CHAPTER 19 English - Home - CSU, Chico

CHAPTER 19

The sound system of

d whattem ofrovideendixtly or

nglishghtfor-hat is

ologyof how

d airuth org (or

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English

This appendix is about sounds and their spellings. Regardless of what level anstudents a teacher is dealing with, a minimum basic understanding of the sound sysEnglish and its connection to the English spelling system is necessary in order to psome understanding of the problems and difficulties our students face. This appattempts to provide that minimum, but without including much that does not relate direcindirectly to a teacher's needs.

The sound system

Certainly, there is a relationship between the English sound system and the Espelling system. However, the relationship between sound and spelling is neither straiward nor obvious. If it were, many of us would spell more accurately than we do. Wobvious is that the sounds of English are not the same as the letters of English.

Note: Although it is obvious in an intellectual sense that sounds and letters arenot the same thing, most students working through this appendix will on occa-sion make errors through mistaking sounds for letters.

The patterning found in the sound system of English is a reflection of the physiof the vocal tract. The patterns of the English sound system make sense in terms sounds are made (and, particularly, for vowels, how sounds are perceived).

The basic principle involved is modification of the air flow. When making a sounmoves through the vocal cords in larynx, through the throat, and on out through the monose. As it moves, the air flow is modified through vibrating the vocal cords, by openinnot opening) the velum to let part of the flow go out through the nose, and by constrictiair flow partially or completely in the mouth.

Chapter 18: Transcriptions

e out ofe prob-guages

ashes.

es

ur

Tran-words forma-

sym-tters. right

guaged into of theer lan-

ialec-ry, not

one

fontrast

Once the English sound system is understood, it becomes easier to make sensthe spelling system of English and it becomes possible to make some sense out of thlems all students have learning to spell and out of the problems speakers of other lanhave in learning to pronounce English.

Transcriptions

In this book, sounds are always found transcribed (not spelled!) between two slFor example, the four sounds of the word things would be transcribed between two slashas /∏INz/. The six letters of the spelling things do not correspond one-to-one to the fosounds in the word; in the transcription /∏INz/, each symbol corresponds to one sound.

A transcription is a representation of sounds—not an alternate spelling system. scriptions are done by listening to the sounds in a word. Not all of the letters in certain correspond to sounds; some letters indicate not sounds but information about the wordtion system.

Note 1: Sometimes students try to "transcribe" not by listening and writing down bols for the sounds but by looking at the spelling and writing down symbols for the leThis writing one symbol for another symbol is not a transcription nor does it produce theanswer.

Note 2: The process of writing a letter in one language for a letter in another lanis called transliteration. Something written in the Greek alphabet could be transliteratethe English alphabet by replacing each one of the Greek letters by one of the lettersEnglish alphabet. Notice this process has no direct connection with the sounds of eithguage.

Note 3: No answers are given for the transcription exercises. The regional and dtal variation in English is such that the answers for the transcription exercises often vajust from region to region, but also from student to student.

Minimal pairs

Minimal pairs are pairs of words which are nearly identical in sound, having onlysound contrast between them. Thus, Pete /piyt/ and pit /pIt/ are minimal pairs not because othe spellings but because of the sounds (shown in the transcriptions). Notice that the cin sounds between the two words is carried in the difference between the vowels /iy/ and /I/.

Practical English Grammar 275

Chapter 18: Consonants

vocal

Consonants

Consonants are described in terms of three dimensions: whether or not thecords are vibrating—voicing; where the sound is being made—the place of articulation; andhow the sound is being made—the manner of articulation. All three are really just descrip-tions of what happens as to the flow of air as a consonant is produced.

Diagram of the vocal tract showing the places of articulation

276 Practical English Grammar


rynxbed as

Cover so on long,

ves placetop ofrming

nvolved endsmost of

e

th

e

ge

is.

isified.

Voicing. If the vocal cords are vibrating when the air flow passes through the la(in the voice box), the sound is described as voiced; if not, the consonant is descrivoiceless.

It is possible to hear the difference between voiced and voiceless consonants. your ears and pronounce a long, drawn-out /z/; the vibration in your ears, head, andresults from the vibration of the vocal cords. Now, still covering your ears pronounce adrawn-out /s/. There is no parallel vibration; this sound is voiceless.

