How to Teach Intonation to EFL Students

FòrumdeRecerca.Núm.22/2017,p.467-505ISSN:1139-5486.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.6035/ForumRecerca.2017.22.28

467

How to teach intonation to EFL students:

A focus on communicative teaching methods

MaríaÁ[email protected]

MaríaÁngelesMestreSegarra.HowtoteachintonationtoEFLstudents

468

I.Abstract

Thepurpose of this article is toprovide an accounton how toteach pronunciation to EFL learners, with a special focus onintonationascombinedwithrequests.Theintentionof thisstudy isto stimulate teachers to offer a focus on pronunciation in theirclassroomsandthusintegratetheminthesyllabus.Throughoutthisstudy,intonationisconsiderednotasaluxurybutasanecessityforan efficient interchange in English. It also aims at highlighting theimportance of second language acquisition as ‘skill learning’.Concepts such as communication, comprehensible input, noticingand interaction are deeply addressed through this piece of worksincetheyneedtobetakenintoaccountwhendealingwithacquiringthe language. This research provides a framework of Englishintonationhighlightingthemostsalientconceptsinthefield.Firstly,thepapergathersandreviewssomeofthemostoutstandinginsightsfrom second language acquisition, linguistics and communication.Then, it presents and evaluates a teaching proposal composed ofseveral activities for the teachingof intonationwitha final task forthepracticingofrequests,inwhichseventeenstudentsneedtolearntounderstandandhowtoformulaterequestsinaproperintonationduring two sessions. Finally, the study presents a series ofconsiderations concerning the success of the students’ specificperformance.

Key Words: pronunciation, EFL learners, intonation,

communication,secondlanguageacquisition,teachingproposal.

II.Introduction

Amongprofessionals inthecontextofsecondaryschools,thereisageneralbeliefthatstudents,fromalldistinctlevelsofEnglish,areunable to express themselves clearly nor communicate properly.They usually feel extremely afraid of being mistaken due to thepressure they put on themselves. Nonetheless, it should behighlightedthatthesocialinteractionsstudentscanfindwhenfacingauthentic situations abroad are barely implemented in languagelearningclassrooms.Infact,fromtheearlystagesofsecondlanguageacquisition, students seldom perform various communicative taskswith theaimofreinforcingtheiroralskills.Asaresult,studentsarenotusedtointeractinginconversation.

Therefore, taking that unfavorable condition into account, mymaingoal is to foster interaction among students by implementingtwo sessions aimed at improving intonation by practicing requests,


469withafocusonlearningandenjoyingsimultaneously.Thesupportingmaterials were designed to be engaging, entertaining andeducational, taking into account variables such as age, aptitude ormotivation. Inthiswork,Iwilldevelopateachingproposalinwhichstudents of English as a foreign language at IES Honori Garcia areexpected to become more adept at conversational English andimprove intonation. I selectedmostof thematerials fromthebookEnglish Pronunciation in Use (Handcock, 2003 #81814). The designtargets practical skills like speaking and listening. The activitiesperformedbymystudentsaregroundedonpracticalcontextssothatstudents can easily apply these practices in real life. Needless tomention, throughout this paper, the idea that the communicativeapproachshouldbeintegratedintothesyllabusoftheearlylevelsofinstructionsinanyEFLclassroomwillbereinforced.

2.2.ContextualizationofIESHonoriGarcia

IESHonoriGarciaisastateeducationalcenter.Itisdefinedasaplural, democratic and non-denominational institution whichpromotesequalityinallitsmembersaswellasthereceptionofanymanner of marginalization, intolerance or discrimination, fulfillingthe basic constitutional right recognized as the empowermentprinciples of coeducation, education of values and equalopportunities. It conceives education as a process focused onstudents’integraldevelopment,whichhelpsthemgrowandachievea harmonious maturity in the physical, physic as well as socialaspects. Consequently, it fosters the capacity to follow their ownself-training and acquire full responsibility as well as personalautonomy. Furthermore, it is respectful of all religions, especiallythosepracticedbymembersoftheeducationalcommunity.

