This blog is a challenge for us. The Post graduation students doing our best to develop each stage of our Advanced English Course and of course trying to do something very interesting and appealing in order to maintain and improve our abilities. So, please welcome and we hope you can contribute and participate. Enjoy it and feel free to contact us...make your suggestions... Send your material .... And also...say Just HELLO!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Alfabetização, novas alfabetizações e alfabetização digital
Check out this SlideShare Presentation: This is a presentation based on the chapter "Alfabetização, novas alfabetizações e alfabetização digital" of the book "Psicologia da Educação Virtual" from the authors Coll and Monero. This review show us how we are dealing with transformations in our society which are leading us to a society of information. Also, we present new tools of the process of learning and teaching, we discuss about literacy, new literacies and multi literacies as well as we present the dimensions of digital literacy. in order to understand the impact of the information and communication technologies (TCIs) in the present scenario of Education.
Atoms and Bits
Based on the text New Literacies - Changing knowledge and classroom learning from Lankshear and Knobel we build a map in which we summarize chapter 3: Atoms and Bits: Literacy and the Challenge of Mindsets.
Interesting sites....
When we were surfing in internet our last class we have found some interesting communities and sites for English Teachers. There are a lot of interesting materials and information that we think it is worth to share with you. So, please we hope you enjoy….
It is a learning community with information about organizacional learning, learning communities and interesting links like:
EPals Community – Where learners connect – is a leading provider of safe collaborative technology for schools to connect and learn in a protected, project-based learning network. With classrooms in 200 countries and territories, ePals makes it easy to connect learners locally, nationally or internationally.
This community is dedicated to all the people interested in learning a little more about English and change information about it.
The aim of this site is to share with teachers, students and any kind of people information and material that may be helpful. The site has many links organized by Languages, suggestions of books and many interesting materials.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/br/brasil-elt-news.htm
British Council Language Teaching English is design for teachers of English in ELT Online Community. On this site we can check out the latest news related to teaching English in Brazil and also the events of the teachers' associations in different regions of the country. They also offer support materials and tips to help us in planning lessons.
British Council Language Teaching English is design for teachers of English in ELT Online Community. On this site we can check out the latest news related to teaching English in Brazil and also the events of the teachers' associations in different regions of the country. They also offer support materials and tips to help us in planning lessons.
A vision of students today
The video “A vision of students today” was produced by a group of 200 students from Kansas State University and shows that all the information that is taught to learners is not updated and relevant to the new virtual reality in which they live. Nowadays students are much more interested in chatting online, listening to music, talking on the phone, sleeping, and working than studying because the traditional learning doesn’t attract student’s attention and interests anymore. Teachers have to plan the classes in order to motivate the new generation of students to keep studying as learners used to do in the past. It is a challenge, but not an impossible task. All teachers have to do is to give the new generation a try and make use of the plenty of applications offered by the technology.
We all want to be young
The video "We all want to be young" shows the changes achieved by young people initiated by Baby Boomers who have freed themselves in the 40s and 50s. Next, we have the generation X who enjoys the freedom achieved by the previous generation. Ending with the millennial generation that goes beyond freedom. All those changes have a consequence, that is, the excess of information and possibilities are making this new generation have chronic anxiety because they want to access everything at the same time without knowing what it is the best for them. They cannot concentrate only on one task; they are losing focus on life. Consequently, most of them do not have their own opinion about life in general. Even with this kind of behavior, they are the new catalizadores or vanguardistas of major changes and teachers need to adapt themselves to this new generation in order not to lose their jobs in the future.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Where do you belong?
| Generation X | Generation Y | Generation Z |
| 1965-79 | 1980-97 | our rug-rats born since 1998 |
| Brought up by a bunch of would-be hippies, they swung the other way and tended to a more detached view of the world. | These are today's teens and 20s. Among them is a recklessness that has caused all the King Street and 2am lock-out troubles. | They have entered a world of information overload, bombarded day and night. |
Their influences were MTV, small families, AIDS and higher education than their parents. Sex had been liberated by the sexual revolution and they were not inclined to commitment. | If you think they come from another planet, you're right. Computers were mother's milk, the internet opened up the world, mobile phones and SMS can pull them into temporary groups. | Family is a loose definition to them - so many of their school friends come from single or same-sex families. The parents are older and comfortably affluent, but with big financial commitments. |
| So only now are we seeing them start to marry, in their 30s and far later than any generation before them. Many have only recently left home. | So a few text messages can cause a rave party of thousands to mushroom - or a riot to ignite | Everybody rushes to work and school in the morning and home at night. |
It can also cause viral marketing to blaze around the world in hours. | The family works as a unit and relates on an adult level. It's like no one has time or space for a childhood. | |
Living at home, Gen Y'ers get to keep any money they make and spend it on what they want. | ||
Reference:
http://indigosociety.com/showthread.php?20435-Generation-X-Y-Z
Monday, November 8, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monica´s Gang: Punctuation and Figures of Speech; an analysis
Andreia Tobias, Monica Recusani and Rosana Marcondes
October 2010
Introduction
In order to develop our stylistic analysis, the group has chosen two stories of the Brazilian Comic Book, Monica´s Gang, because they own an informal and, in this case, a funny language which apparently represent a simple written production, but in its creation we observe that there are various elements that compose them.
The group will analyze the Punctuation because there are a variety of resources in order to represent a real story, aspects of spoken language (features of comics book) and the present time. Another topic that it will be analyzed is the Figure of Speech because most of Comic Books are full of this aspect to enrich the text and make them more similar to the spoken language, trying to catch the reader’s attention by representing the sound of our real world.
About Comic Books
The Comic Book plot is narrated by frame through drawings and text and uses a direct speech, characteristic of spoken language. A comic book portrays a story through a series of sequential illustrations that incorporates short bits of text containing dialogue, sounds, or narratives. The story may be humorous, or may present a world of adventure, mystery or fantasy. Most comic books are printed on a regular basis and have one or more central characters that appear in each issue. A particular story may be told in a single issue and it may continue from one issue to the next over a period of time. The artistic style of a comic book is often attributed to a single artist, although most comics are produced by a team of artists and writers working together.
The Comic book has an autonomous language, which uses its own mechanisms to represent the narrative elements. There is the meta-language with its own language, usually regular format, technique of narration through images and the use of ellipsis that selects the main actions that occurred between one and another comic book, figurative and linguistic codes (balloons) and the words. In a Comic Book, according to the author’s intention, there may be only use of pictures where the messages are implied, or in the most comics, pictures and words complement each other and may not cause redundancy in the message.
About punctuation and figures of speech
When we express ourselves through our speech (spoken or written) we reveal our feelings, show our ideas in order to interact and expose them in a social level. As a result, we observe that our speech is full of personal impressions, intonation as pauses, incomplete thoughts and elements which show what we want to express. When it is a written speech there are significant and fundamental marks as punctuation marks and figures of speech that reveal the feelings and emotions the author uses to create an impact. These marks are stylistic resources to make a written text more appealing and serve to give a meaning which will cause an effect and impression to the reader.
Punctuation is a system of symbols called punctuation marks used to separate sentences and parts of sentences, and to make their meaning clear. Punctuation marks aid to the understanding of written texts. Each punctuation mark is used to a definite purpose and depending on the author´s choice may mean and express certain feeling and emotion, may represent pauses, and may express the intonation the writer wants to show. Consequently in order to express clearly the ideas it is necessary to use, more specific, how to use properly punctuation marks, thus the reader may understand the message. The punctuation is part of our life and is a fundamental tool in written and spoken speeches that is why is so important to use them accurately and properly.
Figures of speech are resources that authors use to make a message more significant. They are resources used for sounds, words, structures or meanings to better valorize our language. It is a tool which serves to manipulate the speech to express emotions, persuade, convince, or have an impact on the reader in order to reach specific goals. The produced text is a result of the choices an author does when he writes and we observe clearly how he uses a stylistic resource, how this style reflects on the construction of a text, and how these figures are presented.
In order to analyze how an author uses punctuation and figures of speech in a comic book we have chosen two texts to show how it works and how the author manipulates the speech to cause the effect he wanted.
