Phase 2 – The study of English Language – Grammar and Phonology

Objectives:
• To become aware of the structure and form of English Language.
• To identify target grammar structures in the four skill areas - Listening, Speaking,
Reading, and Writing.
• To demonstrate understanding of the target grammar structure in four skill areas –
Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.
• To apply understanding of the target grammar structure in the spoken and written lan-
guage.
• To understand the need and extent of teaching grammar in language learning.
• To contextualize the rules of grammar and structure through varied activities.
• To recognize interrelationships and differences among oral languages.
• To understand that speaking and reading are skilled and strategic processes in which
learning to decode and read words accurately and rapidly is essential.
• To develop phonological awareness.
• To develop efficiency in speaking, reading, and comprehending language.
• To recognize that fluent reading is the effortless decoding of words, and attention is to
be focused on comprehension and meaning.
• To use a variety of strategies for decoding words – segmental and supra segmental pho-
nology.
• To demonstrate an understanding that students have difficulties with phonological
awareness, the alphabetic principle, and learning to effectively use phonics, structural
analysis and syllabication.

The Current Phase:

This Phase deals with Language Awareness. In order to teach English, a teacher needs

to be aware of the structure and form of the language not only to enrich one’s own

knowledge of the language, but to be aware of what he/she is presenting to the learners.

Phonology helps the teacher become aware of the differences in languages and the diffi-

culties that the learners might face.

1
What is Grammar?

Grammar is generally thought to be a set of rules specifying the correct ordering of

words at the sentence level. The Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics defines it as,

“a description of the structure of a language and the way in which units such as phrases

and words are combined to produce sentences in the language.”

Sentences are acceptable if they follow the rules set out by the grammar of the language.

For example, in English, one rule states that “a subject followed by a verb followed by

an object” is grammatical. The sentence “The letter the man wrote” is ungrammatical

because it violates this rule, whereas “The man wrote the letter” is acceptable because it

obeys this rule. Therefore, how can we define grammar?

According to McArthur, “grammar is not a precise term like phonology or anatomy. It

behaves pretty much like the majority of the words in a language; it has a core of gener-

ally agreed meaning, but is fuzzy around the edges”. This means that the term can have

several interpretations. It is used to refer both to language users’ subconscious internal

system and to linguists’ attempts explicitly to codify or describe that system. With the

latter, its scope can be broad enough to refer to the system underlying a particular lan-

guage. It can also refer to a particular school of linguistic thought or to a specific com-

pendium of facts for a general audience.

It is said that there are three kinds of Grammar namely, G1, G2 and G3.

The G1 is the total mechanism which a language possesses and through which its users

are able to communicate with each other. Every native speaker, whether literate or illit-

erate, knows and controls his or her G1. Each language possesses a distinctive G1, pecu-

liar to itself.

2
The G2 refers to all formal analysis and description of the rules of the language. The il-

literate native speaker of a language may know its G1 but not G2. However, when he or

she begins to think of language consciously, to wonder what should be said in a situa-

tion to get the message across, he or she is involved in the G2 of the language.

G3 grammar refers to the rules of correct use of a language which may be prescribed for

its users.

The importance of teaching Grammar

A glance through the last century of language teaching practices reveals mixed opinions

about the position of grammar, depending on the method or era. In the Grammar transla-

tion method, formal aspects of language received prime importance. In the Natural Ap-

proach, overt focus on form was forbidden. Some manifestations of Communicative Lan-

guage Teaching (CLT) advocated only a passing mention to form, while other proponents

of CLT used form focused techniques into a communicative curriculum. Today, only a

handful of language teaching experts will advocate Stephan Krashen’s zero option of no

form-focused instruction at all. Current views are universally agreed on the importance

of some form-focused instruction within the communicative framework, ranging from

explicit rules to noticing and consciousness- raising techniques.

Technically, grammar refers to sentence level rules only. But it is widely accepted that

communicative competence refers to both grammatical competence and organizational compe-

tence of how we string sentences together. As Diane Larsen-Freeman pointed out, grammar

is one of the three dimensions of language that are interconnected. Grammar gives us

the form or structures, but those forms are meaningless without semantics (meaning of

words and string of words) and pragmatics (which means to assign according to con-

3
text). It is, therefore, important to grasp the significance of the interconnectedness of all

three dimensions as no one dimension is sufficient.

So, nobody can say grammar is irrelevant. Experiences in language teaching suggest

that judicious attention to grammatical form is not only helpful, but can lead to a

speedy learning process.

Appropriate grammar-focusing techniques are meaningful, communicative contexts.

They contribute positively to communicative goals and promote accuracy within fluen-

cy. The learner should not be overwhelmed with linguistic terminology.

Principles of teaching grammar

Integrate both inductive and deductive methods-

In the deductive classroom, the teacher gives a grammatical explanation or rule fol-

lowed by a set of exercises designed to clarify the grammatical point. In deductive

grammar one moves from rules to examples. Inductive procedures reverse this process.

Examples are presented to the learners and through a process of guided discovery, they

work out the principles themselves. This leads us to the question, which is better? It de-

pends on the grammar point being learned. A combination of both are needed, however

inductive techniques appear to result in better retention in the long term.

Connect grammatical form and communicative function

Many grammar-based courses are relatively ineffective because they teach grammar as

an abstract system and fail to give learners a proper context for the grammar point.

Teaching was limited to the form of the new grammatical item. For example, when the

passive voice was introduced, students were given a list of sentences in the active voice

4
along with a model of how to form the passive. Such a procedure did not give students

any insight into the communicative contexts in which they should use the passive.

Therefore, when teaching the passive voice, show why the passive voice is used- to

place emphasis on the action rather than the doer, and hide the identity of the doer.

Focus on development of procedural rather than declarative knowledge-

Declarative knowledge is about knowing the rules, whereas procedural knowledge is be-

ing able to use the knowledge for communication. Most second language users of Eng-

lish know that they must place a –s at the end verb when making third person singular

declarative sentences, but when speaking most often than not they leave off the –s. This

shows they have declarative knowledge, but not procedural. On the other hand, a vast

majority of native speakers have procedural knowledge, but lack the declarative reason-

ing which does not impede their communicative skills. Declarative knowledge can facil-

itate the development of procedural knowledge but is not a necessity. Students need to

develop the mastery of target language items not by memorizing rules, but by using

them in communicative contexts.

