EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 1

overview

• phonemic chart and organisation

+ information about manner and place of articulation
+ advice about making vowel and consonant sounds

• examples of strategies to clarify / correct

• examples of problem consonant & vowel sounds
from students’ L1s

• resources and reference materials

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 1

 At the moment, …

a.
How familiar are you with the chart at the moment?
b.
How often do you refer to a chart when planning or
teaching?

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 2

 the physical nature of pronunciation

need to know:

- HOW each sound is produced

within the vocal tract
(ie manner of articulation)

- WHERE in the vocal tract

each sound is produced
(ie place of articulation)

Underhill’s chart reflects this

information visually
Sound Foundations, Adrian Underhill, MacMillan English

http://www.thebusinessshed.co.nz/Images/Phoneticshead.jpg

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 3

Englishes

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 4

 physical nature of sounds production
‘how’ and ‘where’

• lips

• tongue

• teeth / jaw

• air, breath

• voice box

mime, whisper, say it slowly, feel it, fingers over your ears;
visualise first then say it;
gestures, visuals, prompts
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 5
vowels vs consonants
vowels
- no obstruction to escape of air
- all voiced
- single & double
- long & short single
- tongue, lips, jaw
- ie shaping & voicing

consonants
- obstruction to escape of air
- unvoiced and voiced
- tongue, lips, teeth, jaw
- ie shaping, un/voicing & force

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 6

monophthongs 1 single sound vowel sounds tongue 
tongue height how much space
between tongue and roof of mouth
high narrow space
mid in between
low relatively wide space

noticing
• Qs
• looking, feeling
• something between teeth
• gestures
• matching etc

• thumb / chin & forefinger / nose

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 7

monophthongs 2 single sound vowel sounds tongue 
tongue ‘backness’ how far body of tongue is
raised from back of mouth
front central back
relatively in between relatively
forward far back
noticing
• Qs and techniques as before

• feeling air on tongue

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 8

 monophthongs 3 single sound vowel sounds lips
shape of lips
spread neutral rounded
& less forward & slightly
forward
noticing
• Qs and techniques as before

• lips in position, hold then release

smile
whistle / blow on hot drink
say ‘ah’
• forefinger vertically against lips

• thumb & forefinger either side of mouth

Underhill, Sound Foundations, p14
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 9
monophthongs 4 single sound vowel sounds length
length
short or long

noticing
• hand gestures, elastic bands
• movement
• mime

• interjections
• facial expression
• images
• context
• link to known words

• minimal pairs
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 10
Underhill p10, p15

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 11

 diphthongs double sound vowel sounds
mouth shape, changes; jaw movement

‘1 sound’, really 2 [1 vowel ‘gliding’ into the other, as one ‘syllable’]

The first element is more prominent (longer & stronger)

>> >>

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 12

 vowels: clarification / correction

• Qs about tongue, jaw eg /e/ vs /æ/

• Qs about lips eg /ɜː / vs /ɔː /
• Qs about length eg /i:/ vs /ɪ/
• visuals and words / phonetic symbols eg hat, hut, heart, hot
• look (mirror, partner)
• hand gestures, pointing, miming eg Tarzan /aː /
• link to known words containing that sound eg heart, car
• link to known words contrasting that sound eg heart, hurt
• other?

•EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 13

vowel sounds: correction

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

 consonants 1 plosives & affricates

pairs of unvoiced & voiced

from front of mouth to back

stop / hold air (tongue or lips) &

let it go suddenly for /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ & /g/
let it go a little more slowly with more friction for
/ʧ/ & /ʤ/

lips
>> tongue on bump behind teeth
>> tongue touches soft part of roof of mouth
Underhill p141

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 14

 consonants 2 fricatives

pairs of unvoiced & voiced

from front of mouth to back

air passes thru (blocked but not completely – air

leaks out with audible friction);
longer (can be made shorter)

top teeth & bottom lip >> tongue behind top teeth
>> tongue on bump behind teeth>> in between
here & the hard part of the roof of mouth

Underhill p141 lip shape

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 15
 consonants 3 nasals, fortis fricative, lateral, frictionless continuant, semi-vowels

nasals front to back, airflow thru mouth

blocked, diverted thru nose

/h/ let air pass out more slowly thru mouth,

use throat, note shape of sound following

/l/ air goes round tongue, which touches bump

behind teeth; /r/ tongue nearly touching roof,
between bump behind teeth & hard part of
roof of mouth

/w/ lips nearly touching, tongue forward

/j/ lips nearly touching, tongue touching hard
Underhill p141
part of roof of mouth

