ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.1
Pronunciation
This Pronunciation Activity consists of two parts:
• Part 1: Instruction on Linking & Reduced Forms (pp. 1-12)
• Part 2: Practice activity (pp. 13-20)
Part 1: Linking & Reduced Forms (70 minutes)
Remind students that they have to be careful about these aspects to be covered today because
we are going to play a game in the next class, and they should be able to accurately
pronounce these particular aspects to win the game.
1. Linking (40 min.)
Among several patterns of linking, we are going to cover the following linking patterns in
this class:
1. Linking vowel to vowel
2. Palatalization
A. Linking vowel to vowel (20 min.)
(1) Use p.2 as a handout. Explain the rules of “linking vowel to vowel” and have
students practice using the examples given on the handout. First, each student
pronounces one example so that the teacher can monitor their pronunciation.
Then, they can practice in pairs.
(2) Work on an activity (handout to students is given on p.3). In this activity, the
teacher reads sentences (given on p.4) and have students mark where in the
sentence they can hear the linking between vowels. They should mark the
linked words using a symbol “
“. The teacher can use an OHP (given on
p.5) to check the answers.
B. Palatalization (20 min.)
(1) Use p.6 as a handout. Explain the rules of “palatalization” and have students
practice using the examples given on the handout. First, each student
pronounces one example so that the teacher can monitor their pronunciation.
Then, they can practice in pairs.
(2) Work on an activity (handout to students is given on p.7). In this activity, the
teacher reads sentences (given on p.8) and have students mark where in the
sentence they can hear the linking between vowels. They should mark the
linked words using a symbol “
“. The teacher can use an OHP (given on
p.9) to check the answers.
2. Reduced forms (30 min.)
(1) Use p.10 as a handout. Explain the rules of “reduced forms” and have students
practice using the examples given on the handout. First, each student
pronounces one example so that the teacher can monitor their pronunciation.
Then, they can practice in pairs.
(2) Work on an activity (handout to students is given on p.11). In this activity, the
teacher reads sentences (given on p.12) and students write their answers on the
handout.
If you cannot finish “Reduced forms” on Day 1, you can continue it to Day 2.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.2
Linking Vowel to Vowel
Source:
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A
reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Rule 1: When a word ending in //, //, //, or // is followed by another word
beginning with a vowel, the two words are connected by a // glide:
//
//
//
//
+ vowel
Examples
Be
a sport.
Play
Tie
= // glide
a game.
it up.
Employ
a professional.
Rule 2: When a word ending in //, //, or // is followed by another word beginning
with a vowel, the two words are connected by a // glide:
//
//
//
+ vowel
= // glide
Examples
through
it all
slow
and steady
How
are you?
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.3
Listening Activity
—Linking Vowel to Vowel—
Listen to the teacher’s pronunciation and mark the place where two vowels are linked.
There may be more than one position in one sentence where sounds are linked.
Example
Be
a sport.
through
it all
Linking with // glide
1. Do you know the answer?
2. I didn’t say it.
3. Where is the office?
4. May I ask?
5. I always tie it.
Linking with // glide
6. I didn’t go into the water.
7. Her blue eyes are beautiful.
8. Do I know her?
9. I didn’t go out last night.
10. There are two apples.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.4
Listening Activity
—Linking Vowel to Vowel—
Answer key for teacher
Linking with // glide
1. Do you know the
2. I didn’t say
it.
3. Where is the
4. May
5. I
answer?
I
office?
ask?
always tie
it.
Linking with // glide
6. I didn’t go
7. Her blue
8. Do
into the water.
eyes are beautiful.
I know the boy?
9. I didn’t go
10. There are two
out last night.
apples.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.5
Linking with // glide
1. Do you
know
2. I
say
didn’t
3. Where
4. May
5. I
the answer?
it.
is the
I
office?
ask?
always tie
it.
Linking with // glide
6. I
didn’t
7. Her
blue
8. Do
I
9. I
go into
eyes
the
are
water.
beautiful.
know her?
didn’t
10. There are
go out
last
two
apples.
night.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.6
Palatalization
Source:
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A
reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Rule 1: When the consonants // are followed by // in an unstressed syllable, the
two sounds combine to form a palatalized consonant:
Alveolar consonant
Palatalized form
Pass
// + //
//
// + //
//
Example
your plate.
Where’s
your fork?
Why didn’t
// + //
//
Eat
your vegetables.
Where did
// + //
//
Hide
you?
you go?
your spoon.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.7
Listening Activity
—Palatalization—
Listen to the teacher’s pronunciation and mark the place where two consonants combine to
form a palatalized consonant.
Example
Pass
your plate.
