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1. Introduction

Inrecentyears, Ihavebeensurprisedat thenumberofuniversitystudentswhopronounceEnglishwithheavykatakana pronunciation (c.f.,Katayama,2010)when required tomakebriefpresentationsinclass.Inthemostseverecases,thestudents’presentationssoundmorelikeJapanesethanEnglish,despitetheuseofEnglishwordsduelargelytothetransferofL1suprasegmentalpatterns(i.e.,stress,length,toneandintonation).Theytendtopronounceeachwordseparatelywith[HighLow]—]LowHigh]Japanesepitch-accentinsteadofinwordunitswithEnglishstress-timedrhythm(Katayama,2010).Recently,EnglishpedagogyinJapanesesecondaryschoolshasfocusedoncommunicativeskillsratherthanstrictgrammaticalaccuracy,yettheteachingofpronunciationhasreceivedinsufficientfocus(Uchida&Sugimoto,2018;Katayama,2010;Yuzawa,2007,Ueno,1998).AsKatayama(2010)laments,itseemsthatteachershaveforgottenthatpronunciation,especiallythesuprasegmentalorprosodicfeaturesofEnglish,arekeytotheproductionofintelligibleoralcommunication. Ideally, thereshouldbea fullone-totwo-semester firstyearuniversityclassdevotedtotheteachingofEnglishpronunciationthatwouldintensivelycoveralloftheproblematicsoundsforJapanesespeakersofEnglishandgivethemampleopportunitytopractice(c.f.,Grate,1974;Sell&Cosgrave,1975),startingwithperceptiontraining,understandingoftongueposition,jawandmouthmovementandshape,andminimalpairpractice(Yuzawa,2007),thenprecedingtothestudyandpracticeofsuprasegmentalpatterns inconnectedspeech.Suchacourseshouldemploytheuseof technologysuchas theBBCinteractivephonemicchart(BritishCouncil,2009)andaself-analyticalapproach,suchasNagasawa’s(1994)whichrequiresstudentstousemirrorsbothatclassandathometocheckmouth-shapes,ataperecorderathometorecordandcomparetheirownpronunciationtothatofanativemodelaswellasapracticediary.Inclass, thestudentspronouncethetargetmaterial fortheteacher’sevaluation.Iftheirperformanceisacceptable,theycanmoveontothenextassignment,ifnot,theymustrepeattheassignmentagain. However, given the current curriculumand time constraints, such a robust universitypronunciation course isnot feasible. Instead, theauthorhas chosen toaddress twoof themostproblematicareasofpronunciation:segmentalvowelphonemesandvoice inflection.Thegoal isnotperfectpronunciation,but intelligiblepronunciation.Althoughhehasappliedthisapproach inbothPresentationSkillsandEnglishCommunicationIandII, the focus inthispaperwillbe limitedtoEnglishCommunicationIandII,whichisareadingclass.Inthespringsemesterofthisclass,studentsreadshortstories fromtheSRAReadingLaboratory(McGraw-HillEducation,2015),andinthefallsemester theyreadgradedextendedreadingbooks. Inbothsemesters,studentsreceivetraining inpronouncingsegmentalvowelphonemes,andvoiceinflection(Harrington&LeBeau,1996),andthenareaskedtoapplywhattheyhavelearnedinthreeclasspresentations.

ExploringtheTeachingofPronunciationinaUniversityReadingClass

DavidM.MOSHERKeyWords:teachingEnglishpronunciation,L1suprasegmentaltransfer,segmentaland

suprasegmentaltraining,intelligibility,EnglishCommunicationI&II

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2. Segmental Pronunciation Training: American English Vowels