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 16

 consonants: clarification / correction

• fingers on throat for unvoiced / voiced pairs

• Qs about length / speed of air eg /p/ vs /f/
• tissue / hand over mouth eg for /tʃ/, /h/
• Qs about teeth, tongue, jaw, lips eg for /f/ /θ/ /s/ /ʃ/
• visuals eg vampire teeth /v/, figure shrugging shoulders with
upraised hands ‘What?’ /w/
• visuals and words / phonetic symbols eg snake for /s/
• look (mirror, partner)
• hand gestures, pointing, miming eg kiss for /w/
• link to known words containing that sound eg fan & four
• link to known words containing a different sound eg fan vs van
• other?
•EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 17
consonant sounds: correction

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

 summary of strategies: clarification

• noticing >> producing >> feedback & clarification

• visualising, mime, gestures, visuals, the chart [for you, for them?]
• listening, saying aloud / silently, exaggerating, different speeds
• referring to other words with same / different sounds
• highlighting (underlining, colours, etc) if useful

• your own tasks, published activities and modifications

ie familiarisation [yourself? them?],

lesson planning + anticipating potential problems,
focusing on sounds as main aim, as warmer / filler,
focusing on sounds in language / skills stages ie integrated
+ access to chart in class / learning space? •EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 18
 summary of strategies: correction

• Listen. Think.
• effect on communication? ‘teachability’?
• chart; questions, visualising / noticing
• clues (verbal, visual, gesture etc); advice; models
• sounds in the same environment
• poster of problem words / sounds
• examples of errors they make
• expectations (yours, theirs)
• encouragement
• when to stop
+ Find out what their pronunciation goals are. •EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017 19
  A bit of practice: How do you say these words?

Be careful of word forms (ie parts of speech) and word stress.

/prənaʊns/ /prənʌnsiːeɪʃən/

/prəʊnaʊnz/ /prɒŋz/

/dɪkʃənriː/ /dɪkʃəneəriː/

/rekɔːd/ /rəkɔːd/

/səʊfiː/ /bɒgsnɔːkəlɪŋ/

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

 terminology
pronunciation the way a certain sound is phones individual sounds as they occur in speech
produced, usually focussed on how hearer eg ‘a’ in ‘can’ can be long or short or nasalised or
perceives this (eg sentence stress) weak, all phones of same phoneme

phonology study of use of distinctive speech phonemic script set of symbols for transcription
sounds (phonemes) in particular languages, and of spoken language, standardised by International
relationship to each other [also = phonemics, Phonetics Association
phonetics, also covering connected speech]

phonetics study of speech sounds, ie how / phonetic symbols symbols expressing the sound
where sounds are made (articulatory ~), and also of a spoken utterance in writing eg ship (Eng),
acoustic ~ and auditory ~, from any language Schiff (Ger) and chic (Fr)

phonemics study of or description of distinctive the phonemic chart designed by Underhill

sounds, a term used by Amer linguists esp
structural ~

a phoneme smallest unit of sound which can minimal pairs 2 words in a language which differ
distinguish two words eg pan / ban; ban / bin; ie by only 1 distinctive sound (and differ in meaning)
the distinctive sound units of a language eg hit & bit

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

 summary of physical nature of sounds production
sound short or long
voiced or unvoiced
at the front or back of the mouth or in between
high or low in the mouth or central
shape of spread or rounded / pursed http://www.thebusines
sshed.co.nz/Articles/Vo

lips or in between (neutral)

calAnatomy.html

teeth touching s.t. or being touched by s.t.

or not
tongue touching s.t. or not
what part of the tongue is touching s.t. -
the tip, the sides
tensed or relaxed, forward or back
how close to / far from the roof of the mouth
jaw if and how it moves,
and if so, if down or down then up again
air / being held back or released
breath being released quickly or slowly
thru mouth or thru nose
voice box if sounds are voiced or unvoiced EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
 internalisation

“The importance of this process is that

students are consciously and intentionally
moving their sound muscles and discovering
how sounds work and where and how to make
them. This is quite different from a method of
repetition which, as I see it, requires little
processing, leaves little insight, and is low in
experiential memory hooks.”

http://adrianpronchart.wordpress.com/
(Adrian Underhill’s Pronunciation Chart blog)
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
EA Journal Volume 29 Number 1 2013 ISSN 1444-4496
Ten questions for Adrian Underhill pp 67-72
 ‘British’ vs ‘American’

http://www.macmillanenglish.com/pronunciation/interactive-phonemic-charts /
The CELTA Course,
Thornbury & Watkins,
CUP U35 p156

