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LiteratureReviewandRationale:TeachingSentenceStressOnline

LindseyKurtz

Ifitcanbeclaimedthatpronunciationseemstobetheorphanofsecond

languageteachingandresearch(DerwingandMunro2005),theteachingofsuprasegmentals(generallydefinedtoincludestress,rhythm,andintonation)

seemstoholdasimilartitlewithintheteachingandresearchofpronunciation.The

ideathatsuprasegmentalsaffectintelligibilityisnothingnew.Claimsaboutthe

importanceofsuprasegmentalstointelligibilitycanbetracedbackatleastto

structurallinguistssuchasNida(1957):

Howoftenwehavehadtheexperienceofhearingsomeforeignerspeak

Englishwithperfectlyintelligibleconsonantsandvowelsandwithstandard

grammaticalforms;andyetwehadthegreatestofdifficultyinunderstandingbecausetheintonationalpatternswereentirelyunnaturalandstrangetous.

Moreover,wemaycompletelymisinterpretapersonspeakingEnglihs

Properintonationcontributesahighpercentagetothetotalintelligibilityofspeech(qtd.inHahn2004).

Jenkins(2002)includedthesuprasegmentalproductionandplacementoftonic

(nuclear)stressinherproposalforteachingEnglishasanInternationalLanguage

(EIL).Shedoesdeterminethatstress-timedrhythmisunimportantforteachingEIL,

though.Astheintendedaudienceofthewebsitedevelopedinconjunctionwiththis

reviewwouldbestudentsstudyingEnglishasaSecondLanguageandwould,thus,

becommunicatingwithnativespeakerswhoexpectstress-timedsentencestress

patterns,Iwillcontendthatinthiscasestress-timedrhythmisanimportantfeature

toteach.

Whilethereseemstobelittledebatethatsuprasegmentalsaffect

intelligibility,theredoes,appeartobealackofpedagogicalfocusandempirical

researchrelatedtosuprasegmentals.Brown(1995)commentsonthelackof

pedagogicalfocuswhenhewritesabouthisdisenchantmentwithusingminimal

pairsinpronunciationteachingandcommentsthatwritersarenowadays

convincedoftheimportanceofsuprasegmentalsinpronunciation,althoughthe

prioritygiventosegmentalsincourse-booksmayleadreaderstooveremphasize

theirimportance(172).Notonlydoesthisappeartobetrueintextbooks,butaperusalofonlinepronunciationteachingmaterialsillustratesadistinctlackof

emphasisonqualityteachingmaterialsforsuprasegmentals.

OfthenumerouspodcastsforEnglishLanguageLearners(ELLs)availableoniTunes,theSeattleLearningAcademysAmericanEnglishPronunciationpodcast

seriesandaccompanyingwebsite(www.pronuncian.com)wasonevaluabletoolforELLswhichdidaddressthetopic.1Thewebsitedoesprovideanintroductionto

1TheSeattleLearningAcademyspodcastseriesandaccompanyingwebsitewereselectedforcomparisonforthepurposesofthisprojectfortheincrediblyunscientificreasonbecauseIwouldrecommendthislearningtooltomystudents.Sifting

throughthelargevolumeofESLpodcastsrevealsthatastrikingnumberareakintoaguysittingonhiscouchinfrontofa

webcamtalkingaboutEnglish.Anyfurtherworkonthiswebsiteandprojectwouldrequiremorestringentguidelinesastowhatqualifiedasareliablewebsiteforcomparison.

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suchsuprasegmentalconcernsassentencestressandanaccompanyingpodcast

discussingtheimportanceofsentencestress.Ofthehundredsofpodcastsavailable,though,onepodcastonsentencestressandonlyahandfulofothersrelatedto

suprasegmentalshardlyseemsconsistentwithlinguistsclaimsthatsuprasegmentalsareimportantinteachingEnglishasaSecondLanguage.Itisalso

importanttonotethatwhilemanyotherpodcastshaveaccompanyingworksheetsanddrills,thesentencestresspodcastdoesnot.Thisomissionimpliestothelearner

thatpracticingsentencestressisunimportant.

TheBBCLearningEnglishwebsite(www.bbclearningenglish.com)takesan

opposite,yetsimilarlyineffectiveapproach.Thesmallsectionthatreferstostress

atalldealsexclusivelywithschwaandconnectedspeech.Studentscantakeaquiz

testingtheirknowledgeofwordstresspatterns,butsentence-stressandrhythmare

notintroduced.AsBrown(1995)pointsout,thereisadisconnectbetweenwhat

textbookwritersclaimtobetruethatsuprasegmentalsareimportantto

pronunciationandwhatisbeingdoneintheclassroom(whetherthatclassroomisphysicalorvirtual).

Hahn(2004)pointsoutthatlittleempiricalresearchexiststosupportsclaimsthatteachingnon-nativespeakers(NNS)suprasegementalswillimprovetheintelligibilityoftheirspeech.Shethensetsouttoprovidesuchanempiricalstudy

byexamininglistenersevaluationsofthesameNNSInternationalTeachingAssistantwhorecordedthesamesamplelectureusinganative-likesentence-stress

pattern,anincorrectsentence-stresspatternandnosentencestressatall.That

studentsidentifiedthelecturewiththenative-likesentence-stresspatternasmost

intelligibleandthelecturewithoutsentencestressastheleastintelligiblesupports

theideathatteachingsuprasegmentalstoNNSswill,infact,improvetheintelligibilityoftheirspeech.

Rationale Thiswebsitewascreatedtogivestudentstheopportunitytobecomeaware

ofandpracticesentencestressattheirownpace.Itcombinespodcastswithonline

activities.Itisintendedasapilotwebsiteandtheformatmaybemodifiedafter

receivingfeedbackfromtargetaudienceNNSs.Currentlythedecisiontoincludethe

mini-podcastsasopposedtocreatingone,longerone,wassothatstudentscould

workthroughthepodcastsattheirownpaceandplayeachclipmultipletimesin

onesitting.Theactivitiesarealsointeractivesothatstudentsareactivelyengaged,

notlisteningpassivelytoalongpodcast. Thescopeofthelessonisnarrowbydesign.Aswiththedecisiontocreate

mini-podcasts,thelessononsentencestressisdesignedtoofferonlyan

introductiontosentencestress.Toomuchinformationwouldlikelyoverwhelmstudents.Theactivitiespresentedinthiswebsitearemanageableinonesitting.

Studentscanalwaysreturnformorelessons.

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References

Brown,A.(1995).MinimalPairs:Minimalimportance?ELTJournal,49(2),169-175.

Gilbert,J.(1984).ClearSpeech.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Hahn,L.D.(2004).Primarystressandintelligibility:Researchtomotivatethe

teachingofsuprasegmentals.TESOLQuarterly,vol.38,no.2,201-23.

Retrievedfromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3588378on6Mar.2011.

Jenkins,J.(2002)Asociolinguisticallybased,empiricallyresearchpronunciation

syllabusforEnglishasaninternationallanguage.AppliedLinguistics,23(1),

83-103.

Munro,M.,&Derwing,T.(1999).Foreignaccent,comprehensibility,and intelligibilityinthespeechofsecondlanguagelearners.LanguageLearning .

49(supp.1),285-310.