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Sounds & positional variation (3 units)
Language pedagogical & phonological analysis:
The NAmE/SBE lesson can be used to introduce the topic of vowels with general articulatory descriptions and some practice of phonetic symbols to establish clear-cut mental categories. This unit was initially created on student demand since many learners wanted to know specifically what to do and what not to do, variety-wise, once they focused on pronunciation systematically. I developed R1 years ago in order to assess where students stand: These translations - adaptable for any language - usually produce sentences that reflect BE/AE differences. If not, students are later asked which version sounds more natural to them. This activity usually reveals that most students tend toward American English quite consistently, probably due to media input and the Internet (common cases like "quarter after/past 3" were not used because such phrases were probably learned by heart at high school without ever reflecting on varietal differences). In addition, students were given common words like can’t, after, fast, path, more uncommon words like lance, rafter, pastor and some non-words words like naster, rancer in order to check if they internalized the Southern English realization of the trap-bath split beyond leant-by-heat words from high school. This also typically reveals the /æ/ pronunciation at least for the uncommon and non-words words, reflecting students' internalized rule system.
The second lesson deals with liquids, in particular rhotics/r-colored vowels (again, in American English, though the unit is just as helpful for BE, where r-dropping would be emphasized) and the dark vs. light l distinction (which also differs somewhat between BE and NAmE). The first topic was already established briefly in the previous unit. R1 uses pictures as a common technique to elicit certain sounds, which were analyzed in contrast to each other in task 2. R2 starts with a focus on meaning activity and then uses this text to initiate the various phases of practice. This activity also draws heavily on idioms. Building a context with a reading or listening activity, adding vocabulary and using this to build new stories is quite an ideal (if simple) teaching scenario in line with current methodology, though here the pronunciation topic would have been added after task 4. In resource 3 tasks 1 and 2 students are meant to figure out the rules for the dark (velarized) and light l based on their current language skills. Obviously such a task leads to some disagreement, which helps students discover the truth with even more engagement. Especially in words like blink or mile this discovery process can lead to some confusion, maybe in parts because “NAE speakers tend to produce a darker, more velarized allophone in all positions, whereas British speakers produce a very distinct clear, or light, allophone in prevocalic position. This British [l] is especially clear before front vowels – as opposed to the dark [ɫ] that occurs in postvocalic position – especially before back vowels” (Celce-Murcia et al. 2011: 452, see also Giegerich 1992: 211). In practice, this dichotomy is rather a continuum in AE, with a progression from light to dark in the following order: -ly suffix (timely), initial (lip), initial cluster (clear), final (fill), final cluster (bulk) (Celce-Murcia et al. 2011: 84). While R4 provides some listening input and controlled practice, R 5 and 6 put the topic of liquids together with an engaging topic that students tend to find very interesting to discuss.
The next unit covers a set of vowels (/æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /a/) that tend to cause great confusion in L2 speakers, usually because their L1 has a much smaller inventory of mid-low and low vowels and because spelling can be extremely misleading. These vowels, though very distinct to native speakers, seem to be perceived as “types of a” by many learners, which serves as a better pedagogical header than “mid-low and low vowels”. This topic was combined with the positional (allophonic) variation topics of vowel length, unreleased final consonants and syllabic [n̩]. Resource 1 allows students first to discover the English vowel length rule, and then, before task 2.2, the rule for unreleased terminal consonants which is practiced in 2.2. Task 1 relies heavily on teacher diagnostics. It is made sure that students can produce all words perfectly, at least physiologically. Phonologically speaking, the general allophonic rule is that vowels are long before v+ obstruents, half-long before sonorants or pause and short before v- obstruents (Giegerich 1992: 235), though for pedagogical purposes a dichotomy “before voiced vs. before voiceless sounds” should suffice. Unreleased consonants occur in word (or syllable) final position, especially before a vowel or liquid, in which the tongue stays at the place of articulation (lips, alveolar ridge, velum) without releasing the air stream. Alternatively, in some speakers a glottal stop is co-articulated in syllable-final voiceless stops (Giegerich 1992: 220).
This activity is also used to deal with the typical problem that /æ/ is substituted with /ɛ/or /a/ depending on the L1 (though the /æ/vowel is problematic for people with virtually all language backgrounds). This is most difficult in the short rendition of the sound (back). Also, the common problem of terminal obstruent devoicing is found in some learners, though on advanced and proficiency level this is often already acquired in my experience. Because only some students struggle with this and since native speakers distinguish words mainly based on vowel length (Celce-Murcia et al. 2011: 92), since final obstruents are very often unreleased or devoiced anyway (Giegerich 1992: 222), and since there are certain psycholinguistic constraints at play here (Hecht/Mulford 1982, Eckman 1984), terminal obstruent devoicing was not prioritized in this lesson. After R2 practiced the consonant release and vowel length contrast some more, R3 & 4 deal with the topic of syllabic consonants. This can also be described phonologically as elision of schwa, which mainly occurs before word-final sonorant consonants: given that it is possible for such consonants to be syllabic, i.e. the syllable peak (e.g. Giegerich 1992: 68, 287). Phonetically speaking, when an n becomes syllabic, the t is released through nasal plosion (Skandera/Burleigh 2005: 110), i.e. the closure at the alveolar ridge is maintained but the velum is lowered, so that the air can escape through the nose before the phonation of the n starts.
