u : r L P ae TIME
20-30 minutes
k e 0 b l i: d z i p i: r
s t D P 01 01 i r P m e t
i s P I l [ t ai m t i: n
b i l d i 0 r ei A l d D
I i: r t 01 k k ae b l ae k
L ai t b A l b ei P n 31 t
I l n t ei A l i: t s k au
t r ei n t r A k X ai i: m
m P D s I b i l i t I
i

Fig. 6 Example of a Sounds Maze worksheet

C Longman G roup UK Ltd 1992

41
 TH E PRO N U N CIA TIO N B O O K

3 Tell th e class th a t th e p h o n e m ic m aze c o n tain s, fo r exam ple, th e

nam es of ten co u n trie s. T h e se a re h id d e n in th e m aze a n d m ay be
horizontal, vertical o r diagonal. T h ey m ay a lso b e from left to right
or right to left, and from to p to b o tto m o r b o tto m to top.
4 The first pair to d isc o v e r all te n w o rd s a re th e w inners.

42___________ PHONEMIC SNAP

LEVEL
Beginner* Preparation
FOCUS Fifteen m inutes to p re p a re th e w o rd c a rd s.
Relationships
between sounds
Procedure
end spelling;
Practice in the 1 Divide th e learn ers in to g ro u p s of four, p re fe ra b ly w ith e a c h group
pronunciation of aro u n d a table. All th e g ro u p s w ork sim u ltan eo u sly .
sounds in words 2 Give each group a se t of p h o n em e c a rd s a n d a s e t of w o rd card s. The
MATERIALS w ord card s could co n ta in re c e n tly p re s e n te d v o cab u la ry and could
One set of th u s be a m eans of re ln fo rcin g /p ractisln g It. T he c a rd s could, on th e
phoneme cards o th e r hand, also co n ta in new item s of v o cab u la ry , th u s introducing
and one set of a m ore cognitive elem ent to th e gam e, In w hich le a rn e rs a re required
word card s per to make a p p ro p riate g u e sse s a b o u t th e p ro n u n ciatio n of new vocabu
group of 4 lary item s.
learners 3 Ask each group to p la c e b o th se ts of c a rd s face dow n o n th e table,
w ith th e phonem e c a rd s o n th e left. In tu rn , th e le a rn e rs tu rn o ver
TIME first one p honem e c a rd a n d th e n o n e w o rd card . T h ey co n tin u e to
15-20 minutes d o th is until th e p h o n em e o n th e u p tu rn e d p h o n em e c a rd m atch es
one of th e so u n d s c o n ta in e d in th e w o rd o n th e w o rd card . At this
point, any one of th e four m ay sh o u t Snap*. If th e g ro u p ag rees th at
th e call Is co rre c t, th e n th e le a rn e r w h o called Snap k eep s th e tw o
card s In q uestion. In th e e v e n t of d isa g re e m e n t th e y sh o u ld consult
you!
4 W hen th e b ottom of e a c h p ack h as b een re a c h e d , th e c a rd s a re shuf
fled and th e gam e co n tin u e s.
5 At th e end of th e gam e, th e le a rn e r w ith th e m o st c a rd s Is th e w inner.
 S P E L L IN G T O S O U N D A N D B A C K A G A IN

/ RHYMING SOUNDS 43________

LEVEL
Preparation E lem entary +

W rite a n exam ple of a w ord-ending (including a vow el) In bold ph o n e FOCUS

m ic s c rip t a t th e to p of each sh e e t of A3 p ap er. Links betw een
so u n d s and
Procedure spelling;
Recognising
1 T ake o n e sh eet of A3 p a p e r a s an exam ple and Invite th e learn ers to so und/spelling
think of a w ord or w o rd s ending in th e p h o n em e o r p h o n em es show n patte rn s
a t th e to p of th e sheet. MATERIALS
2 Elicit c o rre c t exam ples from th e le a rn e rs in o rd in ary spelling on each Several sh e e ts of
sh e e t. (See exam ples below .) A3 p ap er, Blu-tack
3 Divide th e learn ers into g ro u p s of th re e o r four. o r sim ilar
4 Give e a c h group a sheet.
5 T h ey a d d a s m any w o rd s to th e rhym ing lists a s th e y can, checking TIME
in th e d ictio n ary o r w ith y o u a s req u ired . Ongoing o v e r a
6 W hen e ach grou p h as e x h a u ste d a p artic u la r so u n d , th ey p ass th e w hole co u rse
sh e e t o n to th e next g ro u p a n d th is g ro u p a d d s any new w ords they
have b efo re passing it o n to th e next g ro u p a n d s o on.
7 D isplay th e sh e e ts p rom inently in th e classroom . L earners can th en
ad d to th e m w henever an a p p ro p ria te new item of vocabulary com es
up. T h e visual elem ent of th e disp lay Is in ten d ed to reinforce th e p a t
te rn s in q u estio n and th e so u n d /sp ellin g re latio n sh ip s w hich th ey
exem plify.
Examples
/-ait/ 1-onJ /-ein/ f-3'J
night taught reign bore
light bought rain boar
white fort lane law
site taut entertain roar
bright sort explain core
polite nought plane four
 TH E PRO N UN CIATIO N BOOK

4 A ____________ ONGOING VOCABULARY RECORD

LEVEL
Any Procedure
FOCUS 1 Use th e sh eets of p a p e r to m ake an ongoing record of words
Relationships introduced or p ractise d during a course. You can d o this during
between class tim e or as p art of y our own preparation. Just write th e words
pronunciation and one after another, big enough to be seen clearly from all parts of the
spelling__ classroom . Use norm al spelling, but colour code th e vowels, so that
MATERIALS identical vowel so u n d s ap p e a r in th e sam e colour regardless of how
Marker pens of as they a re spelt. For exam ple, th e a of want, th e o u of cough and the
many different o ' of lot will all be th e sam e colour. Similarly, th e a of along, th e ur
colours as of Saturday and th e er* of butter will sh are th e sam e colour.
possible; Large 2 You can indicate stre sse d syllables by underlining, italicising, etc.
sheets of paper EXTENSION
(flipchart paper is Once th e system is initiated, it can be taken over by th e learners, who
Ideal); Some wall can use dictionaries to check pronunciations. The ch arts can be used
space to stick both overtly, for particu lar exercises, and/or as w allpaper w hose
them on patterns and colours subconsciously imprint themselves.
TIME VARIATION
Ongoing Limit th e use of colour coding to certain vowels only, o r apply it to
throughout a som e consonant so u n d s to o . All th e letters of a word which are not
course colour coded can b e w ritten in black.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT V
This idea was suggested by th e Silent Way word charts and b y th e use
of peripheral visuals in Suggestopedia.
 S P E LL IN G T O S O U N D A N D B A C K A G A IN

V SOUNDS SEARCH 4jj_____________

You can u se Sounds Search as a w arm er o r a s a final activity. Like LEVEL
Sounds Hangman (3.8), it can also b e u sed for vocabulary revision. B eginner*_____
FOCUS
Procedure Recognising
individual sounds
1 Divide th e class into groups of th r e e o r four. and relating
2 Give each group a se t of phonem e c a rd s and ask th em to sp re a d th e sounds to spelling
cards o u t on th e table o r o n th e floor.
3 Read o u t a list of w ords. MATERIALS
4 As each w ord is read out, ea c h g ro u p a tte m p ts to spell it a s quickly Set of phonem e
a s p ossible w ith th e phonem e c ard s. card s p e r gro u p
5 T he first group to m ake th e w ord c o rrectly g e ts a point. of learners;
6 T he com plexity of th e vocab u lary can d e a rly b e varied and you List of w ords
should m ake su re th a t th e re a re sufficient pho n em e c a rd s In each se t TIME
to cover th e w ord s you read o u t For exam ple, if a w ord co n tain s tw o 5-15 m inutes
/i/ sounds, then th e re should b e a t lea st tw o A/ c a rd s in th e set.
VARIATION .
In sm all classes the sam e activity can b e d o n e o n a n individual basis.
 TH E PRO N UN CIATIO N B O O K

4 6 ___________ SOUNDS SCRABBLE

LEVEL This activity gives learners practice in combining sounds to form
E tc m e o liry *
recognisable utterances. It can also Increase their awareness of fre
FOCUS quent phenom ena, such as the representation of final -er in spelling by
Relationships th e phonem e /a/. You can use Sounds Scrabble as a w anner (given
between sounds prior familiarity with th e phonemic symbols), as a quick revision
nd spelling activity (for new lexis), as a stage in a lesson dealing with sounds and
spelling, o r as a language game at any appropriate stage in a longer
MATERIALS lesson.
A set of phoneme
cards end a table Procedure
per group of 4
learners 1 Divide th e learners into groups of four, preferably round small
TIME tables.
1545 minutes 2 Appoint a sco rer for each group.
3 Give each g roup a set of phonem e cards.
4 They place th e set of cards face down on th e table. Each learner in
tu rn selects six card s from th e pack, leaving twenty cards in th e pack.
Tell everyone to ensure th at o ther mem bers of the group cannot see
th e ir cards.
5 Player 1 in each group then attem pts to make a word of two syllables
o r m ore on th e table. If this player is unable to make a word of any sort
with th e card s they have, then they discard one card by placing it at
th e bottom of th e pack and taking one new card from th e top of the
pack. T he game then passes to Player 2 in each group. If, however,
Player 1 can make a word, then one point is scored for each card
used. Player 1 then takes th e sam e number of cards from the top of
th e pack th at they have used to make their word and the game passes
to Player 2 in each group.
6 The o th er players then take it in turn to extend the word or build on
it crossw ise, by including at least one sound used in th e first word,
and so on in subsequent turns. (See Fig. 7 opposite for an example of
w hat a grid might look like.)
7 When all th e cards in the pack have been used, the winner is the player
w ith th e highest points total.
8 Your role is to m onitor th e groups, ensure that the words are cor
rect and help any learners who may need assistance.
EXTENSION
Learners transcribe som e of the longer or more Interesting words into
co rre c t English spelling. -This can be made more interesting if groups
tran scrib e th e w ords from another group's grid. This follow-up activity
gives further practice in sensitising learners to th e relationships
betw een sounds and spelling in English.
 S P E L L IN G T O S O U N D AN D B A C K A G A IN

Fig. 7 Exampleof aSounds Scrabblegrid

USING SOUNDS FOR WORD BUILDING _____________

You can u se th is activity b o th to p ra c tise th e so u n d s of know n w o rd s LEVEL
and to encourage learners to ex p erim en t a n d g e n e ra te new w o rd s. It is Elem entary
particularly fruitful in th e a re a of h o m o p h o n e s (e.g. blue/blew ). T he FOCUS
ex ercise is a cognitive, stu d e n t-c e n tre d a ctiv ity a n d y o u m ay find th a t Relationships
it tak es quite a lo t of tim e. Y our ow n ro le is a s in stig ato r an d m onitor, betw een sounds
giving help w h ere needed. a n d spelling

Procedure MATERIALS
A list of sound
1 Divide th e learn ers into p a irs o r sm all g ro u p s. frames* (see
2 Give each group th e sam e collectio n of tw o o r th re e 'so u n d fram es'. exam ples below);
For example: A num ber of
Ant//pH/ /pn//stfA>d//T1//kt/ monolingual
T h e d ash re p rese n ts a m issing vow el o r d ip h th o n g sound. dictionaries
3 Tell th e learners to experim ent b y trying o u t different vow el o r TIME
consonant soun d s in th e 'so u n d fram es' y o u h a v e given them . At 20-45 minutes
first, th ey will probably co m e u p w ith a few fam iliar w o rd s. In th e
c a se of /mt/, for exam ple, th e s e m ight b e /m itt/ a n d /m et/.
4 Ask them to note dow n b o th th e pho n em ic spelling of th e w o rd s th e y
think a re possible and th e n th e n o rm al spelling of ea c h w ord. A fter
th ey have exhausted know n w o rd s, th e y sh o u ld p ro d u c e so m e
further tentative exam ples. In th e c a s e of /m t/, th e y m ay possibly
produce /m en/, /mutt/ a n d /m et/. H ere th e norm al spelling m ay be
m ore problem atic and th e y m ay n eed re c o u rse to a dictio n ary to
check th e various possibilities. You m ay find th ey will also ask you
questions, such as 'Is th e re su c h a w ord a s moot?'

