What ’s Phonetics Got to Do with Language Teaching?
DESIGN OF THE STUDY
RESULTS
Qualitative Data
The following are the reflection questions from the end of the second semester of data collection and examples of the three types of answers. Obviously, we are most interested in the level of KAL at the end of the second semester. The translation of the students’ own words into English (when the student answered in Spanish) appear in the responses with only minor editing given to some when necessary for comprehension. An explanation as to why I categorized the answers as I did follows each example. Finally, there is a fifth question included here that is not included in the table in “RESULTS Qualitative Data" because it asks for an opinion as to the effectiveness of the tutoring project and goes to establishing relevance of the subject matter to the career of teaching Spanish.
1) What aspect of Spanish pronunciation most often leads to miscommunication/ misunderstanding for English speakers? Sound production, intonation, accentuation? Can you list some specific examples of individuals we’ve watched on video or someone you know personally and what characterizes their pronunciation problems?
a. I think sound production is the biggest problem for those learning to speak Spanish. What I noticed most of all with our “tutee” was his problem with the vowels. He did not want to maintain their pronunciation, and he often mixed up Spanish and English vowels. For example, the Spanish “e” often came out the way the Spanish “i” is supposed to be, since the English “e” is said that way. Also, the Spanish “a” he often pronounced as the English one. How to pronounce vowels when they come together (“los diptongos”) was very hard for him. Other problems he had with production was the Spanish “r”, which he wanted to pronounce as the retroflex English one, and the Spanish “rr”. He could not really roll his r’s at all. He also had a really hard time learning to soften his d’s (to make them more fricative). He always wanted to pronounce them very hard and aspirated.
This response demonstrated good understanding given that the student wrote coherently about phonemes with which we had worked during the first semester. Spontaneous and correct use of the terms ‘diphthongs,’ ‘retroflex’, ‘fricative,’ and ‘aspirated’ show admirable assimilation of the concepts. She could have used even more precise language but my criteria were not that the explanation be perfect.
b. From what I experienced in my tutee project is that mispronunciation leads to misunderstanding. The tutee had problems pronouncing diptongos like “eu” “io” “au”. Pronouncing strong vowels and soft vowels when they are next to each other in a word.
Response 1(b) was also judged to show good understanding because diphthongs were mentioned as being blends of strong and ‘soft’ vowels. The correct metalinguistic label is ‘weak’ instead of ‘soft’; nonetheless, an understanding of the concept seems to be there.
c. From my own experience in the ‘tutee’ project I think that all three contribute to misunderstanding, still I think that the ones that contribute the most are accentuation and intonation. Sometimes the ‘tutee’ would read or speak as if they were reading in their own language where they know where the emphasis is placed. I can’t remember specific examples but I remember when our ‘tutee’ was reading a piece of poetry, it was difficult to understand because he would read “straight” without pausing and emphasizing where the emphasis goes in each word. This is more common when the words being spoken/read are long words like “arzobispo”.
Response 1(c) is considered to show only beginning understanding because it does not mention the different levels of pitch in English and Spanish or that Spanish is a syllable-timed language while English is a stress timed-language and how this conflict might have been illustrated in the speech of the ‘tutee’. Again, it is not that I was hoping for these specific metalinguistic labels, just an allusion to them. From the way the answer is worded, the novice teacher seems to be talking about the monotone reading of a student who has not practiced enough. I cannot discern any more than that the novice teacher has a vague notion of what intonation and accentuation are. The following response likewise demonstrates beginning understanding:
d. Sound production, intonation, and accentuation may lead to misunderstanding, too. Sound production may give the wrong meaning to a Spanish learner by pronouncing a word in the wrong context or identifying it incorrectly. i.e. “todo” may be pronounced as “toro” [to-do] (“d” fricativa/ dentoalveolar). The intonation may interfere in correct communication when a phrase or statement’s intonation changes from an affirmation to a question and vice versa. i.e. ¿Cómo estás? vs. ¡Mira, cómo estás! The accentuation also affects understanding, especially with words in which the stress mark changes the meaning of the word or the tense. i.e. papa (potato), papá (dad) /(mirar) miro -present tense, first person. miró -past tense, third person.
