CALL ‘EM AS YOU HEAR ‘EM:
Ear Training & Phonetic Transcription (& Brain Stuff)
for Teaching Pronunciation
Dr. Robin C. Barr
Linguist-in-Residence
American University, Washington DC
January 25, 2014
Myths about Teaching Pronunciation
• Only native speakers can teach it.
• Teachers must speak ‘clearly’ and not
like normal conversation.
• Pronunciation is about consonants and
vowels.
The traditional view of pronunciation
The teacher’s role:
1. Demonstrate ‘proper’ pronunciation.
2. Students imitate teacher.
3. Point out students’ errors. Tell them to listen harder.
4. Repeat from step 1 ad infinitum, slower and louder
each time.
No training
necessary – native
speakers only.
How the brain processes language:
Left hemisphere
Broca’s Area:
automatic rules
of phonology
and syntax
Wernicke’s Area:
lexical access
How the brain processes language:
Right hemisphere
Rhythm
Intonation
How to bypass Broca’s Area?
How to bypass Broca’s Area?
Left hemisphere
Right hemisphere
• L1 Phonetics and
Phonology rules
• L1 Morphology and Syntax
rules
• Fast speech: Consonants
and short vowels
• Math, Logic, Analysis
• Sequencing
• Routines
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Music
Emotions
Intonation and long vowels
Environmental sounds
Non-L1 sounds
Gestalt processing
Faces and Spatial processing
Exceptions, details
How to bypass Broca’s Area?
Use other parts of the brain and other learning styles.
• Visual
• Kinesthetic / muscle memory
• Musical / non-linguistic sounds
• No more “listen harder!”
So, what is ‘ear training’?
Raising awareness of speech sounds by using
other parts of the brain and other learning styles.
• Visual
• Kinesthetic / muscle memory
• Musical / non-linguistic sounds
• No more “listen harder!”
• Production leads to perception
DANGER!
Don’t rely too much on the written language:
•
•
•
•
•
Pronunciation is not “reading aloud”
English spelling is not phonetic
Students may become ‘text-bound’
Students need to understand spoken language
You will hear what you expect to hear
[“Obama’s Elf”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_B5UrI7nAI]
[Masking: http://youtu.be/Wte8wQbvZ1I ]
[McGurk Effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=Dj-22YRuigY]
Lesson tip: Present language
orally first, before writing it.
Phonetic transcription – you already know more
than you think you do.
CONSONANTS
PLACES OF ARTICULATION
LABIAL
MANNERS OF
ARTICULATION
Stops
voiceless
voiced
Affricates
bilabial
DENTAL
labiodental
interdental
p
b
alveolar
t
d
voiceless
voiced
Fricatives
f
v
voiceless
voiced
m
Nasals
Liquids
w
Glides
Unfamiliar
symbols
θ
ð
s
z
n
l
palatal
č
ǰ
š
ž
velar
k
g
uvular
glottal
ʔ
h
ŋ
r
y
IPA American
variant
Phonetic transcription – you already know more
than you think you do.
CONSONANTS
PLACES OF ARTICULATION
LABIAL
MANNERS OF
ARTICULATION
Stops
voiceless
voiced
Affricates
bilabial
DENTAL
labiodental
interdental
p
b
alveolar
t
d
voiceless
voiced
Fricatives
f
v
voiceless
voiced
m
Nasals
Liquids
w
Glides
Unfamiliar
symbols
θ
ð
s
z
n
l
palatal
ʧ
ʤ
ʃ
ʒ
ɹ
j
velar
k
g
uvular
glottal
ʔ
h
ŋ
IPA European
variant
Phonetic transcription – you already know more
than you think you do.
VOWELS
Front
Central
Back
tense
i
ɨ
u
lax
I
tense
e
lax
ɛ
High
Mid
Low
Unfamiliar symbols
æ
ʊ
ə
o
ɔ
ʌ
ɑ
Rounded vowels
Feel where and how sounds are produced.
CONSONANTS
PLACES OF ARTICULATION
LABIAL
MANNERS OF
ARTICULATION
Stops
voiceless
voiced
Affricates
bilabial
DENTAL
labiodental
interdental
p
b
alveolar
t
d
voiceless
voiced
Fricatives
f
v
voiceless
voiced
Nasals
m
Liquids
Glides
w
θ
ð
s
z
n
l
palatal
č
ǰ
š
ž
velar
k
g
uvular
glottal
ʔ
h
ŋ
r
y
IPA American
variant
Visual and kinesthetic tricks
to raise awareness of articulation
• Hold your hand in front of your mouth to feel the aspiration
(puff of air) after initial voiceless stops (p, t, k).
• Use mirrors to spot jaw movement, lip rounding, tense vs. lax
vowels, diphthongization.
Visual and kinesthetic tricks
to raise awareness of articulation
• Use a diagram of the mouth to switch from kinesthetic to
visual mode and back.
Visual and kinesthetic tricks
to raise awareness of articulation
• Touch the Adam’s apple (larynx) to feel the vocal cords
vibrating during voiced consonants. Or put both hands over
ears to amplify voiced sounds’ resonance inside the head.
Start with fricatives [e.g. ssssss vs. zzzzzz] before trying stops
[aabba vs. aappaa].
