Helping ESL Students Master American English Pronunciation

The purpose of the guide is to alert ESL and English tutors to the importance of improving pronunciation of ESL students and assist them in helping ESL students master American pronunciation by providing an insight into the problems adult learners face learning English pronunciation. It will also offer some of the techniques to deal with the problems. It is intended for tutors and ESL instructors with little or no specialized training in teaching pronunciation to ESL students.

The following is a summarization of the personal experience of teaching and the review of the current state of teaching Pronunciation to Adult ESL students.

First, we need to clarify the term 'pronunciation'. The term is sometimes understood as referring only to the 'correct' pronunciation of individual sounds and words in isolation (so-called “segmentals”). However, in the words of one ESL instructor -“Pronouncing separate words in a sentence correctly leads to poor pronunciation!” In this guide 'pronunciation’ will be used in a more comprehensive way, to include prosody, or functional intelligibility, comprising the following interacting phonological aspects (so-called “suprasegmentals”): the stress patterns of phrases, the interaction of sounds between ending, and beginnings of words, and the resulting pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation of these phrases.

“I Know English –Why Nobody Understands Me?”

As most experienced ESL teachers are aware, pronunciation is the area of language learning most resistant to change or improvement. By the time ESL students begin our program, they have probably already developed speech habits which have fossilized and become progressively harder to unlearn or change without serious and concerted effort. This problem is often compounded by the students' own lack of awareness of their communication and pronunciation problems. They may well acknowledge in a general way that they have trouble being understood, but they do not know what their specific problems are and have no idea how to improve their comprehensibility. While some may focus on their inability to differentiate /l/ from /r/, /p/ from/b/, or /i/ from /i:/, it is in fact much more likely that their overall patterns of intonation, rhythm, and stress are the real culprits in their communication difficulties. These suprasegmental problems affect not only their own speaking skills, but also affect their comprehension of native speakers. Practically all ESL students, even those who have taught English in their countries, initially have significant difficulty understanding American English and making themselves understood because they have not acquired the English pronunciation pattern adequately. Such students may be stigmatized due to discriminatory attitudes towards accents among segments of the general public, which can lead to frustration with personal

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success, dropping out of college, and in some cases, even termination of further efforts to succeed in the American society on the whole.

Just to give an example, here is a quote from an adult student sharing his frustration:"Whenever I speak to a person in America, they keep asking me "What? What?" I have to repeat my sentence again and again. Finally they say "Ah-ha!" and then say my sentence, using exactly my words! It is very humiliating. I know my words and grammar are good, but nobody understands me, just because of my pronunciation…”

The Goal is Communication

As such, pronunciation could be detrimental for the ESL student’s success in the American society and may condemn the student to a less desired social, academic and work advancement. A number of our students, even having completed the ESL program, realize that they fail on the communication level and come back to school looking for additional help with pronunciation.

According the study of American undergraduate reaction to the communication skills of foreign teaching assistants (Hinofotis and Baily, 1980), the fault which impairs the communication process in ESL learners most severely is pronunciation, rather than vocabulary or grammar. The arguments presented in the study make pronunciation instruction all the more important in improving the communicative competence of ESL learners.

The current focus on communicative approaches to ESL instruction and the concern for building communication skills in an increasingly diverse workplace are renewing interest in the role that pronunciation plays in adult ESL students' overall communicative competence. As a result, pronunciation is emerging from its often-marginalized place in adult ESL instruction (Kuo, 1999).

The Historical Perspective

From the historical perspective pronunciation instruction tends to be linked to the instructional method being used (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996). In the grammar-translation method of the past, pronunciation was almost irrelevant and therefore seldom taught. In the audio-lingual method, which some ESL instructors still adhere to, learners spent hours in class or in the language lab listening to and repeating sounds and sound combinations that serve to distinguish words from one another (later those became known as segmentals). Segmentals are the basic inventory of distinctive sounds and the way that they combine to form a spoken language. Pronunciation instruction has often concentrated on the mastery of those segmentals through discrimination and production of target sounds via drills consisting of minimal pairs. This method of teaching pronunciation, although having its own merits, has proved to be rather ineffective with adult learners (ibid).

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The most relevant features of pronunciation—stress, rhythm, adjustments/reductions, logical stress, and intonation—play a greater role in English communication than the individual sounds themselves (Wong, 1993). Therefore, teaching speech from the perspective of suprasegmentals seems indispensable for the purpose of achieving real communication. Learning pronunciation should not be limited to finding primary stress and comparing individual vowel and consonant sounds in a given word, as has often been the case with pronunciation learning in the past. Focusing on individual vowel and consonant sounds is only the first step in learning to speak and understand English. With the emergence of more holistic, communicative methods and approaches to ESL instruction, pronunciation is addressed within the context of real communication. The suprasegmentals transcend the level of individual sound production. They extend across segmentals and are usually produced unconsciously by native speakers and thus are often overlooked when teaching ESL. Since suprasegmental elements provide crucial context and support (they determine meaning) for segmental production, they are assuming a more prominent place in pronunciation instruction. Although in recent years new materials have been developed that emphasize prosodic factors, and despite the fact that some instructors are aware of the need for suprasegmental instruction (Breitkreutz, et al., 2001), many aspects of current pronunciation instruction, to a large extent, derive from speech pathology, with a strong focus on segmentals. Thus, this approach to teaching pronunciation is especially inappropriate in a mixed language class, where the range in need for segmental work is considerable. ESL students will have different requirements, depending on their first languages. Prosodic factors, on the other hand, are likely to have greater importance for a diverse group of students. All ESL learners, without exception, will benefit to the highest degree from an appropriate study of American English stress, rhythm, adjustments/reductions, logical stress, and intonation. Furthermore, research suggests that pronunciation instruction involving these suprasegmentals is also more likely to transfer to spontaneously produced speech than instruction focused on segmentals (Derwing, Munro, & Wiebe, 1998; Elliott, 1997). There are various contributing factors besides the native language, such as age, educational background, experiences with pronunciation instruction, aptitude and motivation, general English proficiency level, etc., that can influence the learning and teaching of pronunciation skills (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996; Gillette, 1994; Graham, 1994; Pennington, 1994). The pronunciation of any one learner might be affected by a combination of these factors. The key is to be aware of their existence so that they may be considered in creating realistic and effective pronunciation goals and development plans for the learners. Teaching pronunciation should include all of the above-mentioned considerations, factors, and components and not just sounds and presentation skills. Limited

