Pronunciation Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching by Grant Linda

Author:Grant, Linda [Grant, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780472120703
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2014-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

a. John said, “The Boss is an idiot!”

b. “John,” said the Boss, “is an idiot!”

The written punctuation helps readers to know who is speaking. But in spoken English, there is no punctuation, so the prosodic signals take the place of these visible markers. Or, to be more exact, punctuation marks convey in writing what is conveyed in speech by musical signals.

5. Warning!! Students may not believe you. Because the system is apt to be foreign to students, they may not actually believe that intonation affects meaning. Convince them by providing practice with built-in feedback.

Long ago I used an exercise that depended on varying emphasis for the same sentence, I want three dozen oranges. Each line had a different word in capital letters, followed by the different meaning in parentheses. To me, the purpose was obvious. But after I had led the class to dutifully repeat the sentences differently, one of my students said, “This is just an exercise for the class, no?” I was angry, but then thought better of it. He was an aggressive sort of person, but he had actually done me a great favor. I truly hadn't realized that the principle was not self-evident. Students will rarely tell the teacher that they feel silly speaking this way, and the result will be that they may walk out of the class without having accepted the system at all. Or they may think intonation is simply decorative. I think the best way to handle this common doubt about the importance of the system is to use a good deal of practice in which the answer to a remark depends on the emphasis used. An example in which paired students help each other follows. The speaker chooses to say a or b. The listener must respond to the emphasis heard.

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