CAMBRIDGE DELTA COURSE

October 2010

Language Systems Essay for Assignment – Phonology

“Adapting phonology issues to the learners’

goals.”
Multilingual, Intermediate Classes in a Non-
English speaking Environment.

Candidate’s name: Sharon Noseley

Centre Number: GR108

Candidate Number:

Number of words: 2414

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 1

Index:

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………..3

2. The Intermediate, Multilingual Class in a Non-English speaking Environment – its

needs and goals……………………………………………………………………….3

2.1 What aspects of pronunciation should be addressed first? ……………….4

3. Phonology and focusing on the learners’ needs…………………………………….4

4. Pronunciation issues for a Multilingual Class………………………………………5

5. Approaches and Methods to achieve our goals……………………………………..6

6. Remedies and Materials to enhance receptive and productive skills……………….6

6.1 Suggested Recognition Activities ………………………………………...7

6.2 Suggested Productive Activities…………………………………………..8

6.3 Encourage Learner Autonomy…………………………………………….9

7. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..9

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….10
………………………………………………………………………………………..11

Appendices…………………………………………………………………………..12

My English and I Questionnaire…..........................................13

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 2

 1.Introduction

Teaching pronunciation could be argued to be one of the most important yet difficult
aspects of EFL/ESL teaching. According to Thanasoulas (2009) these are the
underlying reasons it has been called the “Cinderella” of language teaching (Kelly,
1969, Dalton, 1997).
In the process of communication, pronunciation is of utmost importance. Poorly
pronounced segmentals (the sounds of the language for intelligibility) and
suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm and intonation) can lead to misunderstanding.
Gower et al (2005, p.153) inform us work on pronunciation is important for two main
reasons:

1) To help the students understand the spoken English they hear.

2) To help them make their own speech more comprehensible and meaningful to
others.

Personally, I decided to research phonology on the basis of discussions held in the

class, in which the students repeatedly felt their speaking and listening
comprehension skills were poor in relation to their writing or reading skills. The
result of this discussion was the production of a questionnaire for the class, asking
them about their pronunciation and comprehension abilities when listening to the
spoken word in a natural environment.1 I concluded the class needed to work on
phonological issues. Therefore, based on the feedback of the questionnaire, and
bearing in mind the goals of the class to reach “comfortable intelligibility” by
improving their speaking and listening skills for work and social goals, I
researched this area to help them to achieve these goals.

2. The intermediate, Multilingual class in a non-

English speaking community – its needs and goals.

The teacher’s role when considering which aspects of phonology are to be

implemented into lessons, depends on the goals of the learners. Harmer (2007)
advises us to consider the adult learner. He observes they often have a clear
understanding of why they are learning things. Research indicates the majority of
adult learners state their goals for acquiring English as a second language as, to
improve communication through social networks, and most importantly, in the pursuit
of improved career opportunities.

Only twenty five per cent of the world’s English speakers are actually native speakers.
The term English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has now crept into our vocabulary. This
research leads one to consider the accent the learner desires. It is of utmost important
our learners have a comprehensible accent to improve their opportunities in the
workplace, education and other areas of life.

Jenkins (1998) argued the aim to ensure our learners have no trace of a foreign accent
is ‘unrealistic’. In 2002, she introduced the ‘Lingua Franca Core’. This is a
1
Appendices 1 - questionnaire

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pronunciation core for teaching learners for lingua franca interactions, not interactions
between a native and non-native speaker.

According to the Lingua Franca Core, the items which are not important include,
the /ɵ/ and /ɗ/ sounds, vowel quality, (the difference in vowel sounds when length is
not involved), weak forms such as ‘to’, ‘of’ and ‘from’, assimilation in connected
speech (e.g. red paint – / rebpeit/), word stress, pitch movement and stress timing.

However, recent studies show support for the superiority of suprasegmental

instruction. From classroom experience, and living in a non- English speaking
environment, Jenkins has a point with regard to word stress, even within RP
(Received Pronunciation) there are optional stress patterns and the rules are highly
complex for an Intermediate class. However, regarding features of connected speech
(weak forms, elision and linking) mistakes lead to unintelligibility for the native
speaker and amongst the learners themselves (NNSs to NNSs). Adult classes are
hoping to improve their career prospects; they should be introduced to these areas for
receptive as well as productive understanding. As for rhythm, the multilingual class is
usually a class that has mother tongue issues, as most of the world’s languages tend to
be syllable-timed. As English is relatively a stress-timed language, this can lead to the
learners sounding’ foreign’; a point that most of the learners implied was a hindrance
when communicating in English.

2.1 What aspects of pronunciation should be

addressed first?

Crawford (2008, p.1) implies the following aspects of pronunciation are highly
significant in meeting the needs of learners from varied linguistic backgrounds:

 Syllable stress in two, three and polysyllabic words.

 Syllable and word reduction..
 Sentence stress and reduced words. To understand the distinction between
content words and function words.e.g. The important or new information in a
sentence is stressed and not the pronouns, auxiliary verbs, articles,
conjunctions and prepositions. As in the sentence ‘dogs can swim’. The ‘can’
becomes /cən/ and is not stressed.
 Word endings. Especially those with consonant clusters at the end of words.
They should be introduced at this point to the linguistic rules underlying these
patterns, including the concepts of voiced and voiceless sounds.
 According to the linguistic make up of the class, selected phonemes.2

Research shows that learners need to gain pronunciation awareness from the early
stages – to learn significant features, rules and guidelines of the English Phonetic
system. To improve the learners’ fluency, the basic facts of English prosody – the
intonation, rhythm and timing of speech should be introduced early on.
2
Specific examples are detailed in Section 4 – Pronunciation issues for a multilingual class.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 4

.
To sum up, research, evaluation, and the selection of appropriate materials to aid
students of multilingual classes (students have different mother tongues and therefore
different production and perception problems) should be dealt with.

3. Phonology and focusing on the learners needs.

Kenworthy(1987) encourages us to think about the limitations and abilities of our

learners. She suggests part of our role is to help learners understand and be aware of
the different sounds of English. She compares this to our perception of visual images,
for instance, if you have never seen a lime, you would consider it to be an unripe
lemon because that is the nearest equivalent you are aware of. Sounds aren’t like fruit
– sound images are different to visual images – but the process of establishing
categories is basically the same and each language has its own set of categories.
Learners will have a strong tendency to hear the sounds of English in terms of the
sounds of their native language.

Furthermore, research conducted by the Department of Education and Training and

Youth Affairs (2001) in Australia concluded the belief that pronunciation problems are
caused by difficulty with articulation are not entirely true. The research states that the
majority of problems stem not from physical, articulatory causes, but from cognitive
causes. In other words, the problem is not that the person cannot physically produce
the individual sounds, but they do not conceptualise the sounds appropriately –
discriminate them, organise them in their minds, and manipulate them as required for
the sound system of English. This type of conceptual difficulty could be behind other
difficulties such as vowel problems, prosodic or segmental issues.

4.Pronounciation issues for a multi-lingual class .