Analyzing the Comic Book: Monica´s Gang
Monica's Gang, originally titled Turma da Mônica in Portuguese, is a popular Brazilian comic book series created by Mauricio de Sousa. The plots are centered on the adventures of a group of seven-year-old friends in the fictional neighborhood of Limoeiro in São Paulo. It is a magazine made up of narrative artwork with individual scenes and combines both word and image in sequential order. It is accompanied by dialogs which are represented by word balloons.
In the first story (Figure 1) we can observe the use of the figure of speech onomatopoeias which is a stylistic way to emphasize and create emotional reaction to what is being said. The onomatopoeia is a figure of speech that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. The first onomatopoeia is in the picture six, where the author expresses Jimmy Fives´s joy by his thought “He He He” because his plan seems to have worked out. In picture 7, Monica is making a great effort and the word “OOf” helps to show the reader this feeling.
The punctuation is a mark or sign to separate words into sentences, clauses, and phrases in order to clarify meaning in order to help the reader, and make the meaning clear. We observe in the first story the use of ellipsis to mark pauses and expresses too much emotion, insinuation and also creates tension.
The author shows the idea of space and time using ellipsis when Monica prepares a recipe. And with musical notes around the balloon, he indicates that the character prepares her recipe singing happy. Then, using ellipsis conveys the character’s effort to prepare the dough with cement. In the last picture, the ellipsis indicates a pause when they talk to bring suspense into the action and to the character.
The text is also full of exclamation marks at the end of the sentences to show strong emotion and emphasize surprise and effort.
In the second story (Figure 2) of Monica´s Gang, we can realize that most of pictures have onomatopoeia because the characters – Smudge and Jimmy Five – are trying to make each other laugh. In order to make the characters to reach their goals the author makes use of many sounds to represent fright, effort, laugh, disgust and monster.
In the second story (Figure 2) of Monica´s Gang, we can realize that most of pictures have onomatopoeia because the characters – Smudge and Jimmy Five – are trying to make each other laugh. In order to make the characters to reach their goals the author makes use of many sounds to represent fright, effort, laugh, disgust and monster.
The ellipsis pauses and the exclamation emphasizes the jokes and the fear that the characters feel when they go to bed because they cannot sleep for remembering the jokes they had made during the day .
Figure 2
Conclusion
The importance of using figures of speech as well as punctuation in the kind of subgenre we analyzed is primordial because it is well observed that the use of stylistic resources play a fundamental role in the creation of the atmosphere that a Comic Book, in this case, Monica´s gang comic book, requires. It shows how an author uses these resources in written to tell and communicate us the feelings and emotions of the characters. All these resources are appealing and present the grammar structures used to create these stories. We are perfectly able to understand and fell how a character is expressing himself. The punctuation marks in written are symbols that help the readers to understand the meaning of the sentences and the figures of speech helps us to provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity.
References
BRITANNICA ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA online] Available from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/483473/punctuation [Retrieved 31 October 2010 00:10 am]
COMICS ANALYSIS [on line] Available from http://amazingmontage.tripod.com/theorymenu.html [Retrieved 17 October 2010 11:21am]
LIVRARIA CULTURA [on line] Available from http://www.livrariacultura.com.br/imagem/capitulo/2698445.pdf [Retrieved 16 October 2010 3:36 pm]
PORTALINTERCOM [on line] Available from http://www.intercom.org.br/papers/nacionais/2009/resumos/R4-3617-1.pdf [Retrieved 16 October 2010 4:12 pm]
Friday, September 10, 2010
GRAMMAR CORRECTION IN SECOND LANGUAGE WRITING CLASSES:Should grammar correction be abandoned?
Andreia Tobias, Monica Recusani and Rosana Marcondes
September 2010
Introduction
A lot of discussion has been emerging concerning the grammar correction in second language (L2) writing classes. Authors have been discussing the effects of those corrections and if it may have good or ineffective effects on students. Among all authors we have chosen John Truscott who is assumed against grammar correction and states this practice must be abandoned. On the other hand we are going to present Chandler and Ferris opinions on writing correction once they believe that grammar correction may be effective. This present article aims to understand based on Truscott discussions the reasons that we must abandon written correction to present some arguments to show how ineffective and harmful the practice of grammar correction might be for learners and to point out the reasons why grammar correction is still being practiced.
Discussion
According to Truscott, learners will not improve their grammar ability by being corrected. Both teachers and especially students believe in correction and think this practice should work and may develop their writing ability. There are evidences that corrected students tend to write shortly and simplify their writing in order to avoid making mistakes. On the other hand there are studies that show that uncorrected students are more motivated and confident to write because they are free of correction, consequently they write much more than corrected learners. Truscott claims that such practice is ineffective, once does not improve student’s writing skill and for this reason should be abandoned.
Different points of views related to grammar correction in writing classes
According to Truscott, Grammar correction in L2 writing classes should be abandoned, once correction is not helpful, may be harmful and does not improve student’s writing ability.
In contrast to Truscott Chandler (2004) and Ferris (1996, 1999) have argued about grammar correction and think it may be effective. Chandler states that correction and revision are beneficial and correction by itself is more or less neutral. Ferris (1999) welcomes critical discussion of correction, but asserts that no one should abandon the practice and points out that sometimes corrections are done poorly and this is the reason that it is ineffective. Therefore, she says we cannot evaluate grammar in general because some kinds of correction may have more problems than others. According to her, students benefit from correction when it is clear, consistent, intelligent, that is, when it is a well-done grammatical correction. However, Truscott concludes that evidence for good correction is not a meaningful part of case for grammar correction. But the meaning of a well done correction remains unclear.
Also Ferris believes that correction is not only high valued by students but many teachers spend too much time and energy with it because they think they are helping learners to improve the accuracy of their writing. And she continues to argue that teachers must take in account the students ‘necessities in deciding if, when and how to give error feedback and correction to L2 student writers.
Chandler defends that correct learners ´error after either receiving direct correction or having the location of their errors pointed out. Truscott points out that Chandler (2003) showed evidence on the relative effects of different kinds of corrections, but not on the effects of correcting relative to not correcting.
We may argue that actually correction is a standard part of writing classes, but it does not improve students writing ability and does not make students better writers. Correcting students do not mean they will write more accurately in the future.
Grammar correction has harmful effects
As we support Truscott’s point of view we will present some of his arguments to show how ineffective and harmful correction might be to learners in L2 writing classes.
Learning is most successful when students are relaxed, and confident and enjoy their English classes, but the use of correction encourages exactly the opposite condition. Correction turns out to be stressful because people do not like to be told that they are wrong. Even students who believe that correction is a necessary part of learning process do not like seeing the red ink all over their writing and probably find the experience discouraging.
Students who do not receive correction have a more positive attitude toward writing than those who do. The uncorrected students are not better writers, but they definitely write more, because they are not afraid of making mistakes. Corrected learners tend to simplify their writing while uncorrected students show a superior grasp of sentence structure. Learners who are corrected simplify and shorten their writing in order to avoid correction, thus they do not learn as well as uncorrected students, once they have developed a less favorable attitude toward learning.
The time factor is another reason to classify correction as ineffective. Students who take correction seriously will spend much time reading, thinking about and correcting their mistakes. Time might be better used by practicing the ability of writing. The time problem is even greater for teachers once the correction of grammar errors can may absorb teacher’s energy and time with many students and many writing assignments. Time that might be spent more productively and perhaps more pleasantly on other things.
Why is Grammar Correction still widely practiced in writing classes?
Tradition is one of the reasons that grammar correction is still practiced, but according to Truscott there is no good reason to correct grammar errors.
The literature reveals several arguments for continuing the practice of grammar correction. One of these arguments is that learners often cannot identify their own mistakes and therefore need a more knowledgeable person to point them out. Also students will benefit by having their errors pointed out. Uncorrected students become stuck at a low level of grammatical skills; however those who were corrected might avoid this problem. Literature claims that feedback helps in the development of grammatical ability.
However, according to Truscott, none of these arguments offer any evidence that language learner’s benefit from grammar correction. On the contrary, researches show that this practice leads to signs of frustration, lack of motivation or confidence in learners. Besides that, as stated before students who are corrected tend to short and simplify their writing, and this attitude might lead them to a low level of writing development. On the other hand, students who are not corrected feel more secure to write, once they are not afraid and consequently they will write much more, making use of different language structures.
