how to … natural

help low level learners with pronunciation English

by Scott Thornbury teacher development

trainer’s notes

stage 1 warmer
The purpose of the warmer is to demonstrate an interactive
pronunciation activity that works at the level of whole sentences, rather
than simply at the level of individual sounds or words. In a sense, there is
a communicative element to the activity, since students have to interact
and to both speak and listen. However, it is obviously rather contrived
and unnatural. (Trainees could be asked to think of ways of making the
situation more ‘authentic’. One way is to use names of people that are
only minimally different, such as Bert Whicker and Bart Vicker, etc., and
to assign learners each with one of these names. Then call the class
‘register’ to see who answers ‘present’). It may in fact be the case that it is
difficult, if not impossible, to devise a truly communicative activity
whose success depends entirely on pronunciation. This fact is itself
significant, since it suggests that incorrect pronunciation on its own may
not be a cause of communicative breakdown, but that, in combination
with other factors, it may contribute.

The feature of pronunciation that is targeted in this activity is principally

the area called ‘sounds in connected speech’, e.g. the way that sounds are
clipped (elided) or merged (assimilated), especially final consonants (won
vs want, fourteen vs forty); the way that the placement of pauses between
words (juncture) contributes to intelligibility (four T-shirts vs forty shirts);
as well as how differences in word stress affect meaning (FORty vs
fourTEEN). Another feature also involved is the ‘minimal pair’ contrast
between the vowel sounds in shorts and shirts.

stage 2 definition task

The answers to the task are:
1 (vowel phonemes) – H;
2 (consonant phonemes) – E;
3 (intonation) – B;
4 (rhythm) – F;
5 (word stress) – A;
6 (sentence stress) – G;
7 (sounds in connected speech) – D;
8 (sound–spelling) – C.

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In passing, check any of the phonemic symbols that may have caused
trainees problems in deciphering the words, and draw attention to the
frequency of occurrence of the unstressed weak vowel /@/ (called schwa),
as in /kQns@n@nt/ and /k@nekt@d/, for example.

Areas that may cause problems for low level learners might be:

• the mismatch between the pronunciation of words and their spelling

(sound–spelling), including the different ways of spelling particular
phonemes, e.g. /u;/ as in too, blue, through, new, June;

• difficulty in distinguishing and producing the full range of English

phonemes, particularly the vowel sounds, e.g. the difference between
cot, caught, cut, cat and cart;

• difficulty in interpreting connected speech, such as when sounds are

‘swallowed’ because they are not stressed or they run together, as in
‘wotcha gonna do?’

• difficulty in assigning correct stress in words, since there seems to be

little regularity in this area, e.g. necessary, important, comfortable,
husband (often pronounced neCESSary, IMportant, comFORTable,
husBAND, respectively).

stage 3 identifying activity types

The main focus of each activity is:

1 word stress: specifically in polysyllabic words, where stress varies from

word to word, although the general tendency is to place it on the
antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable, as in carpenter and journalist.
The least frequent position is the last syllable, where only a few
suffixes, such as –eer, –ee, –ine, –ette, and –esque attract the main stress.

2 sound–spelling relationships: in this case, the different ways of realising

the /I;/ sound, as in meat, key, and ski, for example, as well as the
spellings that sometimes realize this sound, and sometimes don’t (as
ea in meat, great, and bread).

3 sounds in connected speech: particularly the weak forms of words (such

as to and for) which are difficult to pick up, as well as contractions
(they’ve), and liaisons (would you = /wUdZ@/).

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4 consonant phonemes: specifically the two bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/. This
exercise is the classic ‘minimal pair’ exercise type, where learners have to
distinguish between two words that are only minimally differentiated. For
speakers of some languages (such as Arabic), where the distinction
between /p/ and /b/ does not exist, this exercise would be useful ear-
training.

5 sentence stress: specifically the use of what is sometimes called nuclear stress
(i.e. the main stress in an utterance) to identify the new information, in
contrast to the given information. So, in item 1, the correct answer is (a)
Jack. What’s YOUR name?, since name is given, but what is new is the focus
on the addressee, i.e. your.

6 vowel phonemes: specifically the two (possibly confusable) sounds /&/ and
/eI/, as in Jan and Dave, respectively. Sentences with a high frequency of a
particular sound offer a useful way of practising the sound, even though
they are rather contrived. The same exercise also can be used to focus on
sound–spelling relationships.

7 intonation: specifically the use of different pitch spans (e.g. narrow vs

broad) and keys (e.g. high vs low) to signal involvement (high vs low). This
is sometimes called the attitudinal function of intonation, as opposed to
intonation’s grammatical function, such as when intonation is used to
distinguish between questions and statements, and its discoursal function,
such as when intonation is used to identify new information as opposed to
known information.

8 rhythm: this is popularly known as a jazz chant, and is useful as a means of

practising the rhythms of connected speech, including the use of weak
forms, such as a, to, and the. Note that the chant consists of several examples
of formulaic language (also known as chunks), and their repeated
occurrence in the chant may act as an aid to learning.