The classes focused on include Russian, Greek and Bulgarian speakers. Thus, there
are a variety of mother tongue issues.

Papaefthymiou-Lytra (2001) states the Greek and English phonological systems are so
different that English is a difficult language for the Greek speaker .The sounds and the
English vowel system(which makes far more distinctions than the Greek system ) are
common problems. In connected speech, stress, intonation, the contrast between
weak and strong forms all cause problems for the Greek speaker. One of the major
problems is the lack of assimilations and elisions in the Greek language, this can
cause Greek speakers to sound slow, drawling and rather formal when speaking
informally.

Although a stress timed language, Russian speakers can still struggle with intonation
and certain sounds. Bulgarian speakers have similar problems, mainly with the
English long vowels, which they do not have in their own language.

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The multilingual class requires work within these areas, especially where L1
interference is noted. The dominant areas for confusion include: consonant clusters,
short and long vowels and nuclear stress, word reduction and linking in connected
speech. These issues are hindering reception and production. To improve the learners’
reception skills will aid their production skills. .3

5. Approaches and Methods to achieve our goals.

Many researchers believe a ‘bottom-up approach’ is the best way to accumulate parts
of the target language. Thornbury (1993) believes the consensus is a ‘top-down’
approach. He says most exercise types are still predominantly “segmental’ in their
approach. Thornbury (1993) implies the “phonemic chart’ is “a manifestation’ of
segmental phonology. Underhill (2005), on the other hand, believes the phonemic
chart facilitates learning of the English phonemes, by visually conveying to the
learner, the manner of articulation (how each sound is produced) and the place of
articulation (where in the vocal tract it is produced). He recommends the use of the
chart to aid learners in the areas of individual sounds, word stress, and sounds in
connected speech.
He encourages the teacher to help the students recognise the importance of
pronunciation, through using awareness-raising activities. To assess how the learners
feel about their English pronunciation and which aspects due to mother tongue
influence, personality factors, age and sociocultural factors influence these beliefs
accordingly.

6. Remedies and materials to enhance receptive

and productive skills.

An advantage of an Intermediate class is that their overall language skills are

sufficient to allow general discussion of issues in oral communication, and as
mentioned above, their phonology awareness. The adult class is a motivated one and
explanations of useful information on pronunciation are welcomed.

On the other hand, a disadvantage could be “fossilisation”- the learner has become
used to speaking in a certain way and their habits need ‘unlearning’ and this also
could include their conception of what they need to improve in their pronunciation. A
multilingual class has a wide range of pronunciation needs, making it difficult to find
activities appropriate for the whole class.

To deal with individual mistakes ‘on the spot’, teachers need to introduce a
“pronunciation tool box”, to deal with correction on a one to one basis whenever it is
possible. For example, flashcards with minimal pair words to contrast two sounds,
dealing with specific class L1 interference problems. In addition, it could be
suggested to introduce methods to indicate stress and rhythm in sentences on the

3
A detailed analysis of each L1 interference can be found in the lesson plan for the Introduction to the
IPA chart, in the appendices.

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board, the use of mime, gesture, finger indication or Cuisenaire rods to highlight
stress.

Overall, Intermediate classes should be motivated towards their goals of learning

English to communicate with NNSs and NSs to enhance their lifestyle. Accordingly, a
bottom-up approach is appropriate to ‘go back to the basics’ and work on L1
interference issues due to the varieties of mother tongue problems present in a
multilingual class. Consequently a ‘top-down’ variety of activities should then be
introduced to attain ‘comfortable intelligibility’ for both listening and speaking.

6.1 Suggested Recognition Activities for the

Intermediate, Multilingual Class:

1. Introduce the International Phonetic Alphabet chart. According to

Thanasoulas (2000/9) and Underhill (2005) the chart is an aid in the
following areas:

 Helps students perceive the differences between sounds – helping

the overall awareness of phonology.
 Helps the teacher anticipate some L1 interference.
 Helps when used as a reference for correction.
 Helps with sound/spelling difficulties.
 It is a valuable study aid used in dictionaries and Web 2.0 Tools,
essential for encouraging learner independence.
 Helps with the recording of vocabulary – encouraging learners to
keep their own ‘dictionaries’.
 Improves listening micro skills.

2. Introduce recognition activities. Darn (2007, p.3) recommends:

 Speed dictations (the boys are good/the boy is good/the boy was
good).
 Dictogloss and other variations of dictation.
 Ask students how many words they hear in a sentence (to practice
recognising word boundaries).
 Ask; ‘What’s the third/fifth word?” in the sentence.
 Teaching weak forms and contractions at the presentation stage,
and highlighting these on the board.
 Matching phrases to stress patterns.
 Using audio scripts. Marking stresses and weak forms.
 Use recordings of deliberately “unnatural English”.
 Authentic listening and recognising Syllable stress in
two/three/polysyllabic words.e.g. PEN·cil,
YES·ter·day,PHO·to·graph.

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  Listening and recognising syllable and word reduction.e.g The
reduction of vowels as in the first syllable of a·GO(where the first
syllable is reduced to a schwa.
 Activities to learn the distinction of CONTENT and FUNCTION
words, which are generally stressed and unstressed respectively. To
recognise the non important words such as pronouns, the verb to
be, auxiliary verbs, articles, conjunctions and prepositions are not
stressed. This could lead to linking activities.e.g. Saw her –/sʊə ‘ə/
Dogs can swim –/dɒgz ‘kən’swɪm/.

6.2 Suggested Productive Activities for the

Intermediate, Multi lingual Class:

Once recognition has been established, production activities can be introduced.

Darn (2007, p.3) and Crawford (2000, p.2) recommend:

 Drills (especially back chaining).

 Physical movement (finger clicking, clapping, tapping, jumping) in
time to the rhythm of the sentence.
 Focus stress on short dialogues - /kənuː/ /jes ‘aɪ kæn/
 Making short dialogues, paying attention to stress and rhythm.
 Headlines, notes and memos (build the rhythm with the content
words).
 Reading out short sentences with only the stressed words.
(How..come..school?).
 Focus on short utterances with distinctive stress and intonation patterns
and a specific rhythm (long numbers, phone numbers, football results).
 Simple rhymes and tongue twisters.
 Songs – the rhythm of English lends itself to rock and pop music,
while rap involves fitting words into a distinct beat.
 Sentence stress or focus. Students pronounce sentences with
contrastive sentence stress, such as:

Is she leaving TOMORROW?

Is she LEAVING tomorrow?
Is SHE leaving tomorrow?

 Practice basic intonation partners – rising v falling can be introduced at

this point along with the essentials of rhythm in spoken English.

6.3 Encourage learner autonomy.

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 The adult class should be encouraged to improve their pronunciation skills by
themselves outside of the classroom, this is essential for learners living in a
Non English Speaking environment. The teacher should:

 To point out the benefits of recording their own speech and listen to the
recordings of themselves and their peers, to become aware of their own
strengths and weaknesses.

