Grunt and Cheer: Teaching American Vowels through
Native Speaker Utterances
DJ Kaiser, PhD (ABD), MATESL Webster University
St. Louis, MO
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)
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