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Teaching Pronunciation in the Learner-Centered Classroom

Hsiang-Pao Lin, Chuen-Yn Fan, and Chi-Fen Chen

This paper will present specific tools and techniques to help students
overcome problems with English pronunciation. The selection of problems
is based on both the frequency and seriousness of errors which many
Chinese students may produce. Ways to resolve the various problems,
such as missing final consonants, misplaced stress in sentences, and
misused intonation patterns, will be discussed in the three areas of
pronunciation: sounds, stress & rhythm, and intonation. Activities related
to the correction of these errors are designed to meet students' different
learning styles, namely auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learning. In
this way, the goal of the learner-centered classroom is hoped to be
.pragmatically achieved

Introduction .1

How important is pronunciation instruction and how much time should

be allotted for it in such a crowded curriculum where general English is
taught , for instance, 3 hours per week as at most junior colleges? Some
teachers might argue that pronunciation is not important at all for very
few of the tests require students to show their speaking ability. Others,
however, find that they do not know how to teach pronunciation, even if
they want to teach it . It is because of these conventional notions about
pronunciation that the teaching of it has, for too long, been neglected in
.many ESL/EFL curriculums all over the world

Recently as English teaching has moved to language functions, and

communicative competencies, a new urgency for the teaching of
pronunciation has arisen (Celce-Murcia, 1987; Morley, 1994; Gilbert,
1994). In Taiwan, however, we found that pronunciation had not yet

received similar attention. According to our teaching experience, a great

number of our students have many difficulties in pronunciation. When
speaking English, with very little or poorly trained pronunciation skills,
they have problems either making themselves understood or
.understanding others

This paper will attempt to address the common and serious

pronunciation errors that Chinese students produce. Activities related to
the correction of these errors are designed to meet students' different
learning styles, namely auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learning.
As for the paper's title, the "learner-centered" classroom, we take the term
from a broader perspective, meaning that it is a class where students can
feel, experience, and monitor their own learning of pronunciation. The
paper will cover the three areas of pronunciation: sounds, stress & rhythm,
and intonation with the expectation that it will provide the audience with
comprehensive insight into ways of teaching pronunciation. The
presentation is by no means comprehensive; rather it is an opportunity for
sharing what we know about new perspectives in pronunciation
instruction. The workshop which this paper is based on was presented at
the 12th Annual R.O.C. TEFL Conference at Tunghai University on May, 20,
.1994

Sounds .2

Teaching sounds involves several steps: first, identify your students'

problem areas; second, find a meaningful context for the problem sounds,
and then develop communicative or relevant tasks that incorporate the
sound; third, develop at least three or four exercises so that students can
keep practicing target sounds in new contexts. ( Celce-Murcia, 1987 ). For
the sounds part, we intend to offer teachers some remedial teaching
techniques for sounds which they can apply in regular English classes to
.help students overcome problematic sounds

Vowel length and final consonants are commonly found difficult for
most Chinese students to master in English classes. What teachers
confront is that no effective technique has been found to help students to
pronounce some problematic vowel contrast such as / i / and / I / correctly
in sentences, in dialogues or even in reading passages. Traditionally,
teachers will model the sounds and then students repeat them or teachers
show a facial diagram which allocates various sounds positions in the

mouth to enhance correct pronunciation. In order to provide teachers with

more effective and interesting teaching techniques, the first part of this
paper will present some new teaching tools and activities to solve the
.problems mentioned above

In the second part of the section on sounds, we will address the

problem of dropping final consonants while students are speaking. In
Chinese, there is no CVC structure ( consonant + vowel + consonant);
consonants would never appear at the end of the word. This is quite
different from English. Influenced by Chinese, students omit final
consonants while speaking and this result in semantic misunderstanding
with each other. The activities adopted tend to alert students to final
consonants and regulate their English language habits in putting final
.consonants on in speech

Vowel Length 2.1

Rubber bands. Students like to have the chance to experience how (1)
sounds can be produced through operating a rubber band. For example,
using a rubber band in / i / sound, students have to pull both sides of the
rubber band to the end to feel the strength and tense of
i /. On the other hand, while practicing / I / , students just have to pull /
.both sides of rubber bands slightly apart, as shown below