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pronunciation skills can undermine learners' self-confidence, restrict social interactions, negatively influence estimations of a speaker's credibility and abilities, and limit our students’ chances for success on the whole (also see Morley, 1998). Help Is on the Way ESL students need to receive such instruction and tutoring so that they have a clear sense where their problems lie. This means that ESL instructors and tutors need the knowledge and skills to provide pronunciation assistance and instruction that will be effective. They ought to be able to recognize the specific difficulty that a certain language background imposes on the individual’s perception and production of the English sounds or intonation. As matters stand, pronunciation is one of the most difficult parts of a language for our ESL students to master and one of the least favorite topics for teachers to address in the classroom. Nevertheless, with correct approach, pronunciation can play an important role in supporting our students’ overall communicative power. This guide will help our tutors and adjunct faculty in identifying those problems and providing them with tools to solve them, thus empowering our students for their success at school, at work, and in American society on the whole. All students need help, but the question is how to help them better. Perfect pronunciation is hard to achieve, but it is important to concentrate on the key aspects that will make or break communication.

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Building Blocks of Pronunciation Sounds are important, and tutors are well advised to help the student with the specific problem sounds that his or her native language makes it difficult to pronounce. However, most often, it is not the individual sounds that impede the communication. Yes, there are many examples when only one mispronounced sound may lead to a misunderstanding. (“Fried rice” vs. “flied lice,” etc.) Positional length of vowels and consonants is another important aspect as well (final position versus the position followed by a voiced or a voiceless consonant). For example, He liked the price. vs. He liked the prize. The stress pattern within a word may also lead to a misunderstanding. (“A cup of tea” instead of “a cappuccino”) Some languages are not stress-based, and as such every syllable has to be pronounced clearly. Some problems can be avoided if the stress pattern is properly observed in compound nouns (`Russian professor or `Russian pro`fessor) For more see: http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/word-stress.htm However, we will concentrate here on the less taught aspect of pronunciation - sentence rhythm and intonation. The Keystone of Communication Many learners try to separate words instead of running them together. The result is that their speech is jerky and they are not easy to understand, and they have hard time understanding spoken language. For better communication, instead of accusing Americans of unclear speech due to “swallowing words,” our students need to learn how the words are “run together” in English. It is necessary to overcome the misconception that separating words will make the speech clearer. Even if we pronounce individual words clearly, it may be difficult to achieve correct communication. Unless, of course, we are slowing down on purpose to carry the message across. The most important aspect is the communicative or meaning- based approach. We need to help our students learn to listen and speak for meaning. The key here is stress, intonation and rhythm in connected speech.

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Our students need to concentrate on what is the most important for communication -creating intelligible messages and not perfect sounds. (Accents may even be quite nice.) They have to concentrate on improving their fluency, rhythm, and intonation. The rules of English speech can be clearly defined in terms of what is necessary to understand spoken English and be understood better. There are certain rules of stress and connecting words in a sentence in English, which are different in other languages. There are rules of intonation in English that are peculiar to this language. We need to teach the information structure of speech and emphasize on what information is important and is unpredictable to the listener. This is what constitutes a learner-centered approach (and not just thoughtless drills of sounds), real life situations and meaningful phrase that make sense and will help the student in their lives. What are the examples of miscommunication from the student’s experience? What really happened? In order to better analyze the root causes of those miscommunication instances, we need to understand what comprises the specifics of American pronunciation. In this short guide, however, we will not deal with the phonemic peculiarities and distinctions of English sound system, but will rather concentrate on the less taught suprasegmental aspects of American pronunciation - phrasal and sentence rhythm, chunking, and intonation in phrases and sentences. Out of Tune Speaking English is akin to singing– when everything is right, it is pleasant to the ear, but sometimes the words may be right, but it doesn’t sound right - the rhythm is OFF and the tune is all wrong. Many people like to teach pronunciation using songs and jazz chants. This is a valid approach. However, teaching thinking adults using songs is only good for practice and should be preceded by building a solid foundation of the rules that govern American pronunciation.

Pronunciation patterns are different across languages. Even small differences can be important. Speaking one language with the intonation pattern appropriate to another can give rise to entirely unintentional effects. Thus, speaking English with Russian intonation sounds unfriendly, rude, or threatening to the native speaker of English; speaking Russian with an English intonation sounds affected or hypocritical to the native speaker of Russian. (Comrie, 1984).

The Main Characteristic of American Pronunciation – “Weak” Words Attached to the “Strong” Ones Unlike it is in many other languages, N OT every word in English sentence is stressed. In fact, only less than a half of the words are pronounced clearly, while the rest are pronounced in their “weak” form ( /kən/ instead of /kæn/, /`n / for AND /ænd/, etc). The

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general rule is that only so-called “content” words that that carry “content” or meaning get stress in the sentence, while the so –called “function” words that serve as grammatical links are not stressed and are pronounced together with the preceding stressed one.

The following (content) words are usually stressed in the sentence: nouns, principal verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The words that are not stressed are: articles, determiners, particles, helping and linking verbs, modal verbs in affirmative sentences, prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns.

This, of course, does not take into account the so called “logical” stress in a sentence, or the “focus” of a sentence, when practically any word can and has to be stressed or emphasized for the sake of making a point.

In the beginning of a conversation or in an opening sentence it is the last content word that is the focus of the sentence and has the main stress.

This ‘morning I saw an ‘accident.

The Emphasis on Unpredictable

After a conversation begins, the focus changes, and the logical stress can fall on any word in a sentence, including even function words. The focus will be on the word that is unpredictable for the listener.

I didn’t see him speeding.

I didn’t see him speeding.

I didn’t see him speeding.

I didn’t see him speeding.

I didn’t see him speeding.

Each language deals with expressing these emotional ranges and contextual importance in different ways. Some languages, such as French and other Romance languages, stress the end of a sentence, and then use word order to indicate an important change. Other languages, such as Chinese, have a pitch change that indicates different vocabulary words, and then superimpose further pitch change to express a different meaning or emotion. Many other languages use only syntactic devices for contrastive emphasis, for example, moving the emphasized phrase to the beginning of the sentence.

• Instead of o I want a car for my birthday. (as opposed to a bike)

• you would have to say something like: o A car I want for my birthday. o It's a car that I want for my birthday.

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Listeners who speak that type of language will not necessarily interpret extra pitch and volume as marking emphasis.

