Phonology – phriend or phoe ?

1. Phonology – phriend or phoe? Ray Parker NALA Dublin, 2013

2. A few simple principles • English language teachers teach two languages not one! • Spoken language is at least as systematic as any other part • By focussing on important aspects of pronunciation we can score a double whammy! • There’s nothing mysterious or complicated about phonology

3. Writing Graphic Permanent Conservative Delivered in words High prestige Secondary Learned Speaking Acoustic Ephemeral Progressive Delivered in utterances Low prestige Primary Acquired Two Languages not One!

4. The size of the problem • How many words? • 17,000? • How much grammar? • 400 structures? • How many phonemes? • 44

5. Elements of pronunciation

6. The possible components of the pronunciation element of a general English course

7. Pronunciation - our priorities • Word stress • Delaying graphical interference • Stress timing • Modelling & correcting without distortion

8. Word stress • You always get it right in speech • Some people have problems identifying it. • Physical violence is really helpful! • We really have to be confident • We really have to help learners • Be consistent & make it routine

9. Word stress • Have a consistent board use strategy • Share it with colleagues in your institution • Use symbols which couldn’t possibly be confused with normal writing • Mine – and now that of many colleagues – is the following

10. bough cough though through thought hiccough enough thorough /baʊ/ /kɒf/ /ðəʊ/ /θru:/ /θɔ:t/ /'hɪkʌp/ /ɪn'ʌf/ /'θʌrə/ Misleading spellings

11. Who is it?

12. ghoti

13. ghoti = fish

14. ghoti

15. ghoti

16. Enough = /f/ ghoti

17. ghoti

18. enough = /f/ ghoti women = / ɪ /

19. ghoti

20. nation = /ʃ/ enough = /f/ ghoti women = / ɪ /

21. So what about this? tchughce

22. one two three four five six seven eight etc…..

23. Egyptian women manage businesses

24. Egyptian women manage businesses /ɪ'ʤɪpʃən 'wɪmɪn 'mænɪʤ 'bɪznɪsɪz/

25. Unhelpful spelling Egyptian women manage businesses /ɪ'ʤɪpʃən 'wɪmɪn 'mænɪʤ 'bɪznɪsɪz/

26. Unhelpful spelling So in our sample sentence these vowels represent the sound /ɪ/: a  e  o  u  y  i X

27. Delaying graphical interference • Resisting bullying • Designating space on board and a specific time in the lesson for adding written forms • Eliciting rather than presenting written form • Anticipating and focusing on potential interference features • bizarre spellings • silent letters • redundant syllables

28. Components of pronunciation

29. The possible components of the pronunciation element of a general English course

30. Components of pronunciation Top-down or bottom-up?

31. Utterance stress What’s the system? The good news: There is a system

32. Utterance stress What’s the system? The better news: The system is regular, reliable, predictable

33. Utterance stress What’s the system? The best news: It’s simple

34. Utterance stress So which words are stressed in utterances and which ones normally aren’t?

35. Stress in utterances

36. stress-timing Ti amo

37. stress-timing 1 2 3 Ti amo

38. stress-timing Ti amo, tesoro

39. stress-timing 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ti amo, tesoro

40. stress-timing Fish, chips, peas

41. stress-timing 1 2 3 Fish, chips, peas

42. stress-timing It’s in the shed at the bottom of the garden

43. stress-timing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 It’s in the shed at the bottom of the garden

44. Sentence stress Dogs bark The dogs bark The dogs will bark The dogs are barking The dogs have been barking The dogs will have been barking

45. “Unusual stressing of items which would normally not be stressed • Have you doneyour homework? • (¿Has hechotusdeberes?) • Have you doneyour homework? • (¿Esverdadque has hechotusdeberes?)

46. “Unusual stressing of items which would normally not be stressed • Have youdoneyour homework? • (¿Tu, has hechotusdeberes?) • Have you doneyourhomework? • (¿Has hechotuspropiosdeberes?)

47. Workshop task 1 After you’ve completed the listening task, pair up with the other letter. • Correct each other’s work. (between you, you have all the words • Discuss the level of difficulty you encountered. Was one version more challenging than the other? • How would your learners manage such tasks?

48. Task 1 Big messages • In terms of developing accurate listening expectations, version B is immensely valuable. • In terms of moving towards acceptable pronunciation, version B is immensely valuable.

49. Task 2 marking key Australia is a country where some of the most unusual animals in the world live. They’re called marsupials and include animals such as the kangaroo and the koala. The mother animals have got pouches of skin like pockets and they keep their babies there for the first few weeks of their lives.

50. Big messages from the workshop • We should help learners with word stress • We should delay boarding of new words • We should focus on a top-down approach to phonology • We need to help students with utterance stress by helping them to focus on unstressed words