47
TH P R O N U N O A T >ON B O O K

5 Ask th e groups to n o te dow n th e m eaning of any new w ords.

6 The groups pool th eir answ ers on th e board. At this point, any
spelling m istakes can be co rrected (by o th er learners preferably but
by you If necessary) and any problem s with meaning can also be
dealt with.
VARIATIONS
1 The activity can also be turn ed Into a w ord game, particularly at
higher levels, by aw arding points for each correct suggestion. The
group with th e m ost c o rrect w ords w ins th e game.
2 Give different 'sound fram es' to different groups, th u s extending the
eventual w ord pool on th e board.

4 . 8 ___________ SOUNDS CROSSWORDS

LEVEL This activity can form lh e m ajor p a rt of a lesson devoted to practising
Elem entary sounds. It can also be used as a m eans of practising o r revising item s
FOCUS of vocabulary, particularly a s regards th eir pronunciation.
R elationships
betw een sounds Procedure
and spelling
1 Divide th e class into pairs or sm all groups.
MATERIALS 2 Give each group a copy of th e crossw ord grid and a set of clues.
An em pty 3 The learners then w ork on th e task using dictionaries (preferably
crossw ord grid; monolingual) as required. Ensure th at they know they are supposed
A set of d u e s (See to fill th e grid in using phonem ic sym bols and not letters. T hey will
Fig. 8a) norm ally arrive at th e w ord in question first and then discuss,
TIME p erh ap s experim enting with th e pronunciation, exactly how it is
30-45 m inutes pronounced and what sym bol is required.
4 Monitor pro g ress as necessary.
5 The groups com pare their answ ers.
VARIATION
An additional 'inform ation gap elem ent can be introduced by provid
ing each group o r pair with som e of th e clues only. They then need to
interact w ith o th er groups In o rd e r to com plete th e puzzle.
 S P E L L IN G T O SO U N D A N D B A C K A G A IN

Clues:
ACROSS OOWN
I Capital of France 1You should report a robberyto the
4 Nameand 2 An inhabitant of Rome
7 it is theeditor'sjobtoa newspaper 3 M iddle
8Yellowfruit 4 Opposite of defended
9 Ordinary 5Write again
10Aroughpath 6A short stay
II The personwho sends a letter or 12 Each
parcel 13Anightmare isabad
14Tomaketighter 15Part of theeye
17 Past tense of see 16Infinitiveof 4down
19Past tenseof eat 17Speak
20 Past tenseof film 18Similar toshouldas in'I togo
23 Electrical wire 20 Oppositeof enemy
26 Dreadful 21 Oppositeof wins
27Way out 22 Sons and
28 Britainisan 23 All fromHeathrowaresubject
29Avoid todelay
30 Illness 24 Electricity is aformof
313rdpersonsingular of swim 25 Inhabitantsof Saudi Arabia
Fig. 8a Exampleof a Sounds Crossword
Longm an C roup UK L id 1992
 SQ b H C B I H
I
THE raONUNCtATIQN BOOK

4 t

p |r I 1s 0 a r
3 s
7
a au e Idj I t i: D
it
t m n lae r
&
i; 8 % r ae ai 3:
n

14 it it

s e n d a t ai t 0 n
17 t
I V

r
it
S o: t
r i: ei t d: ae
24 2t

f I "t m d i L e k s
26
r u; o: H 0 L n au
n 28
e H z I t L el nai
26
n I a j V 31 t__ i
31

d B Z i: z s1
|w I
1m z
Fig. 8b Example of a Sounds Crossword (Key)
>Longman C roup UK Ltd 1992

4.9 PHONEMIC WORD RACE

LEVEL You can use this activity to sensitise learners to th e relationships
Beginner t between sounds and spelling, particularly th e different ways In which
FOCUS a specific sound may be represented in w ritten form. It is also a useful
Relationships m eans of recycling and revising previously learnt vocabulary.
between sounds
and spelling Procedure
MATERIALS 1 Divide th e learners Into pairs o r groups of three.
None 2 Set a tim e limit, ideally fairly short, su ch as 5 minutes, as th e activity
TIME Is Intended to be a race.
15-30 minutes 3 Ask each pair o r group to elect a scribe'.
4 Ask th e learners to think of as many w ords as they can containing a
particular sound (e.g. //) in the time available. The scribes should
write down the w ords for their groups.
5 When th e time is up, th e pair o r group with the largest num ber of
correct w ords Is aw arded a point.
6 Continue with other sounds.


CHAPTER 5

Sounds in sequence
ASSIMILATION AWARENESS EXERCISE 5.1
This exercise is intended to sensitise learners to changes to and LEVEL
disappearances of sounds as a result of their environment. It can be Elementary
part of a lesson focusing on oral fluency and natural rhythm through FOCUS
linking w ords together. Learners are often unaware, for example, that Awareness of
th e final /t/of first in first light disappears in rapid speech. You may find features of
it helpful to co n trast th e different sounds of Hrst light with the connected speech
/t/ of first pronounced clearly and then with the same sound disap
pearing. MATERIALS
A worksheet with
Procedure tasks and
examples (see
1 Give each learner a copy of this worksheet containing the following below)_________
(example) questions: TIME
In rapid speech: 10-20 minutes
1 When is a AVa An/?
2 When is a l\l a /p/?
3 When is a Id/ a /b/?
4 When is a // a ///?
5 When is a IjJ a /j/?
6 When is a/n/a/ij/?
7 When is a/d/a/a/?
8 When is a A/ a /k/?
C Longman G roup UK Ltd 1992

2 Give each learner a jumbled list of examples where such assimila

tions take place.
Examples
tengreenbottles shewasbornin
tenpinbowling Birmingham
shehas. hasshe? therightkey
thisshirt whitepaper
goodboy tenplayers
goodgirt bitpart
goodmorning speedboat
G Longman G roup UK Ltd 1992
 THf PRONUNCIATION BOOK

S Read aloud the list of examples. You can either read the examples in
the order given in the worksheet above (for recognition purposes
only), or in a Jumbled order for a more demanding listening activity.
4 Ask the learners to work in pairs. Give each pair a Jumbled list of
further examples where th e above assimilations occur. One learner
reads the examples aloud and together they match th e examples
with the numbers above.
Furtherexamples
hotpie thisshop
bed manners goodgoal
inBolton hotgrog
does she? ten girls
OLongnwn Group UK U d 1992

5 Class discussion. You may need to give further examples. You may
also need to explain why this happens! One explanation is that the
speech organs get Into position for th e following sound and thus the
first sound may take on some of the characteristics of the following
sound. For example, In good morning, the lips may be closed during
'good' in anticipation of the following /m/, causing the /d/ sound to
resemble /b/.
6 Ask the learners to listen to what happens to th e final /i/ sound of the
first word In the following examples.
firsttime lastchance first light
nextweek bestteam ghosttrain
dustsheet worst type justone
fCtongmnn Group UK l i d 1992

7 Production. Ask learners to practise saying the examples. Empha

sise the element of speed - the final /(/ disappears in rapid speech.

5 7 ___________ PRODUCING WEAK FORMS

LEVEL One problem for foreign learners of English Is that they often tend to
Elementary give full value to unstressed syllables, particularly those which contain
FOCUS the unstressed /a/ sound. You can use this exercise to heighten their
Producing weak awareness of the frequency of unstressed syllables and also to im
forms prove th e rhythm of their speech in short utterances containing
unstressed and elided sounds.
MATERIALS
None Preparation
TIME
10*20 minutes You will need a list of phrases, expressions and short sentences
containing unstressed syllables (see examples opposite). Write up
your examples in phonemic script on the board (10-12 examples should
be sufficient).
H H H H H I

Examples:

epi:sakeik iDralnha.dx
f | | S t ji ps red n w a i t
tentawAn faivtanain
a pa e k i t a k ns p s hizframlAndn
abD tlabia alaufabred
brednbAta tw entitatu:
Procedure
1 Ask th e learners to try saying th e above ex p ressio n s to each o th e r in
p a irs or small groups. This is to give them th e o p p o rtu n ity to work
o u t how to say them and to experiment w ith producing th e sounds
in th e relative security of a small group ra th e r th a n before th e whole
class.
2 Go round the groups and monitor progress.
3 Invite suggestions from th e class as a w hole. If any suggestions
contain a sound w hich is not in th e tran scrip tio n (e.g. pronouncing
th e /d / In and), you can question this. 'W hy a re you saying and? T here
is n 't a /d / sound, Is there?
EXTENSION
For further practice of th e production of weak, u n stre ssed forms, you
can play a sim ple game. Start by saying 'I w ent to th e su perm arket and
bought a bottle of wine'. The sentence now goes ro u n d th e whole class
w ith each learner repeating your first sen ten ce a n d th e n adding a new
p h rase of their own. Thus th e second learn er m ight say, I w ent to th e
superm arket and bought a bottle of wine a n d a p acket of crisps*. The
th ird learner might go on, I went to th e su p erm ark et and bought a
b o ttle of wine, a packet of crisps and a loaf of b read , and so on until
every learner has contributed, /my is not allowed! /av / is tolerated, but
// is preferred! (Of course, /bv/ is c o rrect before a vowel sound.)
S3 ___________ USING LISTENING M ATERIAL
LEVEL
B tf in n c f Preparation
FOCUS You will need to re c o rd a s h o rt p ie c e o f off-air listen in g m aterial (2 -3
Stressed syllable* m inutes maximum) an d to p re p a re a tra n s c rip t o f th e tex t. You can u se
and weak forms sh o rt recordings of a u th e n tic listen in g m aterial (fo r exam ple, th e new s
MATERIALS headlines from th e rad io ) to h e ig h te n le a rn e rs a w a re n e ss of s tre s s
Tape recorder; placem ent and th e w id esp read o c c u rre n c e of u n s tre s s e d sy llab les
Blank tape (more (especially / /) in English.
than one recorder
and several tapes Procedure
(or the Extension
option): 1 Give th e learners a c o p y of th e ta p e s c rip t. Divide th em in to p a irs a n d
Transcript of ask them to mark w h e re th e y th in k th e m ain s tre s s e s will fall.
recording; 2 Go through th e le a rn e rs' su g g e stio n s w ith th e w h o le g ro u p . S om e
Language discussion of why th e y th in k th e s tre s s e s will fall in th e p la c e s th e y
laboratory for suggest will norm ally b e p ro fita b le (im p o rta n t w o rd s, th e la s t w o rd
Extension option in th e sentence, th e m ain v e rb a s o p p o s e d to an auxiliary, a c o n tra s
tive stre ss, and so on).
TIME 3 Tell them th at th ey a re now going to liste n to th e ta p e . A sk th e m to
30-60 minutes co m p are th e stre ss p lace m en t o n th e ta p e w ith th e s tre s s p la c e m e n t
th ey have predicted.
4 Play th e tape. You will p ro b a b ly n e e d to play it m o re th a n on ce, an d
possib ly several tim es. \
5 Ask th e learners to co m p a re th e ir a n sw e rs in p a irs o r sm all g ro u p s.
6 Check that all th e le a rn e rs h av e th e c o rre c t a n sw ers. Play th e ta p e
again if th ere are any p roblem s.
7 Now ask th e learn ers to listen to th e ta p e again an d to u n d e rlin e all
th e weak /o / so u n d s th a t o c c u r b e tw e e n th e s tre s s e d syllables.
8 Play th e ta p e (m o re th a n o n c e if n e c e ssa ry ). Get th e le a rn e rs to
co m p are their an sw ers a n d ch e c k th a t th e ir su g g estio n s a re c o rre c t.
T h ere will norm ally b e a large n u m b e r of u n stre ss e d /a / so u n d s.
9 Ask th e learners to gro u p th e u n s tre s s e d w o rd s a c c o rd in g to th e ir
function. This should p ro d u c e c a te g o rie s su ch a s p re p o sitio n s (e.g.
to, from, of, at, and for), c o n ju n c tio n s (and, but, that), auxiliary v e rb s
(be, do, have) and so m e m odal auxiliaries (should, could, would,
must). At this stage it is also w o rth d iscu ssin g w hen su c h w o rd s are
stre ss e d (e.g. for em p h a sis o r c o n tra st).
EXTENSION
T he learn ers can each b e ask ed to re c o rd th e text o n to a blank ta p e and
th e n to com pare th e ir v ersio n w ith th e original. You c a n a lso ask th em
to shad o w read th e text, i.e. read it a lo u d a s th e te x t is bein g played
on th e ta p e re c o rd e r (s e e 7.8 Shadow ing). If y o u h av e a c c e ss to a
language laboratory, th is is an ideal v e n u e for th e s e a ctiv ities, a s
learn ers can work at th eir ow n p ace a n d re p e a t th e ir own re c o rd in g as
often as th ey feel n ecessary . You c a n also re c o rd th e te x t o n to th e
 S O U N D S IN S E Q U E N C E