Contextualization involves meaningful language usage for real communicative purpos-

es and helps students to understand how meaning is constructed by language users (be

it writing, speaking, reading, or listening) depending upon the context.

Context refers to the topic and situation of a communicative act that are necessary for

understanding according to Walz. He points out that a number of language textbooks

provide contextualized grammar exercises. These exercises provide thematically relat-

ed sentences requiring mechanical manipulation of a grammatical form, but often do

not force students to understand. Therefore, contextualization of mechanical drills in

this sense is certainly not the same thing as creating a context.

5
Language that is introduced and taught in context presents real situations that encom-

pass the physical setting, the purpose of the exchange, the roles of the participants, and

the socially acceptable norms of interaction, in addition to the medium, topic, tone, and

register of the exchange. Grammatical structures that might otherwise be devoid of con-

text become an integral part of the communicative acts that occur in contexts.

Research has consistently shown that grammatical structures will become internalized

only if the learners use the structures for meaningful, communicative purposes.

“. . . . If words take on their meanings when used in connection to each other, learners

will need to experience “whole” contextualized language (stories, legends, poems, lis-

tening selections, cartoons, songs, recipes, etc.) with an emphasis on meaning-making

and sense-making before a focus on form can be a productive instructional activity"

(Long, 1991).

Classes that focus on language formed for the purpose of increasing comprehension

and meaning, have been shown to result in greater language gains than classes in which

no focus on form is available; or in which forms are learned as meaningless structures,

not connected to any meaningful communicative act or applied in any way. Focus on

form is only useful if this knowledge can be used by the learners in a new way at a later

time.

Steps in Presenting Points of Grammar Using Direct Instruction in ESL and Foreign

Language Instruction

• Motivate the teaching of structures by showing how they are needed in real-life

communication.

• State the objective of the lesson.

6
• Review the familiar items, e.g. calendar, time, name of objects, auxiliary verbs in

the target language that will be needed to introduce.

• Explain or practice the new item.

• Use the new structure (adjective of color, for example) in a brief utterance in

which all the other words are known to the students.

• Model the utterance several times.

• Engage in full class, half-class, group and individual repetition of the utterance.

• Give several additional sentences in which the structure is used. The class and

groups will repeat with you.

• Write two of the sentences on the board. Underline the new structure and (where

relevant) use curved arrows or diagrams to illustrate the relationship of the

structure to other words and/or parts of the sentence.

• Point to the underlined structure as you ask questions that will guide students to

discover the sounds, the written form, the position in the sentence and the

grammatical function of the new structure. ("What does it tell us?")

• Help students verbalize the important features of the structure. Use charts and

other aids to relate to other familiar structures such as verb tenses.

• Engage the students in varied guided oral practice.

• Require students to consciously select the new grammatical item from the con-

trasting one learned in the past.

• Have the students use the structure with communicative expressions and famil-

iar or new notion.

7
Some helpful techniques:

Motivation: Fun should be an element in any class, especially one that deals with

grammar. Usually as soon as the word G-R-A-M-M-A-R is announced, there is a sense

of doom that looms over the students. The immediate reaction is an inward groan or

“tuning off” due to a lot of apprehension. It is also the same for any teacher, especially

one who is new and less experienced, therefore the one and only weapon that can dif-

fuse the situation is FUN.

• Games

• Songs

• Mime

• Poems

• Audio visual aids are all potential ways to have fun and introduce almost any

topic on grammar.

Objective: Once the ice breaker is introduced; set the objective, make it simple and

clear. Ask students questions that will help them identify the grammar concept to be

discussed. Follow with another exercise that more specifically focuses on the grammar

concept, but takes an inductive approach. This could be a reading exercise with ques-

tions and responses in the structure that is being taught.

Inductive is known as a 'bottom up' approach. In other words, this approach helps a

student to discover grammar rules while working through exercises.

8
For example: A reading comprehension which includes a number of sentences describ-

ing what a person has done up to that time. After doing the reading comprehension, the

teacher could begin to ask questions such as:

• How long has he done this or that?

• Has he ever been to Paris?

• When did he go to Paris?

Practice: As soon as the topic is introduced let’s say adjective or adverb, ask the stu-

dents what words they already know on this topic. You will be surprised and so will

your students when both the parties realize that they are endowed with a lot of vocabu-

lary when it comes to the above questions. Only lack of practice and application have

led to lack of confidence. As they develop confidence gradually introduce them to the

new structure. In this stage the following aids come in handy:

• Blackboard

• Flash cards

• Pointers

• Colored markers

Applied grammar: Please keep in mind that grammar taught in isolation is grammar

not learned. Just stating the definition and giving single examples will not help the stu-

dents. The teacher has to help the students apply the rules in day to day situations.

For example: The present perfect is made up of the auxiliary verb 'have' plus the past

participle. It is used to express an action which has begun in the past and continues into

the present moment... etc.

9
What good does this definition do for the students? What is the use of learning this def-

inition? Has the student even understood what has been said? The answer is No! A

teacher needs to facilitate learning.

The Structures – A Glimpse and How to Contextualize Grammar

• Nouns

• Articles

• Verbs

• Pronouns

• Adjectives

• Adverbs

• Prepositions

• Conjunctions

• Interjections

• Tense

Nouns: words that refer to a person, a place or a thing

Method: Explain with the help of activities such as:

• Name games

• Memory games

• Songs

• Guess games

An example has been given:

Guessing game: TEACHER:

10
1. I am fat, huge with a very long nose and big ears. What am I?

2. I am a country which has lotus as her national flower. Who am I?

3. I am icy cold, but put me in your glass and I will melt. What am I?

Articles: The words “a” “an” and “the” are called articles which come before nouns.

• A is used before a consonant: a dog, a ball, a cat

• An is used before a vowel: An ant, an egg, an insect

• The is used before a proper noun: The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower.