Response 1(d) only demonstrates beginning understanding, albeit a higher level of beginning understanding than the previous response. The example using phonetic representation is not totally accurate. The participant means to say that todo [to-_o] ([_] = voiced dental fricative similar to English ‘th’) as pronounced by the English L1 speaker could be mistaken for toro [to-ro] where [r] is the alveolar tap that is more similar to the English voiced dental occlusive than the Spanish voiced dental fricative [_]. On the other hand, this participant’s examples of miscommunication caused by intonation and accentuation are appropriate. It is worth noting here that the label ‘beginning understanding’ is so broad that it includes a range of ‘beginning’ answers on a continuum of ‘barely developing understanding’ to ‘almost good understanding’. The categories of ‘good’ and ‘lack of’ do not contain all the possible shades of gray that the category of ‘beginning’ does.
e. Aspects in the pronunciation [that] lead[s] to miscommunication/ misunderstanding for English speakers [is] when they say words the wrong way that can be misunderstood. I can’t recall exact words by the tutee; however, I do remember laughing in some cases because of the way she pronounced some words, which meant something bad.
f. I think that sound production and recognition are the things that can most often cause this type of problem. Sometimes a learner will use the wrong sound because that is what they hear when they are speaking with someone else. I have noticed with students that I have tutored that they sometimes have difficulty producing sounds that they need to differentiate in Spanish to communicate well like the difference between “r” and “rr”. This specifically was a problem with our tutee.
There is nothing in responses 1(e) and (f) that demonstrates that the participant has assimilated any of the concepts that had been discussed in class. These two responses are examples of those classified as ‘lack of understanding.’
2) Why do older learners have a hard time achieving native-like pronunciation?
a. I think this happens because there is a certain mental capacity that younger children have for hearing and reproducing sounds in speech that is not as strong in adolescence and adulthood. I think that this flexibility is designed to help the young person to learn to speak in the early stages of development. I think that it is more difficult as a rule for older learners to hear the sounds that are not used in their native languages and it is also more difficult for them to imitate and produce new sounds that they are not used to. I also believe that many people are capable of stretching themselves with the proper assistance to do better with these aspects of language learning with less of this flexibility but not everyone has this ability. And to some people native like production comes fairly easily regardless of being older. Because they are good at these things at any age (but this last group is less common.)
Response 2(a) comes extremely close to capturing the argument that I had presented about how the brain develops and is specialized for the L1 and is thus judged to demonstrate good understanding. The criterion again was an explanation is layman’s terms that captured the gist of the argument, not exposition of metalinguistic terminology.
b. I think it is because they are more set in their ways, so to speak. They have been speaking their native language for 50, 80, ... years. To start trying to make them pronounce their letters differently and have them make sounds that perhaps they have never made before in their lives is much more challenging than for a student who begins studying a different language in middle school, like I did for instance. The older students have many more years of habits to try to break to speak a different language.
Response 2(b) is not quite as good as 2(a), and therefore shows beginning understanding, because somehow its author had failed to capture that when we talked about ‘older learners’ we were referring to those just past the supposed critical period, not ‘older’ as in the age of grandparents.
c. I believe that it has to do with the flexibility. If one sees a child we can see that they are flexible in EVERY aspect. Older learners need to practice flexibility like a child. One thing I try is stretching exercises of the jaw and face. I also do singing exercises these are fun. We did this with our tutee.
Response 2(c) is judged to show no understanding since I had never presented any argument referring to the physical flexibility of the articulatory organs.
3) When should a language teacher teach pronunciation? Explain your answer.
a. I think pronunciation has to be the first thing that is taught. It does no good to start learning vocabulary or to start memorizing dialogues if you don’t know how to pronounce them. It is like we were talking in class about how it is a good idea if a student hears how a word is pronounced before they see the spelling of the word. First impressions stick. If they have words and concepts memorized (with incorrect pronunciation), and later try to change how they say those words, it would be very difficult.
b. I believe that one should teach pronunciation at the beginning of the course since it is extremely important to acquire acceptable pronunciation because being able to speak correctly makes learning spelling easier for the learner.
Responses 3(a) and (b) indicate good understanding due to the fact that they both concluded that pronunciation had to be addressed from the beginning of a course. Response 3(a) is judged to illustrate more understanding of the material presented in class than 3(b) since it alludes to the problem of phonemic awareness. On the other hand, the author of 3(b) seems to remember the concept of phonemic awareness but states that it is easier to learn the spelling if one knows correct pronunciation. This may be true for NSs; however, with NNSs the problem is how the L1 phonemic awareness negatively impacts the acquisition of the L2 sound system and the confusion caused by L2 orthography.
c. I think that she should always be enforcing correct pronunciation. I don’t mean that she has to go around and correct the students in her class, but she does have to do the proper modeling for them. She needs to pronounce right so that students can see that. She can also make humble corrections to the students without them noticing. For example if a student says “Yo quero un lapi”, she can repeat “Oh sí, tu quieres un lápiz”. This way the student is hearing the correct pronunciation without feeling like the teacher is correcting and embarrassing them.
