Effective Pronunciation Instruction for Adult ESL Students

By Erin Vobornik

INTRODUCTION

Effective pronunciation instruction requires knowledge of applied linguistics, phonetics, and ESL pedagogy. However, Derwing and Munro (2005) find that teachers rely heavily on their own intuitions about pronunciation and not on research-based techniques. If we cannot rely on our own intuition about oral language, how do we wade through the overabundance of speaking activities to find the ones that are effective? By focusing on functional load, suprasegmentals, and perception-raising activities, we can narrow our focus to techniques and strategies that help students succeed.

FUNCTIONAL LOAD

King (1967) defines functional load (FL) as “A measure of the work which two phonemes (or a distinctive feature) do in keeping utterances apart” (p. 831). To simplify this further, certain sound substitutions are more detrimental to intelligibility than others. For instance, the substitution of /d/, /f/, or /t/ for /θ/ is low on the functional load scale. That is to say that it does not lead to unintelligible speech and miscommunication. However, substitutions of /l/ for /n/ or /d/ for /z/ are high functional load errors; thus, having a greater chance of unintelligibility. Derwing and Munro (2006) found that “even sentences that contained only one high functional load error were rated significantly worse for comprehensibility than sentences containing three low FL errors” (p. 528). The sounds themselves are not the only focus of functional load; Derwing and Munro (2006) also found that “word initial errors are more important than errors in other positions” (p. 530).

Even if your Spanish-speaking student may struggle with the pronunciation of /θ/, it is not the most pressing pronunciation concern because it is a low functional load error. This runs counter to what one’s intuition may say about the importance of correcting these mistakes. When choosing activities or sounds to focus on, consider whether they are high functional load errors or low functional load errors.

SUPRASEGMENTALS

A suprasegmental is a feature of speech that goes beyond the individual sounds of the language. The suprasegmentals that I focus on are intonation and stress. It is important to move beyond a phonemic focus and draw students’ attention to the word, phrase, and sentence levels.

INTONATION
Intonation may seem like something that does not need to be taught in an adult ESL classroom; however, this is not the case. In English, we tend to have rising intonation on questions, but not every language patterns the same way. For example, an Urdu speaker can use rising intonation in statements as well. Thus, a native Urdu speaker in an ESL classroom may be inaccurately perceived by the teacher as asking questions or being unsure of herself/himself when it may simply be a matter of intonation transfer from the student’s native language.

STRESS
Most languages fall into one of two categories: syllable-timed languages and stress-timed languages. Spanish, French, Italian, and Japanese are some examples of syllable-timed languages. In a syllable-timed language, each syllable is approximately the same length, and those syllables that are lengthened or stressed do not cause a word to change its meaning. English, Russian, and Arabic are a few of the stress-timed languages. A stress-timed language can use stress to change the meaning of a word, such as: project (v.) and project (n.), contract (v.) and contract (n.). An ESL student from a syllable-timed language background will likely have clipped or shortened syllables that make comprehension difficult. For example, the student may say the word ‘Friday’ without stress on either syllable.

PERCEPTION-RAISING ACTIVITIES

Explicit instruction is a useful component of pronunciation pedagogy. Students should be taught how to determine word stress and when to use rising intonation. However, before any of that instruction occurs, students must perceive the difference between her/his L1 and English. This is a core component of pronunciation instruction that is widely ignored in common adult education ESL textbooks. On a phonemic level, a student must recognize that there is a difference between how she/he says /b/ and how a native English speaker says /b/. Once the student can perceive that difference, instruction may begin. Too often, teachers rely on ad hoc pronunciation instruction. They address individual phonemic differences when they encounter them. Couper (2011) explains that unless a student perceives why they are repeating a sound or word, they will not be able to pronounce it correctly. Thus, perception-raising activities are integral in effective pronunciation instruction.