The sociolinguistic reality of the families and the environmentwherethecenterislocatedincludestwoofficiallanguages:Valencianand Castilian. IES Honori Garcia at Vall d’Uixò adopts the twolinguistic models established in the current legislation to allowstudents tomaster the two languages at the endof schooling, notonly as an object or instrument of learning but also in their dailylives.Moreover,thissecondaryschool isauthorizedtoteachcertainnon-linguistic subjects in English aiming at integratingmultilingualism in any classroom. The Normalization Plan ofLinguistics, influenced by the multilingualism approach, isimplemented in ICT subject in 2nd year of ESO,Music in 3rd year ofESO,Technologyin4thyearofESOand2ndyearofBaccalaureate.

The relations with the environment are conceived as afundamentalpartoftheschool’sownideology,withawilltoactivelyparticipate in social events and collaborate with institutions toimprove our society. Finally, the center works cooperatively withparents, and it fosters the participation of public and private


470companies and institutions in the learning process of studentsthroughthemonitoringofinternshipsincompanies.

III.Theoreticalframework:learningintonationcommunicatively

There is a common belief that students lack opportunities toparticipate in authentic situations outside the classroom, whichhinders their chances to improve their communicative abilities.According to Dell Hymes (1967, 1972) the term ‘communicativecompetence’isstronglyneededtoaccount for languageacquisitionand language use. Input in terms of Pragmatics as well asPronunciationisnecessary inanyEFLclassroominordertodevelopthe required skills for negotiating communicative actions. As aconsequence,heclaimed thatlanguagestructureanditsacquisitionwere not context-free, while Chomsky (1975) stated that anyconsiderationconcerning social factorswereoutside thedomainoflinguistics.

Communication is conceived nowadays as one of the principalachievements in students learning English as a second (ESL) orforeign language. Hence, language teaching and its methodologyneed to be adapted by introducing not only linguistic or strategicaspectsofthetargetlanguage,butalsothedevelopmentoflearners’communicative as well as interactive competence. In other words,they acquire the ability of employing linguistic resources in anappropriatewaydirectedtoaspecificcontext(Kasper,1997;Kasper,2001).

In order to make learners communicatively skilled,pronunciation, intonation and interaction need to be taken intoconsideration. Learners should be able to develop the skills thatenable them to recognize the intonation within real language use,and practice the knowledge acquired, first in controlled productiveactivitiesandtheninfreeintegratedactivities.

According to Cruttenden (1986), «intonation is composed bythree decisive features»: «division of a stream of speech intointonation units, 2) selection of a syllable, which is assigned the‘tonic’ status, and 3) choice of a tone for the intonation»(Cruttenden, 1986). The practical activities found in the teachingproposalofthisresearcharederivedfromthethirdfeature.Withtheaim of understanding the focus of this study, the suprasegmentallearning aspects must be pinpointed: word stress, rhythm andintonation. Indeed, one of the main objectives of this paper is todemonstratehowthesuprasegmental-basedinstructioncanincreasethecommunicativecompetenceinEFLclassrooms.Eventhoughthefocus of the study is on intonation, there is some evidence whichshows that the tonal-melodyaspectof the language, that is to say,


471intonation, is harder to learn for EFL learners than word stress inclassroomssettings(TannerandLandon,2009).

To date, within the process of learning any foreign language,pronunciation, and as a consequence, intonation, still tend to beoverlooked, particularly at a beginner stage, as the emphasis isplaced on learning lexis and grammar rules (Saito, 2016).Nevertheless, the suprasegmental-based instruction should beconsidered as «an essential step toward a disciplinary identity»(Levis,2015).Toreinforcethisconception,providingabriefevolutionoftheimplementationofpronunciationinEFLeducationalcontextisunderdispute. In2001, theCouncil of Europe’sCommonEuropeanFrameworkofReference(CouncilofEurope,2018),whichdescribeslanguageabilityacrosssixreferencelevels,excludedpronunciationinmeasuring language proficiency. In 2005, the first mandatoryspeakingsectionintheTOEFLinternet-basedtest(IBT)wassetup.Inthe precedent years, «employment as an international teachingassistanthadnospeakingrequirements»(Isaacs,2008).Fortunately,fromthatmomentonwards,therewasagrowingvolumeofresearchinvestigatingintonationinL2speakingassessment.