Place of articulation. Consonants are made by constricting the air flow as it mothrough the vocal tract—through the throat and mouth. The place of articulation is thewhere this constriction of the air flow occurs. The horizontal row of labels across the the consonant chart lists the places in the mouth at which the air flow is constricted in fovarious English consonants. The labels themselves are just names of the articulators iin the constriction. The row of labels begins with the lips at the front of the mouth andat the voice box. Once the names of parts of the mouth become familiar, the names of the terms makes sense.

bilabial : bi- 'two' + labi- 'lip' + -al 'adjective marking suffix'. Sounds madwith two lips.

labiodental: labio- 'lip' + dent- 'tooth' + -al. Sounds made with the upper teeand the lower lip.

interdental: inter- 'between' + dent- 'tooth' + -al. Sounds made between thteeth.

alveolar: alveol- + -ar. Sounds made at the alveolar ridge, the bumpy ridjust behind the teeth.

palatal: palat- + -al. Sounds made behind the alveolar ridge.velar: vel- + -ar. Sounds made at the velum. glottal: glott- + -al. Sounds made at the voice box, that is, at the glott

Manner of articulation . The manner of articulation is the way in which the soundproduced. The various labels for manner of articulation describe how the air flow is modIn most cases, the reason for the term is fairly obvious.



ribed

tely

curs

Chart of English consonant phonemes

stops: If the air flow is totally constricted, that is, stopped, the consonant is descas a stop.

fricatives: If the air flow is constricted enough to cause friction, but not complestopped, the consonant is described as a fricative.

All but two of the fricatives occur both before and after vowels. The /h-/ only ocbefore a vowel and the /-z#/ only occurs after a vowel.

bilabial labio-dental

inter-dental alveolar palatal velar glottal

stops:

voiceless p t k / voiced b d gaffricates:

voiceless c# “ts#‘

voiced j# “dz#‘fricatives:

voiceless f ∏ s s# h- voiced v D z -z# nasals: m n -Nliquids:

lateral l retroflex rsemi-vowel/

consonants: w y w (= glides)



se.

en can be

startses andpres-

two.

s thatFrench

tops. For

y

fairlyt

end /w/wel /i/,

nasals: nas- 'nose' + -al. Nasals are characterized by air flow through the noAlthough the other two nasals occur both before and after vowels, the /-N/ only occurs after avowel.

affricates: ad- 'to; toward' + fric- cf. 'friction'. On the chart, the affricates have bedeliberately placed between the stops and the fricatives. Notice that both the affricatestranscribed in more than one way; that is, /c#/ can also be written as /ts#/ and /j#/ can also bewritten as /dz#/. The two-symbol representation best shows the phonetics: an affricateoff as a stop and finishes as a fricative. If you were to tape record one of the affricatthen play it back slowing down the tape recorder, at some point the affricate would imsionistically break into two; that is, at some point it would sound not like one sound but

Note: The 'stop + fricative' character of affricates helps explain the substitutionspeakers of other languages often make when learning English; for example, the speaker's frequent substitution of the fricative /z#/ for the English affricate /dz#/.

The 'stop + fricative' character of affricates also helps explain the "extra" sthat English speakers add when they first learn to transcribe the sounds of Englishexample, beginners sometimes transcribe a word like much as /m´tc#/ rather than as themore consistent /m´c#/; here, the /t/ is the /t/ in the affricate /c#/ (=/ts#/). In wordsspelled with a -t- such as witch (transcribed as /wIc#/), the spelling makes the tendencfor beginners to add an "extra" /-t-/ even stronger.

liquids: Although most of the terms we have run into so far seem to have some transparent connection with the type of sound they label, the term liquid does not. Perhaps iis because they "flow"?

Anyway, there are two liquids: /l/ and /r/. The /l/ is called a lateral, because the airflows over the side of the tongue (lateral '(to the) side'). The /r/ is called a retroflex becauseduring its production the tongue is bent back (retro- 'back' + -flex 'bend').

semi-vowels/semi-consonants (glides): As might be guessed from the variation in thterminology, the glides are half-way between vowels and consonants. The glides /y/ ahave counterparts in the vowel system: the consonant /y/ has as its counterpart the voand the consonant /w/ has as its counterpart the vowel /u/.



g sys-

velarplaced

ust be

This variation between /y/ and /i/ and between /w/ and /u/ shows up in the spellintem of English. The sound /Oy/ is spelled as -oy in boy but as -oi- in boil. In a parallel way,the sound /aw/ is spelled as -ow- in brown but as -ou- in found.

The /w/ has been put in two places on the consonant chart. It is placed with theconsonants because it involves constriction in the velar region of the mouth. It is also with the bilabial consonants because it has a bilabial component.

EXERCISE 18.1. CONSONANT CHART .

Without looking up the answer, fill in the blanks with the terms supplied. Some terms mused more than once; one term is not used at all.

bilabial voiced labiodental interdental lateralalveolar palatal velar retroflex glottalliquids semi-vowels affricates nasals fricativesvoiceless voiced stops interdigital