TheintelligiblepronunciationofEnglishvowelsounds isprobablythemostdifficultareaforJapaneseandmanyotherspeakersofEnglishtolearn.OnereasonisthatJapanesehasonlyfivevowelphonemes.Chinese,mostRomancelanguagesandTagaloghaveonlyfivetoeightvowels(Celce-Murcia,Brinton&Goodwin,2010).Insharpcontrast,EnglishhasatleastfivetimesasmanyvowelsasJapanese.Yuzawa(2007)statesBBCEnglish(formerlyreceivedpronunciation)has20vowels.NorthAmericanEnglishhas15stressedvowels,sixrelaxedvowelsandthreedipthongs (Celce-Murcia,etal.,2010).VowelsarealsothecorepartofEnglishsyllables.TheyarethepartofEnglishwordswhichreceivethespeaker’sstress,andwhichcommunicatethespeaker’sfeelingandemotion.Englishvowels,especiallylongvowels,havemoredynamicmouthandtonguemovementsthanJapanesevowels,andonevowelmaycontaintwodistinctivelydifferentsounds.Forexample,theeilongvowelsound,asin“bait”,containsthesoundoftheletter“a”andtheletter“e”.AllofthesedifferencesmakethepronunciationofvowelsverydifficultforJapanesespeakersofEnglish.Yet,reasonablyaccuratevowelpronunciationisessentialforproducingcomprehensibleEnglish. Forvowelpronunciationtraining,IhaveadoptedSellandCosgrave’s(1975)V-chartforAmericanEnglishvowelsounds (SeeAppendix1). In thischart, thereare twelvevowelphonemesandthreedipthongs,thecombinationoftwovowelphonemes.Thischartmakesiteasyforstudentstovisualizethepositionandmovementofthetongueandjaw,andtheshapeofthemouth.Thevowelatthetopleftcornerofthechart(i:)ispronouncedwiththetonguehighandinthefrontofthemouth,andthemouthisonlyopenslightlyintheshapeofasmile.AsoneprogressesdowntheleftsideoftheV-chart,thetonguegraduallymoveslowerandtowardsthemiddleofthemouth.Atthebottomofthechartisthevowela:asinhot.Herethetongueisatthebottom,mid-partofthemouth,thejawispulledlow,andthemouthisopenedwiderthanforanyothervowelphoneme.Asoneprogressesupwards,alongtherightsideofthechart,thetonguemovesprogressivelyfurtherbackandupwardsinthemouth,andthelipsbecomeprogressivelymorerounded.Theu:phoneme,asinboot,atthetopleftcornerispronouncedwiththetonguehighandfarbackinthemouth.Thelipsareroundedtightly.Whenthevowelsoundfor“but”ispronounced,thetongueisinthemiddleofthemouth.Themouthisopenedmid-wide,andthejawisrelaxed.Theersound,asinbird,istreatedasavowelsinceitsharesallthemajorvowelfeatures.Thetongueis inthehighmiddlepartofthemouth,thelipsareslightlyroundedandthetonguedoesnottouchanypartofthemouth. AsexplainedintheV-chart,sevenofthetwelvevowelsarelongvowelsandtheotherfiveareshort.Inthephoneticscriptusedinthechart,longvowelsconsistoftwosymbolsandshortvowelsconsistofone.Inclass,thelongvowelsoundsarepronouncedwithexaggeratedlengthandvolumeasifinslowmotiontodramatizethephoneticcharacterofEnglishvowels.Nagasawa(1994)suggestspronouncingEnglishphonemesthreetimesaslongandstrongasnormal.Thisoftenamusesstudentsturningwhatcouldbeatediousexerciseintoanentertainingone,andgivingstudentsmoretimetonotethelocationandmovementofthetongue,thelipsandjaw.Thelongvowelsoundscanthenbecontrastedwiththeneighboringshortvowelsounds,forexamplei:andi,eiandeandsoon.Thevowelsanddiphthongsarepronouncedboth in isolationandbetweenconsonants,suchas“b”and“d”, to formcommonfamiliarwords.

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3. Suprasegmental Pronunciation Training: Voice Inflection