«There has been surprisingly little exploration of theeffectiveness of pronunciation teaching by researchers» (Couper,2000).Indeed,asUnderhill(1994)states,«wearenotincontrolofapractical, workable and trustworthy system through which we canmakeintonationcomprehensible».Againstthebackgroundofthesedevelopments, the proposal in this paperwill promote interactionandparticipationofEFLlearnersfocusingonintonation.

IV.Teachingproposal:intonation,wordstressandrequests

The following description is based onmy own implementationduring the secondperiodofmypracticum internship. The teachingproposalmust be understoodwithin the official curriculum on thesubject Practical English as a first foreign language (ValencianGovernment,2015#81824).

Mylessonplanwasspecificallyelaboratedtocovertheoralskillsaswell as the interaction. In the following section I shall introducethe parts of a didactic unit, except for the evaluation andqualification criteria. Themain reasonwhy I could not include theevaluation in my implementation is due to the lack of time andsessions. In other words, I was offered just two sessions toimplementmyteachingproposal.

4.1.Students’BackgroundKnowledge

My teaching proposal is addressed to students of 2nd year ofSecondary Education, where they are taught Practical English(ValencianGovernment,2009),anoptionalsubjectwhichprovidesa


472privileged opportunity to integrate intonation as it is mainlycompiledbytasksandrole-playsaimingatusingthelanguagefreely,withnotextbook.

As faras the studentsareconcerned, theiragesarecomprisedbetween 13 and 14 years old, whichmeans that the course takesplace at a crucial period of cognitive, affective and personalitydevelopment.Theaveragenumberofstudentsis17–11girlsand6boys.ThelanguageusedwasEnglish.Asaresult,studentsshouldhavea suitable leveltofollowtheclass inEnglish, toexpressthemselvesproperlyaswellastoproducetherequiredintonationorwordstressat any point. Some of the students showed a fair level of English,althoughdeficiencies intheuseof intonationandwordstresswereidentified.

4.2.CurricularContents

As previously mentioned, all the curricular contents I selectedare included in the relevant regulations (Valencian Government,2015). The lesson plan is designed to reinforce the speaking andlisteningskill.Table2showstheskillsstudentsshouldhaveacquiredattheendofbothsessions:


473Table2:CurricularContents(Conceptual,Procedural&Attitudinal)

ConceptualContent ProceduralContent AttitudinalContent

DefinitionofIntonation UseoforalEnglish Predispositionof

participationinclass

Raiseandfallvoiceoftone(Open

andcheckquestions)

Correct understanding of

intonation/stress(listening

skill)

Positive interaction among

partnersinpair-work

Word Stress (Flat voice =

sarcasm)

Good performance of a role-

playingtask

Correctbehavior(pay

attention,respecttherules)

4.3.Objectives&Competences

According to the relevant regulation (Valencian Government,2009), these are the general objectives established and theirrespectivelearningoutcomes,whichreinforcetheoralandlisteningskills, the ones emphasized in this teaching proposal, whose maingoal istofosterstudents’autonomyinbothpersonalandacademicdevelopment:

• Beingabletothinkandworkindividuallyandingroups.• Becomeawareoftheimportanceofintonate.• Learn key vocabulary when produce an appropriate

intonationinadditiontowordstress.• Learn useful techniques to understand and produce

properintonation.• Beingabletointeractorallywithotherspeakers.

As far as the competences are concerned, the communicativecompetence is conceived as the most significant and it plays arelevant role along this lesson plan. The plan aims at acquiring asufficient knowledge of English able to guarantee a basiccommunication among speakers. Table 3 specifies the eight basiccompetences taken from the State-wide legislation (SpanishGovernment,2015).Rightbelowthis table,abriefdefinitionof thebasic competence applied to this current study will be explicitlydescribed.


474Table3:Eightbasiccompetences(SpanishGovernment,2015)

LinguisticCommunication ü

Mathematical -

KnowledgeofPhysicalWorld -

InformationandDigital -

SocialandCivic ü

CulturalandArtistic -

LearningtoLearn ü

AutonomyandPersonalInitiative ü

Linguistic Communication Competence: this teaching proposaloffers students theopportunity toget involved intocommunicativesituations reflecting upon the language itself. Furthermore, thiscompetenceprovides thestudentswithabasicguidanceofhowtointonateaccurately.