Perhaps the strongest reason to keep grammar correction is that students want correction and believe it is helpful. So, we should continue the practice. But this does not mean that teachers should give it to them. Teachers have to teach in a way that will help students to learn and they can start to do this by abandoning grammar correction, trying to show their students that their false belief about learning will not lead them to an improvement of their writing ability. Studies comparing corrected learners and uncorrected ones showed that , the latter did not show any harmful effects on learning or motivation and upset students on the absence of correction, apparently got over it quickly and went on to make good progress.
Conclusion
Based on Truscott’s point of view and analyzing all the evidences against grammar correction that he has presented, we may suggest that correction is really ineffective or harmful to learners and may be disadvantageous to students fluency and their overall writing quality. Rested on his evidences, especially regarding grammar errors we may say that classes without correction will provide students more time to practice writing; consequently they will be able to become better writers. The errors will reduce with the process of writing: Therefore, we may conclude that teachers must constantly make decisions about what to do in class, how to correct students but we are never sure how to proceed, because research never puts an end to doubt. The best to do is to provide students enough time to practice writing and this will be done if they avoid correction as much as possible, once learners will not improve writing ability with this practice. If the student is still making a certain mistake is because he or she is not ready to incorporate it and correction will not make the student any better. On the contrary this practice may even worsen the situation; making students feel inferior, frustrated and demotivated.
We expect that future discussions and researches regarding to this controversial topic happens once it has an important role to students and also teachers who are always making decisions in our teaching.
References
CHANDLER J. A response to Truscott. Journal of Second Language Writing, 2004,13 345–348.
DANA F. The Case for Grammar Correction in L2 Writing Classes: A Response to Truscott (1996). Journal of Second Language Writing, 1999, 8 (1) l-l 1.
TRUSCOTT J. The Case Against Grammar Correction in L2 Writing Classes. Language Learning 46:2, June 1996, pp. 327-369.
TRUSCOTT J. The Case for “The Case Against Grammar Correction in L2 Writing Classes”: A Response to Ferris. Journal of Second Language Writing, 1999, b(2), 111-122.
TRUSCOTT J. Evidence and conjecture on the effects of correction: A response to Chandler. Journal of Second Language Writing, 2004, 13 337–343.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
ORAL PRODUCTION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING: THE NATURAL APPROACH
Andreia Tobias, Monica Recusani and Rosana Marcondes
June 2010
Introduction
During the past decades a lot of approaches and methods were developed and created. Some of them have usually not been commonly accepted; even so some methods are no longer used. With globalization, information and different factors which contributed to the need for new approaches to the language teaching, we have seen an explosion of theories, principles and hypotheses concerned the study of spoken language, pronunciation, conversation and ideas discussing the best ways to teach a Second Language (SL) in books and articles. Oral production in these current approaches and methods is a goal to be reached.
In the current communicative approaches, the Natural Approach was a new philosophy of language teaching with the proposal of incorporating the naturalistic principles which came from Terrell´s experiences teaching Spanish classes. The emphasis is on exposure, that is, input, rather than practice. There is a prolonged period of attention before the learners try to produce language. Oral production, then, is delayed.
This essay is the result of discussions about how oral production is treated in The Natural Approach and its main characteristics. The aim was to discuss the principles of the theory, the view that the authors have and how oral production happens.
The Natural Approach
Tracy Terrel developed a new philosophy of language teaching which called the Natural Approach and with Stephen Krashen elaborated a theoretical rationale and published the “The Natural Approach” based on the use of language in communicative situations and without reference to grammatical analysis.
In this approach there is an emphasis to expose the students to the target language; learners have to hear the language for a long period of time before producing language.
They also emphasize the importance of meaning, the more vocabulary you learn, the more you are able to develop the skills. Grammar is not important and the key is to get the words into sentence, so students learn grammar unconsciously, while listen to the teacher, and following this methodology, soon they are supposed to construct their own sentences reaching a natural conversation. Stephen Krashen has developed five hypotheses which the Natural Approach is based. All of them have the same focus, which is to help students to acquire the communicative skill.
1. The Acquisition/ Learning hypothesis are two different ways of developing competence in a second or foreign language. Acquisition is the “natural way” and it is an unconscious process through understanding messages and developing competence by using language in real communication in the target language. Learning is a process in which conscious rules about a language are developed and cannot lead to acquisition.
2. The Monitor Hypothesis argues that acquisition is responsible for fluency, while learning functions as the editor or monitor for the output. The monitor can function only after sufficient time is spent in SL. The conditions limit the successful use of monitor are time in which learners must have enough time to choose and apply a learned rule, focus on form in which the language user must be focused on correctness or on the form of the output and knowledge of rules in which learners must know the rules.
3. The Natural Order Hypothesis states that grammatical structures are learned in a predictable order. First learners understand, hear people saying sentences full of grammar, fixed expressions, after they speak. Errors are signs of naturalistic development process during acquisition but not during learning, the same occurs in learners native speakers. So, first you hear people talking, next you produce language.
4. The Input Hypothesis explains the relationship between input (all information that learners are exposed to in a language) and language acquisition. It involves input (acquisition and not learning). People acquire language better by understanding input. Learners have to develop linguistic competence by understanding input in order to acquire the ability to speak fluently, the more comprehensible input learners are given the faster they will become fluent. If learners get the message, the input will usually be provided automatically.
5. The affective filter hypothesis learners need a low filter that will block less input. A person with a low affective filter seeks and receives more information and talks with more confidence and in order to reduce this filter, teachers should focus on communication rather on form, and input should attract student’s attention, creating a relaxed classroom atmosphere.
The treatment of Oral Production in The Natural Approach
The Natural Approach is a method developed in order to learners acquire oral production, that is, reach the communicative skill that will be internalized through time and similar to the way they have learned in their mother tongue. The second language is a naturalistic principle, in which the students begin to express themselves in the foreign language when they feel confident. The communication will be through any communicative situation in the target language and without previous grammar studies. The main feature in oral activities is the comprehensible input, through gestures, repetitions, specific vocabularies, paraphrase and contexts.
Comparing the Natural Approach to other methods we can say that there are important differences between the Natural Approach and the older Natural Method, known as the Direct Method which focuses on teacher monologues, direct repetition and formal questions and answers, and although the use of the mother tongue was prohibited because they argue that the only way to make students to develop fluency is the direct contact with the target language. There is no focus on accurate production of target-language sentences, and no interaction among students, no group work, and the fluency is developed basically by asking and answering questions. The student participation in classroom is based on listening to the teacher in monologues and direct and formal repetitions.
It is also important to highlight that the Natural Approach rejects earlier methods of language teaching, such as Audio-lingual or Audiovisual methods in which grammar is a central component of language, and the focus is on form. In both methods students repeat sentences, memorize dialogues and learn a lot of grammar rules. The main difference between these two methods is that the Audio-lingual focus on oral exercise and audiovisual on written exercise.
In the Natural Approach, there is an emotional preparation of the student; there is no endless repetition until the student is able to speak foreign words or phrases; the focus is in comprehensible input and there are no associations with actions and objects; writing is used; there is more focus in the production of accurate sentences.
Since The Natural Approach is similar to any communicative approaches, in which also focus on how to make students to develop speaking skill. In order to reach this goal, learners will mostly have interaction activities which they can use the target language and students will not be corrected all the time, because the errors are analyzed as a natural aspect to learn a language.
To acquire a language the most important point is the oral production through inputs of words and phrases understood by learners this way they may reproduce the foreign language in a natural way, because our brain repeats what we hear or read, so the more input we receive, the better will be our preparation at the moment of speech. The study of grammar will be applied after the oral and hearing assimilation, because when we learn our native language, we do not learn grammar directly. This learning process is unconscious and natural.
However certain goals depend on learners´ needs, the skills (reading, writing, listening, or speaking) and level being taught.
Learners and teachers have some responsibilities to make the Natural Approach really work. The learner’s roles are to provide information about their needs and expectation, learn and use all the input that is taught in order to produce language, decide when to start conversation and when to update it, decide when grammar exercise should be taught and how much time they will dedicate to do it.
On the other hand the Teacher’s roles are to provide as much input as they can for learners’ acquisition, to create a classroom atmosphere that must be interesting, friendly in order to lower the affective filter learning and also choose a mix of classroom activities involving group work, content and contexts and select the material that will be used in class, based on their perceptions and student’s needs and interests.
