DELTA Language Skills Assignment: Phonology

Teaching word and

sentence stress to

pre-intermediate

learners

By Ben Facer

Centre number:

Word count: 2584

Table of contents

1. Rationale p. 2

2. Analysis p. 3

3. Learner issues & teaching suggestions p. 9

4. Appendices p. 16

5. Bibliography p. 26

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1. Rationale 269

This essay specifically refers to pre-intermediate learners studying on general English courses in the UK. It analyses an area of supra-segmental phonology known as stress. Roach considers the placement of ‘tonic’ stress to be a function of intonation. He questions the use of the phrase ‘sentence stress’, suggesting that the sentence is a grammar unit, not a unit of phonology1. This essay however concerns itself with accent and prominence, thus making a distinction between stress and intonation. It later outlines some key problems these learners encounter and offers some possible solutions to them.

I have come to recognise that in order to develop fluency at this level, learners need the confidence of knowing that their utterances are intelligible. On numerous occasions students’ inability to make sense has resulted in a communication breakdown. At beginner and elementary levels the ‘phonemic set’ is often taught through systematic, intensive practice. So if pre-intermediate learners already have this firm grounding in vowel and consonant sounds, it would justify Thornbury’s claim that it is ‘non-native’ like stress and rhythm patterns that lead to communication breakdown, rather than the pronunciation of individual vowel and consonants sounds2.

I believe it important to establish a target for learners. However ‘native-like’ proficiency in pronunciation is unrealistic. Underhill identifies two speeds of delivery that he calls careful colloquial speech (closer to a BBC World Service announcer’s pronunciation) and rapid colloquial speech (more akin to native speakers talking informally to one another). As this essay is concerned specifically with learners in the UK, I believe ‘careful colloquial speech’ is the best model for pre-intermediate learners to aim for.

1 Roach (1983:193)2 Thornbury (2005: 37)

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2. Analysis 1005

Thornbury defines stress as “the effect of emphasizing certain syllables by increasing their loudness, length and pitch”3. This is better illustrated by first distinguishing between the two key forms of stress as identified by Underhill4:

Accent

This is commonly referred to as ‘word stress’. There are few reliable rules and many exceptions, though much is dependent on the following factors5:

- morphology - part of speech (noun, adjective , verb, etc)- number of syllables- phonological structure of the syllables

In order to fully understand stress patterns in words it is necessary to firstly define what strong and weak syllables are. Strong syllables contain either long vowels or diphthongs, or a vowel followed by a consonant (stress is underlined):

diver party cattle/daɪvə/ /pɑ:ti:/ /kætəl/

Weak syllables contain a short vowel or a schwa:

‘re’ as in reduce ‘pen’ as in open /rɪdjuːs/ /əʊpən/

a) Simple two-syllable words

With verbs and adjectives, stress falls on the strong syllable, regardless of whether it is the first or second. If the first syllable is weak then the second is stressed:

reply center borrow cuddly/rəplaɪ/ /centə/ /bɒrəʊ/ /kʌdli/

With nouns, stress falls on the second syllable:

mistake/mɪsteɪk/

3 Thornbury (2006: 213)4 Underhill (1994: 58)5 Roach (1983: 97)

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However, if the second syllable is a short vowel then it falls on the first syllable, as is the case with most nouns:

honey/hʌni/

b) Simple three-syllable words

With verbs, when the finally syllable is a strong syllable it is stressed:

engineer/endʒɪnɪə/

If it is weak then it falls on the penultimate syllable:

encounter/ɪnkaʊntər/

When both the second and third syllables are weak it falls on the initial syllable:

parody/pærədi/

With nouns, even when the final syllable is strong, stress is still usually placed on the first syllable:

architect/ɑːkɪtekt/

When it is weak or ends in a /əʊ/ then the second syllable is stressed:

promoter tomato/prəməʊtər/ /təmɑːtəʊ/

If the second and third are both weak then the initial syllable is stressed:

calibre/kælɪbər/

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c) Affixes

These can be divided into three types (stress is marked by underlining):

i) Carrying primary stress - ‘-ee’ as in employee- ‘-ese’ as in Japanese

ii) Carrying no primary stress- ‘-ly’ as in quickly- ‘-ous’ as in dangerous

iii) Influencing ‘stem’ stress - ‘-ic’ changes emphasis to emphatic

- ‘-ive’ changes reflex to reflexive

d) Compound words

Roach claims that stress will normally fall on the first element6:

briefcase post office beachball/briːfkeɪs/ /pəʊstɒfɪs/ /biːtʃbɔːl/

However, compounds with an adjective or a number, adverbial compounds and compound verbs stress the final element:

quick-tempered 3-storey face down downgrade/kwɪktempəd/ /θriːstɔː.ri/ /feɪs daʊn/ /

daʊngreɪd/

e) Word-class pairs

This refers to two words that have the same spelling but different parts of speech. If the word is a verb the second syllable is stressed. If it is a noun or adjective, the first syllable is stressed:

import (noun) import (verb) rebel (noun) rebel (verb)/ɪmpɔːt/ /ɪmpɔːt/ /rebəl/ /rɪbel/

6 Roach (1983: 108)

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Prominence

Commonly known as ‘sentence stress’, prominence is wholly dependent on the meaning the speaker wishes to convey, while accent is defined as stress that is present “regardless of the speaker”7. Furthermore, “word accent is likely to be subordinated to the speakers choice of prominence…”8. As such, a syllable that is stressed within a word may not carry the prominence within an utterance (stress shown as underlining:

Bad-tempered - ‘accent’ falls on the second syllable

Bad-tempered teacher - ‘prominence’ falls on the word ‘teacher’

Photographer - ‘accent’ falls on the second syllable

He’s a great photographer - ‘prominence’ falls on the word ‘great’

This is turn relates to primary and secondary stress within an utterance. Whereas the primary stress falls on the word that conveys the most important meaning, the secondary stress falls on the word with the second most important meaning.

Can you call me a doctor? - primary stress falls on ‘doctor’

Doctor Jones will see you now - primary stress falls on ‘Jones’

Prominence depends entirely on the context of the utterance and can shift its position accordingly. Whereas stress is usually placed on words that convey lexical meaning, a shift in stress can also place emphasis on grammar words. This shift is divided here into the following categories:

a) New information (as opposed to information that is already known or implied)

Are you going to the party?

No, I have to do my homework

b) Emphatic stress – stress is used to emphasize a particular word

7 Underhill (1994, 58)8 Underhill (1994, 58)

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These flowers are so gorgeous!

c) Contrastive stress – stress is used to contrast with a previous utterance

I wanted you to buy me some red roses (as opposed to white roses)

I wanted you to buy me some red roses (as opposed to steal them)

d) Corrective stress – stress is used to correct the other speaker9

A: My nephews fifteenB: Thirteen?A: No, fifteen!

9 Hancock (2003: 114)

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Features affecting stress

i) Rhythm

English is referred to as a stress-timed language as opposed to a syllable-timed or ‘mora’ timed. Roach concedes that, “evidence for a truly stress-timed rhythm is not strong”. However, there are noticeable differences between the three. In stress-timed languages, stressed words are given importance over unstressed words.

This is illustrated using the following example10:

| Walk | down the | path to the | end of the ca | nal

This sentence is split according to the stressed syllable. Each section takes the same time to say regardless of the number of syllables. In syllable-timed languages the fourth section would take longer than the first as it has four syllables.

ii) Weak forms and vowel reduction

Weak forms of a word are always unstressed and are more often than not grammar words. See Appendix A for a full list of weak forms11:

Packet of crisps

/pækɪt ɒv krɪsps/ changes to /pækɪt əv krɪsps/

What’s your name?

/wɒts jɔː neɪm/ changes to /wɒts jə neɪm/

A degree of simplification of sounds is necessary in order for learners to develop a more natural sounding speaking voice12. Vowel reduction is one way of doing this – reducing the length and making them a less distinct, more central sound. Monophthongs such as /æ/ and /ɒ/ change to /ə/:

from becomes from/frɒm/ /frəm/

The two monophthongs /iː/ and /uː/ change to /ɪ/ and /ʊ/:

he becomes he/hiː/ /hI/

10 Roach (1983: 135)11 Field (2008: 147)12 Underhill (1994, 59)

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Diphthongs - my ma /maɪ/ may change to /mə/

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3. Learning issues and suggestions for teaching

i) Failure to follow the correct rhythm

“Non-native like” use of stress, rhythm and intonation inhibits intelligibility13. Learners cannot adhere to English stress patterns as they tend to follow their own L1 stress patterns. An example from a Korean student:

a FLIGHT attENdant DOESn’t HAVE to BUY HER own TICKet

Instead of

A FLIGHT attendant DOESn’t have to BUY her own TICKet

Suggestion

Students are given a short rhyme and are asked which line they think will take the longest to say. An example of this is in Sound Foundation14 (See Appendix B). Inevitably they choose the last line with the largest number of syllables. They then practice keeping in time with the rhythm chorally whilst the teacher taps out a beat. This activity could be used with limericks such as in Fun Class Activities15

(See Appendix C). Learners have to identify the stressed words and then read the limericks simultaneously, obliging the learners to follow each other’s rhythm and forcing them to make unstressed syllables weak.