/i/

/I/

Adopted from the illustrations from Gilbert, 1993, Clear Speech, 2nd. ed., )
(p. 54

By doing this, students can clearly distinguish the length of the two
vowels and experience the real difference between both sounds. Other
.vowel sounds can also be demonstrated by rubber bands in the same way

One important aspect that teachers have to inform students about

vowels is that if the vowel sound follows a voiced consonant then the
vowel sound will be pronounced a little bit longer than when followed by a
:voiceless consonant. For example

? Has he used this bet ? Has he used this bed

Students may hear two different vowel lengths of bet and bed.
The "e" sound of bed is pronounced a little bit longer than the one of
bet. In speech, bet and bed can not be distinguished clearly by
hearing the final consonants, so the length of the vowel can be an
important clue to understanding the real communicative meaning of the
speaker. Using rubber bands can help students to build up their listening
.comprehension ability and clarify the slightly different vowel length

If the final sound is voiced, the vowel before it is long. Pull the rubber
band at both sides to the end. If the final sound is unvoiced, then the
.vowel before it is short. Pull the rubber band slightly toward both sides

Examples:

rise

rice

(Gilbert, 1993, p.45)

Practice the rubber band with different words within the same vowel
:but followed by voice and voiceless consonants, such as

back bet cap plants cart sink ice bucks

bag bed cab plans card sing eyes bugs

(Dauer, 1993)

Then, do some minimal pairs to practice these similar word sounds in

sentences to reinforce the pronunciation. One student is speaking the
sentence and the other is operating the rubber band according to what
:he/she heard from the partner. For example

.a. Please take this back. Please take this bag

?b. Has he used this bet? Has he used this bed

.c. I need a cap. I need a cab

?d. Where are your plants? Where are your plans

.e. Give him a cart. Give him a card

.f. She is going to sink. She is going to sing

.g. I wish I had blue ice. I wish I had blue eyes

.h. I found ten bucks. I found ten bugs

(Dauer, 1993)

Mirrors. In addition to rubber bands, mirrors are a strong self- (2)

correction tool for students to modify or imitate sounds. Teachers can ask
students to take out mirrors to do peer-correction or self-correction while
.approaching some problematic sounds

Rhymes. To avoid boring students with continuous practicing and (3)

drills, use rhymes with a regular beat and the same vowel sound. This will
lead students to master the target sound unconsciously. For example, we
take /e / sound into rhymes. Ask students to snap their fingers, clap, or tap
:on the desks to keep the beat and read aloud the rhyme

Pretty birds don't fly away

Stay with me all the day

You can sing while I play

So, pretty birds don't fly away

(Tay, 1986, p.28)

Mother tongue. This is an added bonus if students find some way (4)
to apply their mother tongue to some English sounds. For example: / e /
sound can be applied to Chinese as " " in an expressive situation.
.Examples can be found successfully in class or in students' notebooks

Role play. A brief role play puts students into a realistic and (5)
communicative situation and will allow the sounds to be spoken more
naturally and necessarily. We have used a short dialogue which happened
in a railroad station between Mr. Gray and the conductor adopted from
Pronunciation Pairs (Baker & Goldstein, 1990) to let students practice the
target sound / e /. One student acts as Mr. Gray who is complaining about
the delay of the train, and the other student is the conductor who is trying
.to understand what's going on with Mr. Gray

.Mr. Gray: Hey, the train's late! I've been waiting here for ages

?Conductor: Which train are you waiting for

.Mr. Gray: The 8:18 to Taipei

.Conductor: The 8:18? I'm afraid you've made a mistake, sir

.Mr. Gray: A mistake? but I take this train every day

.Conductor: Oh, no sir. The train leaves at 8:08

?Mr. Gray: At 8:08

Conductor: That's right. They changed the time at the end of April.
Today's the
.eighth of May
[
Mr. Gray: Changed it? I guess they changed it while I was away on
.vacation
Hm! So the train isn't late. I'm late.