la b o ra to ry m a s te r ta p e In s h o r t s e c tio n s , w h ic h th e le a r n e r s c a n th e n
re p e a t im m ed iately a fte rw a rd s. T h r o u g h o u t th i s a c tiv ity , th e p a r t ic u
lar fo cu s is o n s t r e s s p la c e m e n t a n d w e a k fo rm s , b u t o th e r a s p e c t s o f
p ro n u n c ia tio n a r e a ls o b e in g w o rk e d o n .

HOW M A N Y W O R D S ? 5 A _______________

W hen c o n fro n te d w ith c o n v e rs a tio n a l E n g lish s p o k e n a t n o rm a l s p e e d , LEVEL

m an y le a rn e rs find It e x tre m e ly d ifficu lt t o I n te r p r e t u tte r a n c e s w h ic h E le m e n ta ry +
a r e w ell w ith in th e ir c o m p e te n c e a s r e g a r d s t h e g ra m m a r a n d v o c a b u FOCUS
lary th e y h a v e le a rn t. I n te r p r e tin g
Examples s o u n d s in f a s t
W hat d'you want? c o llo q u ia l s p e e c h
I wouldn't have done that. MATERIALS
How much tongerre you gonna be? A list o f s e n t e n c e s
Have you seen her yet? w h ic h a r e n o t
T h e p ro b le m Is e x a c e rb a te d b y te a c h in g w h ic h o n ly p r e s e n ts slo w e d - d iffic u lt fo r y o u r
dow n, o v e r-a rtlc u la te d m o d e ls w h e re e v e r y w o r d a n d s o u n d is c le a rly c la s s in te r m s o f
id entifiable. H ere w e s u g g e s t a w a y o f d e v o tin g a few m in u te s fro m tim e g ra m m a r o r
to tim e to s o m e In te n siv e w o rk o n th is p ro b le m . v o c a b u la ry , b u t
w h ic h c o n ta in
P ro cedu re f e a tu re s o f
p r o n u n c ia tio n ,
1 D ictate th e s e n te n c e q u ick ly , c a su a lly , c o llo q u ia lly , e v e n u n c le a rly , w hen th e y a re
a s it m ight o c c u r in th e m id d le o f a c o n v e rs a tio n . p ro n o u n c e d
2 L earn ers w rite it d o w n , o r a s m u c h a s th e y c a n , a n d if n e c e s s a r y , tr y n a tu ra lly , w h ic h
to r e c o n s tru c t th e r e s t th r o u g h d is c u s s io n w ith th e i r n e ig h b o u r s . If a r e lik e ly to
th e y c a n n o t id en tify a p a rtic u la r w o rd , a s s u r e th e m th a t th e y d o in c o n fu s e lis te n in g .
fact know th e w o rd , a n d e n c o u ra g e th e m n o t o n ly to w o rk o n w h a t F o r e x a m p le , w e a k
th e ir e a rs h e a rd , b u t a ls o o n th e ir k n o w le d g e o f w h a t th e w o rd c o u ld fo rm s , e lis io n ,
be. a s s im ila tio n ,
3 If n e c e s s a ry , d ic t a te th e s e n t e n c e a g a in , b e in g c a re f u l n o t to linking.___________
o v e ra rtic u la te o r slo w d o w n in o r d e r to h e lp . TIME
4 Ask th e c la s s h o w m a n y w o rd s th e r e w e re in th e s e n te n c e . If t h e r e is 10 -1 5 m in u te s
d isa g re e m e n t, th is Is likely to p ro v o k e f u r th e r d is c u s s io n . If th e r e is
a fair m e a s u re of a g re e m e n t, in v ite v o lu n te e r s t o w r ite th e ir v e rs io n s
of th e s e n te n c e o n th e b o a rd .
5 Ask th e c la s s to a d ju d ic a te o n w h ic h o f t h e o ffe re d v e rs io n s a r e
g ram m atically p o ssib le .
6 R ead o u t e a c h of th e p o s s ib le v e rs io n s , a n d th e n y o u r o rig in a l
s e n te n c e fo r c o m p a riso n . A sk th e c la s s w h ic h v e rs io n w a s y o u rs .
RATIONALE
L earn ers so m e tim e s p a n ic a n d b e c o m e u n a b le t o u n d e r s ta n d a n y th in g
a t all. T his a c tiv ity e n c o u ra g e s th e m to w o rk o n th e i r u n d e rs ta n d in g o f
a sh o rt b u rs t of E nglish, w ith tim e fo r re fle c tio n a n d re h e a rin g , p ie c in g
 TH E PRO N U N CIA TIO N BOOK

together an interpretation based on th eir knowledge of what is gram

matically o r sem antically possible (o r likely), plus th e im perfect sound
d u e s they actually hear.

SL5_____________ CONNECTED SPEECH DICTATION

LEVEL Learners of English, even advanced ones, a re often n o t aw are of all the
Elementary processes of simplification in co n n ected speech, including elision,
FOCUS assimilation, vowel reduction and th e creation of w eak forms. This
Sensitising activity should be carried out in a light-hearted manner!
learners to
assimilation and Preparation
elision; Changes In
the pronunciation You need a list of p h rases which illustrate sim plifications in connected
of som e words in speech. Choose your own, if possible including exam ples which you
connected speech have noticed learners pronouncing in an exaggerated, hypercorrect
way. Here is a sam ple list:
MATERIALS
See Preparation goodbye /d/ becomes M
goodgrief Id/ becomes /g/
TIME Doyouhavetogo? 'have' becomes /hacf/
10-20 minutes rockandroll 'and' becomes Ini
Doyouwantsome? 'do you' becomes /dpi or /djo/
Canyouhelpme? 'can' becomes faanl or fan/
apintofbitter 'of' becomes M or h i
Is hethere? 'he' becomes/i/
Shanwego? 'Shall we becomes//wi/

Procedure

1 Tell the class you a re going to d ictate som e w ords to th e m . Ask them
to prepare by putting num bers from one to nine (o r how ever many
Items you are going to d ictate) down th e left-hand sid e of the page.
2 For each item, d ictate only th e w ord illustrating th e connected
speech feature, twice, to give th em a good chance to hear. Tell them
these are normal English w ords, and th ey should u se normal spell
ing. From our sam ple list above, you dictate only:
 S O U N D S IN S E Q U E N C E

3 A sk th e cla ss to c o m p a re w ith e a c h o th e r w h a t th e y h a v e w ritten .

4 Now tell th e m you a re going to d ic ta te s h o r t p h ra s e s a n d se n te n c e s,
e ach of w hich c o n ta in s o n e o f th e ite m s d ic ta te d e a rlie r. T h e y sh o u ld
w rite th e s e dow n th e rig h t-h a n d s id e o f th e p a p e r s o th a t e a c h
p h ra s e o r se n te n c e Is o n th e s a m e lin e a s th e item it c o n ta in s.
5 Now d ic ta te th e c o m p le te p h r a s e s /s e n te n c e s , m ak in g s u r e th e p ro
n u nciation of th e o rig in ally -d ictated w o rd s ta y s th e s a m e a s before.
6 Again, get le a rn e rs to c o m p a re a n s w e rs w ith e a c h o th e r .
7 Ask th em to co m m en t o n w h a t th e y h a v e h e a r d a n d w h a t th e y h av e
w ritten .
EXTENSION
If th e le a rn e rs seem keen, th e y c a n tr y to im ita te th e p ro n u n c ia tio n of
th e p h ra s e s/s e n te n c e s.
RATIONALE
Of c o u rs e it is u n u su al to g iv e th e s e w o rd s th e ir c o n n e c te d sp e e c h
form s w h en th e y a re sp o k e n in iso la tio n . B ut th e p o in t is th a t th is is a
w ay of forcing le a rn e rs a w a re n e s s of th is a s p e c t of E nglish p ro n u n c ia
tio n . It is im p o rta n t fo r b o th te a c h e r s a n d le a r n e rs to b e a r in m ind,
h o w ev er, th a t th e kinds of p ro n u n c ia tio n s ex em p lified in th e e x e rc ise
a re n o t oblig ato ry , e ith e r fo r n a tiv e s p e a k e r s o r fo r fo reig n le a rn e rs.
F or th e le a rn e rs, th e m o s t im p o rta n t th in g Is th a t a n a w a re n e s s of th e s e
fe a tu re s will h elp th e m to b e a b le to in te r p r e t in fo rm al sp o k e n English.
W h e th e r o r n o t th e y w a n t to e m u la te th e s e fe a tu re s in th e ir ow n
s p e e c h is a m a tte r of p e rs o n a l p re fe re n c e .

CO M PLETIN G LIM ER IC K S 5.6

T h e reg u lar rh y th m of a lim erick is o b v io u s ly n o t th e s a m e a s th e LEVEL
n o rm al rh y th m s of s p o n ta n e o u s s p e e c h . B u t u sin g lim e ric k s c a n h e lp B e g in n e r
to give le a rn e rs a n a w a re n e ss of th e k in d s o f rh y th m ic p a tte r n s w h ich FOCUS
th e y n e e d to p u t in to p ra c tic e in a m o re d y n a m ic w ay w h e n th e y sp e a k R h y th m , sy lla b le
English. In p articu lar, th e e x e rc is e s th a t follow c a n h e lp to s h o w h o w r e d u c tio n a n d
u n s tre s s e d syllab les a re c o m p r e s s e d in to th e s p a c e s b e tw e e n th e rh y m e __________
s tre s s e s .
MATERIALS
A lim e r ic k -
Procedure
tr a d itio n a l o r
1 Show a lim erick, w ith o n e lin e m issin g , o n th e b o a rd o r OHP o r o n a h o m e m a d e ______
h a n d o u t given to g ro u p s o f le a rn e rs. F o r ex am p le: TIME
Therewas ayoungfellowcalled Bright V a ria b le
Whocouldtravel faster than light
He setoff oneday
Ina relative way
C L ongm an C ro u p UK Lid 1992
 m m m

