UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD
School of Education – Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
551017 – Phonetics and Phonology
Act. 6: Collaborative Work Unit 1 – Activity Guide
ACTIVITY 6
COLLABORATIVE WORK UNIT 1 – ACTIVITY GUIDE
The Collaborative Work Unit 1 is pretended to allow students transfer knowledge of
Unit 1 contents of the course.
Topics: Consonants – Voicing – Place of articulation – Manner of articulation – Vowels
– Front – Central – Back – High – Intermediate – Low - Diphthongs
General aspects: Revision of contents of Unit 1 about production of English sounds
– Getting familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for English sounds
– Recording an audio to produce different sounds
Learning strategy: Collaborative work – Applying the use of phonetic symbols to
identify and produce them
Outcome: This activity has two stages: Written (group) and Oral production
(individual). Written work will be developed collaboratively and aims students getting
familiar with phonetic symbols of English sounds through application of theory about
consonant and vowel production. Then, in a second stage students will record a text
producing English sounds accurately.
Score: 65 points
Date: Check course schedule
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD
School of Education – Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
551017 – Phonetics and Phonology
Act. 6: Collaborative Work Unit 1 – Activity Guide
PROCEDURE
A. Written stage (Group work)
Your tutor will open two themes in the forum. In the “Written stage” topic you should
follow these directions:
1. Get familiar with the use of English phonetic sounds. You should learn to identify
and produce them. Use all the links you find under “Support Resources” in the
contents of the course:




Phonemic chart: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart
American English Pronunciation: http://pronuncian.com/Sounds/Default.aspx?
Learning the sounds:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/
English Accent Coach: http://www.englishaccentcoach.com/
Moreover in the following link, find the IPA for English sounds as a reference:
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
2. Check the e–book in PDF: “Phonetics and Phonology Didactic Material” in the
“Contents” of the course. On pages 20 – 29 there are exercises for the phonetics
session of the book. The group must answer the following exercises: 1; 2; 3 (a),
(b), (c); 5; 6 (b); 7 (a); 8; 9 (a), (b), (c); 10 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f); 11 (a), (b), (c),
(d), (e), (f); 12 (a), (b); 13; 17 (a), (b).
3. The group decides on the way each member will participate. Certain number of
exercises can be assigned to each member of the team, for example.
4. Every student in the group must upload in a Word file his/her individual
contribution in the forum “Written stage”, giving answer to the chosen questions.
The file must be named: first name+last name_act6_group+number of group
(e.g. lilianamoreno_act6_group15). Everybody in the group should comment
partners’ contributions.
5. When the whole group is sure that all questions have been answered, the group
leader must assemble all contributions in one PDF file, with a front page including
only the names of students who made contributions to the group. This file must
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD
School of Education – Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
551017 – Phonetics and Phonology
Act. 6: Collaborative Work Unit 1 – Activity Guide
be named: Act6_Group+number of group (e.g. Act6_Group15). Remember that
this document must include all the requested exercises in above number 2.
B. Oral production stage
Your tutor will open two themes in the forum. In the “Oral production stage” topic you
should follow these directions:
1. Each person in the group must record the following text with his/her own voice in
an mp3 or WMA file. At the beginning of the audio you must greet and say your
name, course and group number. After reading the text, be thankful and say goodbye. The following is an adaptation from chapter I of “Around the World in 80
Days” by Jules Verne:
Certainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Fogg was a Londoner.
He was never seen at the Bank, nor in the counting-rooms of the ‘City"; he had no
public employment. He certainly was not a manufacturer; nor was he a merchant or
a gentleman farmer. His name was strange to the scientific and learned societies. The
way in which he got admission to his exclusive club was simple enough. He was
recommended by the Barings. His checks were regularly paid at sight from his account
current, which was always flush. Was Phileas Fogg rich? Undoubtedly. But those who
knew him best could not imagine how he had made his fortune. He was not lavish,
nor, on the contrary, avaricious; for, whenever he knew that money was needed for
a noble, useful, or benevolent purpose, he supplied it quietly and sometimes
anonymously. He was, in short, the least communicative of men. He talked very little,
and seemed all the more mysterious for his taciturn manner. His daily habits were
quite open to observation; but whatever he did was so exactly the same thing that
he had always done before, that the wits of the curious were fairly puzzled.