Integrating perception-raising techniques is not as daunting as it sounds. The teacher leads students to reflect on a specific feature of their native languages and compare that feature to English. Rossiter, Derwing, Manimtim, and Thomson (2010) provides several perception-raising techniques that are easily adaptable in an intermediate/advanced level ESL classroom. Teachers of lower levels will need to get creative in adapting these activities. A recent activity that I did with my high-intermediate ESL students involved fillers. A filler is a word that saves your place as the speaker in a conversation while allowing you processing time to compose your next utterance. For example, ‘um’, ‘uh’, and ‘well’ are common fillers in American English, while long pauses are generally not used. My students began by reflecting on words and sounds that they use in their native languages to show that they are thinking. They then compared those sounds with the English fillers that I shared with them. At this point, they now perceive a similarity or difference in filler words between their L1 and English. In my classroom, I took the perception-raising task one step further and had them analyze 4 authentic two-minute conversations between native English speakers. In groups, they listened for the filler words, determined the function of the filler, and also concluded how the use of the filler words affected their perception of the speakers. For example, one of the audio recordings included someone who left a long pause before her response. Many students inferred that the speaker did not understand the question, was distracted by her cell phone, or wasn't listening. This activity was so effective that my students were hyper-aware of every filler that I used throughout the rest of class, enthusiastically pointing each one out to me.

CONCLUSION

By using perception-raising techniques, you can ensure that you are adhering to explicit instruction. When I plan my lessons, I choose a pronunciation focus (e.g. word stress), determine what I want them to be able to do, and then work my way backwards in order to craft a perception-raising technique. Eventually when I focus on sentential stress, the techniques and conversations from previous lessons on stress become part of a web of knowledge. As research shows, we can wade through the vast number of speaking activities to find those that will help our students work towards intelligible oral English. Using perception-raising techniques, focusing on suprasegmentals, and considering functional load will lead to successful pronunciation instruction.

References

Couper, G. (2016). Teacher Cognition of Pronunciation Teaching: Teachers Concerns and Issues. TESOL Quarterly,51(4), 820-843. doi:10.1002/tesq.354

Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2005). Second Language Accent and Pronunciation Teaching: A Research-Based Approach. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 379. doi:10.2307/3588486

King, R. D. (1967). Functional load and sound change. Language, 43, 831-852.

Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2006). The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction: An exploratory study. System, 34(4), 520-531. doi:10.1016/j.system.2006.09.004

Rossiter, M. J., Derwing, T. M., Manimtim, L. G., & Thomson, R. I. (2010). Oral Fluency: The Neglected Component in the Communicative Language Classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(4), 583-606. doi:10.3138/cmlr.66.4.583

Erin Vobornik teaches ESL at Elgin Community College.