TH* PRO N UN CIATIO N BOOK

2 Ask them to p ropose suitable lines to complete the limerick, and to

Judge the suitability of each o th ers' suggestions (paying attention to
meaning as well as pronunciation). It will be clear which versions
have th e correct rhym e sch em e and can be said with th e correct
rhythm.
3 The class can then p ractise reciting accepted versions, tapping or
beating the rhythm as th e y d o so.
VARIATIONS
1 The missing line need not be th e last; it could be any of th e lines.
2 Instead of one line, leave o u t two, o r three, or four.
3 Instead of a line, leave out w ords or phrases.
4 Give a com plete limerick, b u t with a line o r phrase which does not fit,
and which the learners m u st Identify and replace.
5 Specify th e num ber of w ords to be supplied. For exam ple:----------
6 Specify th e num ber of syllables to be supplied. For example:
ft* * ftftft *
7 Specify the num ber of syllables and th eir relationship with the
rhythm. For example: o oO o ooo 0
8 Ask each group of learners to write limericks and sw ap Incomplete
versions with o th e r groups. They then complete the Incomplete
limericks.
9 Challenge them to supply a line containing as many syllables as
possible, while still conform ing to the rhythm. A m etronom e can be
used to check this.
CH A PTER 6

Word stress
INTRODUCING WORD STRESS y ____________

An appreciation of what stre ss is is an im portant p rerequisite for LEVEL

learning to pronounce w ords correctly. Here th e concept is introduced Most obviously
through a non-intellectual, guided discovery approach. applicable to near-
beginners, but
Procedure may be needed at
any level
Invite th e learn ers to p ropose w ords with two syllables and represent FOCUS
th ese w ords by putting ro d s on th e table, so rted into tw o groups Introducing the
according to stre ss p atterns. For example, never, always, wanted and concept of stress
English would go together, a n d along, because, cu lled and predict
w ould go together. If this activity follows on from Introducing syllables MATERIALS
(2.8), you can u se th e two-syllable w ords already on th e table. Ask the A table; Some
learn ers to recall th em one by o n e and to so rt them into two groups as Cuisenaire rods or
ap p ro p riate. If th e sam ple of w ords is sufficiently large, it should be similar (see page 8)
visibly ap p aren t th a t th e m ajority of two-syllable w ords a re stressed TIME
o h th e first syllable. About 15 minutes
EXTENSION
Use th e exam ple w ords to teac h language such as:
Whichsyllableis stressed?
Thestress is onthenthsyllable.
The nthsyllableis stressed.
T his can then becom e p a rt of y o u r stan d ard classroom metalanguage.
VARIATION
Use three-syllable w ords. In th is c a se it should be apparent that very
few w ords are stre sse d on th e th ird syllable.

59
 TMt PRONUNCIATION BOOK

6 2 ___________ STRESS PATTERNS

i f V II The aim of this activity is to increase learners' awareness of th e word
Beginner stress patterns of English and help them to recognise and reproduce
FOCUS particular patterns. The examples can be referred to (and added to)
Word stress whenever it seems appropriate to do so.
patterns is
English Procedure
MATERIALS 1 Present five or six typical word stress patterns. A useful device Is to
Several sheet# of use words which can then act as memory aids; for example, the
A3 paper; BliMack names of countries (Scotland, Japan, Indonesia).
or similar; 2 Represent each pattern visually (e.g. El Salvador o O o o). Write this
Coloured pens pattern boldly, along with the name of the country, at th e top of a
TIM E
sheet of A3 paper. Repeat th e process for each of the stress patterns.
Ongoingover a 3 Invite the learners to think of a further example for each pattern.
wholecourse Initially these could be other geographical names th at conform to
the corresponding patterns, but any vocabulary Items can be used
equally well.
4 Divide the learners Into groups of three or four and give each group
one of the sheets. Each group will have a different pattern repre
sented by a different country name (see examples below).
5 Ask the groups to add to the list in front of them. Monitor to check
that their additions are correct. When they can find no more exam
ples, they pass the sheet on to the next group who, In turn, add their
examples of this particular pattern. Continue until all th e groups
have added something to each of the patterns. Note th at all the
groups should be working simultaneously!
6 Display th e sheets prominently in the classroom and encourage
learners to add to them whenever a new item of vocabulary comes
up in class.
Examples
El'Saivador Scotland Iran 'Switzerland
intelligent fortune p refe r fortunate
uncomfortable classroom d iv id e comfortable
impossible hopeless correct vegetable
unbreakable pattern CSC dictionary
appropriate lesson c o n firm wonderful
 W ORD S T R ES S

W ORD S T R E S S AW A R EN ESS E X E R C IS E 6.3

T h e aim of th is activ ity Is to give le a r n e r s p ra c tic e in placing w ord LEVEE
s tr e s s co rrectly . It Is p artic u la rly s u ita b le fo r rec y c lin g vocabulary E lem entary*_____
w ith difficult o r u n u su al s tre s s p la c e m e n t, a n d a ls o fo r working o n FO CUS
s tr e s s e rro rs com m o n to a p a rtic u la r g r o u p o r n atio n ality . Recognising and
producing co rre c t
Procedure s tre s s placem ent

1 Divide th e cla ss in to p airs o r sm all g ro u p s . M A T E R IA L S

2 Give e a c h p air o r sm all g ro u p a list of w o rd s (o n a p h o to c o p ie d sh e e t A m u *
o r w ritten on th e b o a rd ) w ith t h e s t r e s s In c o rre c tly m arked.
3 T ell th em th a t in e v e ry c a se th e s t r e s s is m a rk e d o n th e w rong TIME
sy llab le a n d th a t th e y sh o u ld w o rk to g e th e r t o e sta b lish w here th e 15 m inutes
c o rre c t s tre s s sh o u ld fall in e a c h c a s e .
4 W hen th e y h a v e c o m p le te d th e ta s k , th e d ifferen t p a irs o r groups
c o m p a re th e ir a n sw ers.
VARIATIONS
1 T h is acti vity c a n b e m a d e m o re d e m a n d in g b y in cluding som e w ords
w ith th e s tr e s s c o rre c tly m ark ed . D ont fo rg e t to tell y o u r learners
th a t so m e a re rig h t a n d so m e a re w rong!
2 New v o cab u lary ite m s c a n a ls o b e in tro d u c e d in to th e activity.

G U E S S TH E S T R E S S 6.4
LEVEL
T h is p ro c e d u re is a n a d ju n c t to w o rk o n v o c a b u la ry w hich th e learners
find, o r th e te a c h e r p re s e n ts, in its w r itte n form . Any____________
FOCUS
Procedure Predicting w ord
stre ss __________
1 W hen th e q u e stio n of h ow to p ro n o u n c e a n ew muiti-syliabic w ord
M A T E R IA LS
arise s, ask th e c la ss how m an y sy lla b le s th e y th in k th e re a re in it.
T h e re m ay b e d isa g re e m e n t a b o u t th is . If n e c e ssa ry , y o u can resolve None________
th e issue. TIM E
2 Ask w hich sy llab le th e y th in k is s t r e s s e d . If th e y a re right, th ey can V ariable_______
p ra c tise p ro n o u n c in g it (p ay in g a tte n tio n to th e c o rre c t so u n d s as
REQUIREM EN T
w ell, of c o u rse ) a n d th e a ctiv ity is fin ish ed .
3 If n o t, say th e w o rd w ith th e s tr e s s in all p o ssib le po sitio n s In turn Previous w ork on
(e.g. sa y participant a s p a rtic ip a n t, participant, p articipant and th e n atu re and
p a rtic ip a n t). T h e c la ss th e n v o te o n w h ic h s tre s s th e y think is m ost m etalanguage of
likely. (T hey m ight w an t to h e a r th e p o ssib ilitie s again.) syllables and
4 C ount th e v o te s a n d an n o u n c e th e c o r r e c t version, o r let th e class stre ss
find it in d ictio n aries.
TH E PRO N U N CIATIO N BOOK

EXTENSION
When learners are used to th is idea, they can take on th e ]ob of
producing all the possible versions.
VARIATION
You can add a visual dimension to th e parade of possible pronuncia
tions by illustrating each one on th e board o r OHP (participant - Oooo,
oOoo, 00O0. oooO) or by using ro d s on a table.
RATIONALE
1 A group of learners, even one w ith very little experience of English,
has an uncanny ability to be collectively right.
2 English pronunciation is n o t a s ch ao tic and unpredictable a s it is
sometimes made out to be. T h ere are rules and tendencies in th e
realm of word stress (see Kreidler, 1989 and Poldauf, 1984). It is
probably helpful to draw learn ers' atten tio n to som e of th e se at
some stage. But the p ro ced u re advocated h e re allows th em to
internalise these rules and tend en cies by developing th e ir own Inner
criteria.

6 * ___________ STRESS MATCHING GAME

LEVEL You can use this activity either as a w arm er or a s a m eans of reinforcing
Elementary * the pronunciation of recently tau g h t vocabulary.
FOCUS
Accurate stress Preparation '
placement
Prepare two sets of cards. On o n e se t w rite a single multi-syllabic w ord
MATERIALS on each card. On the o th er set, w rite th e stre ss p a tte rn s of each of th ese
Word cards and words represented with sym bols. For exam ple, information would
stress symbol appear as ooOo and phonology a s oOoo. Two o r th re e w ords p er
card s(see learner should be sufficient
Preparation)
TIME Procedure
10 minutes
1 Mix the cards in each set.
2 Give each learner two o r th re e w ord card s and a corresponding
number of non-matching stre ss sym bol cards.
3 Tell the learners to find th e stre ss sym bol card s th a t m atch their
word cards. They are likely to need language su ch as 'Could you say
your word?' and 'It doesnt m atch.
4 Ask the learners to stand up and find their m atching cards. T his is a
mingling exercise and th ey may need to speak to several o th er
learners before they find th eir cards. W hen th ey find a matching
card, they retain the w ord card and take th e stre ss sym bol card from
the other learner. The activity continues until each learner has
obtained a stress symbol card for each of th eir w ord cards.

62
 W ORD S T R ES S

5 W h en all t h e le a r n e r s h a v e fo u n d th e ir m a tc h in g c a rd s , c h e c k th a t
th e y h a v e t h e c o r r e c t a n s w e rs . An effective w ay of d o in g th is Is to get
th e m t o s t i c k th e i r p a irs o f c a r d s o n th e b o a rd w ith blu-tack o r
s o m e th in g s im ila r. Y o u c a n th e n In v ite th e w h o le g ro u p t o give th e ir
o p in io n s o n w h e th e r th e p a ir s a re c o rre c tly m a tc h e d o r not.

V O C A B U L A R Y R EV IS IO N 6.6
A lo t of w o r k w ith v o c a b u la ry fo c u s e s o n m ean in g . Of c o u rs e th is is LEVEL
v ital, b u t w e s h o u l d n o t n e g le c t o th e r a s p e c ts of le a rn in g v o cab u la ry . Any_____________
T h is is a v o c a b u la r y re v isio n a c tiv ity w h ich w o rk s o n a c c u ra c y of
FOCUS
p ro n u n c ia tio n . P ronunciation a s a
c u e fo r recalling
P re p a ra tio n an d categorising
v o cab u la ry item s
D raw u p a li s t o f v o c a b u la r y ite m s w h ic h y o u w a n t th e c la s s to rev ise
o r to re c a ll a s t h e b a s i s fo r fu r th e r w ork. T h e 'ite m s co u ld , for exam ple, M A T E R IA L S
form p a rt o f a le x ic a l s e t w h ic h h a s re c e n tly b e e n in tro d u c e d , o r be None____________
a s s o c ia te d w ith a s to r y . T IM E
V ariable
P ro c e d u re

1 A sk th e l e a r n e r s t o re c a ll a n d w rite d o w n o n e v o c a b u la ry item from

a c e rta in s e t o r s o u r c e fo r e a c h o f th e follow ing sy lla b le /stre ss
p a tte rn s :
O Oo oO
Ooo o O o oo O
Oooo o O o o ooO o
If th e c h o s e n s o u r c e of v o c a b u la ry w as. sa y . a recen tly -read sto ry
a b o u t a m is s in g le tte r , e x a m p le s of th e s e p a tte rn s m ig h t be:
stamp conten ts reply
envelope collection redirect
fortunately delivery compensation

2 G a th e r t h e s u g g e s tio n s of d iffe re n t m e m b e rs of th e c la ss o n th e
b o a rd .
3 If n e c e s s a r y , g e t th e c la s s to p ra c tis e p ro n o u n c in g th e w ords.
4 Say, o r w r ite o n t h e b o a rd , a n y o th e r re le v a n t v o c a b u la ry w hich you
th in k is im p o r t a n t b u t w h ic h th e le a rn e rs h a v e n o t su g g ested . Ask
th e m t o a ll o c a te it to th e c o r r e c t cate g o rie s.
5 M ove o n t o a n y f u r th e r a c tiv ity y o u h a v e in m in d u sin g th e co llected
v o c a b u la ry .
V A R IA T IO N
A sk th e le a r n e r s to p ro v id e n o t ju s t o n e v o c a b u la ry exam ple, b u t as
m an y a s p o s s ib le fo r e a c h c ate g o ry .
THE PRONUNCIATION BOOK

RATIONALE
Part of knowing a word is knowing how to pronounce it. The process
of learning vocabulary involves th e establishing of many different
associations. Tire evidence of slips of the tongue suggests that, a t least
for native speakers of English, stress patterns are one principle by
which words are associated with each other. T here is also evidence
that knowing a word's stress pattern makes it easier to recall th at word
in certain circumstances.