However, the syntactic structure of the English language (unlike some other languages) is set and has a fairly strictly fixed word order. It is not an option to rearrange the words when we want to make a point about something. Stress and intonation is the way in American English to convey a range of meanings, emotions or situations, all within the confines of standard grammar and fixed word order.

This fully agrees with the communicative approach to teaching pronunciation to ESL students. The focus changes because the speaker wants to call attention to the new information.

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Rhythmic Group - the American Beat

Let’s see how it all works and analyze the sentence: My friend can skate and ski.

Here we have three stressed content words – two nouns and a verb - and three unstressed ones, where “My” is a possessive pronoun; “can” is a modal verb in an affirmative sentence, and “and” is a conjunction. We get My `friend can `skate and `ski. Let’s pronounce the stressed words only… FRIEND-SKATE-SKI What happens to the unstressed words? Unlike it is true for the grammatical structure of the language, where prepositions precede a noun, or a link verb precedes and goes with the subject complement, etc., in spoken English, the unstressed words have a tendency to be pronounced together with the preceding stressed word. It is very important: In connected speech, the unstressed words are pronounced together with the preceding stressed one. There is a caveat: if an unstressed word begins a sentence, it is pronounced together with the first stressed word that follows it. The stressed words together with the attached unstressed words comprise the so-called “rhythmic groups” (separated by “metrical breaks”). The stressed word forms the center of the rhythmic group. These rhythmic groups form the rhythm of a sentence. That is they have a tendency to be pronounced after equal periods of time, creating the typical English sentence beat.

In the sentence “My friend can skate and ski”, there will be three rhythmic groups.

M y‿`friend‿ can `skate‿ and `ski. /ma`frenkn/ /`skeit’n/ /ski/ The first rhythmic group will comprise three words “my friend can.” The stressed word and the two unstressed ones, (the one behind it and the one in front are pronounced as one word (with the unstressed syllables having the reduced form -

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see the rules of word stress and pronunciation of unstressed syllables1 as well as pronunciation of weak forms of function words2) The second rhythmic group comprises two words “skate and”, where the unstressed “and” is attached to the preceding stressed one “skate” and pronounced as one word with it /`skeit’n/. The third rhythmic group consists of only one word “ski” as there are no unstressed words to be pronounced together with it.

M y‿ friend‿ can skate‿ and ski. So we have three rhythmic groups, one consisting of three syllables, one of two syllables, and one that includes just one syllable (or word in this case). However, irrespective of the number of syllables in each rhythmic group, those rhythmic groups will follow one another after more or less equal periods of time, preserving the original rhythm. Thus the words (or parts of words) between the stressed syllables are going to be shortened (or weakened) to fit the rhythmic pattern of spoken English. For our purpose, we will start with the last group, which consists of only one one-syllable word /ski/, and pronounce it, paying attention to how long it takes to pronounce it. Then we will add the second rhythmic group from the end, consisting of two syllables (words in this case) /skeit’n/, making sure it takes as much time as the other one-syllable group /ski/ and pronounce them together. We are going to get /’skeit’n’ski/.

1 *The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a word is characteristic of the English language and creates the contrast and characteristic rhythm. In some other languages (Spanish and French, for example), most syllables receive equal stress. (English conver’sAtion versus Spanish cOnvErsAti’On, for example) In English, in many words of two or more syllables, the unstressed vowel sounds are reduced to neutral sound “shwa” /ə/ or /i/, as in up or sit. 2 **Function words have a “stressed” form (when they are pronounced separately or emphasized in a sentence) and one or more unstressed or “weak” forms, also called “reduced” forms (e.g. “and “ has, on a rare occasion the stressed form of /ænd/ , as in “John ‘AND Mary,” meaning both of them, but more commonly they have the unstressed forms of / ənd/, /ən/, or even / n/ as in stop’n shop/ or rock’n roll , or /hæv/” vs. /hev/ /həv/, /əv/, or /v/, depending on the level of reduction. Many speakers of syllabic languages don't understand why we “swallow” a number of words in a sentence. In syllabic languages each syllable and word has equal importance, and therefore equal time is needed. English however, spends more time on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, less important ones.

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Then we add the third rhythmic group from the end, consisting of three syllables (words in this case) /mə’frenkn /, again making sure that it fits the beat of /’skeit’n’ski/.

We are going to get M y‿ friend‿ can= skate‿ and= ski /mə’frenkn’skeit’n’ski/, which should preserve the rhythm of FRIEND-SKATE-SKI. We could add other words to this simple sentence, like “very well”, which will not change the beat in any way. We are going to get

M y‿ friend‿ can= skate‿ and= ski=very=well /mə’frenkn’skeiten’ski’veri’wel/.

The above example demonstrates in action the rule of the sentence rhythm in English. Also see: http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/sentence-stress.htmhttp://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa110997.htmhttp://www.americansenglish.com/

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Longer Sentences and Thought Groups That was an example of a simple sentence. Longer sentences, with more complex ideas, can be divided into so-called “thought groups” (prosodic units, intonation units, declination units, or syntagms, which are the actual phonetic spurts or chunks of speech, and which may exist as a hierarchy of levels) with their own focus. For example, the sentence “Every morning, before breakfast, my wife and I take a hike on a trail, which is right outside my house.” is impossible to pronounce without segmentation. Although it is quite possible in other languages, it is out of the question to try to pronounce such a long sentence without pauses. The following questions are often asked by ESL students: “Why do we need pauses?” and “How do we know where to make a pause?” First of all, due to the specific characteristics of the English spoken language, characterized by placing considerably more emphasis (and thus using up more air) on stressed and focus words than it is done in other languages, we can not help making a pause because we need to inhale (Not unlike what happens in singing). Breathing, both inhalation and exhalation, only seems to occur at these boundaries between thought groups. In addition, due to the relatively strict word order in English (S-V-O), while anything that comes before the subject in the beginning of a sentence in written English is usually separated by comma, in spoken English it is separated by a pause. Note that prosodic units do not need to correspond to grammatical units, although both may reflect how the brain processes speech. How do we know that a pause merely signifies the end of a thought group or a sentence? While in some languages it is not always clear, spoken English does not usually and should not allow us any room for an error. In a sentence, the pitch that we use before the pause tells you where the speaker is at the moment, where he is going, and if he is finished or not. American Intonation This brings us to the question of the intonation within a thought group. How do we pronounce the main stressed word (or the focus) of the sentence or the thought group? Does our voice go up or down? How does it happen? When do we use this or that intonation and what are those characteristics that along with the rhythm of American English will help our students achieve a breakthrough in communicating in English? Intonation makes our speech meaningful and makes it possible to communicate more effectively. When and how our voice rises and falls may indicate different