Special features of A

The usage of “A” is based on pronunciation, in these cases in spite of the words begin-

ning with a vowel, they sound like a consonant therefore the article A is used.

• A university

• A union

• A one –eyed man

• A European

• A ewe

Special features of An

The usage of “An” is based on pronunciation, in these cases in spite of the words begin-

ning with a consonant, they sound like vowel therefore the article ‘an’ is used.

• An hour

• An honest man

• An owl

11
Method: Explain with the help of activities such as

• Modeling the context

• Worksheets

• Information gap

Special features of The:

The definite article the is the most frequent word in English.

➢ We use it to define there is only one:

The Pope is visiting Russia.

The moon is very bright tonight.
The Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979.

➢ We use the definite article with a superlative adjective:

He is the tallest boy in the class.

It is the oldest building in the town.

➢ We use it to define The only one in that place or in those surroundings:

We live in a small village next to the church.

Modeling the Context:

• Use gesticulation.

• Say the sentence aloud clearly highlighting the article.

12
• Instruct the students to repeat after you, using the same gestures.

• It is very effective among children.

• For adults the gesticulation can be omitted.

For example:

Teacher: Give me “a” (pitch goes up, he or she can point out the index finger to empha-

size on the article ”a”) Give me “a” pen

Give me “a” piece of paper

Give me “a “ marker ….

Example 1

All the sentences use “the” which one is correct

1 (a) Can you pass the sugar please?

(b) The crime is a problem in big cities.

(c) The apples are good for you.

(d) I love the skiing.

2 (a) He is sailing up the Nile for his holidays.

(b) My favorite sea is the Mediterranean.

(c) Have you ever been to the Bahamas?

(d) I’d love to visit the America.

Verbs: They are words that express existence, action, or occurrence in most languages.

13
Method: Explain with the help of activities such as

• Action songs

• Action poems

• Flash cards

• Action games

Example 1

Action song

“When you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.” clap, clap

“When you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.” clap, clap

“When you’re happy and you know and you really want to show it.”

“When you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.” clap, clap

“When you’re happy and you know it blow a kiss.”

“When you’re happy and you know it blow a kiss.”

“When you’re happy and you know it and you really want to show it.”

“When you’re happy and you know it blow a kiss.”

“When you’re happy and you know it click your fingers.” click, click

“When you’re happy and you know it click your fingers.” click, click

“When you’re happy and you know it and you really want to show it.”

“When you’re happy and you know it click your fingers.” click, click

The song continues with more action words (swim, fly, dance)

14
Example 2

Method:

Step1: Introduce the concept and then use the flash cards to help the students identify

with the words.

Step2: After identification, repetition, provide the worksheets and help them to apply it

in a structured sentence. The first one has been done for you.

argue Drive Scream Bite

Laugh Drop swing Throw

They are arguing They are d----------- He is s -------------- The dog is b---------

He will th--------

He is l ------------ He has d---------- the ball The child is s………. the ball

15
Pronouns

Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence

to make it less repetitive and less awkward. Some of the most common Pronouns are -

he, she, you, they, it, etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based

on their use -

Personal Pronouns

These pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to

indicate the different genders, numbers, case and persons speaking -

Tanya told him to take the food to them as soon as possible as it was urgently needed.

‘Him’ is a Pronoun of gender.

‘Them’ is a Pronoun of number showing that there is more than one person, and it is

also a Pronoun of case as it is referring to a specific group in an objective manner.

‘It’ is also a Pronoun of gender showing the object (food).

So, we can see that the Personal Pronouns can be based on -

Gender –

He went to the market. - He is used for the male gender. Other examples are - His,

Him, He, etc.

She is doing the laundry. - She is used for the female gender. Other examples are -

Her, Hers, etc.

16
It is important to them. - It is gender neutral as it shows an object, them is also gender

neutral as them can consist of both genders. Other gender-neutral pronouns are –

Theirs, They, Its, etc.

Number –

Singular Pronouns - Where the pronoun is only referring to one specific noun.

That book belongs to me. - Me refers to one singular person only.

Plural Pronouns - Where the pronoun is used to refer to a number of nouns.

That is their book, not yours. - Their shows a number of people, hence it’s a plural

personal pronoun. Whereas ‘yours’ in this sentence is another example of singular

personal pronoun.

Pronouns can be taught through this substitution chart effectively.

17
Adjectives

Describing words

Method: Explain with the help of activities such as

• Mime

• Flash cards

• Brain storming

• Read out with varied emotions

Example 1

Flash cards

Method:

Step1: Introduce the concept and then use the flash cards to help the students identify

with the words.

18
Step 2: After identification and repetition, provide the worksheets and help them to ap-

ply it in a structured sentence. The first one has been done for you.

Step3: As a variation the teacher can call out the words and each student have to enact

the adjective. (making the call outs more fun). It could be done as pair work, guessing

game etc.

Unfriendly Strong Friendly

Heavy Sharp Fast

He is Unfriendly She is fr ------------- He is s------------

19
 He is f ----------- The knife is sh------- The box is h------

Example 2

Brain Storming

Meet Miss Muffet. Help her! She is lost, can’t you see that she is scared? Let us report to

the police station. She is multi-colored. She has a green body with yellow, blue and

pink stripes. She is not very small and has large bulging eyes. Miss Muffet is beautiful;

please look for her.

Worksheet

_________ Miss Muffet. Help her! She is lost, can’t you see that she is _________? Let us

report to the police station. She is ___________. She has a ________ body with _______,

______ ______ stripes. She is not very small, and has large bulging eyes. Miss Muffet is

beautiful, please look for her.

Example 3

Read out at varying emotions.

The entire set of dialogue is to be read out according to the commands given by the

teacher.