67______ MOVING STRESS IN PHRASES

im i Part of knowing a word is knowing which syllable to stress. But this is
Elementt r y not always consistent. Compare these two p hrases (underlining Indi
FOCUS cates stressed syllables): August th e fourteen th : th e fourteenth of
Stress variations August.
according to the
position oi a word Preparation
in a phrase
1 You need a list of phrases which illustrate th e kind of dual behaviour
MATERIALS of words exemplified above. You will find examples in th e learners'
Ust of phrases - speech, in your teaching materials, and simply by listening atten
see Preparation tively to English. Here are a few examples:
TIME aninternationalconference
IS minutes theconferencewasveryinternational
CQQtinentalbreakfast '
Englishorcontinental?
GoodbyetoBerlin
thefiffllinWall
aneconomicrecovery
thereasonsareeconomic
deathintheafternoon
afternoontea
2 Write a list of all the key words you are going to use, together with
the two contrasting contexts for each (as above, but w ithout any
underlining or other markings) and photocopy it. Alternatively, you
can dictate the phrases at th e beginning of th e activity.

Procedure
1 Distribute the photocopies o r dictate th e phrases.
2 Tell the class you are going to say them one by one, and they should
listen and mark where the stress is in each occurrence of each key
word by underlining the stressed syllable. Show them amexample on
the board first. It might be handy for them to use pencils, in case they
need to change their minds.

64
 W ORD S T R ES S

3 Let th e m co m p are w ith e a c h o th e r a n d you, th e n read th e phrases

ag ain s o th a t th e y can ch eck th e ir results. Make su re you dont
c h a n g e th e w ay you s tre s s th e phrases!

S T R E S S IN COMPOUNDS/TWO-WORD EXPRESSIONS 6 J I_____________

Y ou ca n u se th is ty p e of ex ercise to se n sitise learners to th e notion of LEVEL

s t r e s s in c o m p o u n d s an d tw o-/m ulti-word expressions, and to enable Beginner _______
th e m to p e rc e iv e p a tte rn s th a t m ay even tu ally help th e ir own FOCUS
p ro d u c tio n . S tress p atte rn s In
com pounds and
Procedure two-/multi-word
expressions_____
1 G ive e a c h learn er a list of co m p o u n d s o r two-word expressions that
a r e noun * noun a n d adjective noun (e.g. car ferry, h o t water; fresh M A T E R IA L S
bread; p o cket watchj. One w orksheet
2 R ead th e list o u t loud an d a sk th e learn ers to m ark th e syllable where p er learner o r pair
th e o verall p rom inence is placed. of learners (see
3 A sk th e learn e rs if th e y c a n p erceiv e any pattern , i.e. in noun + noun example below)
co m p o u n d s, th e s tre s s h a s a ten d en c y to fall on th e first element, T IM E
w hile In ad jective + n o u n co m p o u n d s, th e s tre s s h as a tendency to 10-20 m inutes
fall o n th e sec o n d elem ent. P oint o u t, w ith examples, th a t these
g en eralisatio n s can v ary w ith c o n tra st, e.g. i asked for hot water, not
c o ld w ater.
4 G ive th e learn e rs tw o colum ns of jum bled halves of com pounds. Ask
th e m to w ork in p airs o r sm all g ro u p s and form com pounds using
o n e w o rd from th e first colum n a n d o n e w ord from th e second until
all th e w o rd s h av e b een used.
Example worksheet
wind water
hot well
red paper
oil tray
blue flake
new mill
white potato
tissue tape
snow wine
esh moon
C L ongm an G ro u p UK Ltd 1992

5 C heck th a t th e com pounds a re c o rrect. T here may be several

possibilities and this can give sc o p e for fu rth er discussion.
6 A sk th e learn ers (again working In g roups) to divide th e com pounds
in to tw o g ro u p s according to their stre ss p attern.
 Tone groups, rhythm and
intonation
7.1 TONIC PROMINENCE RECOGNITION EXERCISE
UVfl This activity can be used to sensitise learners to th e relationship
Firmer it ary * between emphatic stress and meaning. It can form p art of a longer
FOCUS lesson devoted to listening (task: marking th e stressed syllables in a
The (unction of stream of authentic speech, e.g. from th e radio news headlines) and
tonic prominence production (see 7.2 Tonic prominence production exercise). You can
also link it to the practice of a particular gram m atical stru ctu re, by
MATERIALS including the structure (e.g. th e p resen t perfect ten se) in each of th e
A worksheet (see
example sentences.
example below)
TIME Preparation
10-20 minutes \
Make a list of example sentences and a list of th e possible meanings
conveyed by each sentence. P roduce a w orksheet (see example
below).

Procedure
1 Give learners a list of up to ten se ts of multiple-choice answ ers. For
example:
1 a) he didn't
b) not this Tuesday
c) not Manchester J
2 a) not tea
b) notwhite coffee
c) four not three
2 Check that the learners understand th e meaning of th e possible
answers. The answers should be as simple in form as possible so as
not to distract from th e main aim of th e activity.
3 Read out a list of up to ten sentences. Read at a natural speed b u t with
sufficient time between each sentence for th e learners to choose the
correct answer. Make sure th at you place th e stress on only one p art
of each sentence so th at only one of th e answ ers is possible.
 T O N E G R O U P S. RH YTH M A N D IN TO N ATIO N

Example sentences (corresponding to the answers given above!

1 S h e w e n t to London last Tuesday.
2 Hehadfourcupsof strongblackcoffee.
4 At th e end of th e listening stage, check th e answ ers and. If necessary,
rep eat a n y senten ces th a t have caused problems.

TONIC PROMINENCE PRODUCTION EXERCISE 12

You can u se th is exercise as a means of giving learners practice in LEVEL
relating em phatic stre ss to meaning and in producing stress patterns Elem entary*
ap p ro p riate to th e Intended meaning. You can also u se it as a follow FOCUS
up to th e Tonic prominence recognition exercise (7.1). Placing tonic
prominence
Preparation according to
Intended meaning
You will n eed a list of u p to ten sentences and a list of responses. These
could b e eith er o n a han d o u t or on th e board or OHP. See examples MATERIALS
below. Handout with
sentences and
different possible
Procedure
meanings (see
1 Give o r show your learners th e list of ten sentences. For example: below for
example)_______
She arrivedonthe early morningtrainfromManchester.
TIME
2 Give th e learners a list of several possible responses to each sen 10-25 minutes
ten ce . For example:
... nottheplane.
... notNewcastle.
3 T hen, In open class, say one of th e responses a s a cue for each
exam ple sentence. Ask th e learners (you may nom inate a particular
learner o r w ait for one to volunteer) to produce th e co rrect sentence
from th e list w ith th e tonic prom inence in a place appropriate to th e
cue. For example:
Teacher: ...not theplane.
Learner: ShearrivedontheearlymorningtrainfromManchester.
Several different examples of tonic prom inence can be obtained
from th e sam e sentence by giving different response cues (or it.
4 After a num ber of exam ples in open class, th e learners can then do
th e exercise in pairs or small groups, taking It in tu rn s to play the role
of cue-giver. Your role then Is to m onitor th e progress of each pair
o r group and give help when required.
TMf PRONUNCIATION BOOK

EXTENSION
Give th e learners a fu rth er list of s e n te n c e s a n d e n c o u ra g e th em to
experim ent with tonic p ro m in en ce by p lacin g it o n d ifferen t elem ents
of th e sentences and th en su ggesting p o te n tia l m ean in g s and re
sponses them selves. This c a n be p a rtic u la rly su c c e ssfu l as a group
problem-solving activity.
Example sentences and response cues
1 Shearrived ontheearlymorningtrainfromManchester.
Shedidnt leave...;... notlate;... notevening;... not plane;... not Newcastle.
2 taskedyoutobuymeabunchof redroses.
...not steal them,... notjus! one;... notyellowones;... not tulips.
3 Shewantedmetopaint thekitchengreen.
not him;.. not topaperit;... not thebathroom;... not pink.
4 HetoldJohntoask apolicemanthequickest way tothebank.
... not Peter;... nottotell him;... nota postman;... not thecinema.
6 Wewent toMajorcaonholidaylast year.
Wedid. not them;... not Corfu;... notonbusiness;... not this year.

TW ENTY QUESTIONS TO A DRAW ING

u __________
This is a so rt of co m b in atio n of T w e n ty Q u e stio n s' a n d pictu re
LEVEL dictation. It p resu p p o ses at least so m e fam iliarity w ith p repositions.
Elementary + Traditionally, th e limit for th is ty p e of g u e ssin g g am e Is tw enty q u e s
FOCUS tions, but you can vary th is.
Contrastive
intonation Preparation
(especially the
fall-rise) On th e basis of o th e r learning prio rities, d e c id e o n a n u m b e r of Items
to form th e c o n ten ts of a p ictu re. For in sta n c e , if y o u w a n t th e class to
MATERIALS p ractise vocabulary c o n cern in g ro o m fu rn ish in g s, y o u m ight c h o o se a
None sofa, an arm chair, a stool, a v ase, a clock, a rug, a ta b le , a m irror, a
TIME p otted plant, a lamp, a fruitbow l and p o ssib ly m o re.
20-30 minutes
Procedure
1 Ask each learner to p ro d u c e - individually a n d se c re tly - a draw ing
w hich must contain th e given Item s b u t in a freely c h o sen arrange
ment. Everyone sh o u ld in tro d u c e so m e e le m e n t of th e unusual (e.g.
th e clock could be u n d e r th e tab le). M ake a d raw in g yourself, too.
2 The class put th eir draw ings safely a s id e fo r th e tim e being, and ask
you yes/no q u estio n s a b o u t th e p o sitio n s of th e Item s in your
draw ing In o rd e r to b e able to d raw a c o p y o f it. if th e answ er Is yes,
just say so:
'Is theplantonthetable?' - 'Yes'.
 TO N E GRO U PS. RHYTHM AND INTONATION

But if not, give an answer with this type of structure:

No, theplant'sonthefloor.'
"No, thecRJbk'sorTtfietable.
No, thepiant'snexttothetable.
Draw learners attention to the form and intonation of your re
sponses. It may well help to put example exchanges like the ones
above on the board for reference. Get them to practise the Intonation
of these examples if necessary.
3 They are now ready to work in pairs and do the same exercise.
Depending on how familiar they are with the use of the fall-rise
(----- ^ ), you might need to circulate and give quite a lot of
help with this.
NOTE
Intonation can be indicated on the board by drawing arrows that follow
th e movement of pitch, as above. You can also Indicate intonation with
arching sw eeps of a hand or an emphasis pointer.
RATIONALE
This activity isolates a tendency in the native speakers intonation
system for a falling tone to be used for content which is presented as
new, and a fall-rise to be used for content which is, although still
im portant, presented as already in circulation or shared between
speaker and listener. In the latter instance, many learners of English
tend to use a simple rising tone instead of a fall-rise, and this can give
an im pression of over-dominance.