Social and Civic Competence: this competence enables thestudents to take part of the society they live in as a democraticcitizen.Ithelpsforgeaconstructiverelationshipwithothers.

Learning to Learn Competence: this competence involvesbeginning to learn and being capable of continuing to learnautonomously,whenfacing,forinstance,achallengingsituationandthus,adoptaparticularattitudetowardsthissituation.Itisessentialto take into consideration the learning process to examine theevolution.

AutonomyandPersonalInitiative:bytheimplementationofthiscompetence, students are forced to find answers in a rationalmanner,acceptingavarietyofpossibleanswerstothesameproblemwithoutanyhelporreinforcement.

4.4.Methodology

The starting point of this proposal is the conception ofconstructive learning, which defines significant learning as active,


475formative,flexibleandcontextualized. Itcontemplatesthelanguagelearning from a skilled perspective, as clearly stated in theintroduction.

Themethodologicalapproachcombinesatheoreticalclass,thatis to say, a master class, illustrated with samples of aspectsconcerning intonation, raiseand fall voiceof tone (openand checkquestions) and word stress (distinction between flat voice and theroleofsarcasm)withapractical instruction of individual and groupwork scheduled in two sessions. Practicing what has been learntfostersproblem-solvingactivities, interaction,aswellasexchangingpersonalexperiences.

Myteachingproposalbeginswiththosecontentswhichfacilitatestudents’learning,movingfromsimpleandconcretetocomplexandabstract aspects.Unfortunately, as two sessions are not enough toshowthismethodology,itcanbeseenasastartingpoint.Priorityisgiventothosecontentswhichhaveahighlevelofimplementationinreal contextandauthentic situations. It is crucial for learners tobeaware of the strong link between intonation and attitude. Whenstudentsaretofacefuturesituationsabroad,myexpectationisthatthey use a proper intonation in order to be able to communicatesuccessfullywithnativespeakers.

4.5.Timingandsequencing

Asalreadystated,twosessionsweredevotedtotheteachingofintonationandwordstress.Each sessionconsistedofa fifty-minuteclass.The sessionsproceededas follows:brief introductionofeachstudent, a teacher’s theoretical explanation of what is meant byintonation, performance of several activities to raise awareness aswellasacquisitionof theimportanceofintonationandwordstress,andafinaltaskbasedonarole-playtoapplywhatwaslearntduringtwosessions.

4.6.Placeandsupportingmaterials

All thedifferentactivitieswereexpected tobecarriedout inaregular classroom, already equipped with the necessary devices.Hence, no homework was required in this lesson plan. The basicmaterialneededwasalaptop,aprojector,twospeakers,aclickerorpointertoseetheslideshow,myPowerPointpresentationandapenorpencil forthestudentstodotheactivities fromthehandouttheteacherwilldeliverprintedonpaper(seeAppendix1).Asanoptionaldevice, a blackboard appeared as well in order towrite downanyadditionalinformation.Internetaccesswasnotrequiredsinceallthemedia files were previously downloaded to save time and avoidunexpectedissues.


4764.7.Developmentoftheactivities

Thefirstsessionwasconceivedasanintroductionoftheconceptofintonationsupportedwithsometheoreticalaspectstogetherwithstudents’ interaction required in specific situations. During thesecond session, students were able to start practicing whileperforming several activities to achieve the necessary knowledgeconcerningintonationaswellaswordstress.

FIRSTSESSION(50minutes)

1.Introducingourselves(15minutes)

Beforegettingdeepintotheconceptofintonation,Iconsideredusefultointroduceourselvestobreaktheiceandgettoknoweachotherasmuchaspossiblesothattheteacherandthestudentswereabletoempathize.Fromtheverybeginning,studentswereaskedtostartspeakinginEnglish.However,thecontentwasquitefamiliarforthem,sincetheyhadtomentiontheirname,age,likes,dislikes,andwhattheywouldliketostudyinfuture(seeAppendix2).

2.Whatisintonation?‘TheBigBangTheory’(8minutes)

Havingintroducedeachother,Istartedaskingmystudentswhatthey know about intonation. As expected, almost nobody knewanything concerning intonation and I found also difficulties in mystudentswhentryingtoexplaininEnglishtheirknowledgeaboutit.Becauseofthat,Idecidedtouseashortextractfromthesituationalcomedy.