Resource 5 finally discusses in particular the vowels /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /a/, also in contrast to a typical mispronunciation of /ɑ/ (or BE /ɒ/) as /ɔ/ due to the o spelling (which is read as /ɔ/ in many languages). With this activity this lesson establishes the three categories /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /a/, discusses the central and slightly back articulation of /ʌ/, notes that /a/ only occurs in diphthongs (/aɪ, aʊ/) and that /ɑ/ is a back, not a front vowel. Resources 6 and 7, then, are designed specifically to sort out some misconceptions brought about by spelling, with R6 providing some further listening input and controlled practice. These activities usually come with great surprises in students since they were not aware that words like guitar, novel and watch contain the same vowel (though r-coloring and some rounding in guitar and watch, respectively, might be slightly perceptually confusing). Also in the discussion of the spelling possibilities for /ʌ/ learners frequently become aware of mislearned pronunciations. Resources 8 through 10, then, provide some common communication practice and add some analysis of vowel length and consonant articulation to bring everything together.
On a final note it should be said that these lessons were designed with German learners in mind. With other language groups, distinctions like /i/ vs. /ɪ/ would need to be added. Also, the common pronunciation topic of vowel reduction in unstressed syllables was not dealt with separately and in great detail since this is already positively transferred from German on the word level and mainly has to be emphasized in function words. Further, syllable structure errors (see e.g. Anderson-Hsieh et al. 1992: 540 for some typical errors) are dominant in many language groups (e.g. Portuguese or Japanese L1 speakers) for whom vowel epenthesis is a great problem since these languages permit far fewer consonant clusters than English, or Chinese L1 speakers, who often employ heavy clipping of words. In addition, there are many minor L1 specific errors that would need to be emphasized with certain language groups (e.g. /h/ elision and epenthesis with French L1 speakers). A big problem with some language groups that is enormously difficult to teach is the issue of short vs. long lag plosives, i.e. the lack of English L1-specific aspiration in V- stops (e.g. pot, Tom), which would, in such a case, be heard as "bot" and "dom" by English L1 speakers.
Language pedagogical & phonological analysis:
The NAmE/SBE lesson can be used to introduce the topic of vowels with general articulatory descriptions and some practice of phonetic symbols to establish clear-cut mental categories. This unit was initially created on student demand since many learners wanted to know specifically what to do and what not to do, variety-wise, once they focused on pronunciation systematically. I developed R1 years ago in order to assess where students stand: These translations - adaptable for any language - usually produce sentences that reflect BE/AE differences. If not, students are later asked which version sounds more natural to them. This activity usually reveals that most students tend toward American English quite consistently, probably due to media input and the Internet (common cases like "quarter after/past 3" were not used because such phrases were probably learned by heart at high school without ever reflecting on varietal differences). In addition, students were given common words like can’t, after, fast, path, more uncommon words like lance, rafter, pastor and some non-words words like naster, rancer in order to check if they internalized the Southern English realization of the trap-bath split beyond leant-by-heat words from high school. This also typically reveals the /æ/ pronunciation at least for the uncommon and non-words words, reflecting students' internalized rule system.
The second lesson deals with liquids, in particular rhotics/r-colored vowels (again, in American English, though the unit is just as helpful for BE, where r-dropping would be emphasized) and the dark vs. light l distinction (which also differs somewhat between BE and NAmE). The first topic was already established briefly in the previous unit. R1 uses pictures as a common technique to elicit certain sounds, which were analyzed in contrast to each other in task 2. R2 starts with a focus on meaning activity and then uses this text to initiate the various phases of practice. This activity also draws heavily on idioms. Building a context with a reading or listening activity, adding vocabulary and using this to build new stories is quite an ideal (if simple) teaching scenario in line with current methodology, though here the pronunciation topic would have been added after task 4. In resource 3 tasks 1 and 2 students are meant to figure out the rules for the dark (velarized) and light l based on their current language skills. Obviously such a task leads to some disagreement, which helps students discover the truth with even more engagement. Especially in words like blink or mile this discovery process can lead to some confusion, maybe in parts because “NAE speakers tend to produce a darker, more velarized allophone in all positions, whereas British speakers produce a very distinct clear, or light, allophone in prevocalic position. This British [l] is especially clear before front vowels – as opposed to the dark [ɫ] that occurs in postvocalic position – especially before back vowels” (Celce-Murcia et al. 2011: 452, see also Giegerich 1992: 211). In practice, this dichotomy is rather a continuum in AE, with a progression from light to dark in the following order: -ly suffix (timely), initial (lip), initial cluster (clear), final (fill), final cluster (bulk) (Celce-Murcia et al. 2011: 84). While R4 provides some listening input and controlled practice, R 5 and 6 put the topic of liquids together with an engaging topic that students tend to find very interesting to discuss.