IDO 7.4
LEVEL
In real communication, distribution of tonic prominence is not fixed
according to preexisting abstract principles, but varies according to Elementary
th e speaker's perception of how what they are saying relates to the FOCUS
ongoing discourse. This exercise works on developing awareness of Assigning tonic
and skill in using this principle, by taking as its domain a limited set of prominence
possible discourse conditions. according to
discourse
Preparation conditions
MATERIALS
1 Choose a simple proposition which you know is true for some of the
m em bers of the class but not for others. Here, the proposition Tlive None______
in Paris is taken as an example. TIME
2 If necessary, teach the forms / do, I don %so do /, neilher/nor do I. 5-10minutes
TH E PRO N U N CIA TIO N B O O K

Procedure
1 Tell the class th at th is a ctiv ity is going to involve each p erso n in th e
room speaking in tu rn . You will s ta rt b y making a tru e statem en t
ab o u t yourself. Each le a rn e r in tu rn m u st confirm o r d en y th at
statem ent for them selves, b u t se le c tin g only from th e re sp o n ses i
d o ', I d o n t', s o d o I', n e ith e r/n o r d o I.
2 In th e early stages of th e a ctiv ity y o u m ay need to ind icate w ho is to
speak next, but ideally th e tu rn sh o u ld p a ss sm oothly a ro u n d th e
room until every b o d y h a s sp o k e n . A p o ssib le seq u en ce m ight be as
follows (underlining in d ic a te s s tre s s e d syllables):
Teacher: | liveinParis.
Learner!: Sodo]. J
L2: Sodo].
L3; I don't.
L4: Ida.
L5: Sodoi.
L6: I don't.
L7: Neitherdo].
Andsoon.
3 Ifyou feel th a t th e s tre s s e d sy llab les a re no t being sufficiently
em phasised, point th is o u t a n d s ta r t a seco n d round, e ith e r in th e
sam e o rd e r as b efo re o r, fo r v arie ty , going ro u n d th e room in a
different directio n . '
4 Repeat th e exercise using d ifferen t startin g sen ten ces w hich will
gen erate p ractice of different au x iliary v erb s. For exam ple, Ive been
to England, I can ty p e , If I w as a te e n a g e r now, Id c h o o se to study
English'.
5 L earners p ro p o se th e ir ow n s ta rtin g sentences.

n ____________ CORRECT TH ETEA CH ER

LEVEL Some learn ers may have w aited a long tim e to tu rn th e tab les and
Elementary c o rrect th e teac h er. T his is a n o p p o rtu n ity for them to do s o and also
FOCUS to p ractise an im p o rtan t a sp e c t of p ro n u n ciatio n a t th e sam e time.
Assigning tonic
prom inence Procedure
according to
discourse Invite the learners to d ictate num b ers, w hich you will write on the board.
conditions Make deliberate m istakes, and c o rre c t them only when the learner who
said th e num ber (or a n o th er o n e ) h a s shouted out a verbal correction
MATERIALS with appropriate placem ent of tonic prom inence. For example:
None
a) Learner: Thirtyfive.
TIME Teacher writes 39'
5 m inutes l: No. thirtyfive.
 T O N E G R O U P S , R H Y T H M A N D IN T O N A T IO N

b) L: Five hundred and eighteen.

Teacher writes '519'
L: No, five hundred and eighteen.
Teacher writes '580'
L: No, five hundred and eighteen.

EXTENSION
L e a rn e rs d o th e sa m e e x e rc ise in p a irs , o r a s a w h o le c la s s w ith a
v o lu n te e r m aking th e d e lib e ra te m ista k e s.
VARIATIONS
1 In s te a d of n u m b e rs, u se d a te s (e.g. T w en ty first o f Ja n u a ry/T h irty first
o f January, T enth o fS e p te m b e r/T e n th o f N o vem b er), o r p lay in g c a rd s
(e.g. L a sk s fo r th e king of h e a rts , T g iv es th e q u e e n o f h e a r ts , L s a y s
No, th e k ing of hearts.*) o r a n y o th e r s e t of ite m s w ith sim ilar
c o n tr a s ts .
2 T ell a know n sto ry w ith d e lib e ra te m istak es, w h ic h th e c la s s h a v e to
c o rre c t. F o r exam ple:
T: Little Red Riding Hood lived in a cottage in the middle of a desert.
L: No, she lived in the middle of a w ood.
T: Oh, yes. She lived near a wood.
L: No. in a wood.
And so on.

C R EA T E YOUR OWN V E R S E FORM 7J5____________

T h ro u g h th e ir e x p e rie n c e of so n g s a n d rh y m e s, m o s t p e o p le a re a w a re LEVEL
of th e p rin c ip le of reg u lar s tr u c tu r e s of rh y m e a n d rh y th m . (T h e L ow er
lim erick is o n e s u c h s tru c tu r e w ell-know n in th e E n glish-speaking in te rm e d ia te -
w o rld .) H ere Is a n o p p o rtu n ity fo r th e le a rn e rs to c re a te th e ir o w n s u c h FOCUS
s tru c tu r e s (p o ssib ly d raw in g o n m o d e ls from th e ir o w n c u ltu re s ). R hythm ic
s tru c tu r e s
P rocedure

1 T ell th e le a rn e rs th e y a re going to in v e n t th e ir o w n v e rs e s tru c tu r e . ^*n e

Y ou c a n sp ecify a n u m b e r of lin e s; it p ro b a b ly s h o u ld n 't b e m o re t im e

th a n a b o u t six. 30 m in u te s
2 A sk th e m to p ro d u c e a p lan of th e s tru c tu r e - line le n g th , rh y th m ,
s tre s s e d b e a ts, rhym e, e tc . - a n d an ex a m p le of th e g e n re (e.g.
lim erick).
3 T h e y th e n sw ap th e ir p la n s a n d c o m p o s e s a m p le s of e a c h o th e r s
g en res.
4 F orm s w hich c a tc h on m ay b e c o m e a v eh icle fo r a n y w ritte n activity,
s u c h a s a n ongoing e x ch an g e of m e ssa g e s w ith in th e c la s s, o r a
re s p o n s e to w orld ev en ts, o r p ra c tic e of lan g u ag e ite m s In tro d u c e d
d u rin g th e co u rse.

71
 THfPHONUNClAT ION BOOK

77 __________ METRONOME
u rn
Any Preparation
focus You need a list of words and phrases with variable numbers of syllables
X itylh n in d and variable stress. Suitable examples include:
c o m p r e s s io n of lists of cardinal numbers
unstressed train announcements, e.g:
syllables
Calling at Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Retford, Doncaster,
M A T t f t lA l l Wakefieldand Leeds.
A metronome;
Optionally, lists of shopping lists, e.g:
words on a bread, carrots, milk, potatoes, apples, muesli, tea, tomatoes.
handout
TIME Procedure
10 minutes
1 Set the metronome going at a m oderate speed and get the class to
practise fitting individual items to th e rhythm, with the stress falling
on th e metronome beat.
2 Get them to practise reading th e whole list to th e beat.
3 Reset the metronome to a (aster, more natural speed and repeat the
practice.
RATIONALE
Once the metronome is set at a certain speed, it will carry on relent*
lessly for ever. It gives a consistent rhythm to practise against, which
cannot be guaranteed by tapping or clapping, for instance. At th e same
time, because the speed is adjustable, you, or th e learners themselves,
can control the difficulty of th e task by choosing a suitable speed
setting.
 TONE GROUPS, RHYTHM ANO INTONATION

SHADOWING 7.8
Reading out loud is an activity req u ested b y m any learners b u t dlscour- i-EVEL
aged by teac h ers w ho feel th a t it h a s n o real p u rp o se and only gives Elementary >
p ractice in h esitant, inaccurate pronunciation. H ere is a w ay of using focus
th e principle of reading out loud for m ore directed w ork on pronuncla- a s p e c t Qf
tion. pronunciation
M A T E R IA L S
Preparation
r Tape recorder and
You need a piece of spoken English (one sp eak er) on tape. It could b e recording (see
som ething th e class have already used for som e o th e r p urpose. In any below); Transcript
case, It should be som ething th e y h av e n o tro u b le understanding. It Is th e recording;
very im portant th a t It should be n atural, unscrip ted , conversational Optionally, a
English, w hich makes m ost p ublished EFL pronunciation o r listening language
m aterial unsuitable. You also need a copy of th e tap escrip t for every- laboratory
o n e In th e class. TIME
5-20 minutes
Procedure
1 Play a s h o rt section of th e ta p e - o n e sen ten ce, o r even less.
2 Leave a few mom ents silence to allow th e so u n d of th e w ords to
register in th e learners' ears.
3 Invite th em to replay Internally, w ith o u t speaking, w hat th ey heard.
4 Replay th e sam e section of th e tap e.
5 R epeat ste p s 2 and 3.
6 Now Invite th e learners to speak th e sam e w ords in exactly th e
sam e way, and a t th e sam e sp eed . T hey can d o th is e ith er one by
o n e to th e class, or all a t th e sa m e tim e to them selves o r to a
partn er. Let them try th is a few tim es.
7 Replay th e tap e and let th e learn ers evaluate th eir ow n perform
ance. T hey may be able to identify d iscrep an cies, o r th e y may need
th e help of o th er people, including you, to pin th em down. Discrep
ancies m ay involve so u n d s, co n n ected so u n d sequences, w ord
stress, speed, rhythm , segm entation, pausing, tonic prom inence
position o r pitch movem ent (m elody). Focusing on w hat seem to be
th e m ost im portant and m ost im provable of these, help them to
com e as close to th e tap ed m odel a s th e y can.
8 Now se t them th e challenge of speaking along w ith th e voice on th e
tape, s o th at everyones voice is in perfect unison w ith th e tape.
(This is 'shadow ing'.) It will p robably help to d em o n strate this
yourself. Depending o n th e size of th e class, e ith e r get everybody
to speak together, or split th e practice.
9 Give them further opportunities to shadow th e voice o n th e tape,
until it seem s th eir perform ance is a s good a s it can be for th e tim e
being.
10 Move o n to th e next sh o rt section of th e ta p e and rep eat th e above
procedure.

73

mtSSEmki
 wmmmm

THf PBONUNCIATION BOOK

11 Go back to the beginning of th e tape and get th e class to shadow the

first and second sections.
12 Add further sections and repeat the procedure for as long as it
seems productive.
VARIATIONS
1 If you have the use of a language lab, record th e spoken passage onto
the learners' tapes and let them work at this exercise individually, at
their own speed, recording their performance on top of the model
when they feel ready, so that both tracks can be heard simultane
ously. (It will still help, though, to introduce th e activity and run
through it briefly In non-lab mode.) Listen In and give individual help
as necessary.
2 Record the passage onto individual tapes for each learner (most
easily done in a language lab) and hand these over for the learners
to practise shadowing with In their own time and space.

u ____________ VIDEO VIEWING

LEVEL
Elementary + Preparation
FOCUS Find a video extract in which someone is seen underlining the rhythm
Awareness of of their speech with hand gestures, nods of th e head, etc. Sometimes
body language as you can find sections of quite a few seconds w here the speaker main
a way into stress tains a perfectly regular rhythm with such gestures.
and rhythm
MATERIALS Procedure
A video extract
(See Preparation) 1 Play the extract with th e sound off.
2 Repeat this and ask the class to join in and imitate th e body language
TIME of the speaker.
5 minutes + 3 Play the extract as many times as necessary for them to do this
pretty accurately.
4 if it seems possible from the context, invite the learners to guess
what the speaker is saying.
5 Play the extract with sound, establish what is being said, and get the
learners to imitate th e speakers body language again, this time
adding the speech. Practise as necessary.
RATIONALE
We do not only speak with our mouths. One view is that body language
acts as a kind of support to words. This exercise is based on the
opposite premise; body language can form a basis on which to super
impose words.
 TO N E G R O U P S. RH YTH M AND IN TO N ATIO N

PRONUNCIATION ROLE PLAY 7.10__________

This is particularly suitable a s a w an n er before a larger-scale activity, LEVEL
b u t h as its own independent Justification too. Elementary +
FOCUS
Preparation Differences
between the
2.3 Comparing sounds and 2.4 Bilingual m inim al pairs could provide pronunciation of
useful prelim inary work for th is exploration of pronunciation differ English and th a t of
ences. the m other tongue
above th e level of
Procedure individual sounds

1 Tell th e learn ers to w ork in p airs o r sm all g ro u p s and to im itate or MATERIALS

take th e role of English sp eak ers speaking English. Ask them what None
th e y need to d o w ith th e ir sp e e c h organs in o rd e r to do this which TIME
is different from w hat th e y usually d o . S.witching backwards and 5 minutes
forw ards betw een th e tw o ty p e s of articulation may be helpful here
in providing th e key to th e a d ju stm en ts w hich need to b e m ade in
o rd e r to p ronounce English well.
2 Next, tell them to im itate p articu lar native sp eak ers such as interna
tionally well-known figures, landladies On th e c a s e of those learners
studying in Britain), o th e r teac h ers, etc. speaking English. Of might
help som e learn ers to im agine th e y a re rep resen tin g these people on
stag e o r In a film.) Again, ask th em w hat adjustm ents they make in
o rd e r to achieve this (o r to approxim ate to it; th e aim is not perfect
mimicry).