Effective Pronunciation Instruction for Adult ESL Students By Erin Vobornik INTRODUCTION Effective pronunciation instruction requires knowledge of applied linguistics, phonetics, and ESL pedagogy. However, Derwing and Munro (2005) find that teachers rely heavily on their own intuitions about pronunciation and not on research-based techniques. If we cannot rely on our own intuition about oral language, how do we wade through the overabundance of speaking activities to find the ones that are effective? By focusing on functional load, suprasegmentals, and perception-raising activities, we can narrow our focus to techniques and strategies that help students succeed. FUNCTIONAL LOAD King (1967) defines functional load (FL) as “A measure of the work which two phonemes (or a distinctive feature) do in keeping utterances apart” (p. 831). To simplify this further, certain sound substitutions are more detrimental to intelligibility than others. For instance, the substitution of /d/, /f/, or /t/ for /θ/ is low on the functional load scale. That is to say that it does not lead to unintelligible speech and miscommunication. However, substitutions of /l/ for /n/ or /d/ for /z/ are high functional load errors; thus, having a greater chance of unintelligibility. Derwing and Munro (2006) found that “even sentences that contained only one high functional load error were rated significantly worse for comprehensibility than sentences containing three low FL errors” (p. 528). The sounds themselves are not the only focus of functional load; Derwing and Munro (2006) also found that “word initial errors are more important than errors in other positions” (p. 530). Even if your Spanish-speaking student may struggle with the pronunciation of /θ/, it is not the most pressing pronunciation concern because it is a low functional load error. This runs counter to what one’s intuition may say about the importance of correcting these mistakes. When choosing activities or sounds to focus on, consider whether they are high functional load errors or low functional load errors. SUPRASEGMENTALS A suprasegmental is a feature of speech that goes beyond the individual sounds of the language. The suprasegmentals that I focus on are intonation and stress. It is important to move beyond a phonemic focus and draw students’ attention to the word, phrase, and sentence levels. INTONATION Intonation may seem like something that does not need to be taught in an adult ESL classroom; however, this is not the case. In English, we tend to have rising intonation on questions, but not every language patterns the same way. For example, an Urdu speaker can use rising intonation in statements as well. Thus, a native Urdu speaker in an ESL classroom may be inaccurately perceived by the teacher as asking questions or being unsure of herself/himself when it may simply be a matter of intonation transfer from the student’s native language. STRESS Most languages fall into one of two categories: syllable-timed languages and stress-timed languages. Spanish, French, Italian, and Japanese are some examples of syllable-timed languages. In a syllable-timed language, each syllable is approximately the same length, and those syllables that are lengthened or stressed do not cause a word to change its meaning. English, Russian, and Arabic are a few of the stress-timed languages. A stress-timed language can use stress to change the meaning of a word, such as: project (v.) and project (n.), contract (v.) and contract (n.). An ESL student from a syllable-timed language background will likely have clipped or shortened syllables that make comprehension difficult. For example, the student may say the word ‘Friday’ without stress on either syllable. PERCEPTION-RAISING ACTIVITIES Explicit instruction is a useful component of pronunciation pedagogy. Students should be taught how to determine word stress and when to use rising intonation. However, before any of that instruction occurs, students must perceive the difference between her/his L1 and English. This is a core component of pronunciation instruction that is widely ignored in common adult education ESL textbooks. On a phonemic level, a student must recognize that there is a difference between how she/he says /b/ and how a native English speaker says /b/. Once the student can perceive that difference, instruction may begin. Too often, teachers rely on ad hoc pronunciation instruction. They address individual phonemic differences when they encounter them. Couper (2011) explains that unless a student perceives why they are repeating a sound or word, they will not be able to pronounce it correctly. Thus, perception-raising activities are integral in effective pronunciation instruction. Integrating perception-raising techniques is not as daunting as it sounds. The teacher leads students to reflect on a specific feature of their native languages and compare that feature to English. Rossiter, Derwing, Manimtim, and Thomson (2010) provides several perception-raising techniques that are easily adaptable in an intermediate/advanced level ESL classroom. Teachers of lower levels will need to get creative in adapting these activities. A recent activity that I did with my high-intermediate ESL students involved fillers. A filler is a word that saves your place as the speaker in a conversation while allowing you processing time to compose your next utterance. For example, ‘um’, ‘uh’, and ‘well’ are common fillers in American English, while long pauses are generally not used. My students began by reflecting on words and sounds that they use in their native languages to show that they are thinking. They then compared those sounds with the English fillers that I shared with them. At this point, they now perceive a similarity or difference in filler words between their L1 and English. In my classroom, I took the perception-raising task one step further and had them analyze 4 authentic two-minute conversations between native English speakers. In groups, they listened for the filler words, determined the function of the filler, and also concluded how the use of the filler words affected their perception of the speakers. For example, one of the audio recordings included someone who left a long pause before her response. Many students inferred that the speaker did not understand the question, was distracted by her cell phone, or wasn't listening. This activity was so effective that my students were hyper-aware of every filler that I used throughout the rest of class, enthusiastically pointing each one out to me. CONCLUSION By using perception-raising techniques, you can ensure that you are adhering to explicit instruction. When I plan my lessons, I choose a pronunciation focus (e.g. word stress), determine what I want them to be able to do, and then work my way backwards in order to craft a perception-raising technique. Eventually when I focus on sentential stress, the techniques and conversations from previous lessons on stress become part of a web of knowledge. As research shows, we can wade through the vast number of speaking activities to find those that will help our students work towards intelligible oral English. Using perception-raising techniques, focusing on suprasegmentals, and considering functional load will lead to successful pronunciation instruction. References Couper, G. (2016). Teacher Cognition of Pronunciation Teaching: Teachers Concerns and Issues. TESOL Quarterly,51(4), 820-843. doi:10.1002/tesq.354 Derwing, T. M., & Munro, M. J. (2005). Second Language Accent and Pronunciation Teaching: A Research-Based Approach. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 379. doi:10.2307/3588486 King, R. D. (1967). Functional load and sound change. Language, 43, 831-852. Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2006). The functional load principle in ESL pronunciation instruction: An exploratory study. System, 34(4), 520-531. doi:10.1016/j.system.2006.09.004 Rossiter, M. J., Derwing, T. M., Manimtim, L. G., & Thomson, R. I. (2010). Oral Fluency: The Neglected Component in the Communicative Language Classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(4), 583-606. doi:10.3138/cmlr.66.4.583 Erin Vobornik teaches ESL at Elgin Community College.
Spring 2019 - Spring 2019