TheBigBangTheoryasahooktocatchtheirattentionwiththegoal of better understanding the importance of intonation whentryingtocommunicate.Thesituationwasbasedonthefactthatthemain character suffered from a sore throat. As hewas not able tospeak,heusedanautomatedvoicefromhislaptoptocommunicatewithhisroommate.Obviously,asthemessagewasconveyedinaflatvoice,somemisunderstandingsarose(seeAppendix3).

3.Understandingtheautomatedvoice+Theoreticalexplanation(7minutes)

After watching the video, the idea was to know whetherstudentsunderstoodthereasonwhyIplayedthisshortextract.Withthe aim to raise awareness of intonation, Iwantedmy students totell me whether the automated voice sounded happy, sad ormonotonous.Fortunately,theyallagreedontheideathatitsoundedmonotonous. Therefore, bearing this inmind, I provided in class abrieftheoreticalexplanationdefiningintonationanditsrelevanceinoralcommunication,shownasfollows:‘Intonationistheriseandfallofthevoiceinspeechandisnecessaryincommunication.Acorrect


477use of intonation helps to effectively convey yourmessage, but anincorrect use of intonation may confuse the listener, causing themessagetobemisunderstoodormisinterpreted’(seeAppendix4).

Asanadditionalactivity,Iaskedmystudentstohavea2-minuteconversationinpairsas‘robots’,thatistosay,withnointonationatall. By the time they started speaking normally again, they couldeasilyobservethemaindifferenceandtheyhadfunaswell.

4.Whatismoreimportant‘whatorhow’?(3minutes)

Inordertomakesurethatstudentsacquiretherequiredabilitytocommunicateproperly,Iaskedthemwhattheyconsideritismoreimportant,whattosayorhowtosayit?

Theyall successfully answered that thehow ismore importantthanthewhat(seeAppendix5).

5. Theoretical explanation on how intonation should be produced (10minutes)

Having observed the impact of intonation in dailycommunication, I provided in class a short explanation of how tointonatewhenaskingandansweringseveralquestions,introducedasfollows: ‘inaffirmativesentences intonation fallsat theend,but, ininterrogativesentencesintonationrisesattheend’(seeAppendix6).

Nonetheless,therewereparticularexceptionsand Iwantedmystudentstobecomeawareofthem,whicharenotpronouncedastheregularrulestatessincetheyhaveafixedpronunciation.Mystudentsneededto learntheseexpressionssothattheycouldbecomemorefluent. Before I pronounced them following the proper intonationpattern,Iaskedthemtopronounceand,asexpected,nobodyknewhow to formulate ‘how are you?’ in the correct intonation (seeAppendix6).

6.Intonationandfeelings(7minutes)

Toendupwith the first session,my ideawas to introduce therelation between intonation and feelings. To reinforce thisconception,Ishowedthemthefollowingsentence‘It’sraining!’withthreedifferentreactions.Studentswereaskedtoidentifythefeelingattached to each picture and reproduce the exact intonation fromthesentence(seeAppendix7).


478SECONDSESSION(50minutes)

1.Reviewfirstsession(3minutes)

During the first threeminutes,my ideawas toprovideaquickrevision of what had been tackled in the previous session for thestudentsnottofeelconfusednorlost.

2.Socialdistanceandintonation(7minutes)

Influenced by the idea that ‘practice makes perfect’ (seeAppendix8), Iaskedmystudentstogreetsaying‘Hello’todifferentpeoplewithdifferentsocialroles.Theycouldnotice that intonationvariesdependingonthepersontheyareaddressingto:

O Say‘hello’toateacherO Say‘hello’toaclosefriendO Say‘hello’toa6-month-old-babyO Say‘hello’toyourbossO Say‘hello’toaclassmateonMondayat8am

3.Introductionofwordstress(2minutes)

Withtheaimofgivingmystudents theopportunitytoperformseveralactivitiesbasedonwordstress,Iconsiderednecessaryaslideexplaininghowwordstressisused(e.g.Saturday ).(seeAppendix9).