Vowelpronunciationtrainingisthenfollowedwithvoice inflectiontraining,a limitedtypeofsuprasegmentalpronunciationtrainingfollowingHarringtonandLeBeau(1996).Threevoiceinflectionfeaturesaretaughtandpracticed:stressing,stretchingandpausing.Students listentoandrepeatasimplesentencelike“I’vegotabigdog”withemphasisonthebignessofthedog,andnotthefacttheownerhasadog.InHarringtonandLeBeau,thissentenceisillustratedwiththreedifferentdogownersaccompaniedwithprogressivelybiggerdogs.First, forstresspractice, it ispointedoutthatprimarysentencestresscomespreciselyontheshortvowelsoundof i inbig.Optionally,theblendedspeechof“gota,”asingodda,canalsobetaughtheretoshowthatweaklystressedwordsarespokenmoremuchmorequicklythanstressedwords,andhighlightthestress-timedrhythmofEnglish.Second,thenotionofstretching(i.e.,stress-timed)istaught.Thesamesentenceispronouncedwithgreateremphasisbystretchingthe ivowelsoundinbig,asin“No,I’vegotab-i-i-i-gdog.”Finally,studentsarethentaughtthatpausesplacedbeforewordsandphrasesthatonewishestostressareusedtoemphasistherelativeimportanceof thewordwhich isstressed (andstretched).Withslashmarks indicatingapause, thesentencecanthenbepronouncedassuch,“No//I’ve/gotaB-I-I-I-I-Gdog!” Studentsarethentaughtthatcertainwords,suchasnumbers,actionverbs,descriptivewords,comparisonwordsandnegativewordstendtoreceivesentencestressinEnglish.Theyrepeatasmallnumberofsentencesaftertheinstructor,andthenpracticetheminpairsorsmallgroupsbeforebeingaskedtoperformfortheclass.SincepronouncingEnglishsentenceswithnative-liketime-stresswillseemunnaturalandevenuncomfortabletomany,asenseofexaggeratedplayfulness isencouraged.ThroughsuchpracticeitishopedthatstudentswillbegintofirmlygraspthefactthatEnglishwordsarestress-timed;whereas,Japanesewordsaresyllable-stressed(Uchida&Sugimoto,2018). Alternatively,Katayama(2010)saysEnglishwordshaveintensity-stressasopposedtoJapanesepitch-stress.ConnectedEnglish,moreover,hasstress-timedrhythm,inwhichcontentwordsreceivestrongstressandfunctionwordsreceiveweakstressorareblendedwiththesurroundingcontentwords(Uchida&Sugimoto,2018;Nagasawa,1994). Althoughtherules forsentencestresscanbecomplex,simplevoice inflectionexercisescanhighlightimportantprosodicfeaturesofspokenEnglish,providingafoundationforpracticewithmoreextendedshortstoriesandtexts.

4. Oral Readings

Thenextstep istotrainstudentstoapplywhattheyhave learnedtoshortstoriesandbookexcerpts.Thisnotonlysuitsareadingclasswell,butisimportantbecauseresearchersfindthatevenwhenstudentsareableto“perfectly”pronouncewordsinsegmentalpronunciationtasks,theyareunabletopronouncethesamewordswell insuprasegmentaltasksofsentenceorparagraphlength(Kumar,2015).Therefore,bothsegmentalandsuprasegmentalpracticeseemstobenecessary(Ueno,1998). Inthespringsemester,ashortstoryisselectedfromtheSRAReadingLaboratory,andinthefallsemester,ashortpassageisexcerptedfromHannah and the Hurricane(SeeAppendix2),whichthewholeclasshasread.Sincethebasicprocedureisthesame,onlythefallsemesteroralreadingtaskwillbeexplainedhere.Intheexcerptedtext,wordstressisindicatedwithstressmarks(′),stretchingisindicatedbydoubleunderlines(sixteen),shortpausesareindicatedbysingleslashes(/)andlongerpausesarebydoubleslashes(//).

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First,thevoiceinflectionmarkingisexplainedtothestudents,andtheyareaskedtorepeataftertheteacher.Theteacherhighlightstheintonationalphrase(Yuzawa,2007),andsentencestress,andthecharacteristicstretchingofthevowelssothatstudentscanhearhowEnglishvowelsoundsareinflected.Thedramaticeffectofpauses isalsodemonstratedbothtoshowhowpausesareused inEnglishtohighlightthemostimportantinformation,andtohelpstudentstopacethemselvesaswellastoprovidethemwithrelativelyeasyandnaturalplacestomakeeyecontactwiththeiraudience.Shadowingisalsoemployedtohelpstudentsgetabetterfeelforwhatformoststudentsisstilltheveryforeign,perhapsuncomfortable,stress-timedrhythm(Nagasawa,1994)ofEnglish. Next, studentsareplaced inpairs (orsmallgroups) toprepare for theiroralpresentation.Theteachercancirculateandhelpasnecessarybymodelingpronunciation,stress,stretchingandpauses.Whenstudentsdonotknowthepronunciationofaword,theyarealsoencouragedtocheckthepronunciationandstresspatternbylookingthewordupontheirsmartphoneorelectronicdictionaries.Bydoingso, theycanvisuallynotewhichsyllablesreceiveprimaryandsecondarystressandclicktheaudiobuttontohearstandardAmericanorBritishpronunciationsof thewords.AsUchidaandSugjiyamapointout,althoughdictionariesareanexcellentclassroomtoolforteachingpronunciationandwordstress,itisatoolthatisseldomusedbyjuniorhighschoolJapaneseteachersofEnglish(2018). Afterrehearsinginpairs,pairsofstudentscometothefrontoftheclasstoreadtheHannahandtheHurricaneexcerptaloudforassessment(SeeAppendix3).OnestudentreadspartAandtheotherreadspartB.Studentsdotheoralreadinginpairsandareallowedtositinordertoreduceperformanceanxiety.Students’performancesareassessedonmainlythreefeaturesoftheirpronunciation: (a)thequalityandclarityoftheloudnessandpitchofwordstress,(b)thestretchingandlengthofeachstress,and(c)theuseofpauses,aswellastheiroverallrhythmandfluency.Fortheoralreading,eyecontactisencouraged,butnotassessed.Goodpostureis,however,taughtandformsapartoftheassessmentalongwithevidenceofoveralleffort.Tenpointsismaximum,andstudentsaregenerallyassessedquiteeasilyandgivenplentyofpositivefeedback.Thegoalistocreatearelaxed,funatmosphereforthemtoexperimentwithdevelopingadegreeofcomfortwiththestress-timedrhythmofEnglish.Inlinewiththisgoal,someplayfulexaggerationofthegreaterlength,loudnessandpitchofEnglishstressisencouraged.