75
 H K n O H M

CHAPTER 8

Trouble shooting
PROBLEMS WITH /w/
Many learners find it difficult to pronounce the phoneme /w/, particu
larly in initial position as in would or woman. One solution here Is to
treat /w/ as a combination of the two vowel sounds /u^ and /a/, and to
ask the learners to pronounce each in turn, gradually increasing the
speed until they arrive at a sound that Is very close to /w/, if not /w/
itself. Focus particularly on the rounded lip position at the beginning
of the sound. The same principle can be applied to /w/ in context. Ask
the learners to say the phonemes /wJ, /a / and /d/ in turn, once again
gradually increasing the speed and arriving at would.

/w/FOR/v/
Some learners regularly confuse /w/ and /v/, producing, for example,
wery instead of very. One solution Is to ask them to bite (gently!)
their lower lip with the upper teeth before pronouncing the /v/ sound.
This should ensure that there is no lip rounding and that very is
produced rather than 'wery'.

/f//p/ CONFUSION
In some languages, /f/ and /p/ are not separate phonemes, but simply
variations (allophones) of the same phoneme. Thus speakers of these
languages may find It difficult to distinguish between /f/ and /p/ aurally
and will probably find it difficult to produce /p/, realising it as a strongly
aspirated sound very close to /f/ but with minimal contact between the
upper teeth and the bottom lip. In such cases, it will probably be
necessary to work on the production of both /f/ and /p/. For /f/, the
remedy shown above, i.e. biting the lower lip with the upper teeth, may
well prove effective, /p/ can be realised more effectively by asking the
learners to purse their lips tightly as if suppressing a laugh and to hold
the air for a few seconds. Then ask them to release it as if It were an
explosion. Repeat the exercise several times. If nothing else, it should
at least be fun!
 TROUBLE SHOOTING

INSERTION OF/e/ BEFORE CONSONANT CLUSTERS &4

A common erro r for Spanish learners, for example, to to insert an extra
sound before consonant clusters such as st and sp in initial position.
T hus Spain is realised a s 'espain* and student as estudent. One remedy
is to work on linking th e last sound of the preceding word to th e initial
/ s / of the cluster. Thus, In th e sentence *1live in Spain, you can ask
learners to say ins followed by pain. Although this will sound
som ewhat odd at first, th e speed can gradually be increased and the
result should approxim ate the desired pronunciation and remove the
intrusive vowel sound. Another possible remedy to to ask the learners
to produce /s/ in isolation (hissing like a snake!) and then to add, for
example, pain, tu d en t, etc.

/p//b/ CONFUSION &5

Arabic speakers, among others, often confuse these two phonemes as
they are not separate phonem es in their own language, but are varia
tions of the sam e phonem e, which tends to be voiced with very little
aspiration present. Thus, a typical erro r to something that may sound
like fleters Maying Mng-bong for Peters playing ping-pong. The
problem seem s to lie in th e absence of an explosion of air when trying
to pronounce /p/. One solution to to ask learners to puff hard when
pronouncing, for example, play*. A sheet of paper can also be used to
dem onstrate the im portance of the amount of air expelled (see page 14).

/j/ PRONOUNCED ASAfe/ IL6

This is a problem frequent among Spanish speakers, particularly when
confronted by the letter y in initial position. So yes is realised as / e s s ,
for example. One po ssib le solution is to ask learners to think of the
initial sound a s fv j and to work actively on this with particular attention
to lip position (i.e. spread). Ask your learners to begin by pronouncing
/i:/ with spread lips and to hold this sound for a few seconds before
addlng/es/. Get them to d o this several times, each time shortening the
length of th e initial /i:/ sound until they have a satisfactory /)es/. You
may also need to work on this in context, as they may easily revert to
/d j/ when trying to say Oh, yes, for example. The procedure outlined
above should work here too, so something like /auwiijes/ will be
produced Initially and this can gradually be speeded up to produce an
accurate Oh, yes.

77
 IN IT IA L /h /
T h e re m a y b e se v e ra l p ro b le m s a s s o c ia te d w ith t h e p r o n u n c ia tio n of
/ti/. In s o m e c a se s, it m a y b e o m itte d fro m w o r d s s u c h a s house*, help*
a n d hope*. In o th e rs . It m a y b e In c lu d e d u n n e c e s s a rily a t t h e b e g in n in g
of w o rd s s u c h a s egg, old a n d ate ( s e e 8.8 Intrusive / h / ) . S o m e le a r n e r s
m ay a ls o u s e to o m u ch frictio n , a rtic u la tin g fro m t h e u v u la r a th e r th a n
th e g lo ttis w hen p ro n o u n c in g / h / a n d th u s p ro d u c in g a h a r s h e r /x/
s o u n d , sim ilar to th e ch in loch*.
A p o s s ib le re m e d y y o u c o u ld tr y in t h e firs t c a s e is t o a s k t h e le a r n e r s
to w h is p e r so m e w o rd s b e g in n in g w ith /!/ ( s e e 3 . 4 / V through whisper
ing fo r fu rth e r d e ta ils), a s t h e v e r y a c t o f w h is p e rin g w ill r e q u ir e a
c e rta in am o u n t o f a s p ira tio n . Ask t h e le a r n e r s If th e y n o tic e t h e e x tr a
re le a s e o f a ir a s th e y w h is p e r t h e Initial /h /. T h is , a t t h e v e r y le a s t,
sh o u ld m ak e th e m a w a re th a t th e y can p r o d u c e t h is so u n d ! N ow a s k
th e m to p ro n o u n c e /h/ In c o n te x t b y giving th e m a n u m b e r of w o r d s
c o n ta in in g initial /ii/. T ell th e m t o b e g in b y w h is p e rin g t h e w o r d s a n d
th e n g ra d u a lly to g e t lo u d e r a n d lo u d e r. S o m e p r a c tic e in c o n te x t, l.e.
u sin g th e w o rd s In a s e n te n c e , m ay a ls o b e n e c e s s a ry .
S o ften in g /x / to /h / c a n b e m o re p ro b le m a tic . O n e p o s s ib le s o lu tio n
y o u c a n tr y is to a s k y o u r le a rn e rs to puff a /h / s o u n d u sin g a s m u c h a ir
a s p o ss ib le .

INTRUSIVE /h/
In o r d e r t o h elp w ith th e in tru s iv e /h / p ro b le m , fo r e x a m p le /h s :6 / fo r
/a:6 /, y o u c a n w o rk o n th e lia iso n b e tw e e n w o r d s . In t h e c a s e of earth,
fo r ex a m p le , th is will g e n e ra lly o c c u r w ith t h e d e fin ite a r tic le p re c e d in g
it a n d p ro n o u n c e d /fii:/. T h u s the earth w ill b e re a lis e d a s /Oi:j3:0/. If y o u
y o u rs e lf e x a g g e ra te th e /]/ s o u n d , t h e le a r n e r s w ill p ro b a b ly f o c u s o n
t h e p ro d u c tio n of th is s o u n d a n d t h e in tru s iv e / h / w ill b e d r o p p e d .
W h e n /h / in tru d e s o n to a w o rd b e g in n in g w ith a v o w e l a n d t h a t w o rd
is n o t p re c e d e d by a n o th e r w o rd , t r y to g e t l e a r n e r s t o r e p la c e t h e /h /
w ith a g lo ttal s to p (i.e ./? /). F or e x a m p le , if le a r n e r s p r o n o u n c e if a s hit*,
a s k th e m to sa y /?it/. Y ou c a n g e t th e m to n o tic e h o w to fo rm /? / by
h a v in g th e m im itate a m a c h in e gu n a s in /? i? i? i/.

PROBLEMS WITH /0/ AND /6/

T h is is a fre q u e n t p ro b le m fo r s p e a k e r s of m a n y la n g u a g e s . T h e w o rd
thing, fo r exam ple, m ay b e p ro n o u n c e d a s s o m e th in g tik e sing*,
fing or
'zing*. T h e re a r e a n u m b e r of p o s s ib le s o lu tio n s . W o rk in g w ith t h e w o rd
thing, y o u can ask y o u r le a r n e r s to b e g in b y p r e s s in g t h e tip o f th e
to n g u e firm ly ag a in st th e b a c k of t h e u p p e r fro n t te e th . T h is may h e lp .
 TROUBLE SHOOTING

If )t still does not work, then you can ask them to bite (gently!) the tip
of their tongue as they begin to pronounce the word.
Another possibility is a traditional favourite; the wet finger'. Ask
your learners to place their forefinger in front of their mouth (as if
miming Be quiet). They then Uck their finger as they pronounce the
first sound of the word thing, for example. Again there should be som e
light contact between the tip of the tongue and the teeth.
If all of this falls, then you can try asking your learners to say words
from their own language that begin with /s/ and pronounce them with
a lisp. If they can do this successfully, they can then go on to try words
like sing, sick, etc. In the same way. This should produce something
fairly close to / 6iq/ and /0ik/. You can apply the same procedures to
w ords containing the voiced equivalent / 0/.

DENTAL/t/AND/d/ 8.10
In many languages, the phonemes /t/ and /d / are dental rather than
alveolar, as they are In RP English. Thus /t/ and /d/ are pronounced with
th e tip of the tongue lightly touching th e back of the upper teeth rather
than making contact with the alveolar ridge behind the upper teeth.
This has the effect of making IxJ and /d / sound very soft, for example,
as in the case of Spanish learners, producing a sound that is very like
/ 6/, with a tendency to sound like a fricative rather than a stop. One
solution is simply to point out the place of articulation in English on a
m outh diagram and say that the tongue touches the alveolar ridge
ra th er than the teeth. Get your learners to try this with words like tent,
try, red, etc.

INTRUSIVE /o/ IN FINAL POSITION 8.11

An error typical of Italian speakers is to insert an extra vowel at the end
of words ending in a consonant sound. This seem s to be particularly
prevalent after plurals ending in /s/, /z / and /iz/. As these particular
fricatives are relatively easy to hold for a certain amount of time, one
way you can affect the pronunciation of learners with this particular
tendency is to ask them to make the final fricative last for a few seconds.
Of course, this will sound exaggerated and will perhaps overcompen
sate for the problem, but the usual effect is to make the intrusive sound
disappear. Ask your learners to say trees, please, watches, wants, etc.
and to hold the final fricative, making th e sound gradually die away.

