Keynote
Another case study is similar to my
own situation, when I have to teach
a class for one hour a week without a
syllabus or coursebook. Not wanting to
want to teach unconnected lessons, I
followed the book’s advice and first of
all identified the activities and topics
that motivate the students, which were
mainly speaking tasks and meaningful
writing. Most have positive attitudes
toward digital technologies, and
are proficient and confident using
smartphones, Facebook™ and online
games, so I then selected activities
such as Being Digitally Literate, which
encouraged them to present themselves
to the class in speaking and writing in
a variety of digital ways. The language
focus of the activity is clearly indicated
in the book (Vocabulary – gadgets and
the internet; Grammar – present simple
and adverbs of frequency; Functions
– discussing habits and daily routines;
Skills – reading, speaking, writing). I
used the worksheet about how often
they use digital technology and also got
them to prepare an online survey and
write up their findings as statistics.
Another activity that works well is
when students either do an electronic
presentation on a topic (e.g. their
hobbies) or use an e-portfolio approach
to showcase their class work on a
particular topic and follow it with
oral presentations.
The final chapter of this engaging book,
From Implementation to Research,
discusses: ways of conducting and
sharing action research; PLNs (Personal
Learning Networks) as a way of being
connected with like-minded colleagues
who can contribute to lifelong learning
about digital literacies; blogging; and
tweeting.
Any book about digital literacies is in
danger of being out of date before it is
published. The activities I tried from this
book worked well, except for one that
uses the blogging platform Posterous
Spaces, which is no longer available.
Luckily the authors of this book all have
blogs which I could get on to and ask
them to suggest alternative sites! This is
such a great book – everyone who wants
to incorporate digital literacies into their
n Volume 24 n Issue 1 www.modernenglishteacher.com 81
teaching should buy it because they will
not want to share it or return it to their
library. Mine is already covered in sticky
notes.
Glenda Inverarity
Glenda Inverarity taught ESL in Asia for
7 years and is currently undertaking her
Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics
at the University of Adelaide and teaching
ESL to migrants.
NB The following review appeared in 23.4,
but due to technical issues the phonemic
script did not appear. We apologise and hope
you enjoy the review in its complete state.
English Phonetics and
Phonology: A practical
course (4th edition,
enhanced ebook edition)
Peter Roach
Cambridge University Press 2013
See page 88 for details
T
his book is now in its fourth
edition and available as an ebook,
complete with several new sections
and sub-sections, as well as integrated
clickable audio files. Roach notes
that it is intended to be used as an
advanced-level course, rather than
simply for reference, ‘designed to be
studied from beginning to end, with the
relevant exercises being worked on for
each chapter’.
The accent of English which Roach
describes is Received Pronunciation
(RP) (or ‘BBC pronunciation’, as he
prefers to call it). He notes that BBC
English is not the only plausible or
suitable model for the speech of those
either teaching or learning English as
a second language; he aims simply to
provide theoretical description of one
accent of English which is commonly
analysed and taught, at least in Europe.
The ebook contains an introductory
chapter followed by 19 chapters
which provide a thorough theoretical
grounding in phonetics and
phonology. Each chapter gives detailed
description, practical written and/
or audio exercises to help the reader
understand the theory and additional
notes where relevant; for example,
suggestions for teaching or further
reading. Roach’s clear style of writing
makes this somewhat esoteric area of
linguistic theory very accessible and
gives the impression of a personal tutor
guiding your learning.
Chapter 2 outlines the various
articulators which combine to produce
speech sounds, including a labelled
diagram of the vocal tract. Concepts
we might take for granted as ‘simple’ or
‘obvious’ are discussed, such as what
vowel sounds and consonant sounds
are, and how they differ.
Chapters 3–7 explain the segmental
inventory of BBC English in
considerable detail. Along the way,
Roach explains (among many other
points):
nn that the diphthong /ʊə/ (as in ‘tour’ )
is increasingly rarely used
nn that most BBC speakers round
their lips to produce /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ (as
opposed to /s/ and /z/)
nn some potentially unfamiliar terms
such as ‘fortis’ and ‘lenis’
nn the difference between phonemic
and phonetic transcription
nn how some consonants are glottalised
in some contexts (I was surprised
to learn that this is most common
where /tʃ/ occurs at the end of a
stressed syllable, as in ‘nature’)
nn why the /ŋ/ at the end of words like
‘long’ changes to /ŋg/ in words like
longest
nn and the distinction in the book’s title:
the difference between phonetics
 Keynote
(‘the comparatively straightforward
business of describing the sounds
that we use in speaking’) and
phonology (‘how phonemes function
in language, and the relationships
among the different phonemes … in
other words, the abstract side of the
sounds of language’).