Response 3(c) demonstrates only beginning understanding because the crucial point that I tried to instill in these learners was that of phonemic awareness and this answer, although it does mention teaching pronunciation from the beginning, does not make reference to the concept of interference from the native language sound system.
In addition, this novice teacher confused the technique for correcting lexical/syntactic errors that we had discussed with one for correcting pronunciation. We had been talking about how indirect methods don’t work well with those who don’t mimic sound well and that the approach needed to be more direct with an actual demonstration of point and/ or mode of articulation.
e. I think that first one should teach them all the grammar rules and then begin to teach pronunciation. Because pronunciation is very important because it is how the learners are going to communicate and begin a conversation with other persons. Outside the classroom, the learners are not going to use the rules, the only thing that they are going to need is the communication.
f. Language teachers should start teaching pronunciation gradually. Students should start getting used to words then show them the correct pronunciation.
The learners who produced responses 3(d) and (e) gave the impression of not having incorporated at all the concept of early intervention that the discussion of phonemic awareness was intended to invoke. These two responses demonstrate a lack of understanding.
4) How should a language teacher teach pronunciation?
a. 1 think they should break down the different sounds and go one at a time. Maybe first they should cover any letters that are pronounced the same way as in English. Then they could go through the ones that are pronounced differently, like the vowels, “v”, “ll”, “r”, “rr”, “d” when it is in between vowels or at the end of words, etc. Each time they talk about a letter with a different pronunciation, the teacher needs to repeat the sound several times, repeat the sound in example words, talk about how the sound is physically made (where the tongue is placed, etc.), and then have the students practice. I think teaching how to pronounce “los diptongos” should come as one of the last lessons, because it appears to be very hard for students to master.
b. The teacher does not need a pronunciation lesson since it is enough to listen to the errors that the learners commit. Knowing the errors that the learners commit, the teacher can focus on these words and use them as vocabulary of the week. In this way, the learners will practice more and above all they will listen to the correct version of the teacher.
c. I think there are many effective strategies for teaching pronunciation. I think it is good to focus on sounds that the teacher notices that the students are having trouble with and give them exercises that require them to notice that the sound is different than what they think it is. If the student cannot imitate it just from hearing it then I think it is beneficial to explain how the sound is produced and explain to the student what he must do. And it is good to give the student lots of examples of the use of the sound.
Response 4(a) shows that the learner has assimilated many of the key phonetic concepts and obviously gave some thought to this answer, strategically sequencing the phonemes and diphthongs from least to most difficult. Responses 4(b) and (c) even more to the point because they bring out the notion of incorporating pronunciation practice as the need arises and in response to learner production. The last response is especially good since in it the novice teacher mentions “exercises that require that the students notice that the sound is different than what they think it is.” This was the only participant that made reference to the type of input activities that we had spent all semester creating for all grammar points to be taught, including sounds that are problematic for English L1 speakers. All three of the responses were judged to show good understanding, with respect to one thing or another.
d. The teacher should first teach them how to pronounce the vowels and the sounds of the alphabet. The teacher should explain the different sounds. For example, why “rr” sounds the way it does?
e. Through exercises in which the teacher is actively involved so that she/he can correct their students. Pronunciation needs to be worked on throughout the entire class time so that students will catch on. Whenever the teacher has the chance to help a student with pronunciation, she/he should. Pronunciation should be taught in a lesson teaching one thing at a time, that is, when a lesson is being taught.
f. I believe that first the teacher should teach the alphabet with much detail. Teaching everyday each letter and a word that begins with each one. For example, ‘A’ would be ala, etc. Also show them a photo of each thing. After several weeks, begin with the sounds of each letter, demonstrating the placement of the tongue in the mouth, etc.
Responses 4(d), (e) and (f) show beginning understanding that the approach needs to be direct and that pronunciation practice must be incorporated a little at a time. These responses fail to mention that pronunciation practice should be included on an ‘as needed’ basis. It is not necessary to recur to phonetics and phonology unless there are specific problems.
g. In class. Activities with the students. With songs. On the t.v. With pictures.
h. A teacher should teach pronunciation by example; the teacher should pronounce everything correctly and slowly so the students may learn how to pronounce words correctly.
i. A language teacher should use the phonemes in Spanish to teach the students to articulate the vowels and consonants. Those lessons in ... Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics were very effective in understanding how to produce the sounds.