Therefore, in the Natural Approach, the focus is on comprehensible and meaningful communication as well as the provision of the right kinds of comprehensible input provide the necessary and enough conditions for a successful teaching class and foreign language acquisition.
The practical applications of the Natural Approach in the classroom show us that the comprehension comes before oral production and the teacher is responsible for giving this comprehensive input. This way, reading and listening skills are obtained before writing and speaking. The oral production comes out of nonverbal responses, single words and combinations of two or three words, simple phrases, and sentences and at last elaborate speeches. There is a silent period and learners are never forced to speak. They only have oral production when they are completely comfortable with it. There is no correction, unless errors are severe and interfere with the communication. Learners start to talk when they are ready. The classes are focused on communicative ideas without attention to grammatical accuracy in the early comprehension and production stages because Krashen believes that formulation of rules and the study of its irregularities and complexity are not language teaching and learning, but rather is language appreciation or linguistics.
Also it is very important the environment the second language acquisition will happen. The learners must feel self-confidence, have a good self-image and be motivated in order to succeed in second language acquisition.
Conclusion
The objective of Natural Approach is to help beginners to become intermediate. It has the expectation that students will understand and communicate with speakers of the target language. Learners should be able to build sentences that make sense but not necessarily be accurate in all details of grammar.
It is worth to say that the focus is on communication, interaction among learners by using the target language, the necessary grammatical structures that are automatically provided in the input with a great contribution to learners´ acquisition, but we sure know that this approach as any other one might work out with many learners, but also may fail with others. According to Krashen, grammar study has no place in language learning, but several researches have shown that there are countless examples of how grammar study can help students´ learning.
Therefore, any method applied might have its failures, what may be a successful teaching in a group of students may not to work in other one. That is why teacher should be open and free to analyze any teaching methodology and approach and decide which one the best will be suitable for each learner and use their valuable experience in the classroom.
References
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/AjaanRob-219408-natural-approach-methods-education-teaching-esl-efl-ell-language-learning-alm-1222574573232163-8-ppt-powerpoint/
SZYNALSKI, Tomasz P. What is input and why you need it. http://www.antimoon.com/how/input-intro.htm 12/06/2010, 8:55 pm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_language_teaching_method_and_a_language_teaching_approach june 16, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Project-Teaching Pronunciation - Using the Prosody Pyramid
Andreia Tobias da Silva, Monica Recusani, Rosana A Marcondes
May 2010
Introduction
The role of pronunciation in spoken English is fundamental and is part of the second language acquisition because clearly affects the learner´s communicative abilities and process and improving students’ pronunciation, teachers will improve learners' confidence and motivation. Gilbert (2008) in his booklet Teaching Pronunciation - Using the Prosody Pyramid encourages students to gain confidence through practice, gives exercises and shows techniques teachers could use to teach each of these pronunciation elements interrelating the various aspects of English speech.
Based on his booklet this study aimed to determine the technical terminology referring to the phonological pronunciation patterns we concluded to be the most important. We have built up a glossary which included definitions and examples for improving and practicing of English speech. In order to reach our goal the group had to work hard and make several researches.
In the beginning, when we first read the article we found ourselves a little confused with all different technical terms, once the search of the vocabulary wasn’t an easy task achieve, so our group had to be very connected, sharing all the activities and maintaining a clear communication.
To prepare this work we have done both virtual discussions through e-mails and a face-to –face meeting in order to decide the steps that should be taken during all process of the glossary construction. The group read the article and each one made a list of words. Then we have compared and decided the most important ones. The sources of our research were internet sites, books, paper dictionary searches and our pronunciation classes which gave us all support we need to develop our glossary.
Glossary
A
ALPHABET VOWEL see VOWEL, ALPHABET
AWARENESS – see AWARENESS, PHONEMIC
AWARENESS, PHONEMIC - A subset of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning. (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: blending sounds together to make a word,
identifying words that begin with the same letter,
breaking a word into individual sounds (READINGROCKETS, 2010)
Our Ex.: The teacher says a word "ball," and students say the individual sounds,
/b/, /ɑ/, and /l/,
Substitution initial sound to create a rhyming word: bat, mat, cat, hat,
The teacher says each sound /b/, /ɑ/, /l/ and students respond with the
word ball.
C
CHUNK - A subdivision of sentences into clusters according to prosodic patterns and pauses in reading. A typical chunk consists of a single content word surrounded by a constellation of function words (KONTEXT, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: “The interested watcher could always observe the stars visible to the
naked eye”, the chunking will be as follows: [the interested watcher]
[could always observe] [the stars] [visible] [to the naked eye] (ILC
2010.),
“I begin with an intuition: when I read a sentence,I read it a chunk at a
time.“, the chunking will be as follows [I begin] [with an intuition]:
[when I read] [a sentence], [I read it] [a chunk] [at a time] (KONTEXT,
2010.),
“The bold man was sitting on his suitcase.” [The bold man] [was sitting
on] [his suitcase] (KONTEXT, 2010.)
Our Ex.: “It was a hard work” the chunking will be as follows [It was] [a hard
work],
“I am going to the theater tomorrow the chunking will be as follows [I am going] [to the theater] [tomorrow]
“I´ve cleaned my room.’ the chunking will be as follows [I´ve clened] [my romm]
CLARITY see VOWEL, CLARITY
CLAUSE - A closely related group of words that includes both a subject and a verb (CLIFFSNOTES, 2010)
Of. Ex.: The work(subject) was(verb) difficult. (CLIFFSNOTES, 2010)
My best friend (subject) has (verb) a show at the art gallery (CLIFFSNOTES, 2010)
Jack(subject) painted (verb) the fence. (CLIFFSNOTES, 2010)
Our Ex.: My brother (subject) got married (verb) yesterday.
The pen (subject) is (verb) very expensive.
I (subject) met (verb) Diane last week.
CLUSTER - A sequence of two or more consonants (especially sense 2) within a single morpheme or word. Languages differ markedly in their tolerance for such clusters (BOOKRAGS 2010.)
CONSONANT - 1. any speech sound in the production of which the speaker completely stops and then releases the air stream, as in (p, t, k, b, d, g), stops it at one point while it escapes at another, as in (m, n, ŋ, l, r), forces it through a loosely closed or very narrow passage, as in (f, v, s, z, s̸h, z̸h, t̸h, t̸h, H, kh, h, w, y), or uses a combination of these means, as in (c̸h, j)
2 a letter or symbol representing such a sound
3. Linguis. any phoneme, esp. one produced as described above, that does not form the peak of a syllable (YOURDICTIONARY 2010)
Of. Ex.: [p], pronounced with the lips,
[t], pronounced with the front of the tongue,
[k], pronounced with the back of the tongue (WIKIPEDIA 2010)
Our Ex: may, see, Tore
CONSONANT CLUSTER - Sometimes known as a consonant blend, consonant cluster is a group of consonants that appear together in a word without any vowels between them(FIRSTSCHOOLYEARS, 2010)
Of. Ex.: Glasses, Clock, (FIRSTSCHOOLYEARS, 2010)
Our Ex.: Hand, Sand, Class
CONSONANT, CONTINUANT - A consonant wherein the passage of air is restricted (but not stopped), causing friction while the sound continues. Continuants are sometimes called fricatives. The continuants are subdivided into the sibilant, compound, nasal, liquid, and semi-consonants (INTHEBEGINNING, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: shout, beige (INTHEBEGINNING, 2010.)
Our Ex.: general, zoo, basic
CONSONANT, STOP - A consonant whose sound is formed by slowing down or abruptly stopping the flow of air through the mouth before being released with an expulsion of breath and sound. (INTHEBEGINNING 2010)
Of. Ex.: baby, boy (INTHEBEGINNING, 2010.)
Our Ex.: go, pen, day
CONTENT WORD SEE WORD, CONTENT
CONTINUANT CONSONANT see CONSONANT, CONTINUANT
CONTRACTION - The shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters (WIKIPEDIA 2010)
Of. Ex.: can't for "cannot", won't for "will not" (WIKIPEDIA 2010)
Our Ex.: I´d for “I would, I´m for “I am”, I'll for "I will"
CONTRAST - The opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared; "in contrast to", "by contrast": put in opposition to show or emphasize differences; to show differences when compared; be different; (WORDREFERENCE, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: table, garden (WIKIPEDIA, 2010)
Our Ex: Hand, Cat, Hot
CONTRASTIVE PRINCIPLE – The potential for conveying useful information is greater when words which mark major conceptual divisions are used, compared to words which mark smaller conceptual distinction. This is used as the contrastive principle of meaning word.
