Department of
TESOL Program
Course Instruction Plan
Mission & Purpose
Statement: Azusa
Pacific University is an evangelical Christian community of disciples and
scholars who seek to advance the work of God in the world through academic
excellence in liberal arts and professional programs of higher education that
encourage students to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life.
Teaching
English Pronunciation
| TESL 525 | Richard Robison |
| Call # 5000 | Professor, Global Studies and Sociology Department |
| 3 Units | Office: Ronald 110 |
| Spring II, 2005 (April 18 - June 18) | Office Hours: Wed., 2:30-4:30, and by appointment |
| Monday, 4:45-9:15 | Office Phone: (626) 815-6000, Ext. 3416 |
| Room: Darling 405 | E-mail: rrobison@apu.edu |
Following a period of relative neglect, the teaching of pronunciation has, in the last two decades, come of age as a crucial aspect of second language instruction, despite recalcitrant skeptics. To be prepared for this component, teachers of ESL/EFL students need to equip themselves along two tracks. First, they need to understand analytically the phonological system of English--how the sounds of English are produced by the vocal organs, and the rules that govern their use in fluent speech. Second, they need to be able to apply this knowledge to the actual teaching of pronunciation.
This course will address these two
tracks through various problem-solving exercises aimed at raising class
members’ awareness of their own pronunciation, and through discussion and
application of methods for teaching pronunciation.
Participants in this course should expect
to achieve the following skills:
1.
Analyze
English pronunciation using a standard transcription system.
2.
Describe
and explain the production of segmental (consonant and vowel) and
suprasegmental (stress and intonation) elements of English.
3.
Diagnose the causes of the inaccurate
pronunciation of ESL students.
4.
Design
and present lessons that incorporate effective methods for teaching English
pronunciation to second language learners.
5.
Evaluate
the merit and potential uses of published materials that address pronunciation.
Celce-Murcia, M.,
Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996).
Teaching
pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other
languages.
Kelly, G. (2000). How to teach pronunciation. Longman.
Course Packet: Teaching English Pronunciation.
Recommended Resources:
Laroy, C. (1995). Pronunciation.
Cassette to accompany Celce-Murcia,
Brinton & Goodwin, Teaching
pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other
languages
General stipulation: You are asked in this course to work with a partner whose first language is different from your own. For each of the following requirements except for the exam, you have a choice of either a joint submission (with the same grade for both persons) or separate submissions. In either case, you are expected to collaborate in your preparatory work.
1. Written Exercises: During the first half of the course, weekly transcription and practical problem-solving exercises will be assigned from the text and course packet (see the "Tentative Class Schedule" on pp. 7-8). These assignments are due at the beginning of class.
2. Exam: A test in the fifth class session, May 16, will assess mastery of the theoretical component of the course--articulatory phonetics and phonetic transcription--as well as issues in practical application.
3. Lesson Plan: Each class member will develop a lesson plan that applies the principles in the readings. Notice that this constitutes an opportunity for you to add new material to your repertoire; do not just dust off a lesson that you have used before. Each lesson plan should be written up for submission in a manner appropriate for a materials swap, and therefore must not include any material photocopied from published sources. The lesson will also be presented to a small group of class members, who will provide constructive feedback, which may be incorporated into a revised version of the lesson plan.
The written plan may be organized according to your own style, but should include the following elements.
Audience & Context: Whom is this lesson designed for? [Think in terms of age, language background, English proficiency, and context. Don’t define the audience too narrowly.] Where would it fit in an overall curriculum for teaching pronunciation?
Objective: What exactly do you want the students to learn? Focus your lesson on one aspect of pronunciation, either segmental or supra-segmental--such as "alveolar fricatives," "the tense/lax distinction for front vowels," or "question intonation"--and clearly state this focus at the beginning
Rationale: Why is this objective important to achieve? Succinctly indicate what errors learners typically make, or what communication problems they encounter, in relation to your focus, and why these errors are important to correct. The exact problem being addressed impacts how the lesson should be constructed. For example, if the lesson focuses on /f/ because your learners often pronounce this sound as a stop, the lesson should contrast /f/ with /p/, not with /v/.
Procedure: Give the specific, step-by-step plan of the lesson. What does the teacher do to introduce it? What do the students do? The plan should provide straightforward directions with sufficient detail such that a novice teacher could easily use it in a classroom. Remember your audience (other teachers) and use a consistent voice; the directions should be given in second (imperative) or third person, not as a first person account of what you plan to do or have done.