(p. 14)

Tongue twisters. Tongue twisters are also an interesting way to (6)

practice and contrast similar sounds and have fun at the same time. But
there is a huge challenge for the teacher and students to do it well.
Teachers should tell students at first not to feel upset at making mistakes
because even for native speakers, it is difficult. Examples for practicing / e
:/ , / / and / / are below

.Henry, age eight, etched the letter h on the edge of the desk

It made me laugh to see a calf go down the path a mile and a half
.to take a bath

Final Consonants 2.2

Song lyrics. Teachers can ask students to read some popular song (1)
lyrics aloud to practice final consonants. In our classes, students omit final
consonants often or pronounce them too lightly to be heard. For example,
they pronounce student as "studen". Therefore, we ask them to read the
marked song lyrics of "Silent Night" in which the final consonants in each
sentence have been underlined, and then to listen to the song to notice
.how the singer produced final consonants

.Silent night, holy night. All is calm. All is bright

.Round young virgin, mother and child

,Holy infant, so tender and mild

.......Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace

Numbers. Besides song lyrics, numbers can be a good aid in (2)

helping students put final consonants on. For example, teachers can set
.up some particular numbers to have students practice final consonants

?A: What is your telephone number

.B: 215-8186

Stress and Rhythm .3

Why is it necessary to teach stress and rhythm? Every language in the

world has a characteristic speech rhythm. English tends to be a stresstimed language with rhythmic patterns based on a fairly regular
recurrence of stressed syllables (Browne & Huckin, 1987). However,
Chinese tends to give equal weight to each syllable, making the rhythmic
patterns appear to be more syllable-timed. In Taiwan, many students often
use the Chinese rhythmic pattern when speaking English; as a result, even
though they can pronounce each English sound correctly, their speech
.doesnt sound like English

Their problems with the word rhythm of English are that they often
misplace the stress and give each syllable, whether it is stressed or
unstressed, the same length; thus, the vowels in the unstressed syllables
are not reduced. As for their problems with the sentence rhythm of
English, one is that they put stress on too many words, for they dont know
what kinds of words need to be emphasized; the other is that they tend to
separate words during speech without linking them together. In order to
help Chinese students speak English naturally, we English teachers should
pay more attention to teaching the rhythm of English. Two aspects of
English rhythm, stress and linking, and some teaching tools and
.techniques related to these two are now discussed

Stress 3.1

It is important for our students to know the different rhythmic patterns

of Chinese and English. The teacher can show them a visual contrast
between the two languages to indicate that Chinese is syllable-timed while
.English is stress-timed

A. Stress-Timed Rhythm

B. Syllable-Timed Rhythm

.Pronunciation is important

Adapted from the illustrations from Prator & Robinett, 1985, Manual of )
American
(.English Pronunciation. 4th ed

In the above illustrations, the Chinese rhythm is composed of soldiers

(each soldier represents a syllable), which implies that Chinese has the
same length and strength in all syllables; however, the English rhythm is
composed of adults (stressed syllables) and children (unstressed
syllables), which implies that English has different syllable length and
.strength

After having built the concept of the different rhythmic patterns of

Chinese and English, students need to practice both word stress and
sentence stress in English. Following are some teaching techniques and
.activities

Word Stress 3.1.1

Visual effects. Emphasize the stressed syllable by using visual (1)

effects: thicken, capitalize, underline, circle, or color the stressed syllable.
In addition, the teacher can put a dot for unstressed syllables and a line
for the stressed one under the word to indicate that the stressed one
needs to be lengthened; or he can put a small dot for unstressed syllables
and a big dot for the stressed one under the word to indicate that the
stressed one has a stronger beat. Using visual effects can help students
.notice the place of stress in each word and avoid misusing word stress

Examples: today toDAY today today today today

Rubber bands. Pull a wide rubber band between the two thumbs (2)
while saying a word. Stretch it out during the stressed syllable but leave it
short during other syllables. It provides a visual image of the variable
length of the syllables as well as a kinesthetic tool that mimics the actual
effort involved in lengthening a stressed syllable (Gilbert, 1994). The
teaching point is to help students avoid pronouncing each syllable at the
.same length

Tapping, clapping, or playing simple rhythm instruments. Give a (3)

strong beat to the stressed syllable and weak beats to the others by
clapping, tapping on the desk, or playing simple rhythm instruments like
tambourines or toy hammers. It helps students to be aware that
unstressed syllables have weak beats and so their vowels need to be
.reduced