Of. Ex.: cat and dog, spaniel and retriever (HARRIS, 2010)
Our Ex.: black and white, cold and hot, fat and thin
CONVERSATION - The interest in conversation for the phonetics specialist lies in the differences between conversational speech and monologue. Much linguistic analysis in the past has concentrated on monologue or on pieces of conversational speech taken out of context. Specialized studies of verbal interaction between speakers look at factors such as turn-taking, the way in which interruptions are managed, the use of intonation to control the course of the conversation and variations in rhythm. (ROACH, 2009)
D
DE-EMPHASIZIS - De-emphasize, de-emphasise, destress: reduce the emphasis
(WORDREFERENCE, 2010)
DISCOURSE - Although the word discourse has a general meaning that refers usually to speaking, in linguistics the field of discourse analysis has been a source of much interest for the last thirty years or so. It concentrates on language and speech as related to real-life interaction between speakers and hearers, looking at the different roles they play and the ways in which they interact. Discourse analysis has become relevant to phonetics and phonology because of what it has to say about intonation. (ROACH 2009.)
DISRUPTION - An act of delaying or interrupting the continuity; the act of causing disorder; an event that results in a displacement or discontinuity (WORDNIK, 2010)
Of. Ex.: An example of disruption could be a lesson that starts by explaining how to fire a weapon, telling a foxhole story about a grenade, and then continuing with explaining how to fire a weapon. (BDEYO.COM, 2010)
Vocal delivery is too soft to hear, too fast to understand and/or long, unintended silences and speech disruptions (repetitions; filled pauses, e.g., "um") frequently distract audience (USM, 2010)
DRILL - As an instructional strategy, drill & practice is familiar to all educators. It "promotes the acquisition of knowledge or skill through repetitive practice." It refers to small tasks such as the memorization of spelling or vocabulary words, or the practicing of arithmetic facts and may also be found in more sophisticated learning tasks or physical education games and sports. Drill-and-practice, like memorization, involves repetition of specific skills, such as addition and subtraction, or spelling. To be meaningful to learners, the skills built through drill-and-practice should become the building blocks for more meaningful learning. (SASKATOON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 2010)
Of. Ex.: Drill and practice words and sounds that appear to be problems: drill the words "right" and light" to clarify the "r" and "l" sounds. (EHOW, 2010)
Drill work for the letters b and p: robe/rope, mob/mop, tab/tap, rib/rip, stable/staple, symbol/simple (DALE, 2005)
Our Ex.: drills with past tense verbs to help the student choose the correct ending and also to hear the differences between "-ed" endings
saved - pronounced "save/d/", enjoyed - pronounced enjoy/d/, married - pronounced "marry/d/"
DURATION (C.F. LENGTHENING) see VOWEL,LONG; VOWEL, SHORT- The amount of time that a sound lasts for is a very important feature of that sound. In the study of speech it is usual to use the term length for the listener’s impression of how long a sounds lasts for, and duration for the physical, objectively measurable time. (ROACH, 2010.)
E
EMPHASIS - Focalization and/ or emphasis is said to be best manifested by an extra pitch prominence, giving rise to larger F0 movements often accompanies by extra intensity and duration. (CITERSEERX, 2010)
EMPHASIS SYSTEM, see EMPHASIS
EMPHASIS, SENTENCE - Forms to emphasize statements when expressing opinions, disagreeing, making strong suggestions, expressing annoyance, etc. (ABOUT, 2010)
Of. Ex: The passive voice is used when focusing on the person or thing affected by an action. Generally, more emphasis is given to the beginning of a sentence. By using a passive sentence, we emphasize by showing what happens to something rather than who or what does something: Reports are expected by the end of the week. Attention is called to what is expected of students (reports). (ABOUT, 2010)
Use the continuous form modified by 'always', 'forever', etc. to express annoyance at another person's action. This form is considered an exception as it used to express a routine rather than an action occurring at a particular moment in time. Martha is always getting into trouble. Peter is forever asking tricky questions. George was always being reprimanded by his teachers. This form is generally used with the present or past continuous (he is always doing, they were always doing). (ABOUT, 2010)
Our ex.: Do you study French? Yes, I do. (short answer)
You made the exercises. No, we didn´t. Paul made it. (contradict what someone has said)
Mary broke all glasses.
EMPASIS, INTONATIONAL - Emphasis on certain words to convey meaning. (MDK, 2010)l
F
FOCUS WORD see WORD, FOCUS
FUNCTION WORD see WORD, FUNCTION
I
INTELLIGIBILITY - Intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort. It is sometimes used as one criterion for distinguishing languages from dialects, though sociolinguistic factors are also important. Intelligibility between languages can be asymmetric, with speakers of one understanding more of the other than speakers of the other understand of the first. It is when it is relatively symmetric that it is characterized as 'mutual'. It exists in differing degrees among many related or geographically proximate languages of the world, often in the context of a dialect continuum (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
INTONATION - 1.the pattern or melody of pitch changes in connected speech, esp. the pitch pattern of a sentence, which distinguishes kinds of sentences or speakers of different language cultures.
2. the act or manner of intonating.
3. the manner of producing musical tones, specifically the relation in pitch of tones to their key or harmony.
4. something that is intoned or chanted.
5. the opening phrase in a Gregorian chant, usually sung by one or two voices.
(DICTIONARY REFERENCE, 2010).
Of. Ex.: You're going. (statement)
You're going? (question) (UMANITOBA, 2010)
Our Ex. I want a new car for my birthday.
You are living?
I want it right now.
INTONATIONAL EMPHASIS see EMPHASIS, INTONATIONAL
IPA SYMBOLS - The symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as used in phonetic transcriptions in modern dictionaries for English learners (ANTIMOON, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: IPA = /b/ – bad/ lab, IPA = /d/ – did/ lady (ANTIMOON, 2010.)
Our Ex.:/g/ – give/ flag, /k/ – cat/ back, /m/ - man/ lemon
K
KAZOO - An instrument that imparts a buzzing quality to the human voice and that usually consists of a small metal or plastic tube with a side hole covered by a thin membrane. (MERRIAM-WEBSTER, 2010.)
KINESTHETIC PARTS - The sensation of movement or strain in muscles, tendons, and joints; muscle sense (DICTIONARY REFERENCE, 2010.)
L
LENGTH see VOWEL, LONG; VOWEL, SHORT
LENGTHENING (C.F. DURATION; VOWEL, LONG)
LETTER - There are 26 letters in the English alphabet; the letters are the individual characters that are used to represent sounds in a written form, either individually or in combination with other letters. Letters can be either lower or upper case. The latter are the larger versions of the letters that occur at the start of a sentence or the beginning of a proper noun and the term capital letter is also widely used for them. Lower case letters are used for the other transcriptions of the word or the sentence (USINGENGLISH, 2010.)
LINKING - When we say a sentence in English, we join or "link" words to each other. Because of this linking, the words in a sentence do not always sound the same as when we say them individually. Linking is very important in English. If you recognize and use linking, two things will happen: you will understand other people more easily; other people will understand you more easily. There are basically two types of linking: consonant > vowel. We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound vowel > vowel. We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound. (ENGLISHCLUB, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: That's enough. (That's senough) (PRONUNCIATIONTIPS, 2010.)
Sit on an orange crate. (Sit ton nan norange crate.) PRONUNCIATIONTIPS, 2010.)
LINKING WORDS - Linking words help you to connect ideas and sentences, so that people can follow your ideas (ENGLISH-AT-HOME, 2010)
Of. Ex.: And – We discussed training, education and the budget
As well as – We are interested in costs as well as the competition.
postpone.
LIPS - The lips are extremely mobile and active articulators in speech. In addition to being used to make complete closure for p, b, m they can be brought into contact with the teeth or the tongue. The ring of muscles around the lips makes it possible for them to be rounded and protruded. They are so flexible that they can be used to produce a trill (ROACH, 2009)
LIP-ROUNDING - In American English consists of three types: slight, tight and none. Slight lip-rounding is used on "sh, ch, r, and j." Tight lip-rounding is used to create the "w" sound. "L" is made with none. This information is extremely useful for non-native English speakers whose native sounds are created using different articulatory muscles. For example, the difference between "r" and "l" can be taught using training in lip-rounding and tongue placement.