20
Character 1: Oh! Did you hear the news? Mrs. Darlington has died. I can’t believe it!

(surprised, worried, sad)

Character 2: That’s fantastic! How did it happen? When did it happen? Do you have

the details? (elated, shocked)

Character1: No, not yet. I am in shock, I guess. Do you think I should drop by? (

Surprise and Sad)

Character 2: Well, it seems the most obvious thing to do. And come to think of it it’s

good news too. (curious, excited)

Character1: Good news! How can it be good news? Have you completely lost your

mind? (angry, confused)

Character 2: On the contrary my dear friend. I haven’t thought so clearly in my whole

life till now. Congratulations! You are free man! (confident, happy, sarcastic)

Character1: Thanks, I am if you say so. (confused, relieved, happy)

Adverbs:

A word that modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb is called an

adverb.

21
For example:

• Raman runs quickly.

>>Quickly shows how or in what manner Raman runs therefore quickly modifies the verb

runs.

• This is a very sweet mango.

>>Very shows how much the mango is sweet, therefore very modifies the adjective sweet.

• Harold reads quite clearly.

>>Quite shows how far Harold reads clearly, therefore quite modifies the adverb clearly.

Method :

Explain with the help of activities such as

• Word games

• Read out with varied speed

Example 1:

Read out at varied speed.

The entire set of dialogue is to be read out according to the commands given by the teacher.

Character 1: Oh my! Did you hear the news? Mrs. Darlington has died. I can’t believe it!

(Slowly, loudly)

Character 2: That’s fantastic. How did it happen? When did it happen? Do you have the

details? (Fast, loudly)

22
Character 1: No, not yet, I am in shock, I guess. Do you think I should drop by? (Very

slowly, softly)

Character 2: Well, it seems the most obvious. And come to think of it, it’s good news

too. (Normal pace)

Character 1: Good news! How can it be good news? Have you completely lost your

mind? (Loudly)

Character 2: On the contrary, my dear friend, I haven’t thought so clearly in my whole

life till now. Congratulations! You are a free man! (Fast)

Character 1: Thanks, I am if you say so. (slowly, softly)

Preposition

A Preposition is a word placed before a noun or a pronoun to show what relation the

person or thing denoted by it stands in regard to something else.

Method: Explain with the help of activities such as

• Flashcards

• Follow directions

• Songs

• Poems

23
Example 1:

Songs: (In the tune of: If you miss the train I am on)

We always sit on a chair.

Never sit in a chair.

We get off a train and get on again and get on again.

I am looking at you.

Not looking to you.

We go for holidays.

Again and again

Conjunction

Conjunctions join together sentences and often make them compact.

For example:

• David is a good bowler. Shawn is a good bowler.

• David and Shawn are good bowlers.

• The man is poor. The man is honest.

• The man is poor, but honest.

And But Either Or Also

Both Though Whether Neither Not only

24
 • Methods:

• Worksheets

• Blackboard

• Gestures to emphasize

Example 1:

Talking About Australia - Using Conjunctions

1. Australia is very hot in December, _________ cold in July. The country is popular

_________ there aren't many people living there. Australia has a lot of interesting ani-

mals. The koala is cute, _________ the crocodile is dangerous. Australia has a lot of open

spaces______ the weather is good, _________ are sports. Australian people love to eat

barbecued food.

[But, and, so, although]

25
Interjection

Interjections are words used to express strong feeling or sudden emotion. They are in-

cluded in a sentence - usually at the start - to express a sentiment such as surprise, dis-

gust, joy, excitement or enthusiasm.

An interjection is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.

Examples:

➢ Hey! Get off that floor!

➢ Oh, that is a surprise.

➢ Good! Now we can move on.

➢ Jeepers, that was close.

26
Yes and No
Introductory expressions such as yes, no, indeed and well are also classed as interjec-
tions.

Examples:
➢ Indeed, this is not the first time the stand has collapsed.
➢ Yes, I do intend to cover the bet.
➢ I'm sure I don't know half the people who come to my house. Indeed, for all I
hear, I shouldn't like to. (Oscar Wilde)
➢ Well, it's 1 a.m. Better go home and spend some quality time with the kids.
(Homer Simpson)

Some interjections are sounds.

Examples:
· Phew! I am not trying that again.
· Humph! I knew that last week.
· Mmm! My compliments to the chef.
· Ah! Don't say you agree with me. When people agree with me, I always feel that I
must be wrong. (Oscar Wilde)

When interjections are used to express emotion, it is to be noticed that they are not
grammatically related to the other words in a sentence.

Example1:

Hello! What are you doing here?

Alas! He is dead.

Hurrah! We have won the game.

Ah! Have they gone?

Oh! I got such a fright.

27
Hush! Don’t make a noise.

Joy as Hurrah! Grief as Alas!

Surprise as Aha!
Approval as Bravo!
What!

Please notice that all the words in bold are an interjection and they all mean different

things.

Interjection may express many things:

PUNCTUATION

An interjection can be followed by either a comma or an exclamation mark. A comma is

used for a mild interjection; whereas, an exclamation mark is used for a more abrupt

display of surprise, emotion or deep feeling.

· Hurry! The bus is about to leave!

· Jeepers! That is the largest beetle I have ever seen.
· No, I'm not going tomorrow night.
· Well, the larva moves more quickly than you would expect.
· Absolutely, a fifth of them do not count.

Very often (as in the first example above), an interjection with an exclamation mark is
followed by a sentence with an exclamation mark.

28
A word of Caution: Avoid using interjection in business writing.

Tense:

A verb may refer to present, past or future. The tense of a verb shows the time of an ac-

tion or event. Please note that tense can be used to teach in situational context.

• Verb referring to present time is called “Present tense”

• Verb referring to past time is called “Past tense”

• Verb referring to future time is called “Future tense “

For example :

• I write this letter: Present tense

• I wrote this letter: Past tense

• I will write this letter: Future tense

There are many forms of tense; we will primarily deal with the three tenses as shown

above.

Example:

Follow a recipe or instructions Verb form: Present continuous

from a boxed cake mix to bake a tense

cake. For example:

I am going to.

Continue with : I am going to

29
Give directions to another person Verb form: Present tense

to get to a store, the post office, or a For example:

bank using a map. Go straight, then turn right.

Continue with: Go, turn, walk, ask

Discuss plans for a class field trip Verb form: Future tense

to the zoo. For example:

We will go to the zoo.