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

…. vs Australian?
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
 unusual
Aust Eng
vowel
length,
ie the
differences
are mainly
in length of
some
vowels

EG ‘bad’
/bæd/
>>
/bæː:d/

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phon
etics/transcription/phonemic_transc
ription/systems.html

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
 inserting phonemic script

Google

‘IPA picker’
https://r12a.github.io/pickers/ipa/

‘downloadable phonemic chart’

www.macmillanenglish.com/methodology/phonetic-chart.htm

www.esl-galaxy.com/pronunciation.html

www.onestopenglish.com/section_flash.asp?catid=60030
(an interactive chart)

www.people.w3.org/rishida/scripts/pickers/ipa/

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
 visual reinforcement
https://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/elementary/c_pronunciation/pronunciation01?cc=us&selLanguage=en

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
 References – books, websites, apps

Sound Foundations, Adrian Underhill, MacMillan

How to Teach Pronunciation, Gerald Kelly, Pearson Longman
Teaching Pronunciation, Joanne Kenworthy, Longman
Headway Pronunciation Series (Elem~Adv) Bowler & Cunningham,
OUP
Pronunciation Games, Mark Hancock, CUP
Learner English, Smith & Swan, CUP
About Language, Scott Thornbury, CUP
New English File series, Oxenden et al, OUP
MacMillan sounds pronunciation app
Nasal-Ingressive Voiceless Velar Trill community on Facebook
+ Youtube
+ back issues of the EA journal EA
PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
Websites for BBC, onestopenglish, developingteachers, tefl.net,
etprofessional, hltmag, iatefl, esl.about

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/transcription/phonemic_transcript
ion/phonemic_transcription.html

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/transcription/ipa/ipa.html

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/transcription/phonemic_transcript
ion/systems.html

https://adrianpronchart.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/adrian-
cinderella_jmc.pdf

http://www.macmillanenglish.com/pronunciation/interactive-phonemic-
charts/

http://accent.gmu.edu/ a speech accent archive

 EA resources
EA Conferences eg
Mike Burri & Amanda Baker Friday 23 September 2016
A haptic approach to enhanced pragmatic competence
A haptic approach to enhanced pragmatic competence
https://www.englishaustralia.com.au/visageimages/Fri%20GB2%201015%20Baker
_1.pdf
EA webinars eg
Arizio Sweeting 26 October 2016 Promoting Learner Independence in
Pronunciation
https://www.englishaustralia.com.au/english-australia-webinars

EA pre-conference workshops eg
Adrian Underhill’s September 2014
Pronunciation as a physical activity, and the chart as map of the territory
https://www.englishaustralia.com.au/visageimages/about_us/conference/2014_C
onference/2014_Underhill_PCW_Pron.pdf
 vowel sounds: problems
Refer to chart: same across? same down? different? tongue? lips?
1. The flag is rad, white and blue. a. The most popular spot is
soccer.

2. I didn’t slip a wink last night. b. I have a dog and a cart.

3. We could mat at the station. c. She arrived in Ow-stralia 2

months ago.

4. Isn’t an emu a type of bard? d. He looks like Look Skywalker!

5. He walks every night as a e. G’day, met!

kitchen hand.
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
vowel sounds: correction

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

 consonant sounds: problems

Think. Refer to the chart.

1. I ate 2 bieces of bread. a. It’s werry late – let’s go

2. The ’otel was perfect!
3. Cheese my friend. Her
name’s Claudia.
4. Can I ask a ‘kestion’?
5. What does zis word
mean?
home.
b. ’Ould you hold this for
me?
c. It’s a small willage in the
mountains.
d. See’s not here. See must
be sick.
e. See you later ten.
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017
consonant sounds: correction

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

minimal pairs (Korean speakers)

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

/θæŋkjuː/

Clare.McGrath@navitas.com

EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017

 answers
Are there any you pronounce differently?

/prənaʊns/ pronounce /prənʌnsiːeɪʃən/ pronunciation

oO oooOo
/prəʊnaʊnz/ pronouns /prɒŋz/ prongs
Oo O
/dɪkʃənriː/ dictionary /dɪkʃəneəriː/ dictionary
Ooo Oooo
/rekɔːd/ record (n) /rəkɔːd/ record (v)
Oo oO
/səʊfiː/ Sophie /bɒgsnɔːkəlɪŋ/ bog snorkelling
Oo Oooo
EA PD webinar Clare McGrath Jan 2017