For additional general guidelines on developing ESL Lesson plans, see Jensen’s chapter, "Planning Lessons," in Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd ed., pp. 403-413), which will be on reserve. Note that your "procedure" section should be more developed than the example on page 413, and your audience need not be as specific.
You should also attend to these more specific guidelines and clarifications:
This detailed procedure may be for up to an hour of activity, but you will enact just 15-20 minutes of it with a small group of your classmates. During this time, you should engage your classmates in a learner-centered activity. [This of course means that your lesson should include learner-centered practice.]
If the procedure involves teacher explanations, such as explaining how to articulate a specific sound, provide the detailed content of the explanations.
The length of the written lesson plan can be as little as 2 pages (typed). Be sure, though, to attach a copy of any handout or overhead transparency that is used in the lesson.
You may use teaching suggestions from the readings or other sources, but you must identify your sources and also evidence originality.
General pointers:
F Start with an explicit assessment of, or assumptions about, your students’ competence.
F Keep in view a clearly focused objective that is appropriate to the assumed/assessed competence level of the students. "Learn a little, use it a lot."
F Make sure activities are congruent with the objective.
F Try to make the lesson captivating. Watch out for boring drills.
F Contextualize your activities as much as possible; avoid lists of random words.
F Strive for coherence: Think in terms of a natural flow from one activity to the next.
Your lesson plan will be evaluated on the basis of the above "pointers" with special attention to creativity, accuracy of information, clarity of presentation, coherence and effectiveness of the lesson, and integration of course concepts. An A-quality lesson plan will be suitable for submission to the Materials Swap at the annual TESOL conference.
4. Book Review: Class members will write a 3-6 page critical review of a recent ESL/EFL text that deals with pronunciation or oral communication skills. The review should analyze the phonological skills that are addressed, and evaluate the effectiveness of the pedagogical techniques and practice activities. Use the evaluation questions on page 17 of the course packet, but do not limit yourself to just these questions. Rather, your review should be an expanded version of those appearing in Samuda (1993) [see the bibliography], or the more recent reviews in The CATESOL Journal, 13(1), 213-15 and 14(1), 297-99.
The text must be written for an ESL/EFL audience, not for teachers or for native speakers of English. It is also best if the texts have a clear pronunciation-teaching focus. If you choose an integrated text, your paper should highlight the pronunciation-teaching aspects of the text.
A good review will include a graphic account of the overall organization of the text and the typical structure of each chapter, and will describe in detail the format of typical activities, including specific examples--such that a reader without the book in hand will receive an accurate impression of the contents.
An A quality evaluation will provide a well-argued and accurate analysis of the text, with evaluative statements supported by specific details. It will also discuss the significance of the text in the context of current theory and practice in pronunciation teaching. It is anticipated that A-quality papers will be submitted for publication in a professional journal such as The CATESOL Journal.
By Session 6, please submit the title of the book you will review.
5. Term Project: As a vehicle for practicing the skills gained in this course, each class member will develop a project that explores some aspect of teaching pronunciation. Although the project is due after the last class meeting, you should be prepared in the last session to report on those aspects of your project that would benefit your fellow students.
A brief written description of the proposed project should be submitted by the third class session, May 2. The proposal may be just a short paragraph, but it should include concrete details about the student(s) in your study (age, native language, and English proficiency), the articles that you will review (authors and titles) and focused topic, or a first draft of the abstract for your conference presentation.
You may choose one of the following options, or pursue a project of your own design with instructor approval.
a. Pronunciation Needs Assessment. Record a brief interview with a learner of English, diagnose the speaker's pronunciation, and then propose realistic objectives for an instructional program. In preparation for this project, you should read pp. 341-346 in Teaching Pronunciation. It would also be good to consult the chapter by Firth in the appendix of the course packet. The paper should include the following parts:
Briefly discuss the scope of your project, the background of the learner (age, grade level, native language, language environment, etc.), and the phonological system of the speaker's native language (if possible). Discuss what pronunciation problems one would expect given this person’s first language. [See Avery & Ehrlich (1992), Swan & Smith (2001), and Maddieson (1984) on reserve.]
Describe the procedures you followed during your interview and in analyzing your data; include precautions you took to assure the reliability of your assessment. [You should plan to record and transcribe about five minutes of spontaneous speech as well as a reading of a diagnostic passage.]
Provide a coherent account of this person’s overall pronunciation competence, highlighting general patterns and including both segmentals and suprasegmentals. Present a phonetic transcription of a sample of the learner's speech with a corresponding "translation" in Standard English orthography. Also, describe the main features of this person's pronunciation, illustrating with examples from your transcription. Try to explain the chief pronunciation problems this person faces in speaking English, and compare them with the pronunciation problems one would have expected based on the learner’s first language.