79

ga|
THf MIONUMQATlON BOOK

8.12___________ INCORRECT STRESS PATTERNS

Many learners will tend to transfer the word stress patterns of their
mother tongue to English or will be confused by the Inconsistency of
stress placement in English (e.g. photograph, photographer, photo
graphic). Thus a oO pattern may be realised as Ooand vice versa, with
'intend' being pronounced as 'Intend' and 'breakfast' as 'breakfast'.
There are a number of possible solutions to such problems. One way
is to make learners aware of the factors that make a syllable more
accented or stressed than those around It. One such factor Is muscle
power, usually manifested as loudness. Thus the stressed syllable may
be slightly louder than Its unstressed neighbours. So, ask your learners
to say breakfast* with the first syllable very loud (perhaps to an
exaggerated extent) and the second one very quiet. It Is very difficult
to do this and still maintain the overall stress on the second syllable.
Another factor affecting accented or stressed syllables is pitch; they
are normally at a slightly higher pitch than unstressed syllables. A
useful aid here is to use a board diagram that clearly shows that the
first syllable On this case) Is at a higher pitch than the second. For
example:

Another technique is. to hum, tap or whistle the stress pattern,

accentuating the higher pitch of the stressed syllable. Now ask your
learners to repeat the word, beginning with the pitch fairly high on
'break' and with a lower pitch on the second syllable 'fast'. You can
help by whistling, humming or tapping the pattern. Now get them to
add the loudness factor, so that 'break' is both louder and higher than
'fast'.
Another characteristic of a stressed syllable is that it often contains
a full vowel as opposed to a weaker vowel found in the unstressed
syllables, such as /a/, /u/ or /i/. This difference in vowel quality Is often
accompanied by a slight difference in length. Thus the stressed sylla
ble is slightly longer than the unstressed one. Once again, you can get
your learners to practise this by exaggerating the length of the stressed
syllable and making the unstressed one as short as possible. Now add
the other two factors, volume and pitch, and get them to practise once
again. Although the model may be somewhat exaggerated, there
should be an effective contrast with what was said before and at least
an approximation of a correct* model. In order to reinforce the effect
of the application of these three features of a stressed syllable, you can
also ask your learners to stress a familiar word (one to which they can
apply a correct stress pattern) incorrectly (i.e. to make normally
unstressed syllables louder, higher and longer) and to notice both how
unusual this sounds and how difficult it is to do.
 S S a H B B B flH H n i

Glossary
affricate
A sound beginning as a plosive or stop and continuing as a fricative.
AJ/ and /dj/ are the two examples in English.
alveolar
A sound articulated by contact between the tongue and the alveolar
ridge (the small ridge immediately behind the upper front teeth), /t/
and /s/ are examples in English.
aspiration
The small puff of air that sometimes follows a sound. For example. In
English p Is aspirated in pin, but when preceded by /s/ (e.g. spin), it
Is unasplrated; there Is no puff of air.
assimilation
The feature whereby a sound is affected by its environment, usually
by the sound following it, but sometimes also by the sound preced
ing it. This may change the quality of the sound In question (e.g.
voiced to voiceless) or it may cause It to disappear completely. For
example, the d in Good morning In rapid speech may be articulated
as 'Goob morning' as the /d/ stop becomes a bilabial /b/ stop in
anticipation of the bilabial /m/ which follows.
bilabial
A sound Involving the use of both the upper and lower lip In its
production, /m/ and /p/ are examples.
dental
A sound produced by contact between th e tongue and the teeth. /0/
and /0/ are examples.
diphthong
A glide from one vowel to another. English has eight diphthongs with
phonemic value; three closing to A/. namely /ei/, /ai/ and /oi/; two
closing to AV, namely /au/ and /au/; and three centring to /a/, namely
/ea/. /ia/ and /ua/.
elision
The dropping of a sound altogether when it Is affected by the
following sound (see assimilation).
emphatic stress
The speaker may choose to emphasise a particular syllable or word
for effect or to contrast it with another syllable or word. For example:
*She went to London last week' (l.e. not Paris); She went to London
last week' (i.e. not this week).
fricative
A sound articulated with accompanying friction caused by two of
the articulatory organs (e.g. tongue and alveolar ridge) coming into
THE PRONUNCIATION BOOK

d o se contact but allowing a restricted passage of air to pass

through. Examples are /f/ and /s/.
front and back vowtls
This refers to whether th e tongue is raised tow ards th e front of the
mouth In the production of a particular vowel (e.g. /i:/) o r tow ards
th e back (e.g. lx /).
glottal stop
A closing of the glottis, as In th e case of th e first *t* In right train lor
example. The glottal stop is rep resen ted by th e sym bol /?/. It Is a
common feature of English and Is particularly noticeable in the
Cockney pronundation of f sounds In w ords su ch as letter and
bottle.
homophone
A word pronounced in th e sam e way as an o th er but having a
different spelling. Bear and bare are exam ples of hom ophones.
labio'dantal
A sound involving th e use of th e lower lip and u p p e r te e th in its
production, /f/ and /v / a re th e tw o exam ples in English.
lateral
A sound that involves air passing dow n th e sides of th e tongue as the
latter comes intocontact with th e palate. /I/ Is an exam ple in English.
nasal
A sound whose production involves use of th e nasal cavity (e.g.
MO-
open and closed vowels
/ /, / a/, /d;/ and /o/ are open vowels, for example. T he jaw position is,
broadly speaking, open for th e production of th e se vowels. The
closed vowels, on the o th er hand, like /i:/, /i/t /u / and /u:/ are
produced with the jaw in a relatively closed position.
palatal
A sound th at is produced by co n tact betw een th e tongue a n d the
hard palate (e.g. /j/).
palato-alveolar
A sound which is produced by contact betw een th e tongue and the
alveolar ridge with accom panying contact betw een th e main bod y of
the tongue and the palate. / / / and / i / a re examples.
phoneme
The smallest element of meaning-changing sound in a given lan
guage. For example, we have th e th ree phonem es /p/, /<c/. /t / in the
word pat. When one phonem e is replaced by a different one, e.g.
/ p / by lb/, we have a new w ord - bat.
phonemic*
T h e s tu d y o( p h o n e m e s,
phonetics
T h e s tu d y of all h u m an sp e e c h so u n d s,
phonology
T h e s tu d y of th e s o u n d sy s te m of a given la n g u a g e , in clu d in g its
s o u n d s , s tre s s p a tte rn s a n d in to n a tio n fe a tu re s.
plosive
A so u n d th a t involves c o n ta c t b e tw e e n tw o of th e a rtic u la to ry
o rg a n s co m p letely blocking th e a ir flow fo r a n In s ta n t (o th e rw ise
know n a s a s to p ) a n d th e n re le a sin g it in a n 'e x p lo s io n . E x am p les
a r e /p / a n d /t/.
schw a
T h e /o / so u n d ,
syllabic consonant
C ertain c o n so n a n ts (/r/, /n /, /m / a n d /I/ ) h a v e v o w el q u a lity in c e rta in
p o sitio n s, p artic u la rly in final p o sitio n . T h u s 'o p e n ' Is re n d e re d a s
/oupn/, ra th e r th a n /oupon/.
tone group
A g ro u p of sy llab les c o n ta in in g a glid e in p itc h ,
tonic prominence
T h e p lace m en t o f s tr e s s in d is c o u rs e b y th e s p e a k e r (o fte n re fe rre d
to a s 's e n te n c e s tre s s ') .
tonic syllable
T h e syllab le in a n y to n e g ro u p w h e re th e g lid e in p itc h beg in s,
velar
A so u n d p ro d u c e d b y c o n ta c t b e tw e e n th e b a c k of th e to n g u e a n d
th e so ft p a la te (e.g. /k /).
voiced consonants
T h e se a re c o n so n a n ts w h o se a rtic u la tio n is a c c o m p a n ie d b y v ib ra
tio n of th e vocal c o rd s (e x a m p le s a re / / / a n d /g / - c o m p a re w ith th e ir
v o iceless eq u iv alen ts /s / a n d /k /). In th e c a s e o f th e s to p s (o r
p lo s iv e s) /b /, /d / a n d /g/, th e o n s e t of v o icin g o c c u rs a s th e s to p is
rele a se d .
vowel reduction
T h e ten d e n c y of w eak, u n s tre s s e d v o w els to r e d u c e to /u /, /i / an d ,
p articu la rly , /o/.
P R O N U N C IA T IO N T A B L E

Pronunciation table

c o n so n a n ts vow els

j key other common spellings is key other common spellings

I word 1 word
1
pen happy t: sh e e p field team key sc e n e am oeba
P
b hack ru b b er i sh ip savage guilt system w om en
t lea b u tte r w a lk ed d o u b t e b ed a n y sa id bread bury friend
d day la d d e r c a lle d c o u ld * bad plaid laugh (AmE) call (AmE)
k k ey o o l s o c c e r lo ck s c h o o l c h e q u e a' father ca lm h eart laugh (BrE)
e get big g er g h o s t b o th e r (Am)
U cheer match n a tu re q u e s tio n c ello 0 pot w a tc h cough (BrE)
dj Ju m p ag e e d g e s o ld ie r g ra d u a l laurel (BrE)
f fat c o d e c c o u g h p h y s ic s ha]i X cau g h t ball b oard draw lo u r floor
V view o f navvy c o u g h (AmE)
6 thing u put w o o d wolf could
0 then u: boot m o v e sh o e group Hew blue
* soon fifty p s y c h o lo g y m e s a s c e n e ru d e
listen A cut s o m e blood do es
t zero w ag dazzle e x a m p le (/g if) b ird
3! b u rn fern worm ea rn journal
l h altin g S u re s ta tio n te n s io n v icio u s
9 cu p b o ard th g colo u r a c to r nation
C hevron
d a n g e r asleep
i p le a s u re v isio n ro u g e
b hot w hole
ei m ake p ra y prey ste ak vein gauge
m sum h a m m e r c a lm b o m b
9U n o te so a p soul grow sejy to e
n su n fu n n y Jq j o w g n a w
ai bite p ie bgy try guide sigh
Q sung sink au now s p o u t plough
1 le d b a llo o n b a ttle
91 boy p o iso n lawyer
r re d marry tttfg g le r h u b a rb 19 h e re b e e r w eir a p p e a r fierce
j yet o n io n u s e n e t t E u ro p e
eo th e r e h a ir b e a r b are th e ir praver
w wet one tthen Q u een (/kw f ) 03 poor to u r sure
X loch
ei3 p la y e r
903 low er
ai9 tire
aoa to w e r
9i9 em ployer
 B IB L IO G R A P H Y

B ib lio g ra p h y

Baker, A 1982 Introducing English Pronunciation CUP

Bradford, B 1988 Intonation in Context CUP
Brazil, D et al., 1980 Discourse Intonation and Language Teaching
Longman
Brown, A 1991 Pronunciation Models Singapore University Press
Brown, A (ed.) 1991 Teaching English Pronunciation: A Book o f
Readings Routledge
Brown, A (ed.) forthcoming Phon and Pron: Approaches to
Pronunciation Teaching British Council & Macmillan
Gimson, A 1980 An Introduction to the Pronunciation o f English Arnold
Graham, C 1978 Ja zz Chants OUP
Haycraft, B 1971 The Teaching o f Pronunciation Longman
IATEFL Speak Out! The IATEFL Phonology Special Interest Group
Newsletter
Ken worthy, J 1987 Teaching English Pronunciation Longman
Knowles, G 1987 Patterns o f Spoken English Longman
Kreidler, C 1989 The Pronunciation o f English Blackwell
Mortimer, C 1984 Elem ents o f Pronunciation CUP
Poldauf, 1 1984 English Word Stress Pergamon
Roach, P 1983 English Phonetics and Phonology CUP
Smith, B and Swan, M, 1987 Learner English CUP
Tench, P 1981 Pronunciation S k ills Macmillan
Underhill, A forthcoming Sound Foundations Heinemann
Wells, J 1990 Longman Pronunciation Dictionary Longman

85