4.ACTIVITYI‘Stresspatternsofthewords’(10minutes)

Asfarastheactivitiesareconcerned,thestudentsfirstlyhadtolistentothesentencesandpayattentiontothestresspatternsofthewordsinbold.Secondly,theclasswasdividedintotwomaingroupsandtheywereaskedtofindthewaytostartandendthetableontheconditionthatstudentshadtopassasquareonlyifthewordhadthesamestresspattern(seeAppendix10).

5.ACTIVITYII‘Stressedandunstressedwords’(5minutes)

Thelessonplanwasfocusedonthedistinctionbetweenstressedandunstressedwords(e.g.ICEcreamvs.Iscream).Topracticethis,students firstly had to listen to four sentences, each of themcontainingthesametwostressedwordswithan increasingnumberof unstressed words in between. Then, students had to completeeach set of four sentences with the unstressed words given. Eachsentence was expected to have onemore stressed word than thesentencebefore,sothatthefourofthemhadthesamepatternasintheexample(seeAppendix11).


4796.ACTIVITYIII‘Openandchecksentences’(10minutes)

Abrieftheoreticalexplanationhighlightingthebasicideaofthisactivitywasrequiredforstudentstobeabletounderstand‘openandcheck questions’. Once the concept was explained, students wereintroducedwithanactivitytocarryout.Asusual,firstofall,studentslistened to a conversation in which the main focus was onrecognizingtheopenandcheckquestions.Secondofall,itwastimetoperformtheactivitydrawingadownor anup lineat theendofeachquestion(seeAppendix12).

7.ACTIVITYIV‘Flatvoiceandsarcasm’(3minutes)

Asaproperwayofintroducingflatvoice,peopleoftenemployastrong adjective, like ‘brilliant’ with a flat voice, to mean theopposite. For instance, when a person says ‘brilliant’ whensomethingbadhappens.Thisactivityrequiredstudentstolistenandcompare the pronunciation of the same word in two differentconversations.Puttingthis intopractice,studentshadtodraw linesto showwhether the voicewas flat or high, focusing on the samepairsofsentences(seeAppendix13).

8.FINALTASK‘Intonation,wordstressandrequests’(10minutes)

Asstudentswereusedtoperformingrole-playsinthissubject,Iconsidered the idea to combine intonation and word stress withrequestsasa final task.Aspreviouslymentioned, itwasdifficult toevaluate students’ intonation in only two sessions. Therefore,consideringthelackoftimeandsessions,myobjectivewastoadaptthisteachingproposaltothestudents’preferencestoletthemenjoyandfeelascomfortableaspossible.

Regarding requests, I started by asking them whether theyremembered what requests were by illustrating three differentpictures in which requests were employed. Having introducedrequests in an explicit way, I explained students that they had toperformarole-playcombiningrequestswithaproper intonationaswellaswordstress(seeAppendix14).Lastbutnotleast,Iaskedmystudentswhethertheycouldprovidefeedbackontheirfeelingsandemotionsduringthesetwosessions(seeAppendix15).

V.Discussionandconclusion

5.1.Strongandweakpointsinimplementation

The students’ feedback was positive. Indeed, aspects such asmotivation, interaction, participation and communication weremostlypresentalongtheimplementation.


480During the first session, for example, when introducing

themselves, they were willing to speak with the aim of getting toknoweachotherbefore focusingon the content itself. Inaddition,theyhadasurprisingreactionwhen Iplayedapieceoftheepisodefrom The Big Bang Theory. They could assume with no apparentefforttheconsequenceofnotusingintonationindailyconversations,even though their background knowledge of intonation, when Iexplicitlyaskedthem,waslimited.Therefore,inordertocatchtheirattention,itwasessentialtoupdatethecontents.

Also,when I showedtheslidewiththequestion ‘What ismoreimportantwhattosayorhowyousayit?’theyalloptedforthehow,rather thanwhat. I would like to highlight a particular interaction.Onestudent hadclaimedfromtheverybeginning‘Yonovoyahablareninglésporquenoentiendonada’(‘Iwon’tspeakEnglishbecauseIdon’t understand a thing’). However, when I was detailing thecontentsand interactingwith therestof thestudents,headmitted‘Pues sí que entiendo algo de inglés, ¡qué bien!’ (‘I do understandsomethings.That’sawesome!’).Asaresult,hismotivationincreasedsignificantly.Thissuggeststhattheroleoftheteacheriscrucialinthedevelopment of second language acquisition (Celce-Murcia, 2007).AsCanaleandSwain(1980)state,thereisnowaythatthetraditionalteacher-fronted approach could help learners when practicing thedynamicnatureofinteractionintheirtargetlanguage.

