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Prominence and Thought Groups

Prominence and Thought Groups. Morgan Patkos Jamie Kim APLNG 410 December 11, 2012. General Information. A. Find Your Job, Find Your Voice English pronunciation B. Proficiency of students Low-intermediate level C. Teaching context - Chinese adult professionals in an ESL setting

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Prominence and Thought Groups

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  1. Prominence and Thought Groups Morgan Patkos Jamie Kim APLNG 410 December 11, 2012

  2. General Information A. Find Your Job, Find Your Voice English pronunciation B. Proficiency of students Low-intermediate level C. Teaching context - Chinese adult professionals in an ESL setting - Learners have lived in the States for less than 2 years and they are looking for a job

  3. General Information D. Overall instructional goal of this lesson - To successfully understand and practice prominence and thought groups E. Learning objectives - To have a clear, solid understanding of prominence and thought groups - To apply appropriate prominence and thought groups to role-play activity - To identify meaning in different sentences and produce the appropriate meaning as intended

  4. Why is This Important? Depending on how we stress words and where we pause in a sentence, the meaning of that sentence can change completely. For a successful job interview, clarity of expression is important, and prominence and thought groups play a significant role in creating an effective communication.

  5. Orientation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29g6sQOAH90 What communication problem occurs between the two? Why did the problem occur? How could they have avoided the problem?

  6. Prominence Prominence: the word that the speaker chooses to highlight or stress Got the keys? vs. Got the keys.

  7. Prominence 1. Word stress Stress appropriate part of a single word Ecology, not Ecology Academics, not Academics

  8. Prominence • Some rules • Nouns and adjectives • Stress the first syllable for most 2-syallable words • Example: winter, present, produce, happy, clever • Verbs • Stress the second syllable for most 2-syllable words • Example: succeed, devour, present, produce, repair • Suffix • Usually stress syllable before the suffix • Example: graphic, photographic, geographic revelation, composition, commission

  9. Prominence 2. Phrasal stress Stress appropriate word in a thought group The English language/ uses thoughtgroups / for clearcommunication.

  10. Prominence Content words Words that carry meaning or the most important part of the sentence Function words Usually articles, prepositions, and conjunctions - do not carry the most important meaning

  11. Prominence Content words vs. Function words The English language/ uses thoughtgroups / for clearcommunication.

  12. Prominence Practice Mary fell down the stairs! Mary felldown the stairs! Mary fell down the stairs!

  13. Thought Groups Thought group: A group of approximately two to five words that form a unit of meaning. A thought group could also be called a phrase. The following sentence has three thought groups: The English language / uses thought groups / for clear communication. In writing - punctuation marks (comma, period, etc.) In speech - pauses

  14. Thought Groups Another illustration of thought groups (A + B) x C = Y (A plus B, multiplied by C, equals Y) 
 A+ (B x C) = D (A, plus B multiplied by C, equals D) Say these two equations and note when you have to pause. Each pause means an end of a thought group & the start of another. (2 + 3) x 5 = 25 2 + (3 x 5) = 17

  15. Activity 1 The Office: Michael goes on an interview. On the transcript, mark thought groups with slashes (/) and underline the words that are stressed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b46szWQXRHg

  16. The Office Interviewer: Let me ask you a question right off the bat. What do you think your greatest strength is as a manager? Michael: Well I’m gonna tell you what my greatest weaknesses are. I work too hard, I care too much, and sometimes I can be too invested in my job. Interviewer: Okay. And your strengths? Michael: Well my weaknesses are actually my strengths. Interviewer: Oh! Yes, very good.

  17. Activity 2 Stimulated Interview Listen to your partner and underline stressed words and mark thought groups with slash (/) marks and discuss the following questions: Discuss what your partner stressed certain words and where thought groups were divided in speech. How would you have done it differently from your partner? Look at how your partner marked your speech. Would you talk any differently if you did it again? Why?

  18. Expansion of Lesson Select a job you wish to apply to and write out answers for the sample questions given in a handout. Then, practice reading the answers out loud, and when you feel you are ready, record your own voice. After you finish recording yourself, listen to the recording and mark thought groups and prominence (for 3 questions) and see if that is what you intended and if everything has been clearly expressed. Be ready discuss your homework in class next time.

  19. Sample Questions for Homework 1.Could you begin by telling me about your qualifications? 2. Can you give me some more detail about your previous jobs? What were your main responsibilities? 3. What was the greatest challenge that you faced in your previous job? 4. Is there anything in particular you feel would be useful here at (the workplace you’re applying to)? 5. What difficulties and challenges do you think we might run into? 6. What are your strengths and weaknesses? 7. Are there any questions that you would like to ask me?

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