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meanings for the same utterance. In addition to the specific rhythm of American English, American intonation has a distinct melody, quite different from other languages. The complete system of intonation patterns in English is quite complex. However for the purpose of helping ESL students master the American English pronunciation, we will limit ourselves to the two basic intonation patterns which comprise the foundation of the American spoken language, the Falling Tone and the Rising Tone. Although most of the current pronunciation textbooks correctly identify these two main types of pitches, they fail to provide the unique characteristics of those pitches specific to the English language. Thus ESL students, who are familiar with the falling and rising pitches in their own languages, inadvertently transfer the characteristics of the pitches in their languages to the American English. The substitution often results in a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Falling Tone Characteristics What is so special about the characteristics of the Falling tone in American English? It may seem quite obvious to the native speaker, but the ESL student needs to know that the falling tone in English is characterized by considerably higher intensity and that it starts a little higher than the preceding part of the utterance and falls to the bottom of one’s voice, significantly lower than in other languages. (Compare the intonation of how we say “Yes” or “No” in Spanish, French, Japanese, or Russian, for example.) What will the inadequate intonation communicate to the American listener? For sure, it will be something different from the intended goal.

Spanish “ Si” /`/ English “Yes” /\ / For the purpose of visual reference, the following tonogram system is used for representation of stress, rhythm, and intonation of American pronunciation:

This is the top↑

and this is the bottom of one’s voice spectrum. ↓

- Stressed syllable • Unstressed syllable \ Falling tone ر Rising tone | Short pause || Long pause If the falling tone does not take place in the last word of a thought group or a sentence, then the unstressed words following the focus word are attached to the main stressed word and are pronounced together with that focus word as one word at the bottom of one’s voice. ___________________

I can do it `later‿today. • • − • \...||

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Falling Tone uses ESL student needs to know that falling intonation is used in the following cases: 1. Categorical statements ___________

I am a `doctor. • • • \ . || _________

I don’t `know. • • \ || Imagine what those phrases would mean if pronounced without the required intensity and pitch. Is it surprising that many non-native speakers do not sound very convincing when they talk about their qualifications applying for a job? 2. Wh-questions (Information questions beginning with such question words as “when,” “why,” “where,” “who,” etc.) ___________

Where do you `live? − • • \|| ___________

What is your `phone‿number? − • • \.. || It is important to remember that in many other languages this type of question employs a rising tone. That is exactly what ESL students often do transferring their language habit to English. Would the same question communicate a different meaning in English with a rising tone? However to an ESL student using a falling tone in this type of question may seem uncommon and impolite. 3. Commands ________

Do it now! − • \|| Don’t go‿there! − \ . || (The last two words are pronounced as one word, with

the falling tone occurring on the word “go” and the word “there” pronounced at the bottom of one’s voice)

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4. The end of a longer (containing more than one thought group) affirmative sentence For example, _________________

From 5 to 6 in the morning we `meditate. •-•-••_ . |• \ .. || ------------------------ 5. The last element of enumeration

_______________________

Usually I have cereal, juice, and coffee‿for‿breakfast. -•••••_.• | | •\ .… || --------------------------- (The last three words are pronounced as one word, with the falling tone occurring on the word “coffee” and following two words in their weak form are pronounced at the bottom of one’s voice) 6. The first part and, sometimes, the second part of tag (disjunctive) questions (when it is a rhetorical question and the speaker expects the listener to agree) ______________

You understand me, don’t‿you? • • • \ . | \ . ||

7. The second part of alternative questions _______________

••-•- ?Should I call you today or tomorrow || . \ • •| ر

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Rising Tone Rising intonation is present in all languages, however it is not enough to tell our students just to use the rising tone in certain situations and hope they will do it right. Just recall how people say “yes” or “no” in Spanish, French or Russian, for example. Then try to use the same pitch in English. You will immediately notice a major difference. Yes, it would be possible to use those pitches in English, but then they would carry a completely different meaning. Si? Yes? Characteristics of the Rising tone What are the characteristics of the most common rising tone in American English that differentiate it from most other languages? Unlike it happens in many other languages, the rising tone that is used most often in neutral (unaffected) situations does not start at the top of one’s voice and it does not go sharply up. Rather, it starts from the level slightly below the middle of one’s voice spectrum (or the preceding syllables or words) and goes up very little in a gentle (temperate) manner. It could be represented as following: However, if the rising tone does not fall on the last syllable of a thought group, but has one or more unstressed syllables (or words) after it, the stressed (focus) syllable is pronounced slightly below the middle one’s voice (or the preceding syllables or words) and the rising pitch is achieved through pronouncing the attached unstressed syllables (or words in the reduced, unstressed form) at a slightly higher pitch. __________

Is he a student? – · ·_ . || _________ Rising Tone Uses 1. “Yes-No” – questions. ___________

Do you speak English? – · – _ . || __________

Is she home? ·· ر || 2. Elements of enumeration (except the last one) I had cereal, coffee, and a banana for breakfast.

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________________________

•−_ . . |_ . |•••\ ..... | ______________________ 3. Incomplete parts of sentences (thought groups) Every day, my friends and I take ESL classes at Tri-C. _________________________________________________

||\ • • • − −•• −| ر • − • | ر • − 4. The second part of Tag Questions (When the speaker is not sure of the answer he or she will get.) ___________________

You also speak Hungarian, don’t you? • − • \ ..| _ . || -------------------------- 5. The first part of the alternative question (offering a choice) ___________

-·- ?Would you like tea or coffee|| .\· |ر 6. Polite Requests Have a seat! Come in. __________ ________ ||ر - ||ر • - It is very important to draw the attention of ESL students to this use of the rising tone, as in many languages the rising tone does not play a role in polite request. A polite request may be achieved through the addition of the word “please” or something similar. However in English, failure to use the rising tone with the imperative will result in sounding rude or pushy. 7. Greetings and expressions of gratitude Good morning! Thank you! Good bye! ___________________ _____

- || • _ || • _- ||ر--------------------------- In many languages these expressions are pronounced with a falling tone. However in English, using it in this instance may sound impolite or indifferent.