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stage 4 application task
These are some possible difficulties that low level learners will encounter
with each of these areas, and activities that might target those problems:
possible difficulties
1 Rhythm – learners have a tendency to stress
present continuous auxiliary verbs, rather than contract them,
statements or use weak forms: ‘Rafael IS playing tennis’;
consonant sounds: the /N/ sound at the end
of the present participle (playing, going, etc)
may cause problems for some learners.
2 Rhythm, particularly the use of the weak
present simple forms of do and does. Assimilation also
questions occurs with do you /dZu;/ and don’t you
/d@UntSu;/.
3 Vowel phonemes, particularly the difference
clothing vocabulary between /3;/ and /O;/, as in shirts / shorts,
but also the wide range of other vowels, and
their different spellings (e.g. suit, shoes).
Word stress may also cause problems in
compound nouns, such as overcoat, pullover,
and swim suit.
4 The main problem is the /T/ sound, at the end
ordinal numbers of regular ordinals (fourth, tenth, etc),
especially for learners whose first language
does not include this sound. Also problematic
might be consonant clusters, as when /T/
follows another consonant, as in eighth,
twelfth, although, in reality, even native
speakers elide (i.e. drop) the first consonant
of the cluster.
5 The different pronunciations of the –ed
regular past tense suffix, i.e. /t/, /d/ and /Id/, as in walked,
verbs lived, and started, respectively. This is less a
problem, though, than the insertion of an
extra vowel (and hence the addition of a
syllable) in words like walked (/wO;kId/)
which can create problems of intelligibility.
6 Intonation might be a problem, since a
polite requests with rising intonation is usually associated with
Can you …? requests, but learners may be disposed to use
a falling one. Also, the weak form of can
(/k@n/) may cause problems both in
production and understanding.
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activities
Focus on rhythm: drills (i.e. repetition of
sentences containing the structure, performed
at a natural pace); jazz chants. Focus on /N/:
minimal pairs contrast, e.g. sin / thin / win vs
sing / thing / wing.
Focus on rhythm: as above; also, asking learners
to identify main stress in sentences like What
do you do? Where do you live? etc. They can
also be asked to identify weak forms.
Focus on vowel sounds: minimal pairs exercises;
sentences with a high frequency of specific
sounds, for repetition. Focus on word stress:
categorizing according to stress.
Focus on the /T/ sound: demonstration (tongue
between teeth); repetition in isolation and in
words; minimal pairs exercises, e.g. contrast
thing / sing, moth / moss, etc.
Focus on /t/, /d/ and /Id/ endings:
discrimination practice, e.g. listen and
categorize; prediction, e.g. which verbs take
which endings? ‘Tongue twisters’, i.e.
sentences with a particular sound prominent,
such as I walked to work, and worked a bit,
and talked to the boss, and picked up the kids,
and cooked dinner.
Focus on rising intonation: listen to contrastive
requests, rising and falling, and identify
difference in attitude. Practise making
requests for different situations, ranging from
informal / friendly, to formal / distant.
4
stage 5 extension activity
Possible focuses for additional pronunciation work might be:

• pages 19–20: weak form of can in ‘lead-in’, which in turn contributes

to the rhythm of the requests; intonation contour of requests;
sentence stress in this / these questions, and linking between final
consonant sounds and initial vowel sounds in the ‘listen to this: tune
in’ sentences, followed by underlining of more examples of linking in
tapescript 2.10.

• page 25: focus on present simple questions, including the weak forms
of do, and the liaison of do and you; sentence stress, e.g. use the
tapescript to predict the main stress in the questions, and then listen
to check; contrast work and walk.

• pages 35–36: sound / spelling relationships in the vocabulary, e.g. –er

suffix pronounced as /@/ (mother, father, sister, another, together, etc);
linking: ‘auntnuncle’, ‘brothernsister’; use of intonation to break
utterances into tone groups, especially in a list, and use of falling
intonation to signal end of ‘list’: I’ve got two brothers | and a sister. There
is a good example in tapescript 4.6: I’ve got a twin sister, Carole, and I’ve
got another sister Susie, she’s 25, and then there’s my brother, Michael. He’s
married, he’s actually 34, and he’s got two children, Lucy and Mark. One
approach might be to play the tape, stopping after each phrase, to ask
learners ‘Has she finished yet?’ Learners can then practise the
complete utterance using appropriate pausing and intonation.

• pages 39 and 42: focus on vowel (and consonant) sounds in the

context of the ‘food’ vocabulary, especially consonant clusters and
final consonants (a problem for speakers of many Asian languages, for
example), as in breakfast, bread, toast, cornflakes, cake, and sandwich.
Word stress in polysyllabic words: comfortable, expensive, excellent,
sandwiches, strawberry, etc.

• pages 59–60: contractions and weak forms, especially in sentences

with pronouns (What’s he like?), e.g. use tape 7.6: play each line
individually and ask learners to count the number of words in each
one (contractions count as two words; ignore hesitation devices such
as er). Stress in questions: What was she LIKE? When did you last SEE her?
E.g. use tapescript 7.8 to predict the stress in each question, and then
listen to check. Also, liaison: ‘Whadishe’ teach? ‘Whendizhoo’ last ...?

As a follow-up (or a pre-session) reading task, you might want to refer

trainees to the teacher development chapter ‘how to … help low level
students with pronunciation’ on p.174 of the natural English
elementary teacher’s book.

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