Continue with: will visit, will

watch, will enjoy……

Describe a past vacation, weekend, Verb form: Simple past tense

etc. For example :

We went to...

Continue with went to, traveled

by, ate, slept….

30
Phonology

Segmental

• Phonemes

• Consonants

• Vowels

Supra segmental

• Stress

• Intonation

• Pronunciation

• Songs: Poems

Introduction:

As a teacher of English, it is useful to have a general background in phonology. Phonol-

ogy itself covers a wide range of areas including phonemics, manner and place of artic-

ulation, rhythm, stress and intonation).

One of the fundamental components of any language is its system of spoken sounds. In

many of the world’s languages (English being an obvious example), the sounds of the

language are quite different from the written form of the language. These phonology

sessions serve as a general introduction to the study of the sounds, aimed specifically at

people with little or no exposure in this field.

31
Combination of sounds

When you speak a language, you are producing a stream of sounds. Despite the enor-

mous variety of sounds humans can produce, any given language encompasses a lim-

ited range of sounds. These sounds are repeated again and again, combined and recom-

bined in new patterns. Each language has combinations which are permissible (e.g. “s”

+”p” in English and others that are impossible,(e.g. “g”+”b” in English).

Have you considered the question: Do all native speakers of English pronounce every

word in the same way?

For example:

• The weather is far better in Italy than in Switzerland.

This can be spoken in so many different accents. You will notice that the pronunciation

changes from person to person. Each one of us has a unique way of saying sounds—this

is influenced by our country, our origin, regional differences, socio-economic status and

many other factors. If we were to explore this we would be engaged in a study of pho-

netics.

Consider the sentence given again; did you understand the meaning? Did the meaning

change from speaker to speaker?

Now, if we change weather to leather, does the sentence still have the same meaning?

Obviously not!

When we consider the changes in meaning between any two words, we find ourselves

in the field known as phonology.

32
The phoneme

Consider the change we made in the words above (weather vs. leather). Notice that the

change of a single sound changes the meaning of the entire word. The other sounds in

the word remain the same. (Please note that this is a change in the sound, not the

spelling). These differences are known as phonemes—defined by linguistics as major

contrastive differences.

The sounds of English

English exists in a variety of flavors around the world. As we noted above, even speak-

ers from the same language community have different styles of pronunciation, making

the jobs of linguistics around the world extremely difficult. For the sake of convenience,

we shall focus on two specific forms of spoken English as our models. The standard

model of British English has 44 phonemes. Out of which 24 are consonants and 20 are

vowels.

The first model is referred to as BBC English and was formerly called Received Pronun-

ciation or (RP). This is the language used by the majority of news readers

on radios and television in Britain and is relatively free of any regional accent. Our sec-

ond model is the variation of English known as General American. This refers to the

English commonly known as Broadcast English.

Please take a look at the following vowel chart. The column on the left show the 12 pure

vowels and column on the right show the 8 diphthongs.

33
34
35
STRESS

English is known as a “stress lan-

guage” for the following reasons:

• The stress patterns of the words

determine the rhythm of speech.

• Where to stress exactly cannot be predicted. Learners will have to get the hang of it by

memorizing the stress patterns, just as they memorize anything else in English.

The question that arises in our minds is why do we need to know about stress?

Any language, let alone English would sound extremely monotonous if it sounded “A-

tone” without variations ups and downs in the volume. Therefore, it is imperative that

we learn about stress, tone intonation, rhythm in this article which is integral to the

presentation of this beautiful language: “English”. What is important to know about

stress is that it is directly related to meaning. Native speakers emphasize the most im-

portant words in a sentence. We also generally give extra stress to the most important

word in a sentence. We call this the focus word. If you change the focus word, you also

change the meaning.

Look at the following sentences, the focus word is capitalized.

• What’s the MATTER?

• I lost my HAT.

• What COLOUR hat?

• It was BLUE . . . DARK blue.

• There was a blue hat in the CAR.

• WHICH car?

• THAT car!

36
Word Stress

When a word has more than one syllable, one is more prominent than the others. When

this happens, we say that the syllable has a stress, or that it is stressed. In the following

examples, stressed syllables are expressed with boldface.

Word Pattern

tea.cher •.

beau.ti.ful •..

un.der.stand ..•

con.ti.nue .•.

con.ti.nu.a.tion .•.•.

black.board ••

When a syllable is stressed, it is pronounced:

• longer in duration

• higher in pitch, and

• louder in volume

37
Try this with the word teacher.

How you say teacher

Longer Teeeee cha

te

a
Higher

Cha

Louder TEA cha

All three com-

TEEEEEEEEE Cha
bined

Example 1

Say these words with the stressed syllables. Try to stress them by lengthening the vow-

el. Try NOT to exaggerate the pitch difference.

two syllables de.sign a.bout af.ter

three syllables va.nil.la Ca.na.da graf.fi.ti

38
 four syllables in.dif.fe.rent A.ri.zo.na a.vai.la.ble

five syllables u.ni.ver.si.ty ca.fe.te.ri.a la.bo.ra.to.ry*

The location of stress is determined by a set of many complex rules. Therefore, predict-

ing where the stress/ falls is not easy. However, some set of words follow a simple pat-

tern.

Consider the following two-syllable words. Underline the stronger syllable.

Noun Verb

Record Convert

Present Conflict

Conduct Reflect

39
As you can see, the nouns typically have the first syllable stressed, whereas verbs have

the stressed second syllable. 90% two-syllable nouns, and 60% two-syllable verbs follow

this pattern.

Look at the following three syllable words. Consider the stress patterns.

Three-syllable words

in.stru.ment com.mer.cial ar.ti.choke

ca.len.dar va.nil.la hur.ri.cane

cu.ri.ous de.ve.lop ap.pe.tite

sen.ti.ment as.to.nish cro.co.dile

do.cu.ment op.po.nent con.gre.gate

Look at some more sentences, in each of them the focus word is different. When you say

them, emphasize upon the focus word. Now, try to ascertain the difference in meaning.

• I think that animal is a FOX.

• I THINK that animal is a fox.

• I ordered two COKES.

• I ordered TWO cokes.