Stress matching game. Have students work in groups. One (4)

member in the group taps or claps the rhythm of a word from the
vocabulary list, and the others have to find out which word has the same
.rhythm as they hear

Examples:

artist

politician

manager

cashier

secretary

musician

photographer

.You hear : So you choose manager

Stress and Meaning. Have students work in pairs. Student 1 says (5)
sentence (a) or (b). Notice that the stress in (a) and (b) is put in different
places. Student 2 has to identify a stressed syllable and make an
intelligent guess and then choose an appropriate answer. This activity

helps students to understand the relationship between stress and

.meaning

.Is it elementary? No, its advanced (a) .1

.Is it a lemon tree? No, an orange tree (b)

.Whats for rain? An umbrella (a) .2

.Whats foreign? Another language (b)

.Is that Europe? No, its China (a) .3

.Is that your rope? No, its hers (b)

(Gilbert, 1993, p.69)

Sentence Stress 3.1.2

Finding content words. First, introduce the basic emphasis pattern (1)
of English to students to let them know that content words are usually
.emphasized

: The basic emphasis pattern of English

Content Words
(emphasized)

nouns
(cat)

main verbs
(runs)

adverbs
(quickly)

adjectives
(happy)

question words
(who, what, where, when, why, how )
Structure Words
(de-emphasized)

pronouns
(he, she)

prepositions
(of, to, at)

articles
(a, an, the)

to be verbs
(is, was)

conjunctions auxiliary verbs

(can, have, do, will) (and, but)

(Gilbert, 1993, p.72)

Then, have students circle or underline content words in a

sentence and give these words extra emphasis when speaking the
sentence. At the same time, students can tap, clap, or play simple rhythm
.instruments to produce strong and weak beats in the sentence

.Example: He wants to be an actor, and he wants to live in Hollywood

Rhymes. Apply the rhythm of nursery rhymes to the rhythm of (2)

ordinary sentences. The reason for this is that students can easily learn
nursery rhymes and catch their rhythm without too much effort. Practicing
this way helps them to maintain the rhythm patterns in sentences
.unconsciously and naturally

HICKory DICKory DOCK The MOUSE ran UP the CLOCK

.Do it according to plan. Id like to cash a check

.Give me a burger with cheese. Hed rather take the bus

.Who is the man I should see? Ill have her call you back

(Grant, 1993)

Jazz chants. A Jazz chant is a fragment of authentic language (3)

presented with special attention to its inherent natural rhythm (Graham,
1992). It has a very clear and strong one-two-three-four beat, so it is easy
for students to practice the sentence rhythm through Jazz chants. To
establish the tempo, students can count out the rhythm by clapping,
.finger snapping, or tapping on the desk

43214321

.Chicken, chicken soup. Rice and beans, rice and beans

4321

.Id like a bowl of soup. Chicken soup

4321

.Id like a large bowl of chicken soup

(Graham, 1986, p.45)

Linking 3.2

One of the essential characteristics of spoken English is that the

words in a thought group are linked together (Gilbert, 1993). Mortimer
(1977) also talked about the importance of linking: to pronounce English
fluently, it is necessary to link words together as a native speaker of
English normally does. Chinese students often fail to do this because they

pronounce one word at a time in English just as they do when speaking

Chinese. Therefore, linking needs to be taught in order to help students to
speak English more fluently as well as to improve their comprehension of
English native speakers normal speech. Following are some teaching
.techniques

Chain pictures. Use chains to give a visual image of spoken (1)

English, but use separate circles to represent spoken Chinese. It helps
students to identify the different speech pattern between spoken English
.and spoken Chinese

:Examples

Magnets. Gilbert (1994) mentioned that the pull of magnets can (2)
be a physical metaphor to emphasize the attraction between succeeding
words, especially if the following word begins with a vowel. She suggested
the use of magnets, pieces of iron, and blocks of wood to make teaching
aids. However, we modified this; we used some empty audio-tape cases
and magnets to produce this effect. Flash cards (e.g., pick, it, me) were
put in different tape cases and the magnets were glued onto the two ends
of each tape case. Make sure that the two words can be attracted only
when the first words final letter is a consonant and the second words first
letter is a vowel (e.g., pick it ); otherwise, the two words are repulsed (e.g.,
pick me). It helps students remember to link words through this physical
.image

:Examples

pick it

pick me up

Curved lines. Use the curved line between the last and first (3)
letters to indicate they need to be linked together. It provides a visual
.image to remind students of linking words

.Examples: Hold on.