 To emphasise our learners can communicate worldwide through on line

sites and take advantage of the wealth of sites at their hands for to
improve their speaking skills. To encourage autonomy, the classes
should be introduced to sites such as:

 www.shiporsheep.com

 www.howysay.com

 www.englishcentral.com

7. Conclusion

To summarise, Miller (2000) advises the features of English pronunciation

have to be taught directly and practiced in communicative activities
progressing from controlled to independent. Through regular pronunciation
work, I hope the learners will develop their own hypotheses and ‘gut-feeling’
for English pronunciation, something experts and researchers have long agreed
as an essential skill of a good learner.

Bibliography.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 9

Books:

Dalton,C. Seidlhofer,B.(1994).Pronunciation. In Candlin,C. Widdowson,H.

(ed.)Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fraser,H. (2001).Teaching pronunciation:A handbook for teachers and trainers. The

New South Wales Department of Education and Training Access Division.

Gower,R. Phillips,D & Walters,S. (2005). Pronunciation. In Underhill,A.(ed.)

Teaching Practice.Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Limited.

Hancock,M.(2003). English Pronunciation in Use, Intermediate. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Kenworthy,J. (1987). Teaching English Prounciation. New York: Longman

Incorporated.

Papaefthymiou-Lytra, S. (2001). Farsi, Greek and Arabic Speakers. In Swan,M &

Smith,B.(ed).Learner English. A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and other Problems.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Roach,P. (1991). English Phonetics and Phonology.Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Underhill,A.(2005). Sound Foundations. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Limited.

Wilson, L & M. (2001). Farsi, Greek and Arabic Speakers. In Swan,M & Smith,B.
(ed).Learner English. A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and other Problems.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Journal Articles:

Jenkins,J. (1997). Which Pronunciation Norms and Models for English as An

International Language. ELT Journal 52/2. April. Oxford University Press.

Miller,S.(2000). Looking at Progress in a Pronunciation Class. TESOL Quarterly.

TESOL Matters 10 June/July.

Thornbury,S. (1993). Having a good jaw: Voice-setting Phonology. ELT Journal 47/2
April. Oxford University Press.

Internet Sites:

Crawford, B. (2008). What aspects of Pronunciation should be addressed first?.

Retrieved 22 February 2010 from

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 10

http://www.soundsofenglish.org/SPLIS/ask_the_experts.htm

Darn,S. (2007). Rhythm. Retrieved 14 December 2009 from

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk

Jenkins,J.(2002). Global English and the teaching of prounciation.

Retrieved 15 January 2010 from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk

Harakchiyska, T (2010). The role of Auditory Discrimination tests in the evaluation of

Bulgarian Primary School Learners of English.
Retreived 15 October 2010 from:
http://bibliotecavirtualut.suagm.edu/Glossa2/Journal/march 2010

Gonzales,D & St.Louis,R.(2007). Text-to-speech applications used in EFL contexts to

ehnance pronunciation. TESL-EJ Teaching English as a Second Language Vol.11.
Retrieved 10 February 2010 from
http://tesl-ej.org/ej42/int.html

Thanasoulas,D. (n.d). Pronunciation:The “Cinderella” of Language Teaching.

Retrieved 25 November 2009 from
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/pron1_dimit

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 11

 APPENDICES

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 My English and I !!!

Please could you spare the time to answer the questions

below and tell me how you feel about your spoken
English!

1) When do you hear English? For example: TV/Radio/Classroom/work.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2) Do you think English sounds nice? Does it sound like when you eat a
crunchy apple or is it the sound of eating a soft banana?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________-
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3) Which accent do you prefer – American/British/Australian or other?
Why?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________4)
Would you like to speak English like a native speaker? or speak well
enough for others to understand you?
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________5) Do
you like English songs? Do you think English is more musical in sound
than your own language?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________6) Which
English sounds do you find difficult to say?
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________7)
Which English sounds do you find difficult to understand when
listening?

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 13

_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
8) Would you like to live in Great Britain/America/Australia or any
other English-speaking areas? Why?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
9) Are you afraid to speak English outside of the classroom because
you think people will not understand you or maybe laugh? Has this
happened to you?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
10) Which areas of your pronunciation would you like to improve? For
example, the sounds of the letters/ the rhythm and stress in English
speech?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Thank you for your time and comments – feel free to add anything else
you feel you would like to discuss about English pronunciation!!
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________-
_____________________________________________________________________

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 14

_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

THANKS AGAIN!
Adapted from Laroy,C.(1995). © Sharon Noseley 2010 All Rights
Reserved
LESSON PLANS FOR
INTRODUCTION TO IPA/WORD
STRESS
Name Sharon Noseley Date April 2010 – October2010
A series of lessons – 50 mins each. Level - Intermediate

Class Profile:
This is a mixed ability, multilingual adult class. Three of the members have been working
together for more than a year whilst the other 3 – 4 students are new comers. The class
members’ attendance is sometimes erratic, due to their work commitments. The stronger
members do help the new students and thus the class is bonding and works well together.

Lesson Aims/ Objectives for students Evidence

1. To introduce the class to the 1. The multilingual class tends to hear

phonemic script, Over a series of lessons, to the sounds of English in their native
outline the advantages of learning the language. The IPA chart gives the
script to enhance pronunciation of T the opportunity to work on
individual sounds, and words in isolation. individual mother tongue issues, once
2. To create a “sound foundation’, the sounds are established, a
through bottom-up processing. In order ‘teacher tool kit’ (flashcards
for future lessons, to be able to created to help with particular
introduce suprasegmentals (stress, problem areas) can be used in
rhythm, intonation),through a following lessons -‘on the spot’.
‘top-down’ approach 2. To ‘go back to basics’ allows the
T to overcome ‘fossilisation’ issues.
Primary Aim(s) 3. Through recognition activities, the T
1. Through recognition activities, help can monitor the classes improvement
Ss perceive the differences between and self awareness.
sounds and to allow the T to 4. Production activities, such as, drills,
concentrate on specific L1 interference short dialogues, tongue twisters
in the multilingual class. and rhymes will enable the Ss to
2. To introduce productive activities produce and ‘hear for themselves’
to practice and overcome the sounds, rhythm and stress of the

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 conceptual problems. language.

Secondary Aim(s)
1. To encourage students to become 5. Recording Ss in class and listening to
autonomous, especially in the Non- the play back of themselves and
English speaking environment. their peers, will allow for feedback.
2. To emphasise the benefits of 6. Informing the Ss of useful websites,
Computer Assisted language using CDs and other materials
learning, using a dictionary and to available to them outside of
develop their own pronunciation the classroom, will help
awareness, in the way one makes motivate autonomy, also to
the sounds of English, and relate encourage them to create their
these sounds to stress patterns in own ‘pronunciation dictionaries’.
the English language. 7. To listen and recognize syllable and
3. To improve listening micro skills. word reduction/content and function
words/ stress and weak forms in
short dialogues will improve their
listening micro skills.