5. Book Sharing Reports

Sincethespringsemester“storysharing”reportsandthebooksharingreportsfollowthesamebasicprocedure,onlythebookreportswillbedescribedinthisarticle.Foreachextendedbookthatthestudentsread,theyarerequiredtowriteashortreportof30to60wordsintheirreadingjournal.Fromtheirjournalstudentschooseonebook,andwritealongerreportaboutthebooktosharewiththeclass.Inthepast,studentswereaskedtodooralreportsontwobooksthattheyhadread.Butsincetheauthorhasbeguntostresstheteachingofpronunciation,studentsareaskedtodoreportsonjustonebookintwophases,referredtohereafterasBookSharingIandII.ForBookSharingI,studentssummarizethebooktheyhavereadbothinEnglishandinJapanese.TheythenselectafavoriteproseordialogpassageandcopyitbeforeexplainingwhytheylikethepassagetheyhavechoseninsomedetailinbothEnglishandJapanese.ByhavingthestudentswriteinJapaneseandinEnglish,itispossiblefortheinstructortocorrecttheirEnglishwithoutmeetingindividuallywithstudentstoclarifytheintendedmeaningoftheirEnglish.

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FirstinBookSharingI,theinstructoronlymakesminimalEnglishcorrectionsusuallyinclass,andstudentsareaskedtoapplytheirknowledgeofEnglishvoiceinflectionandmarktheEnglishpartsoftheirbooksharingforstress,stretchingandpausing.Oncetheyhavedonethis,theyrehearsefortheirpresentationtotheclass individuallyor inpairs.Fortheirpresentations,theyareallowedtositandreadtheirreport,althoughgoodpostureandeyecontactatpausepointsisencouraged.Aswiththeoralreadingpresentation,studentsareassessedprimarilyonvoiceinflection,althoughsomeweightisgiventoefforttomakeeyecontactandtomaintainagoodposture(SeeAppendix4).Aftertheirpresentations,studentsturnintheirBookSharingIreporttobecorrected. ForBookSharingII,studentsarerequiredtocorrectandrevisethesummariesandreactionstotheirfavoritebookpassages,whichusuallymeansaddingsomemoredetailtotheirreport.Inaddition,theyarerequiredtoeitherrecommendornotrecommendtheirbooktotheirclassmates.Oncestudentshaverevisedtheirreports,theyareaskedtomarkthemforvoiceinflectionandgiventimetorehearseindividuallyand/orinpairsandsmallgroups.Theyarealsoencouragedtoasktheteacherandtousetheirdictionariestocheckthepronunciationandwordstressofanydifficultwords.Sincethis isthethirdandfinalclasspresentation,itisgenerallyweightedatleastfivepercentmorethantheothertwopresentations.Aswiththeothertwopresentations,intelligiblepronunciationandvoiceinflectionareanimportantpartoftheinstructor’sassessment.However,thistimestudentsarealsorequiredtostandandtomaintaingoodpostureandeyecontact.Tokeepthingssimple,writtenreportsandoralpresentationsareassessedseparately.