40
 • What are your HOBBIES?

• What are YOUR hobbies?

• WHAT are your hobbies?

Stressed Words (Content Unstressed Words (Function

Words) Words)

Nouns Pronouns

Main Verbs Helping verbs

Adverbs Articles

Adjectives Prepositions

Wh-questions Conjunctions

Reflexive Pronouns The verb “to be” (is, was, are)

Stress involves a combination of:

• Pitch

• Vowel Length

• Loudness

41
Stress timed languages:

In Spoken English, some words are stressed and some are not. English is what we call a

stress timed language. This means that stressed words in a sentence tend to occur at

roughly equal intervals of time, regardless of the number of unstressed syllables be-

tween them.

• CATS CHASE MICE.

• The CATS CHASE MICE.

• The CATS might CHASE the MICE.

• The CATS might have CHASED the MICE.

Each of these sentences has the same number of stresses (three), but different numbers

of unstressed syllables. If you say these sentences they will take about the same amount

of time. Hence, the amount of time that it takes to say a sentence in English is deter-

mined by the number of stressed words, not by the total number of syllables to further

illustrate the point look at the following sentences:

1. TOM is MARY’S FRIEND. (5 syllables)

2. The PROFESSOR is READING. (7 syllables)

Although sentence number two has more syllables (seven), sentence number one actual-

ly takes longer to say because it has more stressed words.

42
Rhythm, Stress, and Song

Every song has a rhythm and so does every language. The rhythm of English is related

to a combination of stressed and unstressed words, with stresses generally falling about

equal length from each other. Certain songs closely follow the rhythm of English.

Look at the following song and mark the words you think should be stressed.

What shall we do with the drunken sailor?

What shall we do with the drunken sailor(3x)

Early in the morning?

Chorus: Hoorah, and up she rises. (3x)

Early in the morning.

Take him, and shake him, and try to awake him. (3x)

Early in the morning.

Chorus: Give him a dose of salt and water. (3x)

Early in the morning.

Intonation

It's not WHAT you say, it’s HOW you say it!

Look at the following sentences and notice:

• How your voice changes?

• What is the context for each one?

• How does the meaning vary?

1. He is a judge.

43
 2. He is a judge?

You probably discovered quite a few different meanings for each. Did you notice a rise

and fall in the pitch of your voice? This rise and fall is what we call intonation. Com-

bined with word stress, sentence stress and rhythm, intonation gives the English lan-

guage a “singsong” effect. Notice that most intonation changes occur on stressed sylla-

bles. Hence, intonation and stress are very similar and at times can be indistinguishable.

They often work together—sometimes aided by other factors—to alter meaning.

Rise and Fall

In a very general description, intonation is said to either rise or fall. The following ex-

amples will help you to understand:

Wh?- Questions like what, When are you leaving?

where, why etc.

Declarative statement (affirma- He is a good boy.

tive, negative)
It’s not true.

Yes/No questions Am I early?

You are asking me?

Imperative sentence Give me that!

44
 Exclamation I love it!

Echo question I am going to the movies.

You are going to the movies?

You may have noticed that you could find numerous ways to say each sentence.

The variety of intonations seems to be almost endless. But there was probably some-

thing else happening when you practiced the sentences, too. What other factors played

a role?

How about gestures, body language, facial expression, eye movement posture and

breathing? And what about speed pauses, volume and voice quality? Context and dis-

course play a major role in intonation, so let us now explore intonation in a broader set-

ting.

Look at the sentences and be dramatic considering the above facts:

1. It’s one o’clock!

2. What are we going to do?

3. Would you look at my car?

4. You did it didn’t you?

5. How much money do you need?

There are various ways of marking intonation, one of the most common and probably

easiest to use is simply underline the focus words in a given sentence.

45
Pronunciation Practice Exercises

• To focus on sounds.

• To focus on stress.

• To focus on syllables.

• To focus on spellings and sounds.

To focus on sounds

Contrasting words - long and short sounds

Activity type: this is a differentiation activity in which students have to decide which

words have a long vowel sound and which words have a short vowel sound.

Level: Elementary and above

Teacher's Notes:

1. Say two words; one containing a short vowel sound and other a long vowel

sound e.g. live and leave.

2. Ask the students to tell what causes the difference in sound between the two

words. The vowel sound is different.

3. Tell them that you are going to focus on these sounds /i:/ and /I/

4. Write the two phonemes on the board and then either dictate words to the stu-

dents containing these sounds which they then they have to note under the correct

phoneme or write the words on the board and ask the students to note them under the

correct sound.

46
5. Once you have done this, ask the students to compare their lists in pairs. Read

out the words and as you are doing so, check to see where the students have placed

them.

Words

/i:/ /I/

Leave Live

Lean Light

Feet Fit

Seen Sin

Pea Pin

Teen Tin

Coffee Trip

Note: make sure that you say the words at random. You can also decide on another

group of long and short sounds e.g.

47
 /u:/ /u/

Blue Book

Flute Foot

To focus on stress

Some learners have a problem as to when to pronounce –"es" at the end of nouns and

verbs as a separate syllable. The –“es” should form a separate syllable only after

• The ‘s’ sound as in ‘class’

• The ‘z’ sound as in ‘confuse’

• The ‘sh’ sound as in ‘wish’

• The ‘tch’ sound as in ‘catch’

• The ‘g’ sound as in ‘page’

To focus on syllables

Students need to identify how many syllables there are in a word and then pronounce

accordingly. Look at the table to understand:

48
 Words Syllables

Behaves 2

Ages 2

Classes 2

Catches 2

Confuses 3

Languages 3

Sales 1

To focus on spellings

These determine pronunciation:

Some spellings are different but they sound the same and vice versa. Students need to

identify them.

For example: Look at the table to understand Same or Different

49
Won One

Sun Son

Eye I

Two Too

Chef Chief

Boat Bought

Caught Court

Live (I live here) Live (Live music)

Scene Seen

Knows Nose

Ski Sky

Ways Weighs

50
Other fun ways to learn pronunciation

Tongue twisters: They are fun way to teach pronunciation:

Examples:

• The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.