Source Aids/Handouts Face to Face Intermediate Students book, (Cambridge

University Press). Phonemic Chart (adapted from Underhill, A. 2005). Flashcards
(Retrieved from http://bbc.co.uk/teaching english),
English Pronunciation in Use (Hancock, M. CUP)

Linguistic assumptions
Through the course book, the class has been exposed to pronunciation exercises and
some individual phonemic symbols, however they have not been introduced to the chart
and as the pronunciation exercises have not been a specific aim for the lesson, their
experience and use of such exercises has been brief. The class has completed a
questionnaire reviewing their ‘feelings’ towards their pronunciation, and they have
stressed they feel it is an area inhibiting them both in reception and production. There
are also conceptual issues, which may be behind difficulties such as vowel problems, and
other segmental issues.

Anticipated Language Difficulties Solutions/Remedies

Fossilisation issues, which may be difficult To include regular feedback, encourage Ss
to correct without de motivating students. to take the role of the teacher, and peer
correct and praise the class, motivating
Ss may feel challenged when confronted each other.
by a new alphabet and feel overwhelmed.
Encourage the use of dictionaries to
As a multilingual class, they are a variety discover for themselves the pronunciation
of mother tongue issues, making it of individual new words, thus proving how
difficult to find activities appropriate for useful the new sound alphabet is to know.
the whole class.
To reinforce the idea of becoming more

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For the Greek speaker diphthongs tend to autonomous outside of the classroom, both
be articulated as two separate vowels and with listening and speaking as they ‘develop
are pronounced in two syllables. The /ə/ a sensitive ear’ and can produce the sounds
sound in diphthongs such as /eə/, /ɪə/, /ʊə/ correctly with the aid of the symbols.
is usually replaced by the nearest Greek Deal with individual mistakes ‘on the spot’,
sound /a/. Also, the long vowels may cause so not to concentrate on one area that may
problems. For example, pairs like /sɪt/ not be appropriate for all the class. To
and /siːt/are pronounced by the Greek incorporate the use of a teacher ‘tool box’
speaker in a similar way. Both are with flashcards of minimal pair
pronounced as /sɪt/ , as long vowels tend words/vowel sounds and so on appropriate
to be shortened. This also occurs with /æ/ to each mother tongue issue. E.g. Greek
being replaced by the Greek /e/.The /ɜː/ speakers – the long/short vowel sounds –
and /ə/ are usually replaced by /e/. So for diphthongs – sit/seat.’.
example ‘bird’ maybe pronounced /berd/ Create worksheets for individual L1
instead of /bɜːd/. The main problem with problem areas, to be used in and outside of
the consonants is the /ʃ/ which is often the classroom.
pronounced as /s/.
For the Russian speaker, the most
common sounds for errors are the long
vowel differentiation. The /iː/ is confused
with the /ɪ/. The /æ/ with the /e/. For
example /bed/ and /bæd/. The consonants
can cause some difficulties, for example,
the /h/ is often aspirated, like a Scottish
‘loch’. There is the tendency to replace /ɵ/
or /ɗ/with the sound of /s/ or even /z/.
E.g. /zen/ for /ɗen/. The sound /w/ is
often said as /v/, such as /vɜːk/
for /wɜːk/.
The Bulgarian mother tongue interfernce
includes, the /f/ and /v/ sounds, especially
when formulating the plural of certain
nouns. For example, /liːf/ or /liːvs/ or even
the verb /liːv/.

Timetable Fit
The class has been exposed to the phonemic script, through exercises in the course
book, however they do not refer to the chart and check for pronunciation themselves,
they expect the T to model it. Thus, they need to be introduced to the chart, and be
encouraged to dedicate time to using the symbols themselves. There are connected
speech issues in the class, which I feel cannot be worked on until sounds and individual
words can be produced comprehensibly in order to achieve improved intelligibility for
both listening and speaking. This is an Intermediate class, they are working towards
goals and thus need to overcome ‘fossilisation’ issues and move forward.

Board Plan(s)

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IPA chart enlarged onto thick photo card to put on board. Board used to highlight stress/fall
and rise in pitch as necessary.
Underline stress and arrows for pitch.

Commentary
My primary aim is to improve the class’ pronunciation in order to motivate them to attain
a level, where they are more comprehendible to NNS and NS, and especially more
meaningful when speaking. Also, to widen their conceptual beliefs and help them to
understand the spoken English they hear at all levels, whether it be speaking to a
teacher or outside of the classroom when listening to The News or watching an English
film. The rationale for my decision is based upon interviews carried out with the classes,
a questionnaire on their own beliefs of their pronunciation and recordings made of the
Ss speaking over the last two years. Personally, as a native speaker, I sometimes do not
understand the Ss utterances and I believe, their L1 interferences have ‘fossilised’. It
also appears their listening skills are being challenged as they progress as an
Intermediate Class, I have noted they appear to be ‘putting the blame on themselves’ for
misunderstandings and I am afraid they will adopt a passive approach to incoming
messages, and think speech is a stream of incomprehensible sounds. They are a highly
motivated class, their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary is of a good standard for an
Intermediate class as are their reading and communication skills. I would like to enhance
their pronunciation and comprehension when speaking English.

As a result, I decided to approach this area ‘bottom-up’ to introduce the sounds of

English. I believe this approach is necessary to overcome ‘fossilisation’ issues and as the
class is multilingual, with the majority of the Ss mother tongue being syllable- timed
languages, I hope by introducing the Phonemic syllables and controlled practice activities
the class will be able to move on quickly to a more ‘top-down’ approach and allow me to
concentrate on the broader phonological aspects of connected speech, and their link to
meaning on discourse level. I agree with the holistic, integrated approach to
pronunciation teaching, through focus on the suprasegmental aspects of phonology such
as stress, rhythm, intonation and pitch. However, for this class, at this time I believe a
‘back to basics ‘introduction is necessary.
Finally, the tasks and activities I have selected for the class, will hopefully engage the
Ss and they will enjoy the confidence that comes from the direct and conscious physical
experience of experimenting with the muscles in their vocal tracts, and shaping their
mouths to make the sounds. This can be achieved in a fun and memorable way, using the
IPA chart and follow up exercises. Bearing in mind, the areas appropriate for a
multilingual class in order to achieve their aims which are to improve pronunciation to
communicate with NS and NNS comfortably and intelligibly. The exercises will
concentrate on consonant sounds and clusters, long and short vowels and word stress,
over a short period of time. I feel it is appropriate to start with a 50 min lesson to
introduce the idea and the symbols themselves, followed by30 - 50 min ‘slots’ in
following lessons as their programme allows, enabling me to give feedback, monitor and
move towards suprasegmental areas, especially connected speech, with sound linking,
elision, assimilation, intrusion , prominence and rhythm.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 18

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 19
DELTA Name Sharon Date May – October 2010
Lesson Plans Noseley
PROCEDURES OVER A PERIOD OF LESSONS

Lesson Teacher Activities Learner Activities Aims Materials Interaction Time

1 Write words on board – Ask Ss to pronounce words. Anticipate problem with Board. Class – T 50 mins
turn/heard/skirt/colonel the pronunciation of Dictionaries. Pairs
Write phonemic script Ss say words as T models colonel.
for first three. Highlight pronunciation. To show the usefulness
the common /ɜ:/ in each Ss use dictionary to discover of the phonemic script
word, invite Ss to find pronunciation. for instant access to
the correct pronunciation.
pronunciation of ‘colonel’,
using dictionaries.