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How to Practice As it has been mentioned before, the intonation system of American English is much more complex than the two pitches already discussed and covers the whole spectrum of human feelings and emotions. However, mastering those basic American falling and rising tones will equip our students with the solid foundation on which they can build later. It is essential to practice the use of the falling and rising tone as well as the rhythm and chunking (dividing longer sentences into thought groups) at every opportunity when a student is reading any text or activity in the textbook making sure that he or she is always aware of the communicative aspect of anything he or she reads or says. Thus, reading aloud can be used by the ESL tutor as an important tool to practice pronunciation skills on every occasion. At the initial stage of helping the student to master American English pronunciation, it is a good idea to review the above guidelines with the student and then for practice ask the student to divide longer sentences into thought groups, mark the stressed syllables in the sentences, define rhythmic groups (stressed words together with attached unstressed ones), and indicate the rising or the falling tone for the focus of each thought group in the sentence. If the student is not familiar with tonograms, it is a good idea to introduce the student to the visual representation of the intonation. Many students find them very helpful. One of the best ways of practicing American pronunciation is to ask a student to say any sentence or a poem in their native language applying all the rules of American pronunciation (including the sounds, word and sentence rhythm, and the intonation). They will not have to think about the grammar or the vocabulary of the sentence or the poem, but only concentrate on one thing - pretend as best they can how an American would say it in their language. It would help if the student has heard an American speak their native language with a heavy American accent.

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More Ways for Teaching to Hear and Use American Stress and Rhythm

• A good exercise to demonstrate the variety of meaning through intonation changes is to take a single sentence, try stressing each word in turn, and see the totally different meanings that come out.

• Start practicing with material where the stress is especially clear: nursery rhymes, song lyrics, Shakespearian blank verse, books by Dr. Seuss.

o a ROSE by ANy OTHer NAME would SMELL as SWEET • Deliberately try to get the stress wrong and listen to the results:

o A rose BY aNY oTHER name WOULD smell AS sweet • Hum words rather than speaking them. The pitch you hum with will tend to

correspond to the level of stress: highest pitch=primary stress, medium pitch=secondary stress, lowest pitch=unstressed.

• Speak the words through a kazoo, emphasizing the pitch contours and the loudness differences between the syllables. (Pretend you're the teacher in Charlie Brown TV shows.)

• Exaggerate the intonation contour of a phrase. Give extra strong emphasis to a word and listen for which syllable gets most of the extra loudness and pitch.

• Explore the low pitch of the student. Use the surprised-disbelief or threatening intonation contour and listen for which syllable has the lowest pitch.

• Do listen for pitch as a useful cue for stress, but don't automatically assume that the syllable with the highest pitch is also the most strongly stressed. Remember that there are several other reasons why a syllable might have high pitch (e.g., it's the last syllable in a phrase that has rising question intonation or "list" intonation).

• Tap once as you say the word. If you're a native speaker of the language, when you tap will tend to coincide with the primary stress. For the less inhibited, bang on the table instead of tapping.

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Some Basic Rules to Enforce While reading, students may also make mistakes in pronouncing certain sounds or have problems linking words in a sentence. It is a good idea to be able to explain to the students those rules governing articulation of those sounds or the changes that occur due to the position of the sound. Here are some of the most common and simple (but NOT easily corrected) mistakes in pronunciation made by ESL students: 1. S (es) endings in verbs and nouns (plurals and possessives) 1) Pronounced as /s/ after voiceless consonants stop-stops student-students take-takes 2) Pronounced as /z/ after voiced consonants and vowels plan-plans play-plays teacher-teachers baby-babies 3) Pronounced as /iz/ after sibilants and fricatives (“whistling” and “hissing” sounds –s ,z, ch, sh, x, etc.) Push-pushes miss-misses touch-touches 2. ED endings in verbs 1) Pronounced as /t/ not /et/ after voiceless consonants stop-stopped 2) Pronounced as /d/ not /t/ after voiced consonants and vowels plan-planned, play-played 3) Pronounced as /id/ not /et/ after “t” and “d”. Start-started land-landed Also see: http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/-ed.htm

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3. Voiced consonants in the final position are always voiced /bæg/ not /bæk/ for bag, /bend/ not /bent/ for bend, /græb/ not /græp/ for grab, /reiz/ not /reis/ for raise, etc. It is surprising how significantly the student’s perception and the ability to understand spoken English will improve if the student is aware and adheres to the above rules. Some other very important rules that will help ESL students improve even better: 1. There is no palatalization (consonant softening before front vowels (E, I, Y) In some languages consonants are pronounced in their “soft” version when they are followed by a front vowel sound. /pet/not /p’et/ for pet, /bi:t/ not /b’i:t/ for beat, /ni:d/ not /n’i:d/ for need, etc. 2. Positional length of vowels/consonants When we contrast two similar words, one ending with a voiced consonant (d, z, g, v, b) and the other with an unvoiced consonant (t, s, k, f, p), you will hear the difference in the preceding vowel, specifically in the length or duration of that vowel. Compare: sea-seed-seat 3. Linking words together In a dictionary, words are given in isolation. In natural speech, however, words are connected into sound groups, which causes certain sounds to change. Some of the more important for ESL students are the following transformations:

/t/+/y/ Wouldn’t‿ you like to do it?

/d/+/y/ What‿did you say?

Armed with this understanding of the basic principles governing American pronunciation, the ESL tutor also has a special role to play in helping ESL students master American English pronunciation, a role that can be described as “pronunciation coach.” Rather than just correcting the learner's mistakes, the tutor will be able to supply information, give models from time to time, offer cues, suggestions and constructive

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feedback about performance, set high standards, provide a wide variety of practice opportunities, and overall support and encourage the student.