1. We’ll miss your sweet smile.
2. You’ll freeze your toes.
3. Is that your dog?
4. She needs your help.
5. What did you eat last night?
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.8
Listening Activity
—Palatalization—
Answer key for teacher
1. We’ll miss
2. You’ll freeze
3. Is that
your toes.
your dog?
4. She needs
5. What did
your sweet smile.
your help.
you eat last night?
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.9
1. We’ll
miss
2. You’ll
3. Is
your
freeze your
that your
4. She
5. What
sweet
needs
toes.
dog?
your
did you
smile.
help.
eat
last
night?
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.10
Reduced Forms
ESL learners often complain that “native speakers talk too fast!” It is partly because
students are not familiar with so-called reduced forms in spoken English.
Reduced forms involve unstressed vowels, omitted sounds, linking, and so on.
Using reduced forms is normal English: it is not sloppy or “incorrect.” Being familiar with
reduced forms can (i) greatly improve your rhythm in spoken English, and (ii) improve your
listening comprehension skill.
Content words vs. Function words
• Content words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs (Remember the discussion we had about
“key words” in preparing a note for your presentation!)
• Function words—These become reduced forms in spoken English.
Reduced forms
Examples
Tell him.
Pronouns
him //  //
Leave her alone.
her / / //
Where did you go?
you //  //
Give them a book.
them //  //
I can wait.
Auxiliary verbs
can //  //
It has been very helpful.
has //  //
You should have told me.
have //  //
I will do it.
will //  //
Articles (e.g., a, the, some), prepositions (e.g., at, for, from, of), and conjunctions
(e.g., and, as, or, than, but) are also function words, and therefore become reduced
forms.
Full forms (as opposed to reduced forms) are used in the negative, at the end of a
sentence, and when they are used as main verbs instead of auxiliaries.
Examples
They can’t wait.
Yes, I have.
He has a problem.
/
//
//
References
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for
teachers of English to speakers of other languages. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dauer, R. M. (1993). Accurate English: A complete course in pronunciation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall Regents.
Gilbert, J. (1995). Pronunciation practice as an aid to listening comprehension. In D. J. Mendelsohn & J.
Rubin (Eds.), A guide for the teaching of second language listening (pp. 97-112). San Diego, CA:
Dominie Press.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.11
Listening Activity
—Reduced Forms—
Listen to the teacher’s pronunciation and identify whether the teacher said can or can’t.
Circle the happy face for can and the unhappy face for can’t.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.12
Listening Activity
—Reduced Forms—
Answer key for teacher
1. You can park here.
2. You can speak Spanish.
3. They can’t come.
4. They can swim.
5. He can’t fix the car.
6. She can’t play the guitar.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.13
Part 2: Practice activity (30-40 minutes.)
Objectives
1. Let students practice the aspects of pronunciation covered in class, as well as
pronunciation in general (speaking).
2. Let students pay close attention to particular aspects of pronunciation covered in class
(listening).
Directions
Students get into groups of 4 people (i.e., 4 groups in total). One person (Speaker) comes to
front and get a sentence from the teacher. The sentence contains one aspect that was
covered in the previous pronunciation instruction (linking and reduced forms). Their task is
to accurately pronounce that particular aspect to their own group members. The group
members’ (Listeners’) task is to (i) listen to the Speaker’s pronunciation, (ii) write down the
whole sentence word by word, (iii) identify what aspect of pronunciation the speaker is trying
to accurately pronounce among different aspects covered in class, and (iv) mark it properly
on the sentence. Here is an example:
Sentence to be read: We’ll
miss
your sweet
smile.
1) Speaker goes to front and teacher shows a card like the following to the Speaker.
We’ll
miss
your sweet smile.
2) The Speaker remembers this sentence and goes back to his/her group. He/she should
pronounce the sentence that he/she got, with a linking between miss and your, inserting a
// sound. He/she should also pronounce the whole sentence accurately so that the
Listeners (i.e., his/her own group members) can correctly write down every single word
on a sheet of paper.
3) Listeners write down every single word on a sheet of paper. After writing down the
entire sentence, they should also mark what aspect the Speaker is particularly careful
about in pronunciation, among the aspects that were covered in class. In this example,
the Speaker should be careful about the linking between miss and your. Therefore,
Listeners should correctly mark the linking on the sentence. The written answer should
look as follows.
We’ll
miss
your sweet smile.
4) Listeners might also mark on other aspects, e.g., reduced forms, because they were also
covered in class. Then, their written answers might look as follows. (Forms that are
reduced will be underlined in this activity.)
We’ll
miss
your
sweet smile.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.14
Even though this is the case, as long as the Listeners marked the target aspect in this
example (linking between miss and your) correctly, they get a point.
5) Once they are done with one sentence, the next Speaker (different person) in the group
goes to front and repeat the same process.