Introduce the chart. Ss create their own ‘sound Student Individual

Suggest to class to dictionary’ in notebooks. notebook.
create their own ‘sound
dictionary’ to relate Phonemic
symbols to sounds in L1. Ss repeat sounds as T points Chart.
to chart.
Organize symbols into
small groups – the Ss develop an awareness of Ss develop an awareness
schwa/vowels/consonants how they produce sounds by of how they produce Class – T
.Introduce the sounds. manipulating their vocal sounds by manipulating
musculature, and how the their vocal musculature,

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 20

 Point to two internal sensation of using and how the internal
soundse.g./ɪ/ and /i:/ the muscles relates to what sensation of using the
and model them. is heard through the ears. muscles relates to what
is heard through the Flashcards
Point to sound and model encouraging autonomy. with individual
it ‘silently’ showing phonemic
position of lips and jaw. symbols.
Elicit form class.
Elicit simple words with
the sounds from words
written on board in
phonemic script.

Point to sounds and elicit

from class to revise as
new ones are learnt.

Ss complete handouts, To show in writing, words Hand out 1 Pairwork

Handouts with exercises monitored by teacher. are made of letters, in
to point out the letters speech, words are made
are not always the same of sounds.
as sounds. To help recognition and
Fun exercises to help to practice the symbols
learn the phonemic in a relaxed, and
symbols. motivating way.

2 and Revise symbols and Ss are encouraged to use To introduce the Various Various 15 mins per
onwards concentrate on problem phonemic symbols and phonemics to the class on materials as lesson, or
areas, noted by T in improve pronunciation over a a ‘little but often’ basis, required. more time as
previous lesson. period of time as T in a positive and timetable

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 21

 Use handouts with incorporates ‘pronunciation motivating manner in allows.
exercises specific to Ss time ‘into lessons. order to build class
needs as a class and confidence and develop a
teacher ‘toolkit’ to clear model to enable the
concentrate on individual Ss to correct themselves
student L1 interference and each other, to
‘on the spot’. become autonomous and
T introduces flashcard once the Ss get used to
games/listening the exercises,
exercises, in following pronunciation work will
lessons on a regular become more efficient
basis. and effective. The class
Phoneme activities will develop their own
include: spot the ‘gut feeling’, an essential
schwa/which sound?/odd learning tool.
one out/sound
pairs/phonemic
bingo/dictionary
race/homophone
exercises/homonym
exercises.
Introduce Ss to rhythm, Class notice with the aid of
stress and voice handouts to contrast certain
qualities. features, such as:
T shows a selection of If the speaker sounds
video clips or asks flat/speaks with a ‘creaky’
individual Ss to speak, voice/hisses a lot/says some
listening to a variety of things fast and some
nationalities speaking slow/speak through their
their mother tongue. ‘nose’.
T encourages Ss to
notice
mouth/lips/jaw/nasal

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 22

 voice/tongue positions
and sounds.
T uses an English speaker
and a non-English
speaker to read the same
script- a dialogue, class
note differences.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 23

 Lesson Plan 21/10/2010

To introduce connected speech features to the

multilingual Intermediate class.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 24

Name Sharon Noseley Date 21/10/2010
Length 60 mins Level Intermediate

Class Profile:

Age: Adults
No. of Students: 6
Nationality: Multilingual with Greek, Russian and Bulgarian speakers.
Sexes: Mixed
Class background: This is a mixed ability class with two very strong students at
Intermediate level, whilst the other students are bordering pre –intermediate to
immediate level. One of the students has been attending the class for over two years,
the others joined 2 months ago and one student is a recent addition. Thus, they are not a
‘trained class’ as yet but all have experienced some classroom teaching and therefore
are willing to join in and are open to different teaching methods. They are a serious class
with definite goals and this motivates a dedicated approach to their learning.

Svetlana is from Russia. She lives in Greece and has mastered the Greek language. She
learnt English at school in Russia and is a very dedicated student. She studies at home
and is always willing to participate in class. She wants to achieve a high level of
competence in order to work in the hotel industry. She is the strongest student and
incredibly motivated and dedicated to her L2/3 acquisition.

Vasiliki is a native Greek speaker. She also speaks some Italian. She learnt English at
school and in English Private schools 15 years ago. She practices English on a daily basis
at work and wants to improve her English so she can obtain a B2 level qualification to
improve her employment circumstances. Due to her work demands, she doesn’t find time
to study and concentrate on her language skills at home.

Katerina is a native Greek speaker. She studied English in High school over 20 years ago.
She uses English in the hotel where she works part time but has forgotten most of the
basics of grammar and written English. She is a positive member of the class who
struggles at this level but is willing to learn and eager to participate. She would like to
improve her speaking skills in order to move abroad.

Pedros has just joined the class and his mother tongue is Greek. He learnt English at
school 10 years ago and attended private lessons for 5 years but hasn’t used his English
to communicate for a long time. He enjoys English films and listens to English music. He
is a little shy and needs lots of encouragement to speak and join in activities as he has
been used to formal teaching methods and tends to be reluctant to offer contributions
unless asked. He is a businessman and needs to improve his English to communicate
outside of Greece, usually in NNS to NNS business circumstances.

Prokopis is a new addition to the class. He is a native Greek speaker but lived in Italy for
5 years and used English to communicate as he did not speak Italian. He has never

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 25

attended any formal lessons before. He wants to improve his grammar/written and
speaking skills in order to continue with Business English for his work in the field of
conservation of energy/electricity. He has a good command of the spoken language but
struggles with comprehension.

Elena is from Bulgaria. She also speaks Greek and some Russian. She worked with young
English speaking children in a ski resort in Bulgaria and thus has a very good command of
spoken English and her pronunciation is very good. She feels she needs to improve her
grammar and spelling as she is used to speaking English but has not officially learnt to
read and write the language. She is a quiet member of the group but is always willing to
learn and participate when asked.

Lesson Aims/ Objectives for students

To raise Ss awareness of some of the aspects of connected speech to help them
recognize the features when listening to chunks of speech and thus improve
‘’intelligibility” through reception and production.