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References and Bibliography Anderson-Hsieh, J. 1994 "Interpreting Visual Feedback on Suprasegmentals in Computer Assisted Pronunciation Instruction", CALICO Journal, 11, 4 1994 Avery, P. and S. Ehrlich. 1992. Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bell, A. G. 1916. From the book "The Mechanisms of Speech." Bronstein, A. 1960. The Pronunciation of American English. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. 1996. Teaching Pronunciation: Reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Comacho, J. 1995. Compton Community College general education associate of arts/certification, bilingual immersion program for the California State University System. Los Angeles: Compton Community College. (ED 385 321) Comacho, J. Florida State Board of Community Colleges. 1996. English as a Second Language program review report. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State Board of Community Colleges. (ED 400 906) Cronin, J. 1996. Pointers on Teaching English Stress Patterns. The Language Teacher, 19, 6, pp. 16–17. Gerardi, S. 1996. The Effects of English as a Second Language on College Academic Outcomes. Brooklyn, New York: New York City Technical College. (ED 398 946) Gilbert, J. 1990. Pronunciation: What should we be teaching? (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 320 443) Gillette, G. 1994. On Speaking Terms: Practical guide to pronunciation for ABLE/ESL teachers. Euclid, OH: Northeast ABLE Resource Center. (EDRS No. ED 393 323) Graham, J. 1994. Four strategies to improve the speech of adult learners. TESOL Journal, 3 (3), 26-28. Hinofotis, F. and K. Baily. 1980. American undergraduate reaction to the communication skills of foreign teaching assistants. On TESOL ‘80: Building Bridges: Research and Practice in TESL. Alexandria, VA. Ignash, J. M. 1995. Encouraging ESL students persistence: The influence of policy on curricular design. Community College Review, 23(3), 17-34.

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Jordan, J. 1992. Helping ESOL students to improve their pronunciation. London: Adult Literacy and

Basic Skills Unit. (EDRS No. ED 359 837) Kenworthy, J. 1987 Teaching English Pronunciation. (Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers), Longman Publishing

Kimmel, I., & Davis, J. R. 1996. Moving to the Center: Students' Strategies for College Survival. Research & Teaching in Developmental Education, 12(2), 71-79.

Kuo, E. W. 1999, Winter. English as a second language in the community college curriculum. New Directions for Community Colleges, 108, 69-80. Kurzet, R. 1997, Winter. Quality versus quantity in the delivery of developmental programs for ESL students. New Directions for Community Colleges, 100, 53-62. Morley, J. 1991. Pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other languages. TESOL Quarterly, 25 (3), 481-520.

Morley, J. 1998. Trippingly on the tongue: Putting serious speech/pronunciation instruction back in the TESOL equation. ESL Magazine, January/February, 20-23. Morley, J. 1999. From the article "Trends in Speech/Pronunciation Instructional Theory and Practice" TESOL Matters, August/September 1999.

Misick, J., & Santa Rita, E. 1996. Student development approach to tutoring ESL students. Bronx, New York: Bronx Community College. (ED 393 525)

Pennington, M. 1994. Recent research in L2 phonology: Implications for practice. In J. Morley, (Ed.) Pronunciation pedagogy and theory. New views, new directions. pp. 92-108. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (EDRS No. ED 388 061)

Shoemaker, C. L. 1996. Results of survey of community college ESL programs. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, Phoenix, AZ. (ED 397 882) Schuyler, G. (Ed.). 1999. Trends in community college curriculum. New Directions for Community Colleges, 108. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wong, R. 1987. Teaching Pronunciation. Prentice Hall, 1987

Wong, R . 1987. Pronunciation myths and facts. English Teaching Forum, 31, 4, pp. 45–46. Yule, G. and P. Hoffman and J. Damico. 1987. Paying attention to pronunciation: The role of self-monitoring in perception. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 4, pp. 765–768.

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Practice Sheet

Mark the stressed words, rhythmic and thought groups, as well as the intonation in the following sentences: Then, practice reading the sentences aloud. It would help to make tonograms.

Here are the steps to follow: Determine whether the sentence consists of one or more parts (separated by a pause, or syntagmas) and pronounce them separately at first and then together, following these steps for each: Find the centers of the rhythmic groups (or “content” words in most cases) and time the beat, only saying the stressed words. Define the rhythmic groups, which will include the center of each group with the attached unstressed words.

After that, determine where logical stress (or the nucleus) is and whether it is going o be pronounced with the rising or falling tone. Then pronounce the nucleus alone.

After t that, add the so-called “tail”, or the words that follow the nucleus and pronounce them together with the nucleus as one word with the “tail” pronounced as the unstressed syllables of the “longer” word (either at the bottom of one’s voice, in the case of the falling tone, or a slight rise, in the case of the rising tone).

After that, pronounce all the rhythmic groups together, starting from the last one and adding one before it, keeping the beat of the sentence ( that is making sure that the rhythmic groups follow each other after equal periods of time, irrespective of the number of syllables it comprises).

After that, if the sentence consists of more than one part, pronounce the whole sentence.

The symbols for making tonograms are the following:

This is the top↑ and the bottom↓ of one’s voice spectrum.

- Stressed syllable • Unstressed syllable \ Falling tone ر Rising tone

| Short pause || Long pause

Example: Every day, my friends and I take ESL classes at Tri-C. _________________________________________________

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||\ • • • − −•• −| ر • − • | ر • −

Practice Sentences

Ecstasy is an extremely dangerous drug.

Jack bought a new car last Friday.

Would you like to come over and tall about it?

They are looking forward to your visiting them next January.

They have had to work hard these last few months on their challenging experiment.

We should have visited some more castles while we were traveling through the back roads of France.

As you might have expected, he has just thought of a new approach to the problem.

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APPENDIX

On-line Resources For practice: With language specific pronunciation difficulties see: http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html

Common Mistakes in English by Language Background

All languagesArabic Chinese

Croatian Dutch Farsi

French German Greek

Hungarian Italian Japanese

Korean Portuguese Russian

Spanish Swedish Taiwanese

Turkish

Thai

English Phoneme Chart

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http://www.speechcom.com/training/american.htm

ACCENT TUTOR ONLINE AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEECH

LANGUAGE DIRECTORY

Click on the particular language to find the American English consonant and vowel sounds that are difficult for speakers of that language. LANGUAGE BASED DIRECTORY--to identify those sounds which are difficult -

Arabic Chinese Dutch Farsi Finnish French German Greek Gujurati Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Khmer Korean Lao Polish Portuguese Russian Serbo-Croatian Spanish Swedish Tagalog Thai Turkish Urdu Vietnamese US-Southern

CONSONANT SOUNDS VOWEL SOUNDS WORD ENDINGS INTONATION

SYLLABLES and STRESS

http://www.soundsofenglish.org/pronunciation/index.htm

English Pronunciation

about ** links ** handouts ** pronunciation ** activities & exercises ** tips for teachers ** home

Here you can learn about English Pronunciation. This section of the site is divided into several sections. Please click on the one you are interested

in.

• How to pronounce specific sounds in English. • English word stress. • English sentence stress and intonation.