• Betty bought some butter; the butter was so bitter so Betty bought a better butter

to make the bitter butter better.

• The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep sick.

• Blue lorry Red lorry.

• The rat ran through the river with a lump of rat liver.

• How much wood would a wood chuck chuck. If a wood chuck could chuck

wood? A wood chuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a wood chuck could

chuck wood.

Songs/Poems

Haiku: It is a Japanese poem of three lines that is an effective exercise to expand on syl-

lables

Line 1: This line has 5 syllables

Line 2: This line has 7 syllables

Line 3: This line has 5 syllables

The end words do not need to rhyme but the subject must be the same

51
Example:

A red dirt road curves

Endless rows of orange trees

Gently kissed with light

A song to enjoy and learn pronunciation

Objective:

• To help students learn pronunciation of the syllables that have been highlighted

Method:

• Handouts are given to the students.

• The teacher sings aloud stressing on the particular syllable.

• The original song is played while the students listen to it.

• Then stanza by stanza the students sing together.

Congratulations

And celebrations

When I tell everyone that you’re in love with me.

Congratulations and jubilations.

I want the world to know I’m happy as can be.

Who could believe that I could be happy and contented?

I used to think that happiness hadn’t been invented,

but that was in the bad old days before

I met you.

When I let you walk into my heart

Congratulations…

52
I was afraid that maybe you thought you were above me,

that I was only fooling myself to think you loved me.

But then tonight you said you couldn’t live without me

that round about me you wanted to stay.

Congratulations…

Congratulations and jubilations

I want the world to know I’m happy as can be.

I want the world to know I’m happy as can be.

Vocabulary

Effective learning of a foreign language involves a great extent learning new vocabulary

words.

Research has it that young learners and adults need between 10 to 16 encounters before

they can put the new word in their long-term memory. This has implications through

vocabulary practice. Letters, sounds, words, chunks, grammatical structures need to

spread out and build up from noticing to recognition, to production.

There is a gradual progression in vocabulary learning. Learners usually start by notic-

ing, then recognizing a word before they are able to produce it.

There are four steps to vocabulary acquisition:

• The learner notices the new word (with help).

• The learner needs to recognize it (with help).

• The learner needs to recognize it (on his own).

53
 • The learner can both recognize and produce it.

Putting theory into practice:

Students need to be motivated to learn vocabulary constantly. Therefore, it’s important

that the review is as interesting as possible in terms of the types of exercises, strategies,

activities. The visual element is also important. Look at the following example.

Noticing the new word through

• Flash cards

• Pictures

Noticing the picture

• True/False

• Categorize the words.

• Drawing the word.

• Circle the word you hear.

Production

• Dictation

• Answering questions.

• Guess game. (I am thinking of . . .)

• Miming

54
Final words: Points to consider

• Try to have as many success-oriented activities that are geared to the age group

you teach.

• Gradually proceed from stage to stage but vary the activities.

• Consider appealing to multiple intelligences.

How much vocabulary does a second language learner need?

There are three ways of answering this question. One way is to ask "How many words

are there in the target language?" Another way is to ask "How many words do native

speakers know?" A third way is to ask "How many words are needed to do the things

that a language user needs to do?" We will look for answers to each of these questions.

This discussion looks only at vocabulary and it should not be assumed that if a learner

has a sufficient vocabulary then all else is easy. Vocabulary knowledge is only one

component of language skills such as reading and speaking. It should also not be as-

sumed that vocabulary knowledge is always a prerequisite to the performance of lan-

guage skills. Vocabulary knowledge enables language use, language use enables the in-

crease of vocabulary knowledge, and knowledge of the world enables the increase of

vocabulary knowledge and language use and so on.

How many words are needed to do the things a language user needs to do?

Although the language makes use of a large number of words, not all of these words are

equally useful. One measure of usefulness is word frequency, that is, how often the

word occurs in normal use of the language. From the point of view of frequency, the

word “the” is a very useful word in English. It occurs so frequently that about 7% of the

55
words on a page of written English and the same proportion of the words in a conversa-

tion are repetitions of the word “the”.

The good news for second language learners and second language teachers is that a

small number of the words of English occur very frequently and if a learner knows

these words, that the learner will know a very large proportion of the running words in

a written or spoken text. Most of these words are content words and knowing enough

of them allows a good degree of comprehension of a text. Table 1 shows that under fa-

vorable conditions, a vocabulary size of 2000 to 3000 words provides a very good basis

for language use.

Table 1: Vocabulary size and coverage in novels for teenagers

Vocabulary % cover- Density of un-

size age known words

2000 words 90% 1 in every 10

2000 + proper 93.7% 1 in every 16

nouns

2600 words 96% 1 in every 25

5000 words 98.5% 1 in every 67

56
The significance of this information is that although there are well over 54,000-word

families in English, and although educated adult native speakers know around 20,000 of

these word families, a much smaller number of words, say between 3,000 to 5,000-word

families is needed to provide a basis for comprehension. It is possible to make use of a

smaller number, around 2,000 to 3,000 for productive use in speaking and writing.

How much vocabulary is needed and how should it be learned?

We are now ready to answer the question "How much vocabulary does a second lan-

guage learner need?" Clearly the learner needs to know the 3,000 or so high frequency

words of the language. These are an immediate high priority and there is little sense in

focusing on other vocabulary until these are well learned.

The problem for beginners and readers is getting to the threshold where they can start

to learn from context. Simply put, if one does not know enough of the words on a page

and have comprehension of what is being read, one cannot easily learn from context.

Research has shown that we need a vocabulary of about 3000 words which provides

coverage of at least 95% of a text before we can efficiently learn from context with un-

simplified text. This is a large amount of startup vocabulary a learner needs, and this is

just to comprehend general texts. So how can we get learners to learn large amounts of

vocabulary in a short space of time?

The suggestion that learners should directly learn vocabulary from cards, to a large de-

gree out of context, may be seen by some teachers as a step back to outdated methods of

learning and not in agreement with a communicative approach to language learning.