The next unit covers a set of vowels (/æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /a/) that tend to cause great confusion in L2 speakers, usually because their L1 has a much smaller inventory of mid-low and low vowels and because spelling can be extremely misleading. These vowels, though very distinct to native speakers, seem to be perceived as “types of a” by many learners, which serves as a better pedagogical header than “mid-low and low vowels”. This topic was combined with the positional (allophonic) variation topics of vowel length, unreleased final consonants and syllabic [n̩]. Resource 1 allows students first to discover the English vowel length rule, and then, before task 2.2, the rule for unreleased terminal consonants which is practiced in 2.2. Task 1 relies heavily on teacher diagnostics. It is made sure that students can produce all words perfectly, at least physiologically. Phonologically speaking, the general allophonic rule is that vowels are long before v+ obstruents, half-long before sonorants or pause and short before v- obstruents (Giegerich 1992: 235), though for pedagogical purposes a dichotomy “before voiced vs. before voiceless sounds” should suffice. Unreleased consonants occur in word (or syllable) final position, especially before a vowel or liquid, in which the tongue stays at the place of articulation (lips, alveolar ridge, velum) without releasing the air stream. Alternatively, in some speakers a glottal stop is co-articulated in syllable-final voiceless stops (Giegerich 1992: 220).
This activity is also used to deal with the typical problem that /æ/ is substituted with /ɛ/or /a/ depending on the L1 (though the /æ/vowel is problematic for people with virtually all language backgrounds). This is most difficult in the short rendition of the sound (back). Also, the common problem of terminal obstruent devoicing is found in some learners, though on advanced and proficiency level this is often already acquired in my experience. Because only some students struggle with this and since native speakers distinguish words mainly based on vowel length (Celce-Murcia et al. 2011: 92), since final obstruents are very often unreleased or devoiced anyway (Giegerich 1992: 222), and since there are certain psycholinguistic constraints at play here (Hecht/Mulford 1982, Eckman 1984), terminal obstruent devoicing was not prioritized in this lesson. After R2 practiced the consonant release and vowel length contrast some more, R3 & 4 deal with the topic of syllabic consonants. This can also be described phonologically as elision of schwa, which mainly occurs before word-final sonorant consonants: given that it is possible for such consonants to be syllabic, i.e. the syllable peak (e.g. Giegerich 1992: 68, 287). Phonetically speaking, when an n becomes syllabic, the t is released through nasal plosion (Skandera/Burleigh 2005: 110), i.e. the closure at the alveolar ridge is maintained but the velum is lowered, so that the air can escape through the nose before the phonation of the n starts.
Resource 5 finally discusses in particular the vowels /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /a/, also in contrast to a typical mispronunciation of /ɑ/ (or BE /ɒ/) as /ɔ/ due to the o spelling (which is read as /ɔ/ in many languages). With this activity this lesson establishes the three categories /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /a/, discusses the central and slightly back articulation of /ʌ/, notes that /a/ only occurs in diphthongs (/aɪ, aʊ/) and that /ɑ/ is a back, not a front vowel. Resources 6 and 7, then, are designed specifically to sort out some misconceptions brought about by spelling, with R6 providing some further listening input and controlled practice. These activities usually come with great surprises in students since they were not aware that words like guitar, novel and watch contain the same vowel (though r-coloring and some rounding in guitar and watch, respectively, might be slightly perceptually confusing). Also in the discussion of the spelling possibilities for /ʌ/ learners frequently become aware of mislearned pronunciations. Resources 8 through 10, then, provide some common communication practice and add some analysis of vowel length and consonant articulation to bring everything together.
On a final note it should be said that these lessons were designed with German learners in mind. With other language groups, distinctions like /i/ vs. /ɪ/ would need to be added. Also, the common pronunciation topic of vowel reduction in unstressed syllables was not dealt with separately and in great detail since this is already positively transferred from German on the word level and mainly has to be emphasized in function words. Further, syllable structure errors (see e.g. Anderson-Hsieh et al. 1992: 540 for some typical errors) are dominant in many language groups (e.g. Portuguese or Japanese L1 speakers) for whom vowel epenthesis is a great problem since these languages permit far fewer consonant clusters than English, or Chinese L1 speakers, who often employ heavy clipping of words. In addition, there are many minor L1 specific errors that would need to be emphasized with certain language groups (e.g. /h/ elision and epenthesis with French L1 speakers). A big problem with some language groups that is enormously difficult to teach is the issue of short vs. long lag plosives, i.e. the lack of English L1-specific aspiration in V- stops (e.g. pot, Tom), which would, in such a case, be heard as "bot" and "dom" by English L1 speakers.