Grunt and Cheer: Teaching American Vowels through

Native Speaker Utterances

DJ Kaiser, PhD (ABD), MATESL Webster University

St. Louis, MO

djkaiser@webster.edu

MidTESOL Conference October 2012 – Ames, IA

The Issue at Hand

Teaching American Vowels – Giving students a good and accurate model of

American Vowel Sounds – Finding an appropriate way to model American

vowel sounds for non-native English speakers (NNESs)

– Taking into account the difficulty NNESs have in pronouncing the fifteen stressed vowel sounds

The Traditional Approach

•  Using example words – also called “key” or “chart” words – example: /iy/ “feed”; // “fin”

•  These words may appear in – a list (usually to show a list of transcription

symbols) or – a chart (showing relative tongue placement)

Today’s Talk

•  A brief look at the traditional approach to Vowel Modeling Systems (VMSs)

•  Common problems with these VMSs •  A new approach to teaching American vowels

through a new VMS •  Important decisions to make when choosing a

VMS

The Scope

•  “Standard” North American English – For maximum intelligibility

•  Tonic (stressed) vowels – The fifteen most common vowel sounds of

American English •  Materials published in North America or for

the North American variety of English (books modeling British vowels have been excluded)

Textbook Survey

•  34 pronunciation textbooks were surveyed (from 1972-2012) – 21 books included a VMS (3 of them were

only partial VMSs) [61.8%] – 23 books included a list of vowel sounds

[67.6%] – 5 books included no VMS or list of vowel

sounds [14.7%]

Analysis of the Traditional Approach

•  This presentation will – compare these eighteen complete VMSs

(52.9% of the textbooks surveyed) and – categorize each of these VMSs for

potential problems

Problems with Textbook VMSs

•  Minimal Pairs – Thirteen of the eighteen complete VMSs (72.2%) contained example words that form minimal pairs with other example words in the VMS. Cook (1991), Dickerson (1989), Grant (2001), Hagen & Grogan (1992), Hahn & Dickerson (1999), Handshuh & Simounet de Geigel (1985), Lado & Fries (1979), Lane (2005), Lujan (2008), Luter (1990), Meyers & Holt (1998), Prator & Robinett (1972), & Sudlow (1986)

Problems with Textbook VMSs (Cont’d)

•  Variability – Three of the VMSs (16.7%) in these books contain at least one item that is variable for educated speakers of North American English. Cook (1991), Hagen & Grogan (1992), & Sudlow (1986)

•  Exclusion – Five of these books (27.8%) exclude overt coverage in their VMS of at least one of the fifteen tonic vowel sounds included in the majority of pronunciation textbooks. Cook (1991): /ɔ/ & /ɔy/; Lado & Fries (1979): /ɜr/; Lane (2005): /ɜr/; Reed & Michaud (2005): (/ɔ/, /ow/, /ɜr/, and /ay/ is misplaced in the place where /ɑ/ should go & /ɑ/ is where /ɔ/ should go); & Sudlow (1986): /ɜr/

Problems with Textbook VMSs (Cont’d)

•  Repeated Items – One book (5.6%) repeats the same word for more than one vowel sound in the VMS (although it does point out that the word is variable). Sudlow (1986)

“Acceptable” VMSs

•  Okay – Four of these books (22.2%) contain accurate example words for all 15 of the tonic American vowel sounds in their VMSs. Miller (2007); Morley (1995); Orion (2012); & Sheeler & Markley (1991)

•  Note: this does not mean that these VMSs are pedagogically effective

Example VMSs from ESL Pronunciation Textbooks

Sudlow Cook Hagen & Grogan

Sikorski Hahn & Dickerson

/iy/ beat eat keep me feed /ɪ/ bit it sit it fit /ey/ bait take take ace fade /ɛ/ bet get get end fed /æ/ bat cat bad add fad /ɑ/ bought*

(west. US) caught* stop on* cot

/ʌ/·/&/ but some, dull cut agree, us custom /ɜr/ - her bird earn curler

Example VMSs from ESL Pronunciation Textbooks (Cont’d)

Sudlow Cook Hagen & Grogan

Sikorski Hahn & Dickerson

/ɔ/ bought (east. US)

- born* off boss

/ow/ boat hope go oak bone /ʊ/ foot took good cook bush /uw/ boot smooth move do boot /ay/ buy ice night I fine /ɔy/ toy - boy boil coin /aw/ mouth (town,

how, loud)

town house bound

Problems with Traditional VMSs

•  Example words may be variable in their pronunciation

•  Students may already mispronounce words, meaning that the model they use from a traditional VMS may prove inefficient or ineffective in helping a student acquire the correct vowel sound

Problems with the Traditional VMSs (Cont’d)

•  Example words forming part of a minimal pair may cause more confusion than assistance – Example 1: Baker & Goldstein’s “sheep” and “ship” (Minimal pair included in the VMS)

– Example 2: Morley’s “it”, which forms a minimal pair with “eat” (Even if the minimal pair is not part of the VMS, it may still cause trouble for the learner)

A New Vowel Modeling System Native Speaker Utterances (NSUs) •  Vowel sounds are matched up with a native

speaker utterance rather than with a word or phrase

•  Students learn and make use of some of the same utterances that native speakers use in everyday communication

•  NSUs focus on the vowel sound while still putting the sound in context

Native Speaker Utterances from Practical Pronunciation by DJ Kaiser

Long E (/iy/): wee! as in, “Wee! This is fun!” (Excitement and fun.)