Discuss the priorities--both in terms of effective communication and attainability--that should guide an instructional program for this student. Remember to put your recommendations into an order of importance and explain your rationale for this order.
b. Action Research: Conduct a project in which you identify pronunciation problems in a class you are teaching or for a student you are tutoring, try out different activities to address them, and then write up an evaluation report. The research report that you submit should be an integrative analysis, not just a chronological record of activities with reflections interspersed. It should provide practical insights that would be useful to other teachers.
(1) Identify aspects of the students’ pronunciation that interfere with communication and that you can address over a period of 5 to 7 weeks.
(2) Prepare a variety of pronunciation exercises, which may be taken or adapted from published materials.
(3) Keep a good record of your preparation, exercises, student responses and outcomes.
(4) Based on your records, write a report that includes the following:
Summarize the pronunciation problems you decided to address and how you decided on hese particular objectives.
Describe the content and sequence of your lessons, identifying the source materials used and your own contributions.
Provide a detailed, reflective evaluation of your efforts, in terms of observable outcomes and student response. How successful was the experience as a whole? What problems did you encounter? How did the students benefit, and why? What did you learn from it about the learning and teaching of pronunciation? What might you have done differently to improve these pronunciation lessons?
The final report for this project should be a reflective and integrative analysis of your efforts and the responses of your student(s), not a diary. Avoid extraneous details and focus on broad principles that you might infer from the experience. The report should evidence insights that would be useful to other teachers.
c. Literature Review: Write a comparative, critical review of 5-8 journal articles or book chapters that address current research or theory related to the teaching of pronunciation. Keep in mind the following guidelines.
You may choose any of the articles listed in the bibliography under "Articles on Teaching Pronunciation," but you are not limited to these.
Your review should provide concise summaries of the articles along with your analysis and response. Note that your summary should not merely replay the articles but should rather capture the main points and evidence that you have digested them. Your review should be succinct, integrative, and analytic.
Make a clear distinction between your ideas and those found in the articles. (Keep in mind that you are reporting what the authors wrote, not just regurgitating abridged versions of the articles.) You should clearly identify authors using APA citation style, and refer to them throughout. For example:
- Leather and James (1995) make the case that...
- The authors acknowledge the importance of...
- They suggest that...
Your response should include clear reasons why you agree or disagree with different points in the articles and/or illustrations from your own experience that support or contradict the articles. At the same time, maintain an academic tone; avoid affective responses, such as, "I really enjoyed this article." Consider such questions as these:
- How do the articles complement or balance each other?
- What do you take exception with, or on what points do you remain unconvinced? Why?
- What points do you think need further clarification?
- What do you find helpful or enlightening in these articles? Why?
- What issues or questions do you think require additional research?
Be sure to supply complete bibliographic information using APA style, including the author and title of each article, the title of the book or journal in which it is found, the year of publication, and page numbers.
An A quality paper will provide a coherent, accurate analysis of the articles along with a well-reasoned response; and it will probably be in the vicinity of 5-10 pages in length.
d. Website Review: Write a comparative, critical review of 5-8 pronunciation websites.
You may include any of the websites listed in the course packet, but you must add at least three not listed there. (You can use links from the listed sites to find additional sites.).
Your review should describe each website with sufficient detail to provide the reader with accurate picture of its function and contents. Include details such as what aspects of pronunciation are covered, level of interactivity, and types of sound and/or video files if any.
Your evaluation should highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of the site. Consider ease of use, accuracy of information, effectiveness of practice offered.
Indicate the potential uses of each site: information resource for teachers, independent practice for learners, etc.
An A quality paper will provide a clear, coherent analysis and evaluation of the websites; and it will probably be in the vicinity of 5-10 pages in length.
e. Conference Presentation: Prepare a paper, demonstration, or a teacher workshop of interest to teachers of speech and pronunciation, suitable for presentation at a professional conference such as TESOL 20006 in Tampa, Florida. The project materials will include the following:
Seven-word title.
Forty-word (maximum) abstract.
150-250 word session summary.
A copy of the handout.
A detailed description of the session. This includes a transcript (possibly in outline form) of what you will say and, for a demonstration or workshop, a detailed description of tasks, analogous to a lesson plan.
Note that the first three elements above constitute the necessary ingredients for a session proposal. It is expected, as part of this project, that the session proposal will actually be submitted for a regional, state or national conference.
Term Project Due Date: Monday, June 20