Pick it up.

I need a cup of tea

Chants, poems, or song lyrics. Practice linking through reading (4)

chants, poems, or song lyrics. Students need to know that English words
are linked together during speech. For example, students can read aloud
.the song lyrics of Perhaps Love to practice linking

,Example:

Perhaps love is like the ocean

.full of conflict, full of pain

,Like a fire when its cold outside
.thunder when it rains

Intonation .4

In addition to Stress & Rhythm, Intonation, or Melody, or change in

pitch, is another significant feature in English. The purpose of intonation,
according to Gilbert (1994), is "helping the listener to follow." It is a
navigation guide for the listener. She goes on to note that "L2 learners
have difficulty hearing intonation"(p.43). Indeed, most of our students,
when listening to English, pay more attention to sounds, vocabulary, and
grammar. Seldom do they attend to pitch changes. Therefore, when it
comes to speaking, they tend to pronounce each word as clearly as
possible. It is no surprise to find that many students speak English simply
by applying the rhythmic structure of Chinese. The result is that they
sound monotonous. That is, their voice is rather flat with little or no
change in pitch. The two major problems: (1) misused intonation patterns;
and (2) lack of sentence focus, and emotions appropriate to the situation,
.along with some teaching activities are now discussed

Intonation Patterns 4.1

One way to make students become aware of their problems in

Intonation Patterns is to have them listen to contrasting recordings. The

tape can be designed in such a way that students have a chance to hear
their own voices and the native speakers'. The conversation should be
deliberately chosen with various intonation patterns so that it is easy and
obvious for them to find their problems. In the following example, two
basic intonation patterns, Rising/Falling Intonation and Rising Intonation,
are presented. The topic is identifying people. The situation is that Lee and
.Lisa Fong are looking for their friend, Estelle, at the airport

.Lisa: Lee, look! Here come the people from the plane

?Is that Estelle with them

?Lee: Which one

.Lisa: The tall one

?Lee: The one with the suitcase

.Lisa: No. The one with the package

.Lee: Yes. That's Estelle

?Lisa: Hello, Estelle. How was your trip

.Estelle: Fine. It was a very good flight

(Lado,1989, pp. 2-3 )

Once students hear the two versions of the dialogue, they will
immediately recognize the striking difference in intonation between their
version and the native speakers. Then the teacher should seek possible
ways to solve their problems, such as misused intonation patterns. We
suggest that the three intonation patterns be presented through various
visual or aural effects. Some techniques include drawing pitch lines/curves
or arrows, using musical scores, and using kazoos. Let's take a closer look
.at each of these techniques

Pitch lines/curves. One of the most commonly used ways to teach (1)
various intonation patterns is to draw pitch lines/curves. Besides drawing
the pitch lines/curves, we suggest that the teacher blacken the last
stressed syllable and put a dot over it. In doing so, students can be
expected to produce the appropriate intonation with the correct word
.stress
Lisa: How was your trip? (Rising/Falling Intonation)

Arrows. Another simple way to teach intonation is to draw arrows (2)

over the place where pitch changes. It is a variation, in particular, for
showing how pitch rises and falls within a sentence. The two examples are
presented: a choice question as shown in A and a statement showing a
.series of items as in B
A: Can we rent it or buy it? (Combination Intonation)
.B: Our class meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

