TLW Online English Classroom ~ Pronunciation Page ~

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AC-03-Consonants

AC-01-Consonants

AC-02-Consonants

AC-06-Consonants

AC-04-Consonants

AC-05-Consonants

Simply stated, singular sounds in a language are called phonemes which can be vowels, consonants or combinations of vowels and consonants (see the transcription key at the bottom of this page). Morphemes are meaningful words or parts of words (unbelievable has three morphemes ~ “un”, “believe” and “able”).

As you can see, a morpheme can be a word (“believe”) or a part of a word (“un” or “able”). In this way, phonemes (the various vowel and consonant sounds) make up morphemes, and morphemes can be words themselves (“believe”) and also make up words (“unbelievable”).

Words also have stress in English. For example, be-LIEV-a-ble has a medium/strong stress on the second syllable and weaker stress on the other three syllables. Corrective feedback is an effective means to bring a learner’s attention to proper word stress at the beginner level. When a teacher models a word slowly and correctly, students are given the opportunity to notice their own mispronunciation/error(s) and to reproduce an utterance that others can comprehend. The audio format of these activities will also assist in modeling correct forms. The focus though should always lead to the production of the utterances as wholes...

The activities in the minimal pairs activities deal with phonemes and morphemes that are challenging for second language learners. Additionally, there are sentences that present the morphemes in context.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton D., Goodwin., J. (1996) Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.

Minimal pairs are words that have similar sounds and are often confused by second language learners (“r” and “l” is a common pair). Also, in some cases, consonants and/or vowels in English don’t appear in other languages. You may find such sounds in the “MP” files. Instructions appear below as well as on the second slide of the files.

There is one question and answer (Q and A) set on the first slide.

Fill in the missing word with the correct pronunciation.

Click forward and check your response.

Points are awarded for accurate responses...

Repeat the short dialog (line by line) on the third slide.

*Talk about the dialog: Who is speaking... Where are they... What’s happening?

Choose two students: one student will be "A" and one will be "B".

Perform the reduced dialog (with blanks) on the fourth slide.

Award points for the most able student/team.

*Create and perform your own dialog based on the sample

Choose one student (from one team) to answer the "bonus questions".

Once again, award points if you are using a game style format.

* = important activites...

When we leave the territory of vowels and consonants, we move into the very wide universe of suprasegmental features of a language. As you can imagine, the list is long... The activities presented here represent a basic approach some of the more challenging features of suprasegmental pronunciation. The aim is to provide a comprehensive sampling of these features. The goal is basic intelligibility, not perfection.

Because of the influence of their first language (‘L1’) pronunciation, learners of English transform words, phrases and sentences to match their own language sounds. They sometimes consult the language rules of their mother tongue and this sometimes results in unintelligibility. We can also talk about adjustments in connected speech. This is how words fit together. Native speakers put their words together in various ways in order to make their speech fluid and interesting. Again, the goal in pronunciation is always “intelligibility”...

Here are a few common ways in which native English speakers connect words and sounds:

a) ‘Linking’ is what happens when speakers connect the final sound of one word with the beginning sound of the next word (blackand white). Linking is common in English and it appears throughout the activities in this syllabus. You may wish to point them out to your students as the appear.

b) One common form of ‘assimilation’ is when two words influence each other and become one sound (have to -> hafta, has to -> hasta and use to -> usta) such forms may also be highlighted in the lessons.

c) ‘Epenthesis’ is what happens when speakers add a sound before (word-initial) within (word-internal) or after (word-final) a word or phrase. This additional sound can sometimes cause misunderstandings in communication or (inappropriate) ridicule from native speakers (Oh no!). The AC (Attention Consonants)files directly address these forms of epenthesis.

The following activities address what is called ‘epenthesis’. No, it is NOT a disease, it simply means, among some second language learners, an additional vowel sound is placed at the end, middle or beginning of a word (for example, ‘cheese-ah’ or ‘wash-id’ ‘s-u-ports’ or ‘Es-Spanish’). Here are the procedures:

There is one minimal pair on each slide.

Students must choose a letter (A or B) for each pair.

On the second slide, the correct answer will be highlighted in red.

Points are awarded for correct choices...

Discuss what you think these words mean.

Pronounce and put the words in the correct order on the third slide.

Check your answers on the forth slide. Study the definitions.

Repeat and study the sentences on the fifth slide.

Fill in the missing words on the sixth slide.

Answer the bonus question at the end for additional points...

An Ecological Approach

to Language Learning

One aim of the pronunciation files is to offer activities to students who may face some challenges in English pronunciation and to guide these students in becoming intelligible to other speakers of English, regardless of where the may be living or plan on living in the future. "Intelligibility" is the main goal...

A second and equally important aim is to provide an opportunity for learners to become familiar with forms and formulas in English. The ultimate aim is the creation of opportunities to use the content of these files for communication in and beyond the activities presented here.

The files are presented in a game format but can be used in more formal situations or even by students studying independently. There are vocabulary exercises in the first activity and role play creation activities in more advanced files. These “extensions” will enhance the overall learning process. Further, there is an assessment form at the bottom of the Main Page and on the Pronunciation Page as a means to evaluate student progress.

Module Two Files:

MP-03–p and f—1

MP-01–r and l—1

MP-02–b and v—1

Module Four Files:

Module Five Files:

Module Three Files:

MP-06–p and f—2

MP-04–r and l—2

MP-05–b and v—2