Visual and kinesthetic tricks
to raise awareness of articulation
• It is hard to feel sounds in which the articulators (tongue, lips,
roof of the mouth) don’t actually touch, but only approach
each other (fricatives, glides, liquids, approximants).
• Try this trick: pronounce the sound, then don’t move!
• Inhale sharply. The coldest parts of your mouth are where the
air is moving fastest, which is where the sound is being
created.
Locate vowels with lollipops and colors
– don’t trust your ears!
Color Vowel Sorting Task
Discovery for intermediate to advanced classes. English
spelling is not completely phonetic – there is not a one-toone correspondence between sound and symbol. Raise
awareness of vowel sounds, and discover the 15 key color
vowel words. Download from http://www.colorvowelchart.org/
Visual and kinesthetic tricks
to raise awareness of articulation
• It is even harder to feel the position of the tongue during
vowels. Place a lollipop on the blade of the tongue in order to
become more aware of what the tongue is doing. Let the
lollipop move freely while you hold the stick lightly. Try [i]
‘green’ vs. [u] ‘blue’; [ae] ‘black’ vs. [a] ‘olive’,
RETHINKING PRONUNCIATION:
BEYOND THE SEGMENT
“Without a sufficient, threshold-level mastery
of the English prosodic system,
learners’ intelligibility
and listening
comprehension will
not advance, no
matter how much
effort is made drilling
individual sounds.”
Gilbert (2008)
(adapted from Gilbert, 2008)
Rubber bands: stress and vowel length
(Visual/kinesthetic/rhythmic)
Rubber bands: stress and vowel length
(Visual/kinesthetic/rhythmic)
The rubber band is many teachers’ favorite pedagogical tool!
• Use size 84 rubber bands – the effort needed to stretch this heavy
band is an analog for the effort expended in stressing a vowel.
• The horizontal movement represents the length of the vowel
visually, and the time it takes for the band to snap back represents
the length of the vowel rhythmically.
Rubber bands: State sorting task
(Visual/kinesthetic/rhythmic)
DA da da
da DA da
da da DA
Michigan
Maryland
Iowa
(etc.)
Nevada
New
Hampshire
Hawaii
(etc.)
Illinois
Tennessee
Kazoos for intonation and rhythm:
How to kazoo? Hum into the big end -- don’t blow!
Intonation and Rhythm
Acquired first, before any segments
• Baby babbling 1: http://youtu.be/lih0Z2IbIUQ
• Baby babbling 2: http://youtu.be/_JmA2ClUvUY
Can help restore speech even when Broca’s
area is injured
• Gabby Giffords Rehab:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/giffords-rebuilds-speech-song-14953328
Kazoos for intonation and rhythm
Key word/ phrase
Stress pattern
Key word/ phrase
GREAT
way to GO
PERfect
FAScinating
the BEST
inCREdible
WONderful
overWHELMing
aMAzing
out of this
WORLD
Stress pattern
Adapted from Karen Taylor
Simple Songs with rhythm that matches
the spoken language:
Clap
Clap
Clap
THREE
BLIND
MICE
THREE
BLIND
MICE
SEE
HOW they
RUN
SEE
HOW they
RUN
They
ALL ran
AF ter the
FAR mer’s
WIFE
She
CUT off their TAILS with a
CAR ving
KNIFE
Did you
E ver
SEE
SIGHT in your
LIFE
As
THREE
BLIND
such a
MICE!
Clap
Chants: Jump-rope rhymes, cheers,
marching cadences.
Step Left
Step Right
LEFT
LEFT
I LEFT my
Step Left
LEFT
right
LEFT
wife and
FORty-three children
A- LONE in the house with- OUT any
LEFT
LEFT
Step Right
LEFT
right
LEFT
peanut-butter
Lexical chunks: chant useful phrases, teach syntax
and morphology, without using Broca’s Area.
(adapted from Carolyn Graham, Jazz Chants)
I’m SORry
I
WAS n’t in
CLASS!
I’m SORry
I
WAS n’t in
CLASS!
I
had the FLU!
I’m SORry
I
My CAR broke
My CAT got
WAS n’t in
DOWN!
SAID, ]
SICK!
CLASS!
I
LOST my
I ______ my _______ !
My ______ is
[I
_______ !
(etc.)
KEYS!
How can we include pronunciation in
typical scripted language lessons?
Incorporate unscripted useful lexical
chunks into language presentations:
Can you hold? ♪♫♫♪♪♪♫…
Could
you
please
spell
your
name?
Who’s your primary care physician?
Do you have any openings this afternoon?
Organize vocabulary by color vowel
Green tea
Silver pin
Purple
shirt
A cup of
mustard
Rose coat
Brown cow
Gray day
Red dress
Olive sock
Blue moon
Wooden
hook
Auburn
dog
White tie
Turquoise
toy
Black cat
For advanced students, use ‘flooding’
to predict pronunciation
Find words with similar stress
patterns and morphology (e.g.
the same suffix). Chant them
chorally and rhythmically, using
rubber bands on the stressed
syllable.
Prescri ption
Expira tion
Solu tion
Opera tion
Informa tion
…
…
Understanding how the brain conceals
linguistic information can help you increase
• your students’ Accuracy
• your students’ Comprehensibility
• your students’ Fluency
Challenges: convincing
• students
• teachers
• administrators