I could also find several weak points during implementation.First andforemost,Icouldnotusemyownlaptop.Instead,Ihadtouse an obsolete laptop since a specific cable was needed. When Istartedgettingeverything ready, I realized that the laptopwasnotworking, so I had to quickly get another obsolete one, whichhindered thewaymy lessonplanwasorganizedand consequently,my nerves were intensified. Still, despite the adverse conditions, Icouldmanage to cover all the contents I had planned. Beingmorespecific,inACTIVITYI(seeAppendix10),myideawastocarryoutanindividualcontesttoobservewhowouldbethefirstoneinreachingthe end. Nonetheless, I modified the activity when I realized thatstudents preferred working in small groups. In ACTIVITY II (seeAppendix11),theirmothertongue’sinterferencewaspresentwhentheywrote‘drinkthemilk’,insteadof,‘drinksomemilk’.InACTIVITYIII (seeAppendix 12), I found somedifficultieswhendifferentiatingbetween open and check questions, as some of them soundedambiguous. Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I needed to moveforward to cover all the contents and activities alreadyplanned. InACTIVITYIV(seeAppendix13),Iconsideredabsolutelyusefultomakethem practice orally the distinction between flat and high voice.Oncemore,thelackoftimenegativelyinfluencedwhen performingtheactivities.Further,whenintroducingtherequests(seeAppendix14), nobody was able to mention any definition or even general


481comment.Havingnoticed so, I showed the following slidewith theexamples, and then, students remembered what is meant byrequests.When performing the role-play, I could observe the easewith which they got involved in their remaining roles, since theywereusedtoperformingrole-playsinPracticalEnglish.Surprisingly,whentheyhadtopronouncetheparticularexpressionsalreadyseenin class, such as, ‘howare you?’,most of thememployed quite anaccurate intonation. Ingeneral terms, theexpectationswerehighlyachieveddespitetheadversities.

5.2.Suggestionsforfurtherimplementations

Getting involved in authentic situation is the key to makelearners communicatively competent. However, as already stated,the required exposure and its interaction are extremely limitedwithinaforeignlanguagesetting.Personally,theidealevaluationforstudents to check whether they acquired any remarkable aspectconcerningintonationandwordstresswouldbeperceivedbyfacingthemintoarealsituation.Todoso,itcouldbeadvisabletotakeintoconsiderationaswellgesturesandbodylanguagetomakeitasrealaspossible.Asaconsequence,Iwouldreplacetheaudioswithvideosso that students can become aware of the importance of bodylanguageinface-to-facecommunication.

Mostof thealreadypublishedmaster theseswhichconductanimplementationintroduceaplacementtesttodepartfromastartingpointintermsoflevelofEnglish.AlthoughIwasconditionedbythelack of time, I would have liked to include this too. Nonetheless, Iemployed other techniques, such as ‘introducing ourselves’, toobtainageneraloverviewofstudents’commandinoralskills.

Nobodyarguesaboutthefact thatnewtechnologiesshouldbeconceivedasamusttotakepartinEFLclassroomssinceourstudentsare digital natives. Hence, Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT) has to be perceived as a tool to achieve acommunicative outcome. Thanks to taking theUniversity Master’sDegree: Secondary Education, Vocational Training and LanguageTeaching Ihadtheopportunityto learnvaluableinnovativetools tofacilitatetheforeignlanguageacquisition.Oneofthemostattractiveapplications is Kahoot: Make learning Awesome. Students need acomputeroramobilephonetoplaythisgame,andthiscouldbeahandicap.Still,itconsistsofaskingsomequestionsregardingthetwosessionsandthestudents’nameappearonthescreen.Thequickerthe students answer, more points they will get. Therefore, as afurtherimplementationandbearinginmindthestatement‘learningandenjoyingatthesametime’asstatedintheintroduction,IwouldintegrateaKahootgameinmyteachingproposal(seeAppendix15).