Primary Aim(s)

 Encourage Ss to recognize weak forms, vowel reduction, assimilation, elision, liaison,

and intrusion, as they hear streams of speech and thus aid comprehension.
 To be more confident with the physical/mental skills of phonology in order to
motivate the Ss to produce the sounds themselves.
 To develop the Ss speaking microskills and to prove with practice, L2
interference can disappear and English pronunciation can become a
Sub-conscious skill, like learning to drive.
Secondary Aim(s)

 To point out a spoken sentence in written form, is not what they hear. To encourage
prediction of which lexical item may/may not appear in a particular situation.
 To experiment with discovery activities to sensitize students to the importance of
suprasegmentals (stress/rhythm and intonation)
 To enable Ss to self monitor, leading to self-correction when speaking.
 To revise some language for making plans and use web 2.0 tools/internet sites to
encourage autonomy.
Evidence

 Introduction activity highlights differences in speed and context of utterances. A

slower and more careful delivery such as that of poems and limericks is easier to
comprehend although there may be unknown words than that of a rapid colloquial
speech between two friends on a telephone, with few new lexical items. Plus the fact
one cannot see gestures and facial expressions, leads to more difficulties in
comprehension. These differences are highlighted in order to introduce connected
speech features, which are often the cause of confusion in listening comprehension.
 Recognition activity – audio script to count how many words Ss hear and compare with
written form of dialogue. Raises Ss awareness of some of the features of connected
speech.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 26

  Listening to the dialogue of two native speakers interacting informally targets
‘receptive pronunciation’.
 Discovery activity to allow Ss to notice by themselves the changes in natural speech
by comparing a section of the dialogue in written form and spoken.
 Teaching the features of connected speech at the presentation stage of lesson
allows Ss to predict and recognize some features.
 Highlighting and drilling, including backchaining to produce the sounds and to practice
parts of the dialogue heard in order to practice speaking microskills.
 ‘Crazy Dictation’ encourages Ss to focus on pronunciation skills without focusing on
grammar/form thus aids production and reception through a fun and motivating
activity and allows fluency to develop by Ss concentrating on the ‘telephone call’, and
so forgetting themselves in the meantime. This activity also adds variety and as
change of pace for production.
 The ‘crazy dictation’ also clarifies the presentation stage, Ss are encouraged to
produce and receive as many features as possible of connected speech.
 Recording Ss in class, playback allows for self and peer monitoring. By providing web
site addresses and involving Ss in a site where the T can monitor the student’s
individual progress encourages the student to practice outside of the classroom and
builds up confidence, plus encourages autonomy.
 Self – monitoring means self-correcting when speaking. This physical/mental skill will
become sub-conscious through practice, the Ss are introduced to this concept
throughout the lesson, thus helping to eliminate L1 interference and reach
“comfortable intelligibility”.

Source Aids/Handouts
Mp3 recordings in Powerpoint presentation – Retrieved from
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/progs/prog1.shtml#linking1

Images and mp3 recording of audience clapping retrieved from for Powerpoint
Presentation – http://images.google.com/

Hand outs 1/2/3/4 © Sharon Noseley

‘Crazy dictation’ © Sharon Noseley

Mp3 recording of ‘the Chat’ on Skype via Pamela © Sharon Noseley

Limerick/poem/Learning English pronunciation retrieved from

www.youtube.com

Linguistic assumptions

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 27

The class is already familiar with phonemic script and the sounds connected with it. I
have introduced the IPA chart and over a series of lessons, we have worked on sounds in
isolation, focusing on certain problem areas for individual L1 interference within this
multi-lingual class. E.g. vowel distinguishing vowel sounds, short/long vowels, voiced and
unvoiced sounds, consonant clusters and word stress. Recently, I have worked on stress
and rhythm, including contrastive stress and identifying the content and function words
in sentences. Please see the attached lesson plan for pronunciation in the previous
appendices.
The Face to Face course book has presented some listening exercises with reference to
sentence stress and vowel reduction. At this point, we discussed some areas of spoken
English and why sometimes it is difficult to understand when it is spoken naturally. The
students were interested and motivated to focus on this area of pronunciation,
especially as most students feel that ‘English people speak to fast’. Some of the class
has experienced classes in which instruction has been focused heavily on accuracy and
thus this is causing some problems in reception and production. The class work well
together and have an excellent rapport.

I have also encouraged the class to keep their own ‘sound dictionaries’ which they have
enjoyed and refer to away from the class, plus the students concentrate on individual
mother-tongue issues on-line at http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/ or
www.howjsay.com to encourage autonomy.

Anticipated Language Difficulties

 The exposure of rapid colloquial speech for the newcomers to the class, could be a
challenge and de motivating.
 Difficulties in using intonation and rhythm patterns with fluency.
 L1 interference will hinder productivity.
 Certain sounds are difficult for Greek speakers. As a class we have previously worked
on certain issues however there are some fossilization problems. E.g. long vowels are
usually shortened; the lack of elisions and assimilations in Greek tends to make Greek
speakers sound slow, drawling and rather formal. Stress and intonation patterns are
difficult for Greek speakers to ‘feel the rhythm’ of English.
 The Russian speaker has overcome many of the typical pronunciation points through
past lessons; however reception is still a challenge, as the mind interprets certain
sounds to L1. E.g. Long vowels sound like short vowels. Consonant clusters cause
problems and intonation issues may arise.
 The Bulgarian speaker has very few pronunciation issues of individual phonemes in
production but does sometimes encounter problems with the discrimination of
minimal pairs containing two long vowels. Plus the / æ/sound has been a challenge at
the reception stage.

Remedies

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 28

  To make clear to Ss that the target of comfortable intelligibility means that the
learners’ productive skills need not be as sophisticated as their ‘receptive
pronunciation’. To include more recognition than productive activities at this stage to
motivate and encourage the new Ss this is a new area for them and practice and
exposure to the language is what is needed. This lesson is to highlight awareness.
 To emphasise the listening of an informal colloquial speech is to target their listening
skills only, over time their productive skills will improve..
 Teacher tool kit for specific L1 interference. Minimal pair flashcards.
 Drilling , listening to limericks , poems and natural colloquial speech will help learners
become aware of the stream of speech simplifications, and through practice I hope
they will incorporate them in their own speech, and L1 intrusions will slowly disappear
and fluency will enhance their intelligibility.
 To encourage Ss through the ‘crazy dictation’ to put themselves ‘in character’ and
the main emphasis is on the process rather than the production, to allow the T to be
a spectator and to develop their own language awareness.

Board Plan(s)
Stage 1 – Ss comments – fast speech/rhythm/stress/lost sounds etc
Stage 4, 5 and 6 - Data projector shows dialogue in written form. . Highlight stress.
Stick IPA symbols on board.
Stage 7 - Board used to project PPT presentation.