6. Conclusion

Theapproachtoteachingpronunciationdescribedhereseemstohavesomepositiveeffectsbothonstudents’pronunciationandvoiceinflectionaswellasontheirconfidenceinmakingEnglishpresentations.Increasingthepresentationtaskdifficultylevelgraduallyandallowingstudentstomaketwopresentationsononebookseemstobothreduceperformanceanxietylevelsandevenbuildsomeexcitementregardingthefinalreport.AsNagasawa(1994)notes,readingaloudpracticeisnotonlyessential,butitisalsoarelativelyeasystartingpointforlearningandpracticingsegmentalandsuprasegmentalpronunciationinEnglish. Thechallengegoingforwardisto increasetheeffectivenessofpronunciationtrainingwithintheconstraintsofonceaweek90-minuteclasses.OnewaymaybetointroduceminimalpairtrainingthatfocusesonthemostproblematicvowelphonemesforJapanesespeakersasanextensionofthevowelpronunciationtrainingdescribedinsectiontwo.Thiscouldbefollowedbyshortlisteningdiscriminationexercises.Thensomeofthesamephonemescouldbereviewedusingcontextualizedminimalpairs;thatis,shiftingfromsegmentaltosuprasegmentaltraining.Iftimepermits,theteachingofasmallnumberofconsonantpairs,suchasthosethatCatford’sresearch(Celce-Murciaetal.,2010;Ueno,1998)indicatehavehighfunctionalloadcouldbeadded.Theuseoftonguetwisterswouldbeyetanotherwaytoimprovestudentstraining.Theywouldaddvarietyandenablestudentstoreviewpreviouslytargetedphonemeswhileworkingonimprovingtheirstress-timedrhythmatthesentencelevel. Independent,on-demandpronunciationshouldalsobeconsidered.StudentscouldbeintroducedtotheBritishCouncil’s(2009;Kumar,2015)downloadableinteractivephonemicchartintheclassroom,afterwhichtheycouldaccessitontheirowninsideoroutsideofclasstoreviewthepronunciationofvariousphonemesondemand.Therearealso freeonlinevideosandpronunciation lessonsavailable

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forstudentsthatcouldbesimilarlyusedinsideoroutsideoftheclassroom(c.f.,SpeakMethod,2010).Encouragingandtrainingstudentsintheuseofbothelectronicandsmartphonedictionariestocheckthepronunciationandwordstressofnewvocabularyitemsasmentionedbeforeisoneoftheeasiestandmostpowerfulwaystofosterindependentlearning. Finally,theuseofbeforeandafterrecordingsofstudentsreadingashortpassagecouldnotonlybeanexcellentwaytoassessstudents’progress,buttomotivatethemtoworkhardertoimprovetheirpronunciationskillsatthesuprasegmental level (c.f.,Nagasawa,1994).Theissue,ofcourse, istime.However,thismightbeovercomebystudentsusingthevoicerecordingfeaturesontheirsmartphones.

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BritishCouncil.(2009).Phonemic Chart.RetrievedNovember24,2018,fromTeachingEnglish:https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart.

Celce-Murcia,M.,Brinton,D.M.,Goodwin,J.M., (withGriner,B.) (2010).Teaching Pronunciation; A

Course Book and Reference Guide, 2nd Edition.CambridgeUniversityPress.Escott,J.(1995).Hannah and the Hurricane.Harlow,England:PearsonEducationLimited.Grate,H.G.(1974).English Pronunciation Exercises for Japanese Students.NewYork:RegentsPublishing

Company.Harrington,D.&LeBeau,C.(1996). Speaking of Speech: Basic Presentation Skills for Beginners.Tokyo:

MacmillanLanguagehouse.Katayama,T.(2010).ASuprasegmentalThresholdforL2Pronunciation.Research Bulletin for English

Teaching, 7,1-23.Kumar,K. (2015).ProgressTracking;ImprovingEnglishPronunciationforJapaneseL2Learnersof

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19,37-46.McGraw-HillEducation(2015).SRAreadinglaboratory.Retrievedfromhttp://www.srareadinglabs.com/

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Appendix 1: Vowel Chart

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Appendix 2: Voice Infection Marked Pair Oral Reading

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Appendix 3: Voice Inflection Assessment Sheet

Speaker No.Name:

Stress(Loudness/High) 123+Stretching(Length+Stress) 123+Pausing 123+Posture/Effort 123+

1-4 = < 5 4 - 5 = 6 6-8 = 7 9 - 10 = 8 11 - 12 = 9 12+ = 10

Appendix 4: Book Sharing I and II Assessment Sheet

Speaker No.Name:

Stress(Loudness/High) 123+Stretching(Length+Stress) 123+Pausing 123+Posture 123+EyeContact 123+OverallEffort

1-4 = < 5 4 - 5 = 6 6-8 = 7 9 - 10 = 8 11 - 12 = 9 12+ = 10