2. Before recording, practice the above text as many times as necessary for you to
guarantee a very good pronunciation, according to the correct production of English
sounds. Be careful with intonation in punctuation as well. If you have any doubts
about how to pronounce some words, look them up at the dictionary and apply
correctly the phonetic symbols. You can also use different software or web pages to
listen to the pronunciation of the text before you record it (for example, Google
translator).
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD
School of Education – Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
551017 – Phonetics and Phonology
Act. 6: Collaborative Work Unit 1 – Activity Guide
3. Record your audio using tools like “Grabadora de sonidos de Windows”, Audacity,
Adobe Audition, Vocaro, etc. Check the quality of your audio before you upload it to
the Oral production stage forum. Be sure it is clear enough to be listened, with a
good level of volume and no interference or noise in the background.
4. Name your audio: first name+last name_audio_group+group number (e.g.
lilianamoreno_audio_group15), and upload in the forum “oral production stage”. Its
weight should not be higher than 2MB. Invite your partners to comment your audio.
Likewise, you should comment other people’s oral contributions.
If you have any questions, ask your tutor through the course internal mail.
Remember that time goes fast. Do not delay this activity for the last
minute. Your peers depend upon you. Do not deceive them.
You’d better take advantage of this great learning opportunity to improve
your English pronunciation. Go ahead!
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD
School of Education – Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
551017 – Phonetics and Phonology
Act. 6: Collaborative Work Unit 1 – Evaluation Rubric
COLLABORATIVE WORK UNIT 1 – EVALUATION RUBRIC
ITEM
Accuracy of
individual
contribution
in Written
stage
LOWER
ASSESSMENT
MIDDLE
ASSESSMENT
HIGHEST
ASSESSMENT
There is not and
individual
contribution in the
Written stage
There is an individual
contribution but it
does not answer all
selected exercises
correctly
Individual contribution
in the Written stage
answers accurately the
selected exercises
from the ones required
5 points
10 points
The individual
contribution is
uploaded but not in
the indicated forum
or it is not in a Word
file or it is not named
according to the
indications
The individual
contribution is
uploaded in the correct
forum (Written stage)
in a Word file, including
the selected exercises
and named according
to indications
3 points
5 points
10
0 points
Individual
document
format
Social
interaction
in the
Written
stage forum
No comments were
made to peers’
individual
contributions
Comments to peers’
contributions are not
enough to build the
final group document
Meaningful comments
to peers’ contributions
helped build the group
document
0 points
4 points
8 points
Accuracy of
collaborative
document
The group leader
does not assemble
in a single
document all
individual
contributions
The group document
does not include the
answers to all the
required exercises or
not all the answers
are correct
The leader of the
group assembles all
individual contributions
in a PDF file, which
includes the correct
answers to all the
required exercises
0 points
4 points
The group does not
consolidate a
collaborative
document
The group document
is not uploaded
following all
instructions in
regards of format
and name
Format of
final group
document
SCORE
0 points
8 points
The group file is
uploaded in the
required format, in the
Written stage forum
and it is named
according to
instructions
2 points
4 points
5
8
8
4
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA – UNAD
School of Education – Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
551017 – Phonetics and Phonology
Act. 6: Collaborative Work Unit 1 – Evaluation Rubric
ITEM
Pronunciation
(accurate
production of
English
sounds)
LOWER
ASSESSMENT
MIDDLE
ASSESSMENT
HIGHEST
ASSESSMENT
The text is not
pronounced
according to
English standard
for production of
consonants and
vowels
The audio of the
text is incomplete
or it includes a lot
of pronunciation
and intonation
mistakes
The audio includes
the whole text and it
is pronounced
accurately according
to English
consonants and
vowels production or
it has just a few
pronunciation
mistakes
6 points
0 points
SCORE
16
16 points
Greeting and
presentation
The audio includes
just the text, with
no greeting or
presentation
At the beginning of
the audio there is a
greeting and
presentation
according to
indications. At the
end it is thankful and
says good-bye.
0 points
6
6 points
Quality of
audio
Format of
audio
The volume of the
audio is too low
and it has lots of
interference and
noise in the
background
The volume of the
audio is too low or
it has lots of
interference and
noise in the
background
0 points
2 points
The audio is
uploaded in a
format which
cannot be heard
The audio is not
uploaded in one of
the required
formats or it is not
named correctly
0 points
The audio is neat
with a good volume
level and no noise in
the background
4
2 points
The audio is
uploaded in mp3 or
WMA format with the
correct name
according to
indications
4
2 points
4 points
TOTAL AVAILABLE POINTS
65