6) The answers should match as a group. In order to do it, they should compare their
answers within their groups. The Speaker should not tell the answers!
We can repeat this four times, i.e., every member in each group should have at least one
chance to pronounce a given sentence to his/her group members. The answers should match
as a group. In order to do it, they should compare their answers within their groups. The
Speaker should not tell the answers! Once they got all the four sentences written down,
they should bring the paper to the teacher and show it to him/her, and the teacher checks if
the group got all sentences as well as the target pronunciation aspects correctly. The group
that got all the answers most quickly and perfectly gets reward (maybe Halloween candies?).
If time allows, we can continue for the second round. During the process, the other teacher
will monitor the students so that they won’t cheat (e.g., tell them where should be marked
verbally, without actually trying to pronounce them)!
Here are the rules in this game:
(1) The symbols that are used to mark the particular aspect of pronunciation are as follows:
Linking: “
“ between two words
e.g.,
We’ll miss your sweet smile.
Reduced forms: underlining forms that are reduced
e.g.,
We’ll miss your sweet smile.
(2) It is OK to mark other aspects if the Listeners think those aspects were also pronounced
accurately. As long as they get the target aspect correctly, they get points!
(3) Listeners can ask the Speaker to repeat as many times as they want.
(4) Speaker should not tell the answer to the Listeners when comparing the answers among
Listeners.
(5) Speaker should not tell the answer verbally without actually trying to pronounce the
target aspect (e.g., bad to tell the Listeners that “linking is between miss and your”).
Directions for teacher
1. Explain the procedure, using an example. See pp.16-17 for an OHP to be used to
explain the procedure.
2. Divide the students into groups of 4 people (i.e., 4 people in each group).
3. Have them decide the order of Speaker within their own group.
4. Begin the game.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.15
5. Show Speakers from each group a target sentence.
6. When one group brings an answer, check the answers to see if the group got all the
sentences correctly written down (every single word) and got the target pronunciation
aspects correctly marked.
The actual sentences that we are going to use are given on pp. 18-20.
After the activity finishes, it would be a good idea to review all the sentences that they just
read in this activity as a whole class. For this purpose, I would encourage teacher to prepare
OHP sheets of pp. 18-20.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.16
1. Get into small groups and decide the order of Speaker.
2. Game begins! The first Speaker of each group comes to front &
see a card like these:
We’ll
miss
your sweet
We’ll
miss
your
sweet
smile.
smile.
3. The Speaker should memorize the sentence, word by word, as well
as the particular pronunciation aspect that should be carefully
pronounced—linking or reduced forms.
4. Go back to your own group and tell your group members
(Listeners) the sentence that you memorized. You should (1)
clearly pronounce the whole sentence accurately, and (2) carefully
pronounce the target aspect (linking or reduced forms) to the
Listeners of your group.
5. The Listeners should write down the entire sentence, word by word,
and mark the particular pronunciation aspect that the Speaker
seems to be especially careful about. The written answer might
look like this:
We’ll miss your sweet smile.
6. Once all the Listeners write down the answer, the next Speaker
comes to front and gets the next sentence from the teacher.
7. Repeat the process until you get all the 4 sentences. When you
get all the 4 sentences written down, compare your answers within
your group and come up with an agreed answer. When you do it,
the Speaker should NOT tell the answer!
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.17
Rules
(1) The symbols used to mark the particular aspect of
pronunciation are as follows:
Linking: “
“ between two words
e.g.,
We’ll miss your sweet
smile.
Reduced forms: underlining forms that are reduced
e.g.,
We’ll miss your sweet smile.
(2) It is OK to mark other aspects if the Listeners think those
aspects were also pronounced accurately. As long as they get the
target aspect correctly, they get points!
(3) Listeners can ask the Speaker to repeat as many times as they
want.
(4) Speaker should not tell the answer to the Listeners when
comparing the answers among Listeners.
(5) Speaker should not tell the answer verbally without actually
trying to pronounce the target aspect (e.g., bad to tell the Listeners
that “linking is between miss and your”).
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.18
Round 1
1.
2.
3.
The student must have forgotten the homework.
Sorry, but we
aren’t coming to your party.
Which country are you going to travel to this winter?
4.
Have you read
your mail yet today?
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.19
Round 2
1.
I called him yesterday to discuss our homework.
2.
4.
I’d like to meet
your family in New York.
3.
out to eat last night?
Did you go
He went to see
it with his classmates.
ELI80 (4)
Fall 2004
Ito & Prior p.20
Round 3
1.
2.
I thought
you took ELI 70 last semester.
Didn’t you say that he was going to Africa next month?
3.
4.
I should have done it much earlier.
She can solve the problem by herself.