Musical scores. The other effective visual effect is musical scores. (3)
In the following example, the pitch rises on telle, which is the last
stressed syllable. In order to be able to do that, students need to apply
their knowledge of basic emphasis patterns as has been shown earlier in
.3.1.2. That is, stress content words and not structure words
Lisa: Is that Estelle with them? (Rising Intonation)

high

3
?telle with them
medium
2
Is that Es

low
1

Kazoos. In addition to the above visual effects, another vivid way to (4)
introduce intonation is with a toy kazoo. The sound of the kazoo is very
similar to humming except that it is louder and clearer. By humming into
it, the teacher can give a clever demonstration of the intonation of a
sentence, which students may not be able to get through the above visual
aids. Since kazoos are not available here, big-size straws are an excellent
substitute. In the following example, three intonation patterns,
Rising/Falling Intonation as shown in (a), Combination Intonation as in (b),
and Rising Intonation as in (c), are presented. The teacher kazoos the
melody of the sentence (a), (b), or (c), whereas students, working in pairs
or groups, attend carefully to the melody and tell which sentence they
hear. Note that the sentences in this activity should be of similar length so
that the judgment of the difference of the three patterns has to rely on the
.melody they hear

?Examples:

(a) Where are you going on Friday

?Do you want some soup or salad (b)

?Would you like some Supersalad (c)

Follow-ups. Often times when teaching Intonation Patterns, we found (5)

that many students seem to have more problems with Rising Intonation
than with any other patterns. we have noticed that many of our students
tend to ask Yes/No questions with Rising/Falling Pattern instead of Rising
Intonation. Some may use Rising Pattern but tend to rise at the end of the

sentence. We suspect it may have some relation with their mother tongue.
:Compare the following Yes/No questions

?English: Can you speak English

?Chinese: (a)

? (b)

The difference between English and Chinese is obvious when asking

Yes/No questions. Whereas Americans use Rising Intonation, Chinese use
Falling intonation or slightly rise at the question word , which is added
at the end of the sentence. Apparently, for Chinese students, the Rising
Pattern is a new habit that they need to learn how to perform. Whenever
students have problems with Rising Intonation, practicing putting
sentences on musical scores can be a useful way to help them out. Kazoos
.can be another option

Musical scores and kazoos. Draw musical scores for the following
.sentences, and then practice saying or kazooing the sentences

?Could you make a sandwich for me (a)

?Will you be interested in it (b)

?Would you like some Ice cream (c)

Sentence Focus & Emotions 4.2

Though our students have learned the basic emphasis patterns

mentioned in part 3, they should know that these rules are not fixed. In
fact, English speakers use emphasis on any word in a sentence to achieve
various results, such as introducing new information, showing contrasts,

correcting the previous information, or creating special attention or

.emphases, and so on. This special emphasis is called the sentence focus
Visual effects. One simple way to help students understand the (1)
importance of sentence focus is through visual effects. We can show
students two different pictures. For instance, in the following pictures,
?what do you see

An apple. Right. That's an easy way to make students become aware of

the importance of focus. To help students overcome the problem with
sentence focus, the teacher can easily draw from the textbook suitable
situations in which two speakers exchange information by showing
contrasts. There are a great number of topics, such as possessions, jobs,
nationalities, shopping, asking directions, talking about vacation plans,
and so on, all of which are excellent for showing contrasts. Just take
:"possessive" as an example

.A: This is your book

B: No. That's her book. or

.No. That's hers

Notice that for speaker B, the stress shifts from book to her, which
indicates the emphasis of the response. If it is the general sentence, it
".should be : That's her book. The stress falls on "book" rather than "her

Having the knowledge of why and how English speakers use focus,
students should become familiar with the characteristics of focus, namely
vowel lengthening, loudness, and emotions in various situations. Lets
refer back to the previous conversation on the tape from Lado. Clearly, the
two speakers do use focus to achieve certain results, such as drawing
special attention as shown in (c), or providing new information to make

corrections as in (e). Thus they keep the conversation going, and finally,
.they find the person they are looking for

Lisa: Is that Estelle with them? (a)

Lee: Which one? (b)

Lisa: The tall one. (c)

Lee: The one with the suitcase? (d)

Lisa: No. The one with the package.(e)

Mini dialogues. Another perfect topic to help students practice (2)

these characteristics is good news or bad news. In the following two
situations, students can take turns practicing with a partner, playing with
focus words wonderful, terrible, and so, by dramatizing, lengthening
and speaking louder. Encourage students to add personal emotions with
given situations. Rubber bands can also be used here to get visual effects
.on vowel lengthening