This may be so, but the research evidence supporting the use of such an approach as

57
one part of a vocabulary learning program is strong. If you read the next part, then I am

sure you too will agree with me that reading vocabulary from cards is effective.

• Research on learning from context shows that such learning does occur, but that

it requires learners to engage in large amounts of reading and listening because the

learning is small and cumulative. This should not be seen as an argument that learning

from context is not worthwhile. It is by far the most important vocabulary learning

strategy and an essential part of any vocabulary learning program. For faster vocabu-

lary expansion, however, it is not sufficient by itself. There is no research that shows

that learning from context provides better results than learning from word cards.

• They can give a sense of progress.

• A sense of achievement, particularly if numerical targets are set and met.

• They are readily portable and can be used in idle moments in or out of class ei-

ther for learning new words or revising old ones.

• They are specifically made to suit particular learners and their needs and are

thus self-motivating.

• It should not be assumed that learning from word lists or word cards mean that

the words are learned forever, nor does it mean that all knowledge of a word has been

learned. Learning from the lists or word cards is only an initial stage of learning a par-

ticular word

How can direct instruction help students who start with smaller vocabularies?

Students come with varied vocabulary; this is because of the way they are influenced at

home and in their immediate communities. Students coming from homes with limited

vocabulary will have less vocabulary than the ones coming from homes with a greater

58
exposure. Coming to call with a smaller vocabulary does not predict failure; it empha-

sizes the need for direct vocabulary. Studies show that vocabulary widens with the ca-

pacity to absorb, but it is quite different from the capacity to learn from context. Ex-

perts say that vocabulary development is an attainable goal. If given the right exposure

to new words and along with effective instruction, it can be difficult. This increases

their affinity to read more complex comprehension with fluency and betters their

chances for success.

What should direct instruction include?

So how do we teach students to acquire words? According to various authorities, effec-

tive vocabulary instruction should include the following three components.

1. Definitional and contextual information about a word.

2. Multiple exposures to a word in different contexts.

3. Encouraging students to participate actively.

Definition and context

In the traditional method students were told to learn the words from vocabulary. This

leads to poor retention. Students who memorize the words have trouble applying them

and often make mistakes about their meanings.

To know a word a student needs to see it in context and learn how its meaning relates

to the words around it. An approach towards definitions as well as context can generate

a full and flexible knowledge of word meanings. When students are given several sen-

59
tences that use a word in different ways, they begin to see how a word’s meaning can

change and shift depending on its context.

For example, consider the change in the word "got" as it appears in the following sen-

tences:

• Emily got rich.

• Emily got a note from me.

• Emily got into trouble.

Repeat... Repeat... Repeat...

Students benefit from seeing and listening to the same word again and again. Word

meanings are gradually accumulated. A word that has been encountered only once has

about a ten percent chance of being learned from context. When students see a word re-

peatedly, they gather more and more information about it.

There are four stages of acquiring a word:

• I have never heard it before.

• I have heard it, but I don’t know what it means.

• I recognize it in context; it has something to do with…

• I know it.

You can do it (encouraging active participation)

60
Students learn better when they can connect new meaning to knowledge they already

have. This type of active processing occurs when students work with words in some of

the following ways:

• Produce antonyms and synonyms.

• Rewrite definitions.

• Identifying examples and non-examples of words.

• Use more than one word in a sentence.

• Create sentences that contain the new word.

• Create scenario or stories in which the new word is used.

• Create silly questions about the word.

General strategies and specific techniques to teach vocabulary

Effective vocabulary development is a multifaceted process requiring a combination of

direct instruction, discussion and an active encouragement of independent learning

strategies. On their own and in their classroom, students draw on a variety of methods

to learn the thousands of words that they listen to each year. The following are some

general strategies and specific techniques that you should keep in mind while teaching

vocabulary.

Encouraging wide reading

Getting your students to read widely is the best advice you can give your students to

improve their vocabulary. As they read on their own, they learn vocabulary through

incidental learning. For word acquisition, reading is the best tool.

61
Motivating students to read can be a difficult task. Here are a few suggestions to make

reading more appealing.

• Devote some class time to independent silent reading.

• Give them a list of books that they can read.

• Recommend libraries where they can pursue reading.

• Promote social interactions related to reading, like group discussions on the top-

ic read.

• Model the importance of reading by telling students about books that you are

reading.

Emphasizing learning from context.

Most of the words learned through incidental reading are learned through context. Stu-

dents learn the word by relating the meaning of the word with the sentence they are

reading.

They also learn through repeated exposure gaining more comprehension of a word’s

meaning and functions by seeing it several times in different contexts.

Here are some tips and pointers for teaching vocabulary:

• Allow students to use the vocabulary in real stories about their life. Making real

world connections gives the vocabulary a 100% better chance of leaving the

classroom.

62
 • Use games, props and materials to get students involved; they’ll forget they are

learning!

• Allow students to create their own games and materials. This way, the vocabu-

lary and concepts are addressed through the activity, but they are also utilized in

the making of them, adding one more link to increase vocabulary and concept

usage.

Methods :

• Flash card

• Word games

• Guessing games

• Scramble

• Crosswords

• Quizzes

Exercises:

63
Quiz 1

Can you complete the table?

British vs. American English

BRITISH AMERICAN

Subway

Cookies

Sidewalk

Highway

Vacation

Fall

Fries

Semester

64
Quiz: 2

British vs. American English

BRITISH AMERICAN

Back pack

Apartment

Headphones

Smart

Store

65
Quiz 3

Word Pair (Pair them)

Daughter Wife

Father-in–law Grand daughter

Husband Mother-in-law

Grandson Son

Guessing game:

The vowels are missing. Guess them

1. s __ v__ n g s

2. __ l __ r m

3. g __ __ r d

4. __ n t __ r__ s t

5. b___ r r __ w

6. v __ __ l t

66
WHAT'S MISSING?

Lay cards face up. The student closes his eyes. A friend removes 1-3 cards and then

says, "What's Missing?" The student says which cards are gone

CONCENTRATION

The classic game which requires two sets of cards. Lay the cards face down. Turn two

over at a time. The student must say the words. If the cards match, a pair is made. The

winner has the most pairs.

67