Gilbert-Teaching-Pronunciation, Teaching, TEACHER SUPPORT PLUS
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Teaching
Pronunciation
Using the Prosody Pyramid
Judy B. Gilbert
c a m b r i d g e
u n i v e r s i t y
p r e s s
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
www.cambridge.org
© Cambridge University Press 2008
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
i s b n
-13 978-0-521-98927-5 paperback
Book layout services: Page Designs International
Table of Contents
Introduction
1
1
The Functions of Prosody
2
2
The Prosody Pyramid
10
3
The Prosody Pyramid and Individual Sounds
21
4
Ideas for Implementing the Prosody Pyramid
31
Appendix 1: Pronunciation FAQ
42
Appendix 2: Focus Rules and Thought Group Rules
45
Appendix 3: How Often Do the Vowel Rules Work?
47
Appendix 4: Table of Figures
48
References
49
Introduction
Teaching pronunciation involves a variety of challenges. To begin with, teachers
often find that they do not have enough time in class to give proper attention
to this aspect of English instruction. When they do find the time to address pro-
nunciation, the instruction often amounts to the presentation and practice of a
series of tedious and seemingly unrelated topics. Drilling sounds over and over
again (e.g., minimal pair work) often leads to discouraging results, and discour-
aged students and teachers end up wanting to avoid pronunciation altogether.
There are also psychological factors that affect the learning of pronun-
ciation in ways that are not so true of studying grammar or vocabulary. For one
thing, the most basic elements of speaking are deeply personal. Our sense of
self and community are bound up in the speech-rhythms of our first language
(L1). These rhythms were learned in the first year of life and are deeply rooted
in the minds of students. Therefore, it is common for students to feel uneasy
when they hear themselves speak with the rhythm of a second language (L2).
They find that they “sound foreign” to themselves, and this is troubling for
them. Although the uneasiness is usually unconscious, it can be a major barrier
to improved intelligibility in the L2.
A teacher can help overcome this psychological barrier and other
challenges by thinking of the goal of pronunciation instruction not as helping
students to sound like native speakers but as helping them to learn the core
elements of spoken English so that they can be easily understood by others. In
other words, teachers and students can overcome the frustrations, difficulties,
and boredom often associated with pronunciation by focusing their attention on
the development of pronunciation that is “listener friendly.” After all, English
pronunciation does not amount to mastery of a list of sounds or isolated words.
Instead, it amounts to learning and practicing the specifically English way of
making a speaker’s thoughts easy to follow.
This booklet presents an approach to pronunciation that highlights the
interrelatedness of various aspects of English speech. The approach addresses
the individual elements of pronunciation but always within the framework of a
larger system that uses all these individual elements to make speakers’ ideas clear
and understandable to their listeners.
Introduction
1
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