Pronunciation exercises and activities• .

http://www.english.hb.pl/articles/pronunciation/

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http://eleaston.com/pronunciation/ A very good site for pronunciation and listening in general, covering the following areas: − Consonant and vowel sounds with relevant exercises; − Reduction; − Stress patterns; − Stories with a pronunciation focus.

Authentic American Pronunciation

Consonant Sounds ... are produced by completely or partially stopping the breath.

... can be voiceless (VL) or voiced (VD) . ... often come in sound pairs.

throat lips bottom tongue tongue on hard back of together lip -

teeth - teeth toothridge palate tongue

on soft palate

VL VD VL VD VL VD VL VD VL VD VL VD VL

stop p b t d k gfricative Θ ð s z ʃ ʒf v h

affricate ʧ ʤ

nasal m n ŋ

liquid l r

glide y w

Word Final -ed = /t, d, Id/

Word Final s = /s, z, Iz/

Words with Silent Letters

Homophones

A Vowel Sound

not• ... is an OPEN sound, ie. it is produced by blocking the breath with the lips, teeth, or tongue.

• ... is always voiced (VD), ie. the vocal cords vibrate. The word "vowel" came into English from the Latin vocalis meaning "voice."

• ... can form a syllable by itself: hell-o, aw-ful

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front central back

high seat

/

do

iy/ /uw/

book Isit / / /ʊ/

mid no say /ey /ʌ// up schwa

/ə/

/ow/

ball /ɛ/met /ɔ/

low my now /æ/cat /ay /aw//

stop /a/

1-Syllable Words

1-Syllable Words + r

Reduction + me

+ youPatterns canThe vowel in an unstressed syllable

becomes donno

/ə/schwa , /I/, or disappears completely. Unstressed Vowel

+ RReduced Forms

Contractions+ to

+ of

+ have

Pronoun + Verb

I ... you he ... she ... it

we ...you ... they

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Stress Patterns

Homographs

Acronyms 3-Syllable Words

3-Syllable Words

Compound Nouns Unstressed Suffixes

Phrasal Verbs ch ... dzh sh ... zh

2-Syllable Words

Nouns Verbs

Adjectives Adverbs

Prepositions

can ... can't

Sentence Stress

Verbs

QUIZZES

/a, æ/

/a, ʌ/

/ʌ, æ/

/a, ʌ, æ/

/ɔ/ /I, iy/

Can-Can't with written sentences

Can - Can't without written sentences

Conditionals

GH Words

Homophones

Homophones /ow/

R Words Crossword

Reduction

Consonant Sound Pair /Θ/ -ð/

Consonant Sound Pair/Θ/-/ð/

Consonant Sound Pair /Θ/-/ð/ Emperor's New Clothes

Article "THE"

Article "THE"

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Words Final -ED Non-AudioHomophones

Words with Silent Letters #1Word Final -S

Words with Silent Letters #2

Consonant Sound Pair /Θ/-/ð/

Consonant Sounds Vowel Sounds Teaching Pronunciation

Make-DoThe Alphabet Months of the YearArticle "a(n)" NumbersArticle "the" QuizzesArticle "the" in Country Names ReadingsCalendar ReductionConditional Say-TellContractions SongsDessert, desert, to desert SpellingEducation Vocabulary The 50 U.S. StatesForms of Address Stress PatternsGreetings & Responses Irregular VerbsHomophones Verbs: Location of AdverbsInterested/Interesting

Irregular Verbs Leave a Phone Message Lie-Lay Linking

Word Final -ED basic patternWords Final -ED irregular Word Final -S Words with Silent Letters

http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/ An extremely valuable resource for learning and practising proper pronunciation: vowels, consonants, and minimal pairs. A great variety of exercises for all levels having a very good pedagogical approach as it leads the student step by step: how to produce sounds, examples as well as offering a great deal of exercises.

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Unit One: TH, as in THINK, BATHROOM, and TEETH.

• Watch this QuickTime movie on the word 'Thought' to see how to correctly make the 'TH' sound (894k). Minimal Pairs• (178k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, TH is being compared to other similar sounds. Listen and compare.

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between TH and other sounds. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3 audio , as well as the PDF

version. • Here's a video of Brian explaining the differences between the voiceless and

voiced TH. (7.8mb) • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone• Practice these tongue twisters to improve your TH ( required). microphone

Unit Two: TH, as in THOSE, MOTHER and SOOTHE.

• Watch this QuickTime movie on the word 'Thy' to see how to correctly make the 'TH' sound (725k). Minimal Pairs• (219k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, TH is being compared to other similar sounds. Listen and compare.

• Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between TH and other sounds. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone• Practice these 5 tongue twisters to improve your TH ( required). microphone

Unit Three: L and R, as in COLLECT, CORRECT, LAMB, and RAM.

Minimal Pairs• (228k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, l and r are being compared to each other. Listen and compare.

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between L and R. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF

version. • Here's a video of the differences between L and R (5.6mb). • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone• Practice these 10 tongue twisters to improve your L and R (

required). microphone

Unit FOUR :i and I, as in SEEN and SIN.

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Minimal Pairs• (228k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, i and I are being compared to each other. Listen and compare. .

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between i and I. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF

version. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone• Practice these 10 tongue twisters to improve your i and I ( required). microphone

Unit FIVE: s, sh, and ch.

Minimal Pairs• In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, S, CH, and SH are being compared to each other. Listen and compare.

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between i and I. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF

version. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone• Practice these 10 tongue twisters to improve these sounds( required). microphone

Unit SIX: V and W, as in Vine and Wine

• Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version. Minimal Pairs• (114k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, V and W are being compared to each other. Listen and compare.

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between v and w. (42k) • Are you having trouble saying WOOL, WOOD, and WOLVES? Watch this

video. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone• Practice these 10 tongue twisters to improve these sounds( required). microphone

Unit SEVEN

• Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.

• Here's a video of Brian explaining how to make the sound that you can find in words like Zsa-Zsa and OCCASION.

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Minimal pair exercise• for words like LEGION and REGION. • Try this dictation to distinguish the two sounds. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone

UNIT EIGHT: E and A, as in BET and BAT

Minimal Pairs• In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words such as BET and BAT.

• Try this Dictation to practice the differences between the two sounds. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF

version. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone

UNIT NINE

Minimal Pairs• In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words which either contain the schwa or not.

• Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF

version. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone

UNIT TEN

Minimal Pairs• In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words such as ROAR and ROWER.

• Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling. • Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF

version. • Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native

speaker ( required). microphone

UNIT ELEVEN

Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will listen and compare the sounds P and F. Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version. Try this Dictation to practice the differences between P and F.

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Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker ( required). microphone

UNIT TWELVE

Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3 audio , as well as the PDF version. Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will listen and compare the differences in the words bought, bat, but, bet. Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling. Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker ( required). microphone

UNIT THIRTEEN

Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3 audio , as well as the PDF version. Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will listen and compare the difference in sounds like in whether and weather. Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required). Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling.

Here's a poem being read to illustrate the crazy spelling of English and how it relates to the pronunciation. It's read in a standard Canadian-English accent.

For additional practice with sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation see:http://www.trainyouraccent.com/index.htm

The main focus is on conversations, compact listening lessons, following the structure of: − General listening quizzes for low, mid and high levels covering a wide range of topics; − Listening quizzes for academic or specific purposes (mid and high level); − Long conversations (mid and high level); − Short listening quizzes for all levels, including minimal pairs as well as homophones.

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General Listening Quizzes

Study Self-Study Guide: View Listening Activities by Topic

Easy Answering Machine A Day at School Apartments for Rent Business Communications College Life Daily Schedule DVD Movie Rentals A Fun Day Getting Around Tokyo Happy Birthday! Heavenly Pies Restaurant Family Activities Family Relationships Hotel Reservations Immigration and Customs Lost in the Crowd Nice to Meet You Phone Message Reading Time Rental Shop (Version B) Shopping for the Day Sightseeing in Town Snack Time Spending Money Telephone Recording Tell me about yourself Train Tickets Travel Arrangements Travel on Sky Airlines Where are you from?

Medium A Student Credit Card Adsense: Making Money A Doctor's Appointment A Story to Remember American Slang Camping Under the Stars Christmas is Coming! Dinner Time Emergency Call First Date English Language Center Good Old Blues Haven't We Met Before? Holiday Traditions Japanese Public Bath Just a Haircut, Please! Meeting Singles Party Time! Personal Security Picnic Preparations Pizza Delivery Radio Advertising Saturday's Chores Show Times So, what's the matter? Taped Library Tour Taxi Ride (Medium) Traffic Ticket Utah Travel Ad Vacation Plans Weekly Activities What a Busy Day!

Difficult A Free Cell Phone! Lawsuit Financing A Battle Against Cancer ABCs of Money Matters A Healthy Lifestyle Back to School Supplies Car Repairs Dating Woes Driving Road Test Enjoying the Zoo First Mountain Bank Friday Night Mishaps Friendly Dental Care Home Repairs Hotel Check-In Housing Complaints It's a Home Run! Movie Review Personal Problems Professional Babysitting Radio Commercial Refinancing Mortgage Loans Rental Shop (Version A) School Report Store Returns Street Market Summer Camp Taxi Ride (Difficult) Telemarketing The Ideal Woman Trivia Game Show Where's the movie theater?

Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes [ Prepare for TOEFL/TOEIC tests with these lectures, interviews, and conversations ]

Medium Business Meeting ESL Program Meeting

Difficult Airport Announcement Battle at the Front

Very Difficult A Greener World A Rare Solar Eclipse

First Day of Class Dream Team XInternet Access Saving the Earth The Four Seasons Tour of Kyoto, Japan World of Computers

A Visitor from Space Exotic Animal Kingdom Learning Languages Friday's Weather Forecast Our Aging Society I Love Trees The Japanese Economy Space Radio Theater Traffic ReportThe Christmas Gift

Travel Log

20-Minute ESL Vocabulary Lessons [ Click HERE to build your vocabulary and pronunciation of key vocabulary ]

Medium Medium Medium Beauty Salons Best Dating Ideas! Car Rental Renting Apartments Restaurant Guide

Education: Online Degrees Hotel Reservations Train Travel Movies and DVD Rentals Dating and Marriage Airplane Travel Dental Care Supermarket >>>>>>>>> MORE

Language Learning and Life Tips [ Listen HERE to language and life-skills tips with audio and discussion questions ]

Medium Medium Medium Student Health Insurance Web Conferencing Finding Friends on the Internet Airplane Travel

Student Credit Cards Free Email Accounts Accent Reduction Voice and Text Chat Online University Degrees Online Movie RentalsRenting Apartments

>>>>>>>>> MORE

Long Conversations with RealVideo [ Watch and learn with these interviews and conversations ]

Easy Medium Difficult My Family Roots Medium Interview with Steve Ryan

A Great Car Deal Guidelines for Investing Bamboo Artifacts News Report Lecture on Culture Shock A Rare Solar EclipseStudent Living

Gardening Secrets

More Short Listening Quizzes

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http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/index.htm - A very useful site!

pronunciation (noun): the way in which we pronounce a word. pronounce (verb): to make the sound of a word.

The site provides important information with examples on the followings: − Word stress;

Pronunciation Power− Linking words; A pronunciation training program on CD-rom for Beginner to Advanced levels. Teaches the 52 sounds of English. Recommended by EnglishClub.com.

− Sentence stress; How to pronounce “-ed”.

English Pronunciation Welcome to English Club English Pronunciation for ESL learners. If your questions about pronunciation are not answered here, try asking at the

Linking in English Linking is important in English. When we say a sentence, we join or "link" many of the words.

Help Desk.

Learn about linking English is not Phonetic Always remember that English is not "phonetic". That means that we do not always say a word the same way that we spell it.

here.

How to Pronounce "-ed" Listen. How do we pronounce the -ed in words like worked, played, divided? Learn to Word Stress in English pronounce -ed herewith Quiz

The secret key to English pronunciation! Many languages don't use word stress but English does, and so must you!

.

How to Pronounce "the" How do we know when to say " theMore about word stress in English. " or " thee"?

Sentence Stress in English Like word stress, sentence stress is a fundamental part of the English language. Your English pronunciation will improve immediately if you start using sentence stress!

English Tongue-Twisters Tongue-twisters are phrases that "twist your tongue". These English tongue-twisters are very difficult to say, even for native English speakers!

Learn more about sentence Try some stress in English.

English tongue-twisters! Homophones Homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but different meanings and (usually) spelling. For example: hour/our or to/too/two.

Pronunciation Workshop English pronunciation tips, additional pronunciation exercises

English Phonetic Spelling When speaking on the telephone, it is sometimes useful to spell a word using English Phonetic Spelling.

and an English pronunciation glossary for users of the Pronunciation Power program.

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