.Examples: A: I finally got a new car

.B: That's wonderful news! I'm so glad to hear it

.A: I got fired from my job

.B: That's terrible news! I'm so sorry to hear it

Follow-ups. Sometimes we may want to challenge our students (3)

with tasks where they learn to become intelligent in using focus. For the
following activity, student A says a general sentence, Boston lost the
game. Student B has to, first, look at the responding sentence, Really? I
thought New York lost the game, and then figure out the focus should be
.on the word New York, and respond to student A appropriately

.Example: A: Boston lost the game

.B: Really? I thought New York lost the game

Have students working in pairs or groups, and take turns practicing the
.conversation

.A: George plays baseball in Boston

.B: Really? I thought George played football in Boston

.A: The score was 8 to 44

.B: Really? I thought the score was 4 to 44

.A: George talked to David at the airport

.B: Really? I thought he talked to Paul at the airport

.A: It wasn't George's fault

.B: Really? I thought it was George's fault

(Baker & Goldstein, 1990, p.35)

Conclusion .5

Pronunciation certainly deserves strong attention in the English class,

especially in classes with a communicative approach. Poor pronunciation
will cause problems in oral communication no matter how good a
speakers control of English grammar and vocabulary might be. Many of
the problems, in fact, are caused by the influence of the speakers mother
tongue; Chinese students tend to use Chinese speech patterns or styles
when speaking English. Therefore, English teachers need to help students
be aware of this tendency in order to be able to speak English clearly and
.intelligently

To overcome students pronunciation problems, we offer a variety of

kinesthetic, visual, and aural devices and activities for teaching English
pronunciation. Although we do not have pronunciation class in our current
English curriculum, it is hoped that these tools and techniques we have
.referred to will be a great help to English teachers as well as students

Finally, we want to encourage Chinese EFL teachers to have more

confidence in teaching English pronunciation even though we are not
native speakers of English. With full advanced preparation, including
practicing our own pronunciation and designing effective teaching
!activities, we can all be experts in teaching English pronunciation

References

Baker, A., & Goldstein, S. (1990). Pronunciation pairs: An introductory

.course for students of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Beisbier, B. (1995). Sounds great: Intermediate pronunciation and

.speaking for learners of English. MA: Heinle & Heinle

Browne, S. C., & Huckin, T. N. (1987). Pronunciation tutorials for nonnative

technical professionals: A program description. In J. Morley (Ed.), Current
.perspectives on pronunciation. Washington, D.C.: TESOL

Celce-Murcia, M. (1987). Teaching pronunciation as communication. In J.

Morley (Ed.), Current perspectives on pronunciation. Washington, D.C.:
.TESOL

Dauer, R. M. (1993). Accurate English: A complete course in pronunciation.

.New Jersy: Prentice-Hall, Inc

Gilbert, J. B. (1994). Intonation: A navigation guide for the listener (and

gadgets to help teach it). In J. Morley (Ed.), Pronunciation pedagogy and
.theory. Bloomington: TESOL, Inc

Gilbert, J. B. (1993). Clear speech: Pronunciation and listening

comprehension in North American English. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
.University Press

Graham, C. (1992). Singing, chanting, telling tales. New Jersey: Prentice.Hall, Inc

.Graham, C. (1986). Small talk. New York: Oxford University Press

Grant, L. (1993). Well said: Advanced English pronunciation. MA: Heinle &
.Heinle

.Lado, R. (1989). Lado English series. Book 3. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc

Morley, J. (1994). A multidimensional curriculum design for speechpronunciation instruction. In J. Morley (Ed.), Pronunciation pedagogy and
.theory. Bloomington: TESOL, Inc

Mortimer, C. (1977). Link-up: A pronunciation practice book. Cambridge:

.Cambridge University

Prator, C., & Robinett, B. (1985). Manual of American English

.Pronunciation. 4th Ed

.New York: Holt, Reinehart and Winston

Tay, M. M. E. (1986). Creative phonics. Singapore: Pan Pacific Publications

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the R.O.C. Ministry of Education for offering us the

professional EFL Teacher Training Program at UC-Davis, USA, and to J.

Gilbert, the author of Clear Speech, for valuable discussions and

innovative ideas and techniques of teaching pronunciation during the
program. We would also like to thank Robert Hawkins, our colleague at
.Chia-Nan Junior College, for providing helpful comments for the revision