There is no evidence of understanding with respect to KAL in responses 4(g), (h) and (i) but for a different reason in each one. Responses 4(g) and (h) seem to presuppose that pronunciation can be learned through indirect methods as with L1 learners. Response 4(i) is in stark contrast to the statement that I made repeatedly throughout the two semesters, which was that the detailed and intensive study of point and mode of articulation as had been pursued in the first of their two linguistics courses was NOT the way to teach pronunciation to beginners. Even though the answer is a positive evaluation of the course content, it does not help answer the question of how pronunciation should be taught to beginners.
The last of the reflection questions has to do with the participants’ evaluation of the pronunciation tutoring, the final project for the second semester in which the participants were required to video or audio tape at least two thirty-minute sessions of themselves helping beginning Spanish students with their pronunciation:
5) Was working with the beginning Spanish student for the pronunciation project a beneficial experience? What did you learn from it?
a. Yes it was. It made me appreciate how hard it is to change one’s pronunciation, especially older students. (Our tutee was middle-aged.) It also made me realize that sometimes describing how the sound is physically made helps the student. (Before the project, I thought this information probably would not help because when we speak, most of us don’t really think about the position of our lips and tongue...) I also saw that learning how to pronounce many letters and the vowels doesn’t happen in overnight. It is something that the teachers need to go over from the beginning and work on for some time. I am not sure if the teacher of our tutee had been doing this, but I doubt it. Because we covered the correct pronunciation of so many different sounds in a short period of time, our tutee often tried to revert back to his old ways.
b. Working with our tutee was a good experience because I could realize that for all people it is difficult to learn another language. Also because it is valuable to be able to speak our native language when one needs to speak another language, we can be more sensitive to the other person (?). Also I learned that one has to speak slowly to the learners so they can understand and with simple sentences, otherwise they will ask you immediately to repeat. Something else that I discovered is that it is easier for the learner to read without pausing a lot when we give them the pronunciation of the syllables and then we put the words together.
c. It was a great experience. I learned that our tutee was frustrated because she did not know the meaning of what she was reciting. We had to cover the meaning of the poem first then we went on to the pronunciation. We used a mirror and we used voice (singer) techniques. We asked the tutee to be conscious of where she felt the sound when pronouncing in English and Spanish. (emphasis added)
d. Yes, because I had to remember all the things that we learned in the class Introduction to Hispanic linguistics. I believe that this (pronunciation tutoring) would be good for the following classes of Spanish Applied Linguistics just as it was for us.
Responses 5 (a-c) were the only three responses that mentioned KAL in relation to the pronunciation-tutoring project. Response 5(b) mentions that the participants made use of the division into syllables that had been part of their course work in the introductory course and also that they had ‘put the words together’ so that the beginning language learner could learn to read without pausing. I interpret that to mean that the teachers-in-training had shown the beginner that there is not a glottal stop in Spanish and how syllables are formed across word boundaries in order to adhere to the preferred CV syllable structure of Spanish. This may be a lot to infer from what the participant wrote, but given the context and the novice teacher’s poor command of academic language, it is a likely interpretation. Response 5(C) refers to points of articulation in the instruction to the beginning learner that she be conscious of where she felt the sound. However, the language used to answer the question in each case is not precise enough to explain the concepts to anyone but the applied linguistics professor who knew what the participants were trying to say. In addition, the participant who is the author of response 5(d) gave the answer that the researcher had been hoping to receive from more participants with respect to having to recall what had been learned in the previous course in order to perform well in the pronunciation-tutoring project. Unfortunately, the participant did not give any specifics regarding what he had to recall.
The last three responses that are worth mentioning demonstrate understanding, not of KAL, but of a fundamental concept that I tried to model during the two semesters spent with the participants:
e. It was a beneficial experience, besides having known [the tutee] and got along with her pretty well, I realized that teaching another language is not an easy task at all. A teacher needs patience, love for the profession in order to be a great teacher. Teaching another language needs a lot of preparation, willing to help out a student in any difficulty he or she may have concerning the second language because they have to get it right so that when they start speaking they are making themselves understood. They have different needs and one should be prepared for all those needs.
f. It helped us a lot since we could experience personally what one feels when teaching a second language. I learned that it is not as easy as it looks. One has to have much, much patience and go slowly.
g. Trying to teach a student another language is not easy. In my experience I learned that one has to have a lot of patience and have the correct material in order to be able to teach the person. Also, I learned that the majority of the people have problems in learning a language, just as I had when I wanted to learn English. And the most important thing is to have patience.
The acquisition of patience, although not explicitly detailed in the course syllabus as a learning outcome, is important. The fact that the participants learned about that aspect of teaching is a welcome but unexpected outcome.