Commentary
My primary aim is to aid the Ss to reach ‘comfortable intelligibility’ through natural
speech, when listening and to aid speaking. As a multilingual class, living in a non-English
speaking environment I believe reception is sometimes a bigger problem than production
(What you can’t hear, you can’t say). Moreover, if the ‘English’ sound is not clearly
received, the brain of the learner converts it to the closest sound in their own language,
thus I will devise exercises that allows clear practice in production and reception and
give feedback to individual learners as to where problems lie and how to repair them.
When the students see a spoken sentence in its written form, they have no trouble
comprehending. As speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut
borderlines between each word, comprehension can be difficult thus hindering reception
and production. In spoken discourse, we adapt our pronunciation to our audience and
articulate with maximal economy of movement rather than maximal clarity. Thus, certain

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 29

words are lost, and certain phonemes are linked together as we attempt to get our
message across.
As this is a multilingual class, with a variety of mother tongue issues, the majority of the
class has syllable-based L1 interference; they do not have the various devices native
speakers have for dealing with indistinct utterances caused by connected speech. The
native speaker takes into account the context; they assume they hear words with which
they are familiar with in that context. Non-native speakers, however, are rarely able to
predict which lexical item may or may not appear in a particular situation. They tend to
depend almost solely on the sounds which they hear.
Therefore, my rationale for approaching these issues as a ‘top-down’ process is to
introduce the aspects of connected speech in a natural context. Even if they do not
assimilate forms such as linking words, elision, assimilation, intrusion and stress
(including word stress, prominence and rhythm) at first, the simple awareness of their
existence, I believe, can enable the Ss to reach their aims of a better understanding of
spoken English.
On a personal level, I would like to experiment with a top-down, holistic approach to
suprasegmental features of speech. ‘’To go beyond the sentence and look at longer
stretches of language’ (Widdowson, 1978:22). Through listening to the natural informal
dialogue of two native speakers, I hope the Ss will be able to notice and recognize
features of connected speech. Integrating listening and speaking skills, allows the Ss to
involve their personalities and opinions, and raises their awareness of how English and
other languages differ in these areas.
Through fun activities such as the ‘crazy dictation’ , the class is being provided with a
‘mask’ of sorts, to hopefully create a fun and motivating way to experiment with the
sounds, stress and rhythm.
Overall, I feel the intermediate class is at a level where pronunciation skills need to be
worked on. As it is an area which has been somewhat neglected and from the feedback I
have received from questionnaires and class discussions, connected speech is an area
that the Ss feel ‘they are in the dark’. This is especially true for the Ss from syllable-
timed language backgrounds. In my experience, this is also causing the Ss problems on
how pitch range can express interest, boredom, and so on, it is highly important and
necessary for their success as English speakers to work on these areas at this stage,
and makes a case for concentrating on suprasegmental features as well as the
segmentals. The suprasegmentals are an area we cannot work on in just one lesson, an
overnight solution is not possible, however I believe a process of gradually raising
awareness in different areas over a series of lessons will enable the students to reach
their goals of ‘intelligibility’ and greater understanding of spoken natural English.

Sharon Noseley Adapting phonology issues to the learner’s goals Page 30

 DELTA Lesson Plan Name Sharon Noseley Date 21/10/2010
PROCEDURE

Stage Teacher Activity Learner Activity Aims Materials Interaction Time

1 T tells Ss they will be Listen and complete To initiate the idea that Lap top and T – Class 12 mins
listening to a variety of comprehension questions a stream of speech data projector Pair work
speeches – regarding each recording in brings together three for Class -T
chats/limericks(explain pairs. branches of phonology – presentation.
term)/poems, For each Give feedback and discuss. sounds/stress and H/O 1/2/3
video clip T gives out a intonation. A top down Board for
H/O 1 with some approach to introduce comments.
comprehension questions suprasegmentals.
to read before listening. To highlight the changes
For the limerick, pre in difficulty of
teaches/elicits ‘dead of comprehension and
the night’. production is usually due
T Plays limerick – to the speed of delivery.
discusses. The most difficult being
Was the limerick easy to rapid colloquial speech.
understand? Slow speech
as being read aloud. To prove the importance
Checks answers. of connected speech and
T informs Ss going to rhythm as a central role
listen to a famous poet in L2 acquisition and
read one of his own competent language use.
poems. Gives H/O 2. To encourage a class
Informs class listening discussion on the ‘sound’
for gist not specific of the speech produced
information. Plays prepares Ss for
famous poem from pronunciation/connected

31
 Kipling. Easy to speech issues.
understand? If you
c/ə/n…..
Checks answers.
T introduces 3rd listening.
Gives H/O 3.
Then plays ‘The Chat”. A
recording on Skype last
summer between two
native speakers. Checks
answers.
Which of the three
speeches was the most
difficult to comprehend?
WHY? When you cannot
see the other person and
the gestures he
uses/The speed of
spoken speech?
T writes comments on
board.
2 T informs class they will Ss listen and count. To enable Ss to ‘notice’ Recording of Class - pair 5 mins
listen to ‘The Chat” again Discuss in pairs. what happens in dialogue. work
and count the number of Ss give feedback. connected speech and
words they hear in a Ss inform T if they need to initiate awareness of the
certain section – “Can you listen again, or ask T to pause features of continuous
get us some bread and if necessary. speech in English. To
cheese? I’m starving. We accustomise the Ss to
could have a picnic on the the accents/speed of
beach.” Play again if natural speech through
necessary. Elicits number listening.
of words. T pauses

32
 recording if necessary. T
tells Ss to discuss in
pairs word number.
Expected answer – 12 –
14.
4 T gives H/O 4 with Ss read and count words. To discover for H/O 1 T – class 8 mins
dialogue transcription in Feedback and discuss word themselves that English Board /data
full form and displays number. in the written form is projector.
dialogue on board. Point out changes in speech different to that of Dialogue ‘The
T asks Ss to count the from written form they spoken. To notice there Chat’.
words for the section notice compared to spoken are changes in spoken
underlined that they just form. discourse.
listened to. Number of
words is 18. Is this how
many words they heard?
Discuss the difference.
T models certain
sentences to aid
recognition .e.g. Can
you/bread and
cheese/could have a…
T revises some IPA Ss respond and revise To remind Ss of sounds Flashcards of
symbols for sound sounds previously taught and to IPA symbols.
changes. Symbols /ə/ recognize the sound Board
/ɑː/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ changes
T holds up flashcard of
symbol and elicits each
sound then sticks
symbols on board below
the dialogue.
Introduces IPA symbols
where appropriate, on a

33
 flashcard for change in
sounds and sticks on
board. Back chaining the longer
T back chains the Ss repeat the drill. sentence allows Ss to
sentence with class. maintain stress patterns
and to practice the
longer sentence in
manageable chunks.

5 T displays on board Ss listen to model and To encourage Ss to Data T – Class 4 mins

written form of dialogue. become aware of the recognize the changes in projector. Class – T
T models the dialogue, differences. Ss notice the connected speech IPA symbol
elicits from Ss which changes and produce sounds. through a top down flashcards.
IPA symbol is approach plus Board to
appropriate for sound incorporating highlight
changes and sticks the stress/rhythm and stress. With
IPA symbols above the intonation. To help the arrows.
written word. Ss perceive the
T indicates stress on differences and
board and signals with concentrate on the
hands to encourage changes.
recognition and aid
production of
intonation/rhythm.