Of. Ex.: chair (slight lip-rounding), weather (Tight lip-rounding), love (none lip- rounding) (INDOPEDIA, 2010.)
LISTENER-FRIENDLY PRONUNCIATION see PRONUNCIATION, LISTENER-FRIENDLY
LONG SOUND see VOWEL, LONG
LONG VOWEL, SEE VOWEL, LONG
LOUDNESS - We have instrumental techniques for making scientific measurements of the amount of energy present in sounds, but we also need a word for the impression received by the human listener, and we use loudness for this. We all use greater loudness to overcome difficult communication conditions (for example, a bad telephone line) and to give strong emphasis to what we are saying, and it is clear that individuals differ from each other in the natural loudness level of their normal speaking voice. Loudness plays a relatively small role in the stressing of syllables, and it seems that in general we do not make very much linguistic use of loudness contrasts in speaking (ROACH 2009.)
M
MAIN STRESS see STRESS, MAIN
MELODIC CUES see PHONETICS CUES
MELODY - 1 : a sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds : tunefulness
2 : a rhythmic succession of single tones organized as an aesthetic whole (MERRIAM-WEBSTER, 2010)
2 : a rhythmic succession of single tones organized as an aesthetic whole (MERRIAM-WEBSTER, 2010)
MINIMAL PAIR - Two words that have just one small difference in sound with different meanings. Also called close pairs. (USINGENGLISH 2010)
Of.l Ex.: Sheep ship, Men man(USINGENGLISH 2010)
Our Ex.: time dime, crab grab, light slide
N
NUCLEUS see SYLLABLE PEAK
O
OFF-GLIDES - An off-glide is a movement which occurs as the articulators leave the position taken up by one speech sound and travel towards the position required for the next sound (or to a position of rest) (GLOTTOPEDIA, 2010)
P
PAUSE - 1. a temporary stop or rest, esp. in speech or action: a short pause after each stroke of the oar,
2. a break or rest in speaking or reading to emphasize meaning, grammatical relation, metrical division, etc., or in writing or printing by the use of punctuation.
3. Prosody. a break or suspension, as a caesura, in a line of verse. (USINGENGLISH 2010)
PEAK - Every English syllable has a center or peak, an element which is [+syllabic] (KREIDLER, 2004)
Of. Ex.: cat – peak /æ/ , ax – peak / æ/ (KREIDLER, 2004)
PEAK, SYLLABLE see SYLLABLE, PEAK
PEAK VOWEL see VOWEL, PEAK
PHONEME - An important part of phonology is the study of those sounds that form distinct units within a language. The smallest unit of sound that can, in itself, alter the meaning of a word is called a phoneme. Although there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, it's interesting to note that there are around 44 phonemes in the dialect called Standard English. This means that letters cannot represent phonemes as such and so other symbols are used. Each phoneme is given a symbol so that the accurate pronunciation of any English word can be represented in writing (ENGLISHBIZ, 2010.)
PHONEMICS see PHONOLOGY
PHONETICS - The study of the way people physical produce and perceive the different sounds we use to create speech. These sounds are called phonemes and are created by the various 'organs of speech' in the body, including the tongue, the soft and hard palate, lips, pharynx, etc. Phonetics, unlike phonology, is not concerned in any way with the meaning connected to these sounds (ENGLISHBIZ 2010.)
PHONETIC CUES - 1) Say the beginning sound of the intended word,
2) Say a word fragment containing one or more of the beginning syllables of an intended polysyllabic word,
3) Give a rhyming word cue,
4) Use phonetic placement; that is, show the posture and position of the articulators of the beginning sound of the intended word (OAFCCD, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: “m” to elicit the word "man", "hippo" to elicit the word "hippopotamus", reciting "sing" or "wing" to facilitate the recall of an intended word such as "ring", pursing the lips for the sh- sound to elicit the word "shoe"
(OAFCCD, 2010.)
PHONICS - A method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters (e.g., that the sound /k/ can be represented by c, k, ck or ch spellings) and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations of unknown words. (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
PHONOLOGY - The study of the way speech sounds are structured and how these are combined to create meaning in words, phrases and sentences. Phonology can be considered an aspect of grammar and, just as there are grammar 'rules' that apply to the syntax of a sentence and the morphology of words, there are phonological rules, too. Phonology also covers the study of important sound features such as rhythm, pitch, tone, melody, stress and intonation. These phonological features of language are aspects of prosody - they are referred to as the prosodic or suprasegmental features of language. (ENGLISHBIZ, 2010.)
PHRASE - A group of two or more grammatically linked words without a subject and predicate -- a group of grammatically-linked words with a subject and predicate is called a clause
Of. Ex.: In the house, Out of here, At the museum (ARTS UOTTAWAL, 2010.)
Our Ex.: The ugly cat, In front of you, Has been drinking
PITCH - Pitch is an auditory sensation: when we hear a regularly vibrating sound such as a note played on a musical instrument, or a vowel produced by the human voice, we hear a high pitch if the rate of vibration is high and a low pitch if the rate of vibration is low. Many speech sounds are voiceless (e.g. s), and cannot give rise to a sensation of pitch in this way. The pitch sensation that we receive from a voiced sound corresponds quite closely to the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds; however, we usually refer to the vibration frequency as fundamental frequency in order to keep the two things distinct. (KREIDLER, 2004.)
PITCH CHANGE - Pitch is used in many languages as an essential component of the pronunciation of a word, so that a change of pitch may cause a change in meaning: these are called tone languages. In most languages (whether or not they are tone languages) pitch plays a central role in intonation. (KREIDLER, 2004.)
PITCH DROP - American English uses a pitch drop at the end of the sentence. The pitch of our voice goes up on the next to the last syllable and then down on the last syllable in a spoken statement. How quickly the pitch is dropped makes a difference. (BOOKS GOOGLE, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: Danny arrived lAte, so he missed half the mOvie.
Phone number: 391-456-3304
777-2340 (BOOKS GOOGLE, 2010.)
PITCH PATTERN - The pitch pattern of a word is indicated (throughout these pages and in the dictionary) as a number plus a mark. The number represents the syllable after which the change is located, and the mark shows whether it is a pitch fall (a backslash, '\') or a pitch rise (a forward slash, '/'). For example:
Of. Ex.: adamet [1/] a DA MET, seosie [1\] SEO sie, dubelet [2\]
DU BE let ...
PRONUNCIATION, LISTENER-FRIENDLY - The act of uttering with articulation; the act of giving the proper sound and accent; utterance; as, the pronunciation of syllables of words; distinct or indistinct pronunciation. The art of manner of uttering a discourse publicly with propriety and gracefulness; The mode of uttering words or sentences. (ONELOOK 2010)
PROSODIC - It is traditional in the study of language to regard speech as being basically composed of a sequence of sounds (vowels and consonants); the term prosody and its adjective prosodic is then used to refer to those features of speech (such as pitch) that can be added to those sounds, usually to a sequence of more than one sound. A number of aspects of speech can be identified as significant and regularly used prosodic features; the most thoroughly investigated is intonation, but others include stress, rhythm, voice quality, loudness and tempo (speed) (ROACH, 2009.)
PROSODY - The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of a speaker; whether an utterance is a statement, a question, or a command; whether the speaker is being ironic or sarcastic; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary (WIKIPEDIA 2010)
PROSODY PYRAMID – The English prosodic system. (GILBERT, 2008)
Q
QUALITY REPETITION see REPETITION, QUALITY
R
REDUCED VOWEL see VOWEL, REDUCTION
REDUCTION - Reductions are reduced forms of English words. Reductions, such as wanna (want + to ) are not real words in English. You need to use reductions in order to sound more natural. You need to know reductions in order to understand conversations between native English speakers. Reductions are used extensively in American TV, movies, music, literature, and in conversations among native English speakers. (FUNEASYENGLISH, 2010)
Of. Ex.: Frunna - formation: frunna = front + of: Your shoes are in frunna the
door. (FUNEASYENGLISH, 2010)
Kinda - formation: kinda = kind + of: I kinda like eating at restaurants. (FUNEASYENGLISH, 2010)
Our Ex.: Whassup? (What+is+up)
Whatser name? (What+is+her)
Whatiz name? (What+is+his)
RELATIVE VOWEL see VOWEL, RELATIVE
REPETITION, QUALITY - The quality repetition teaching and internalizes a piece of spoken English in which all the levels of the Prosody Pyramid are present and at work. This is a way for students to create, and later to find in their own memory banks, a reference for understanding how melody and rhythm affect the number of syllables, the length of the peak vowels, the location of pitch change, the changes in quality of the sounds, and other features of an English utterance. (GILBERT, 2008)
RHYTHM: In phonetics, the sense of movement in speech, marked by the stress, timing, and quantity of syllables (GRAMMAR ABOUT, 2010.)