13 Thornbury (2005: 37)14 Underhill (1994: 71)15 Watcyn-Jones (2002: 77)

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ii) Incorrect or inappropriate prominence

The speaker’s main point may be misinterpreted or obscured, unintentionally emphasizing the wrong words. English listeners expect to hear the important words stressed and may therefore require clarification. It is argued that contrastive or corrective stress is better taught at higher levels than pre-intermediate. However, emphatic stress is relevant to pre-intermediate learners. Korean and Japanese speakers for example may find this particularly difficult as they do not use emphatic stress in their L1. From my experience learners fail to use emphatic stress correctly, particularly with words such as ‘so’, ‘too’ and ‘such’:

London is such a big city instead of London is such a big city

Suggestion

Learners read a short conversation that includes only short sentences with the stressed words underlined. Students have to identify three ways of emphasizing disagreement, after which they must underline the stressed words in a similar short conversation16 (See Appendix D). This is a fun exercise that engages the students as they can act out ridiculous arguments with each other.

16 Hancock (2003; 106)

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iii) Sounding monotonous COMBINE WITH WEAK FORMS??

In many other languages, such as Japanese and Korean, an equal amount of stress is given to each syllable. This L1 interference may result in their sounding monotonous and boring and can make them difficult for native speakers to understand.

Suggestion

Learners are presented with short phrases and the stressed words are highlighted. Their attention is drawn to the fact that the unstressed words are grammar words. They listen to a recording of short sentences and note down the number of unstressed word they hear, later practise by inserting given words between two other stressed words17 (See Appendix E). This activity is useful as it raises awareness and allows for effective practice. The reaction from many of my students is one of surprise that so many words can fit into such a small length of time. This activity could be extended by having students come up with their own phrases and then creating a short dialogue.

17 Hancock (2003: 74)

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iv) Failure to identify and use weak forms

Learners tend to stress auxiliaries, articles, prepositions and conjunctions the same as key content words that convey meaning. Those whose first languages are syllable timed, such as Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, or ‘mora’ timed, such as Japanese, have difficulty with:

i) Perceiving weak forms and / or unstressed syllablesii) Producing weak forms

Suggestion

A ‘round the class activity’ using the weak forms of ‘to’, ‘and’ and ‘of’18 (See Appendix F). Students listen to a series of short set phrases about food i.e. ‘A bottle of milk’, ‘fish and chips’. They identify on their papers where they think the ‘schwa’ falls. After repeating and checking answers students then practise further sets of phrases while the teacher monitors. They then go around the class trying to out do one another by listing the food they plan to eat. After this initial practice they are encouraged to create their own combinations of food (i.e sausage and cheese!) and the process is repeated. This seems like a fun activity that learners would enjoy and it inadvertently practises food vocabulary. However, putting students into smaller groups would increase the amount of production per student.

18 Hewings (1993: 38)

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v) Failure to use vowel reduction

At pre-intermediate level, learners are often unaware of the features of vowel reduction. This may be particularly apparent in Arabic speakers, who may tend to avoid them all together:

supply instead of supply/sɜːpla /ɪ /səpla /ɪ

pencil instead of pencil/pens l/ɪ /pensəl/

Suggestion

Students repeat a list of jobs that end in ‘er’, ‘or’, and ‘an’ and contain more than one syllable, then decide which jobs earn the most money and report back to class19 (See Appendix G). Choral and individual repetition such as this is an effective procedure in raising students’ awareness of the schwa in words. Working in pairs allows for peer correction and offers communicative, task-based practice. It also allows learners to personalize the language.