Chapters 8 to 12 begin to analyse
suprasegmental features of BBC
English with the syllable, noting its
importance as a unit of analysis,
whether approached phonetically or
phonologically. The author introduces
us to the term ‘phonotactics’ (the
restrictions on the possible combination
of phonemes in use), outlines the
structure of English syllables and
considers some difficulties in trying to
count and divide them. He goes on to
discuss stress (its nature and placement
within words and phrases), strong and
weak syllables, the schwa, syllabic
consonants and strong and weak forms of
words in connected speech.
Chapter 13 seems to serve as a ‘last
chance to turn back’ sign for the intrepid
reader. It demonstrates well that this book
was designed as an advanced course for
those who require a deep knowledge of
phonetic and phonological theory and
that it will be quite daunting for teachers
who have never before encountered such
a detailed study of speech sounds. The
chapter outlines some of the inherent
problems in phonemic analysis, such as:
• whether we should identify affricates
(/tʃ/ and /dʒ/) as one or two phonemes
• how the symbols for diphthongs should
be composed (e.g. two vowel symbols
/əʊ/ or one vowel symbol plus one
consonant symbol /əw/)
• whether syllabic consonants (e.g. at the
end of bottle /bɒtl̩ /) should be listed as
separate phonemes
• how unaspirated plosives /p t k/ should
be transcribed in clusters (e.g. /p/ in the
word ‘spill’)
and so on.
Chapter 14 briefly covers different
aspects of connected speech, namely
rhythm, assimilation, elision and linking,
highlighting that ‘there is a great deal
of difference between the way words
are pronounced in isolation and their
82 www.modernenglishteacher.com n Volume 24
pronunciation in the context of Furthermore, the written exercises
connected speech’. The chapter’s require you (unsurprisingly) to write; but
extensive concluding notes mention this is quite difficult to do on a digital
the fact that many features of screen! On an iPad, you can annotate
connected speech will be more helpful parts of a page by highlighting a part of
for learners when listening to others’ the text and selecting ‘Note’ from the
speech than when they themselves little menu which pops up, but you are
speak. limited to typing what is possible with
the internal keyboard, which does not
Chapters 15 to 19 focus on intonation: include phonetic symbols. Unfortunately,
its form(s), function(s) and some of this means that to do the written
the problems and controversies which exercises at the end of each chapter of
arise when attempting to analyse and/ this ebook, you will need to rely on trusty
or teach it. The fact that there are five old pen and paper.
chapters dedicated solely to intonation
demonstrates how complex this area My overall conclusion, however, is that
is. I found the sections on tone-units Roach’s book provides an excellent
(Chapters 16–17) particularly helpful, course of instruction for self-confessed
as I find it very useful to raise learners’ geeky individuals like me, who delight in
awareness of them, but find them tricky exploring the minutiae of speech sound
to analyse and explain. There is little production and perception. It will almost
practical guidance for teachers offered certainly be a more daunting enterprise
in these chapters, but I was able to for teachers who are not naturally drawn
create my own classroom exercises to pronunciation matters. In either case,
with more confidence having gained a it takes time to work through the course,
better theoretical understanding. but patience and perseverance will be
rewarded by a greater understanding
The final chapter (20) explains how and appreciation of English phonetics
accents can differ phonetically or and phonology.
phonologically and contrasts BBC
English with some other accents of Laura Patsko
Laura Patsko is a teacher and teacher
Anglophone countries. Roach looks
trainer based in London, UK. She is
particularly at the similarities and particularly interested in pronunciation
differences between BBC English, teaching and sociolinguistics.
General American (GA) and Scottish
English (though he notes that there
is variation within these accents and
he makes only a few generalisations).
As well as geographical variation, he
briefly addresses variation influenced
by speakers’ age, social class and style.
On the whole, I found this book a
useful resource. I am in two minds
regarding the electronic format: I tend
to prefer physical books for flipping
through, underlining, bookmarking,
etc.; but I did find that having sound
samples integrated within the text
is very helpful and avoids fumbling
around with CDs, or worse, cassettes!
You can simply tap on a word/symbol
in blue text to prompt an audio file to
play. However, tapping this text also
automatically caused the ‘page’ to turn,
which quickly became irritating, and
unfortunately, I couldn’ t figure out
how to stop my tablet from doing this.
n Issue 1