6 T divides the class into Ss repeat drill as if they are Drilling the Ss at this Dialogue on T – Class 5 mins
two halves. One half of holding the conversation. stage allows for time to board. Ss –Ss.
the class is ‘Nicky’ and Ss produce sentences on study the language and Data Class divided
the other half is their own. through controlled projector. into two.
‘Sharon’. practice enables the T to Ss – T

34
 Drill the dialogue in Ss drill each other as one aim for accurate
sections. Motions to Ss student acts as T. production from the
when to repeat. class, because in the
T signals with hand Ss drill teacher to check freer activities later;
rise/fall in pitch. correct model. there will not be the
T elicits sentences from scope for such
individual Ss. Asks a correction.
student to be To encourage the Ss feel
‘the teacher’ and drills comfortable with the
class. fluency of natural
Ss drill teacher to check speech/ A stress timed
correct model if language. To aid
necessary. retention of the sounds
in spoken English

7 T presents PPT slides - Ss watch/listen to PPT Language presentation PPT T – class 6 mins
features of connected presentation. stage – highlighting form presentation.
speech: weak Ss repeat and join in drilling. and features of Board/data
forms/linking connected speech in a projector.
words/disappearing motivating and engaging Print out of
words/changing approach. presentation.
sounds/added To focus on the
sounds/stress of content construction of the
words. features.
T drills examples from To aid recognition and
PPT and then hands out activate knowledge for
printed version of PPT future production.
presentation. Drill to accustomise and
practice sounds.
8 Elicit Ss offer information to be To recap points and PPT slides T- class 3 mins
ideas/thoughts/points discussed. discuss the ‘cues’ of the
raised by PPT slides. presentation To think

35
 about the features of
connected speech.

9 T informs class, now it is Ss involved in a productive A freer activity for Chairs Pair work 13 mins
time to practice. T activity. production and reception. rearranged so
divides the class in two. Ss rearrange chairs to face To give the Ss the Ss face each
T informs class they are each other. opportunity to other
going to call each other Ss speak and write to manipulate the features Crazy
to make plans to go out. complete activity. of connected speech in a dictation hand
One half of the class is fun, productive way. out for A and
A, the other half is B. The speech is scripted B.
They are going to thus the Ss do not have Telephones.
complete a ‘crazy to worry about
dictation’ paper! grammar/form but are
Students face each allowed to focus on their
other in pairs, across the pronunciation and
room. listening skills, Plus
T hands out the activity review language for
and telephones. Gives A making appointments.
to one student in each As the T is a spectator,
pair and B to the other. it allows the T to
Ss dictate their half of evaluate the
the dialogue to their effectiveness of the
partner, until both have lesson’s input through
completed it. listening to the Ss
The first pair to finish is output.
the winner.
T explains each pair have
to say their part of the
dialogue and the other
student has to write
down what they hear, the

36
 missing part of the
dialogue.
T checks Ss aware of
what they have to do.
Do you show your paper
to your partner! No!
Do you make up your own
dialogue? No!
Are you listening for
specific information?
Yes!
T explains dialogue is
written to aid connected
speech and fluency.
T demonstrates a line of
the dialogue and asks Ss
to write it down to check
their understanding of
the activity.
T records students and
acts as a spectator. .
10 T encourages feedback Ss listen to recording, offer To analyse lesson and Ss H/O – .T-Class .5 mins
and discusses any feedback and comments. feelings and production feedback. Class - T
correction points. for future lessons. Recording of
Replays recording for Ss class activity-
to listen to themselves, laptop.
Gives Ss a feedback
handout.
Extra T introduces Ss volunteer and participate To encourage the Ss to
activity or www.englishcentral.co or practice at home. find fun activities to
homework m/ Demonstrates how to motivate them to
use the site to improve practice their

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pronunciation and self pronunciation skills away
monitor at home. T from the classroom and
explains a classroom has become autonomous
been set up for them to learners and self correct
improve their scores and their own pronunciation,
pronunciation skills. T thus improving reception
asks Ss to select a movie and production through
and asks for a volunteer practice.
to ‘dub’ the movie, the
playback is then listened
to by the class and
competition sets in as
each S tries to improve
their score!

38
Hand outs

39
H/O 1

Limerick – There once was a man from...

Listen and answer the following questions...

 Where was the man from?

 What was he eating?

 What was he doing when he thought he was eating it?

 When did he wake up?

 Was he really eating it?

A limerick is a humorous poem with 5 lines…

40
H/O 2

Poem – Rudyard Kipling – If

Listen and answer the following questions. You are only

listening for the gist/the idea...

 What is Mr. Kipling trying to tell us?

 Is he giving us advice or telling us what we must always

do?

 Do you agree with him?

 Who does he mention at the end? For whom did he

write this famous poem?

 Did you enjoy it?

Rudyard Kipling
was an English
writer, he wrote
the famous
遷 ungle Book�
He wrote the
poem 選 f�in
1910.

41
H/0 3

The Chat

Listen and answer the following questions.....

 Is this an informal or formal conversation?

 What is Sharon thinking about doing?

 What does Nicky need to do before going out?

 What time are they going?

 What has Sharon got to do before meeting Nicky?

 What does Nicky suggest they do?

 Are the boys going with them?

42
 H/O 4

The Chat

Sharon - Hello! It's me!

Nicky- Hiya!
Sharon - I was just thinking about going for a
swim, do you want to come?
Nicky – Er, yes. Ok. That sounds good. I’ve got
to have a cup of tea first though. What time are
you thinking of going?
Sharon – Er, around 10 o'clock, if that's alright?
Nicky – Yes, sounds alright. Could you do me a
favour though?
Sharon - Yes, sure! Whatever you want, my
friend!
Nicky – Can you get us some bread and
cheese? I’m starving. We could have a picnic
on the beach.
Sharon – Yes sure, it's not a problem.
Nicky - Thanks a lot!
Sharon - You are welcome!
Nicky- How about the boys …Do you think they
will want to come?
Sharon- To be honest, I haven't seen them for
about two days.
Nicky - Ok, not to worry! I‘ll see you at 10
o’clock then.
Sharon - Yep! Bye for now!
Nicky - See you later.

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 Crazy Dictation

You are Madonona! Say your dialogue.

Listen to Sakis Rouvas and write down what he says!

Sakis:
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Madonna: Hiya Sak! How y/ə / doin? That’s righ’….I’m ‘ere an’ enjoyin
the sun!

Sakis: ________________________________________________

Madonna: Soundz wow! C/ə/n y/ə/ book /ə/table f/ə/ Thursday

night?
Do y/ə/ wan me t/ə/ bring the kids, az I know y/ə/ love em!

Sakis: _________________________________________________

Madonna: Ok! Let’s talk /e/gain soon to confirm times, az I’ve gotta go
now f/ə/ me massage! Bye!

Sakis:_________________________________________________

44
 Crazy Dictation

You are Sakis Rouvas! Say your dialogue.

Listen to Madonna and write down what she says!

Sakis: Hi, itz me - Sakis! I /ɜː/d you’re in Athens for /ə/ couple ov
weeks!

Madonna: _____________________________________________

Sakis: Great! Do y/ə/ wanna meet up sometime? We cudgo to /ə/new

fancy restaurant overlookin’ th/ɜː/ Acropolis.

Madonna:
______________________________________________________

Sakis: That /ʊ/d be great! Bringem all!

Maddona:_______________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Sakis: Ok! Speak soon. Seeya!

45