19 Hewings (1993: 43)

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vi) Incorrect or inappropriate accent

Learners have difficulty in indicating their intended meaning due to the inappropriate or incorrect distribution of stress and unstress. I have noticed that this is particularly apparent with both Thai speakers (tend to stress the last syllable in a polysyllabic word) and Brazilian speakers (who tend to whisper unstressed vowels at the end of words). Arabic speakers may find syllable words with dual parts of speech particularly difficult as the stress in their first language is regular and always falls on the first syllable (stressed shown as underlining):

a) Whispering unstressed vowels at the end of a word

coffe instead of coffee /kɒfe/ /kɒfi/

offe office /ɒfe/ instead of /ɒfɪs/

b) Stressing 2-syllable words, long words and compounds inappropriately

photographer instead of photographer/fətɒgrəfə/ /fətɒgrəfə/

record (verb) instead of record (verb)/rekɔːd/ /rɪkɔːd/

old-fashioned instead of old-fashioned/əʊldfæʃənd/ /əʊldfæʃənd/

Suggestion

a) Learners match multi-syllabic words with their corresponding stress patterns20 (See Appendix H). Using new or recycled vocabulary two sets of cards are created, one with the word and the other with the stress pattern (i.e ‘oo0o’ = ‘information’). This kind of activity is not only communicative but requires students to work together, encouraging interaction. It is takes into consideration more visual learners.

b) Learners categorise a group of compound nouns associated with houses depending on whether they have one or two stressed syllables. Students then listen and practise saying the compound nouns then discuss which features are essential and which ones desirable21 (See Appendix I). This is again an effective activity as it

20 Bowen & Marks (1992: 62)21 Cunningham & Bowler (1990: 49)

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not only puts the language into context but allows or a discussion stage offering free practise personalization.

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vii) Intrusive vowels

There is a tendency from some groups of learners, in particular Arabic, Thai, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese speakers, to insert a short vowel between or before consonant clusters. This results in an additional syllable being voiced which disrupts the natural catenation of English. It is particularly apparent when pronouncing the endings of regular past simple verbs:

learned instead of learned (common in Arabic speakers)

/lɜːned/ /lɜːnd/

Will Smith becomes Will Esmith (common in Spanish speakers)

/wɪl smɪθ/ /wɪl esmɪθ/

fish becomes fishi

/fɪʃ/ /fɪʃɪ/ (common in Korean speakers)

Suggestion

Students’ are shown two sets of contrasting phrases. The sets of phrases differ by only one syllable, however their meaning is different. After highlighting the difference students are shown two more similar sets of phrases. They then have to listen to the teacher and decide which of the two possible phrases are being said22 (See Appendix J). Students then record themselves saying one of the two sets of phrases and re-listen to them two weeks later to decide which of the phrases they originally said. This raises awareness of intrusive syllables and hopefully encourages learners to pay more attention to omitting them.

22 Hancock (2003: 57)

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Appendix A – List of weak forms

Taken from Listening in the Language Classroom (CUP, 2008)

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Appendix B

Taken from Sound Foundation (Macmillan Heinemann, 1994)

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Appendix C

Taken from Fun Classroom Activities

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Appendix D

Taken from English Pronunciation in Use (CUP, 2003)

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Appendix E

Taken from English Pronunciation in Use (CUP, 2003)

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Appendix F

Taken from Pronunciation Tasks (Cambridge University Press, 1993)

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Appendix G

Taken from Pronunciation Tasks (Cambridge University Press, 1993)

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Appendix H

Taken from The Pronunciation Book (Longman, 1992)

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Appendix I

Taken from Headway Intermediate Pronunciation (Oxford University Press, 1990)

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Appendix J

Taken from English Pronunciation in Use (Cambridge University Press, 2003)

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Bibliography

Bowen, T. & Marks, J. (1992) The Pronunciation Book (Longman) Cunningham, S. & Bowler, J. (1990) Headway Intermediate Pronunciation (Oxford University Press – OUP)

Field, J. (2008) Listening in the Language Classroom (CUP)

Hedge, T. (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom (OUP)

Hewings, M. (1993) Pronunciation Tasks (Cambridge University Press - CUP)

Thornbury, S. (2005) How to Teach Speaking (Pearson Longman)

Thornbury, S. (2006) An A-Z of ELT (Macmillan)

Underhill, A. (1994) Sound Foundation (Macmillan Heinemann)

Hancock, M. (2003) English Pronunciation in Use (CUP)

Roach, P. (1983) English Phonetics and Phonology (CUP)

Swan, M & Smith B. (1987) Learner English (CUP)

Watcyn-Jones, () Fun Classroom Activities

http://thormay.net/

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