S
SCHWA, SHWA - 1. (Linguistics / Phonetics & Phonology) a central vowel represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by (ə). The sound occurs in unstressed syllables.
2. (Linguistics / Phonetics & Phonology) the symbol (ə) used to represent this sound (THEFREEDICTIONARY, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: The a is schwa in adept, The i is schwa in decimal, The e is schwa in
synthesis (ENGLISH PLUS, 2010)
Our Ex.: 'a' in about [əˈbaʊt], the 'e' in taken [ˈteɪkən], the 'i' in pencil [ˈpɛnsəl]
SEGMENT (c.f. SEGMENTAL) - In linguistics (specifically, phonetics and phonology), the term segment may be defined as "any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech." Segments are called "discrete" because they are separate and individual, such as consonants and vowels, and occur in a distinct temporal order. Other units, such as tone, stress, and sometimes secondary articulations such as nasalization, may coexist with multiple segments and cannot be discretely ordered with them. These elements are termed suprasegmental. In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a phone. In phonology, there is a subfield of segmental phonology that deals with the analysis of speech into phonemes (or segmental phonemes), which correspond fairly well to phonetic segments of the analysed speech. (WIKIPEDIA, 2010)
SEGMENTAL (c.f. SEGMENT) - The individual sounds (segments) of a language that are arranged to construct words or utterances. (CZ-TRAINING, 2010.)
SENTENCE - A sequence of words constructed in accordance with the conventions of standard grammar. Such a group will have a sense of completeness and a clarity of meaning. It will usually be constructed around a noun phrase acting as the subject of a finite verb, i.e. it will contain at least one main clause. The rules of grammar concern the order of words in a sentence, technically called its syntax and the form of the words, called their morphology. (ENGLISHBIZ, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: 'The cat sat on the mat.' - standard syntax and morphology (i.e.
standard grammar)
'The cat sitted the mat on.' - non-standard morphology
'The cat on the mat sat.' - non-standard syntax (ENGLISHBIZ, 2010.)
Our Ex.: She went to the club yesterday. The club is in front of the school. The
book is very interesting
SENTENCE EMPHASIS see EMPHASIS, SENTENCE
SENTENCE STRESS - The music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress helps to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast. Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". Word stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentence.
Of. Ex.: SELL CAR GONE FRANCE (This sentence not
complete)
SELL my CAR I´ve GONE to FRANCE (The new words do
not really add any more information)
Will you SELL my CAR because I´ve GONE to FRANCE? (ENGLISHCLUB, 2010.)
Our Ex.: They've been to Miami recently, haven't they?"
"No, THEY haven't, but WE have
We are studying English today at school
SHORT SOUND see VOWEL, SHORT
SHORT VOWEL see VOWEL, SHORT
SHORT SOUND see VOWEL, SHORT
SPEECH - Communication through spoken words. The study of speech sounds is the branch of linguistics known as phonetics. The study of sound changes in a language is phonology. (GRAMMAR ABOUT, 2010)
Of. Ex.: "If I could just say a few words . . . I'd be a better public speaker."
(Homer Simpson beginning a speech, The Simpsons) (GRAMMAR ABOUT, 2010)
(Homer Simpson beginning a speech, The Simpsons) (GRAMMAR ABOUT, 2010)
Our Ex.: Have you done the English lesson? Have you done the English lesson?
Have you done the English lesson?
STOP - A speech sound which is produced with complete closure in some part of the vocal tract; also called plosive. When a stop is articulated, either the lower lip or some part of the tongue is in contact with some other part of the mouth – the upper lip or some part of the roof of the mouth. (KREIDLER, 2004)
alveolar plosive (WIKIPEDIA 2010)
STOP CONSONANT see CONSONANT, STOP - When there is some interruption of the breath stream, as there is for stops, the segment is [+ consonantal]. (KREIDLER, 2004)
STRESS - In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense (ENCYCLOPEDIA THEFREEDICTIONARY, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: I didn't take the test yesterday. (Somebody else did.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I did not take it.)
I didn't take the test yesterday. (I did something else with it.) (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Our Ex.: Have you done the English lesson? Have you done the English lesson?
Have you done the English lesson?
STRESS, MAIN - In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense. (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Of. Ex.:photographer, computer (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Our Ex.: Comfortable, Literature, Biology
STRESS PATTERN - Not all languages make use of the possibility of using stress on different syllables of a polysyllabic word: in English, however, the stress pattern is an essential component of the phonological form of a word, and learners of English either have to learn the stress pattern of each word, or to learn rules to guide them in how to assign stress correctly (or, quite probably, both). (ROACH, 2009.)
Of. Ex.: the word ‘fifteenth’ in isolation is stressed on the second syllable, but in
‘fifteenth place’ the stress is on the first syllable.
In place names: the name ‘Wolverhampton’ is stressed on the third
syllable, but in the name of the football team ‘Wolverhampton Wanderers’ the stress is usually found on the first syllable. (ROACH, 2009.)
STRESS, SENTENCE see WORD, FOCUS
STRESS, WORD - (Linguistics / Phonetics & Phonology) The stress accent on the syllables of individual words either in a sentence or in isolation. There are two very simple rules about word stress: One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.) We can only stress vowels, not consonants. (COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: PRESent, EXport, CHIna, Table (COLLINS ENGLISH
DICTIONARY, 2010.)
Our ex.: personNEL, TOtally, inDUstrial
STRESSED SYLLABLE see STRESS, WORD
STRUCTURE WORD see WORD, STRUCTURE
SYLLABLE - A unit of sound composed of: The central peak of sonority (usually a vowel) and that the consonants clusters around this central peak (SIL, 2010)
Of. Ex.: wa – ter – 2 syllables, man – 1 syllable (SIL, 2010)
Our Ex.: com – pu – ter – 3 syllables, class – 1 syllable, cle – ver – 2 syllables
SYLLABLE, PEAK - In phonetics and phonology, the nucleus (sometimes called peak) is the central part of the syllable, most commonly a vowel. In addition to a nucleus, a syllable may begin with an onset and end with a coda, but in most languages the only part of a syllable that is mandatory is the nucleus. The nucleus and coda form the rime of the syllable. Diphthongs and triphthongs can also serve as the nucleus. Syllables with short vowels as nuclei are sometimes referred to as "light syllables" while syllables with long vowels, diphthongs, or triphthongs as nuclei are referred to as "heavy syllables"; Sonorant consonants such as liquids (such as [r] and [l]) and nasals (such as [m] and [n]) can serve as the nucleus if there is no vowel. The nucleus of the last syllable in the final example at right is an example of a sonorant nucleus (WIKIPEDIA, 2010)
Of. Ex.: cat [kæt] [æ], rain [reɪn] (WIKIPEDIA, 2010)
Our Ex.: Word bed [bɛd] Nucleus: [æ]
ode [oʊd] [oʊ]
bite [baɪt] [aɪ]
SYLLABLE, STRESSED see STRESS, WORD
T
TEMPLATE - The template used may be a longer piece of spoken English – perhaps a longer sentence (with more than one clause) or more than one sentence (e.g., a question and response paired together). The template focus on emphasizing the focus word with a pitch change, or on reducing a pronoun to schwa, or lengthening a vowel sound before a voiced consonant (GILBERT, 2008)
Of. Ex.: “How many …?”, “Do you …?” (GILBERT, 2008)
Our Ex.: “I´m going to…”, “Did you …?”, “Will you…?”
THE PERFECTION TRAP see TRAP, THE PERFECTION
THOUGHT GROUP - When speaking, divide longer sentences into two or more sections, or thought groups. A thought group is a portion of a sentence set off from the rest by a pause or pauses. When we pause in a sentence, it is usually for one of three reasons: to make the meaning clear, for emphasis and to have sufficient breath support when producing longer sentence.
