Customizing Pronunciation Practice with an E-Toolkit

Robert Bushong, rbushong@udel.eduMarch 26, 2015

Electronic Village, 49th Annual TESOL Convention & ExhibitToronto, Ontario, Canada

Agenda

• Background on the importance of customizing pronunciation practice

• Three steps to customize pronunciation practice• Demonstration of the e-tool kit• Goals customized to the individual student• Assessment of progress that is also customized

Assumptions

• Students are not always self-aware of pronunciation errors.

• Pronunciation errors vary among learners, even among students with the same L1.

• Speech patterns can be defossilized (Derwing & Munro, 2014).

Variations of the Arabic Letter ج in Saudi Arabia

A simple map showing the major cities in Saudi Arabia.Created by Norman Einstein, February 10, 2006.Available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saudi_Arabia_map.png.

Three Steps

• Administer voice-recorded diagnostics to help identify difficult phonemes

• Hold student-teacher conferences to create self-study plans

• Provide an e-toolkitto help students practice autonomously

E-Toolkit

The following text contains hyperlinks.• Edmodo • Color Vowel Chart• Jennifer ESL Youtube Channel• Rachel’s English YouTube Channel• Shopping List Diagnostic• TESL-J Conversation Questions• Tongue Twisters

Goals

• Intelligibility in the context of spontaneous speech

• Progress, not perfection

Assessment• Interviews eliciting spontaneous speech• Voice recordings based on course themes

Suggested Readings

• Grant, L. (Ed.). (2014). Pronunciation myths: Applying second language research to classroom teaching. USA: University of Michigan Press.

• Swan, M., & Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems (2nd). UK: Cambridge University Press.

• Taylor, K., & Thompson, S. (2013). Color vowel chart: A visual tool for teaching the sounds of English. Santa Fe, NM: English Language Training Solutions.