Short I (/ɪ/): ick as in, “Ick. This tastes awful.” (Bad taste or something gross.)

Long A (/ey/): hey! as in, “Hey you!” (Getting someone’s attention.)

Short E (/ɛ/): eh as in, “Eh, I really don’t care.” (Dismissal of a useless idea.)

Short A (/æ/): yeah as in, “Yay, this is cool!” (Enthusiastic agreement.)

Native Speaker Utterances (Cont’d)

Short O (/ɑ/): ah as in, “Ah, now I understand.” (Pleasant surprise or realization of an idea.)

Short U (/ʌ/): uh as in, “Uh, I don’t know.” (Confusion or pause marker to think.)

Short Back O (/ɔ/):

aw as in, “Aw, what a cute little puppy.” (To designate that something is cute; also used to show pity.)

Long O (/ow/): oh! as in, “Oh, I didn’t see you there!” (Sign of surprise.)

Short Back U (/ʊ/):

ugh as in, “Ugh, me Tarzan, you Jane.” (The sound a gorilla makes.)

Native Speaker Utterances (Cont’d)

Long U (/uw/): ooo! as in, “Ooo, that’s pretty.” (Enjoyment and pleasure.)

Short U w/ R (/ɜr/):

grr! as in, “Frosted Flakes, they’re grrrr-reat!” (Sound a tiger makes.)

Long I (/ay/):

hi! as in, “Hi! How are you?” (Common greeting.)

“OY/OI” (/ɔy/): ahoy! as in, “Land ahoy!” (Common term for sailors and pirates.)

“OU” (/aw/): ouch! as in, “Ouch! That hurts!” (Sound used to designate sudden pain; also a simple “ow!” can be used.)

The Native Speaker Utterances

Front Mid Back Shifting /ay/ hi! /ɔy/ ahoy! /aw/ ouch! High /iy/ wee!

ick /ɪ/

uh

ooo! /uw/

/ʊ/ ugh Mid /ey/ hey!

eh /ɛ/

/ʌ/ /&/ /ɜr/ /&r/

oh! /ow/

Low yeah /æ/

grr! ah /ɑ/

/ɔ/ aw

Native Speaker Utterances (Cont’d) •  Exclamation points emphasize the tenseness

of the long vowels •  The vowel sounds in these short native

speaker utterances carry semantic meaning, increasing recall of the model

•  They are fun! •  The system makes for easy vowel lesson

introductions and reviews •  It promotes the use of native speaker

utterances in everyday speech

Suggested Uses of NSUs

•  To introduce vowel sounds •  To review vowel sounds •  As part of error correction •  To contrast two (or more) vowel sounds in

focus or causing difficulty

Suggested Uses of NSUs (Cont’d)

•  Use to contrast a target vowel sound with other neighboring vowel sounds

•  After using the native speaker utterances, make a connection to the pure vowel sounds and practice them

•  Use native speaker utterances in conjunction with articulatory features (tongue placement, lip shape, etc.)

“Vowels with Communicative Meaning”

•  Celce-Murica et al. in Teaching Pronunciation: A Course Book and Reference Guide (2010) also suggests some “vowels with communicative meaning” (p. 151)

•  Only half of the vowels, however, are covered and vowels are repeated in the chart

•  This book does not present a comprehensive VMS with these utterances

Important Decisions to Make when Choosing a VMS

•  Does the VMS include models for all vowel sounds to be covered?

•  Are the models in the VMS accurate for your accent/dialect of English and the accent/dialect you will teach in class?

•  After a little practice, will students be able to use the VMS to their advantage by recalling the vowel models and putting them into personal use?

Important Decisions to Make when Choosing a VMS (Cont’d)

•  Can you make adjustments to the VMS to make it more beneficial to your students?

•  How do you present and use the VMS in the classroom?

•  In class, do your students make use of the VMS when having trouble with vowels? If not, how should your presentation of the VMS change to encourage students to use the VMS as a self-check tool?

Conclusions

•  ELLs need a complete and reliable VMS that introduces and reviews vowel contrasts

•  Minimal pairs are helpful practice and review items but are problematic when used as a pedagogical model

•  Any word that may already be mispronounced by a learner can be problematic (NSUs avoid this problem)

Other Vowel Exercises

Physicalizations and articulatory awareness can also assist with difficult vowel contrasts (and avoid problematic “key” and “chart” words) •  Hand Squeezing (tense vs. lax) •  Rowing (tense vs. lax) •  Jaw Joint (jaw dropping for low vowels) •  Finger between Teeth (jaw dropping for low

vowels)