482VI.References

Canale, Michael, and Merrill Swain. 1980. «Theoretical bases ofcommunicative approaches to second language teaching andtesting».AppliedLinguistics1(1):1-47.

Celce-Murcia, Marianne. 2007. «Rethinking the Role ofCommunicative Competence in Language Teaching». InIntercultural Language Use and Language Learning, edited byEva Alcón Soler and M. Pilar Safont Jordà, 41-57. Dordrecht:Springer.

Chomsky, Noam. 1975. The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory.NewYork:Plenum.

Council of Europe. 2018. Common European Framework ofReference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, AssessmentCompanion Volume with New Descriptors. Brussels: LanguagePolicyProgramm.

Couper,MickP.2000.«Review:WebSurveys:AReviewofIssuesandApproaches*». Public Opinion Quarterly 64 (4): 464-494. doi:10.1086/318641.

Cruttenden, Alan. 1986. lntonation. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress.

Handcock, Mark. 2003. English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Hymes, Dell H. 1967. «Models of the interaction of language andsocialsetting».Journalofsocialissues23(2):8-28.

Hymes, Dell H. 1972. «On communicative competence». InSociolinguistics,editedbyJohnB.PrideandJanetHolmes,269-293.Baltimore:PenguinBooks.

Isaacs,Talia.2008.«TowardsDefiningaValidAssessmentCriterionofPronunciation Proficiency in Non-Native English-SpeakingGraduateStudents».TheCanadianModernLanguageReview64(4):555-580.doi:10.3138/cmlr.64.4.555.

Kasper, Gabriele. 1997. «Can pragmatic competence be taught?».University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching & CurriculumCenter.http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/networks/NW06/.

Kasper, Gabriele. 2001. «Classroom research on interlanguagepragmatics». In Pragmatics in language teaching, edited byKenneth R. Rose and Gabriele Kasper, 33-60. Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.


483Levis,JohnM.2015.«TheJournalofSecondLanguagePronunciation:

An essential step toward a disciplinary identity». Journal ofSecondLanguagePronunciation1(1):1-10.

Saito, Yukie, and Kazuya Saito. 2016. «Differential effects ofinstruction on the development of second languagecomprehensibility,wordstress,rhythm,andintonation:Thecaseof inexperienced Japanese EFL learners». Language TeachingResearch21(5):589-608.doi:10.1177/1362168816643111.

Spanish Government. 2015. Royal Decree 1105/2014, of 26December,establishing thebasic curriculum for themandatorysecondaryeducationandbaccalaureate.BOE:169-546.

Underhill, Adrian. 1994.Sound Foundations: Learningand TeachingPronunciation.Oxford:Heinemann.

Valencian Government. 2009. Order 7863/2009, of 17 June, of theEducation Department, establishing optional courses for thebaccalaureate.DOGV6051(07.07.2009).

Valencian Government. 2015. Decree 87/2015, of the 5th of June,establishing the curriculumand general planning ofmandatorysecondary education and baccalaureate in the ValencianCommunity.DOGV7544(10.06.2015).


484APPENDICES

Appendix1:HANDOUTforstudentstobeconductedduringtwosessions


485


486


487


488


489

Appendix2:Introducingourselves…


490Appendix3:WhatisIntonation?‘BigBangTheory’


491Appendix4:Understandingtheautomatedvoice…


492

Appendix5:Whatismoreimportantwhattosayorhowtosayit?

Appendix6:Theoreticalexplanationonhowintonationshouldbeproduced


493

Appendix7:Intonationandfeelings


494Appendix8:Socialdistanceandintonation


495Appendix9:Introductionofwordstress

Appendix10:ACTIVITYI‘Stresspatternsofthewords’


496

Appendix11:ACTIVITYII‘Stressedandunstressedwords’


497


498Appendix12:ACTIVITYIII‘Openandchecksentences’


499


500Appendix13:ACTIVITYIV‘Flatvoiceandsarcasm’


501Appendix14:FINALTASK(Intonation,wordstressandrequests)


502


503


504Appendix15:Feedbackfromstudents


505

Appendix16:Kahoot:MakelearningAwesome

Documents

How to Teach Intonation to EFL Students