(PRONUNCIATIONWORKSHOP, 2010.)
(PRONUNCIATIONWORKSHOP, 2010.)
Of. Ex.:I was about to leave my house, (pause) when I realized that I left all the
lights on.
Frankly my dear, (pause) I don't give a damn (famous quote from the
movie "Gone with the Wind").
My spouse and I decided to remodel our house, (pause) and then we realized (pause) that the money we would spend on remodeling (pause) we could put towards the purchase of an even nicer home (pause) in a better neighborhood. (PRONUNCIATIONWORKSHOP, 2010.)
Our Ex.: In case you haven't heard / our pronunciation test / has been postponed.
We must finish our glossary / with an even number of words.
In terms of orientation, / the students of our school / are well prepared.
TRANSCRIPTION - A universal system for transcribing sounds that occur in spoken language. The most widely known system of phonetic transcription, the International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA), uses a one-to-one mapping between phones and written symbols. The standardized nature of the IPA enables its users to transcribe accurately and consistently between different languages. It can also indicate common pronunciations of words (Sribd 2010)
Of. Ex.:no: /
Our Ex.: head /hed/ , place /pleis/, else / els/
TRAP, THE PERFECTION - Speaking like a native speaker. (MORLEY 1992).
U
UTTERANCE - The act of uttering, or expressing by voice, the power or style of speaking that which is uttered; esp., a word or words uttered, whether written or spoken (YOURDICTIONARY, 2010.)
V
VOICED CONSONANT - Voiced consonants are consonant sounds that are made by vibrating the vocal chords. (TEACHINGENGLISH, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: /b/ as in bed, Ex: /d/ as in dip, Ex: /g/ as in 'good' (TEACHINGENGLISH, 2010.)
Our ex.: [d] (den), [ɡ] (gone), [v](van)
VOLUME see LOUDNESS
VOWEL, ALPHABET see ALPHABET VOWEL - 1. Phonetics. a. (in English articulation) a speech sound produced without occluding, diverting, or obstructing the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to consonant). b. (in a syllable) the sound of greatest sonority, as i in grill. Compare consonant (def. 1b). c. (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with consonant, as the (ē) of be (bē), we (wē), and yeast (yēst).
2. a letter representing or usually representing a vowel, as, in English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y (DICTIONARY, 2010.)
VOWEL CLARITY (CLARITY) - Besides length, the most significant signal of stress in English is clarity. All stressed vowels are clearly distinguished from each other, while most unstressed vowels are reduced to schwa. Schwa, /ə/, is the sound of the second vowel in sofa or lemon or the first and last vowels in banana. It is not only very short, but has an unclear, obscured quality. This lack of clarity operates as a contrastive background to highlight the stressed vowel, which needs to be quite clear. (GILBERT, 2008)
VOWEL LENGTH - 'Length' or 'quantity' refers to how long the vowel production lasts; this is shown by the use dots immediately after the vowel symbol in phonetic transcription(CITIZENDIUM, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: : [i] versus [i:], for instance, with [i:] being a long vowel.
(CITIZENDIUM, 2010.)
VOWEL, LONG (c.f. LENGTHENING) - In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one such as in Australian English. (EHOW, 2010.)...
Of. Ex.: play, feed (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
VOWEL, REDUCTION - The Vowel sound that forms the Syllable Peak of a Syllable that has no Lexical Stress . This sound is typically a Schwa , although there are other vowels that can be unstressed or reduced. A ''reduced'' vowel is one of the vowels that can only occur in unstressed syllables, like schwa, and an ''unstressed'' vowel is one of the vowels that can be stressed but is not. (INFORMATIONDELIGHT, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: The ''i'' in ''decimal'', The ''y'' in ''syringe''. (INFORMATIONDELIGHT,
2010.)
Our Ex.: The ''a'' in ''about'', The ''o'' in ''harmony'', The ''u'' in ''medium''.
VOWEL, SHORT - One in which the duration of its pronunciation is relatively shorter than that of a long vowel. (EHOW, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: crab, sled (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Our Ex.: act, Jack, bag
VOWEL SOUND - Is an OPEN sound, ie. it is produced by not blocking the breath with the lips, teeth, or tongue. ... is always voiced (VD), ie. the vocal cords vibrate (ELEASTON, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: fish, tree, cat (ELEASTON, 2010.)
Our Ex.: Hit - not Heet or Heat, Heat - not Hit, Beat – not Bit
VOWEL, PEAK see PEAK
VOWEL, RELATIVE - The relative vowel sounds (as in bat, bet, bit, hot, and cup), do not have offglides. These sounds are the most common pronunciation of the vowel letters, but they are more challenging to learn because they are typically foreign to many English learners. Distinguishing the alphabet and relative vowel pairs requires a lot of listening practice. Relative vowel has a different sound for the alphabet vowels (GILBERT, 2008.)
Of. Ex.: Pat, Ben, Bill, Joe, sun (GILBERT, 2008.)
W
WORD STRESS see STRESS, WORD
WORD, CONTENT see CONTENT WORD - Words that are not function words are called content words (or open class words or lexical words): these include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and most adverbs, although some adverbs are function words Content words are words that have meaning. They are words we would look up in a dictionary, such as "lamp," "computer," "drove." New content words are constantly added to the English language; old content words constantly leave the language as they become obsolete. Therefore, we refer to content words as an "open" class. (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Of. Ex.:The lamp(noun) broke(verb), I drove(verb) my car.(noun) (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Our Ex.: noun – cats, main verb – eats, adjective – mice
WORD, FOCUS - In the generative approach, the term focus is used to refer to words or expressions that are either prosodically or syntactically prominent, generally because they introduce “new” information. In the functional approach, the term focus is used to refer to words or expressions that establish coherence in the text or conversation. In generative linguistics, focus determines which part of the sentence contributes new or “textually and situationally non-derivable information. Focus also relates to phonology and has ramifications for how and where suprasegmental information such as rhythm, stress, and intonation is encoded in the grammar, and in particular intonational tunes which mark focus. Speakers can use pitch accents on syllables to indicate what word(s) are in focus. New words are often accented while given words are not. The accented word(s) forms the focus domain. However, not all of the words in a focus domain need be accented (WIKIPEDIA, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: Did you see a grey dog or a cat? I saw [a grey DOG] f.
Did you see a grey dog or a grey cat? I saw a grey [DOG] f.
Did you see a grey dog or a black dog? I saw a [GREY] f dog. (WIKIPEDIA,
2010.)
Our Ex.:”I´m driving to CAMPINAS.” (location)
“I´m DRIVING to Campinas.” (means of transport)
“I´M driving to Campinas.” (who drives)
WORD FUNCION see WORD, STRUCTURE
WORD, STRUCTURE - Basically words can be divided into two categories: content words and structure words. Content words are those which carry the basic meaning of a sentence, such as nouns and verbs. Structure words, also called function words, show grammatical relationship, such as pronouns and prepositions. In general, content words need to emphasized, while structure words are usually de-emphasized and reduced (NKFUST, 2010.)
Of. Ex.: Pronouns (he, she, it, they), Prepositions (in, on, of, at), (NKFUST, 2010.)
Our Ex.: the, a, an, next to, in front of, but, as
Conclusion:
Our initial difficult was due to the insufficient background about the subject. There wasn´t previous knowledge and as we were watching our pronunciation class our job became a little easier because many terms were explained during those classes and we could realize how necessary the words in this glossary would be to develop our knowledge related to pronunciation and teaching pronunciation. So, we were able to determine the terminology and to list the key words referring to the pronunciation context based on the booklet Teaching Pronunciation from Gilbert (2008)
Our goal was reached, for an obvious reason: We feel more secure about the phonetic work. We have already had conditions to think about how to develop learners’ ´ability. We have reached bases to build a critical point of view on our own practice and questions like “how to approach them”? have already been answered. Personally, taboos were broken; difficulties were overcome, just because we have acted such as a committed group.
So , it is worth to say that isn’t easy to learn a second language, especially when we think about pronunciation, , that is why it is essential for the professional to master the vocabulary of Phonetic and Phonology in order to teach an advanced pronunciation and our job was to provide the most important terms This glossary is not only dedicated to those who are interested in that language and would like to know a little more about the vocabulary of English Pronunciation.
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