_____ _____ ____ _____ _____ _____ ______

__________: ________ p t k / ________ b d g__________: ________ c# ________ j#__________: ________ f ∏ s s# h- ________ v D z -z#__________: m n -N__________: ________ l ________ r__________: w y w



found

PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.2: CONSONANTS ONLY (VOWELS GIVEN )1

rich ridge sham jam gem

__ I __ __ I __ __ œ __ __ œ __ __ E __

bush rush knot myth gap

__ U __ __ ´ __ __ A __ __ I __ __ œ __

his hiss hung box zest

__ I __ __ I __ __ ´ __ __ A __ __ E __

things that dumb hook scotch

__ I __ __ œ __ __ ´ __ __ U __ __ A __

PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.3: CONSONANTS ONLY (VOWELS GIVEN )

buff guess witch which should

__ ´ __ __ E __ __ I __ __ I __ __ U __

thank vex shock Butch cup

__ œ __ __ E __ __ A __ __ U __ __ ´ __

debt ring wring latch late

__ E __ __ I __ __ I __ __ œ __ __ ey __

could cud this them thumb

__ U __ __ ´ __ __ I __ __ E __ __ ´ __

jug yes give zinc pod

__ ´ __ __ E __ __ I __ __ I __ __ A __

1. A transcription summary in which each phonetic symbol is listed along with an example word is beginning on page 289.



EXERCISE 18.4. CONSONANT CHART

Without looking up the answer, place the given consonants on the consonant chart.

Consonants:

l p -z# t z ry w s s# m fT b d k / gh- n -N v D j#c#

bilabial labio-dental

inter-dental alveolar palatal velar glottal

stops:

voiceless

voiced

affricates:

voiceless

voiced

fricatives:

voiceless

voiced

nasals:

liquids:

lateral retroflex

semi-vowel/

consonants:

(= glides)



s may

osi-

n in

ip ofuncebegin-

remains/pa/.

on oftinguishme thate lan- distin-

EXERCISE 18.5. CONSONANT CHART

Without looking up the answer, make a consonant chart from the following: [Some itembe used more than once]

stops voiceless nasals labiodental voiced interdental alveolar bilabial affricates palatal fricatives velar

glottal liquids retroflex lateral glides (semi-vowels/consonants)

p t k b d g-N l r c# j# f∏ s s# h- v D

-z# y z m n w

Aspiration . When they occur at the beginning of a word (and in certain other ptions) in English, the voiceless stops /p-, t-, k-/ and the voiceless affricate /c#-/ of English arefollowed by "a little puff of air" called aspiration. There is no need to indicate aspiratiowriting as its occurrence is for all practical purposes predictable.

Note: If you are interested in "seeing" this puff of air—aspiration, take a thin strpaper and, holding it at one end, put the free end in front of your lips. Alternately pronothe syllable /ba/ (beginning with an unaspirated consonant) and then the syllable /pa/ (ning with an aspirated consonant). Once the paper is appropriately placed, the paper relatively still after the unaspirated /ba/, but it jumps quite noticeably after the aspirated

Although when listening to English it is more than any other feature the aspiratithe voiceless consonants such as /p-/ more than any other feature that allow us to disthem from the voiced consonants such as /b-/, being aware of aspiration does not becoimportant until we attempt to learn other languages, such as Thai or Hmong. In thesguages, the presence or absence of aspiration is not predictable and is important inguishing different words from each other.



maysonant

whoworld.

e combi-

Clusters. The English sound system is rich in consonant clusters. Syllableshave a two- or even three-consonant cluster before the vowel, and a two- or three-concluster after the vowel.

PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.6: CONSONANT CLUSTERS

Note that in some of the words below you can hear the /y/ of the diphthong /yuw/.

splits scripts sprints slumps slimmed

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

streams strips shouts smelts melds

________ ________ ________ ________ ________ PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.7: CONSONANT CLUSTERS

punched few music coot1 cute

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

hooked bushed bridged washed judged

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

The large number of clusters often presents a problem for learners of Englishspeak languages which have fewer clusters than English—many languages of the Sometimes the learner's language has both sounds in the cluster, but does not have thnation.

1. There is no cluster in this word. It is included only as a contrast to the word cute, which follows. In English spelling, the/-y-/ in an initial cluster is seldom indicated. The name of the letter u (and the pronoun you) would be transcribed as/yuw/ not as /uw/.


Chapter 18: Vowels

blems tenset, lis-usters.bility

vow-to-backnced,

vow-s.

Learners who have problems pronouncing final consonant clusters will have prowith the words in the last row of the clusters exercise. Although the spelling of the pastmarker -ed misleadingly suggests that all these words end with a vowel plus a consonantening quickly to the sounds makes it clear that this is false; they all end in consonant clNotice that difficulty pronouncing these final clusters would interfere with the learner's ato mark the past tense.

Vowels

English is fairly rich in vowels, having at least seven short vowels and seven longels. The vowel sounds themselves are described in terms of tongue height and front-in the mouth. The high front vowel /iy/ is pronounced about where the /y/ is pronouwhile the high back vowel /uw/ is pronounced about where the /w/ is pronounced.

There is a great deal of individual and dialectal variation in the pronunciation of els—something that becomes clear once learners begin to do the transcription exercise

front central back

highlong ('tense') iy uw, yuwshort ('lax' ) I U

midlong ('tense') ey ´ ow

short ('lax') E O, Oy1 low

long ('tense') Ay, Aw

short ('lax') œ A2

Chart of English vowel phonemes (modified IPA)

1. Being long, this vowel is thus tense.2. A more detailed transcription would distinguish between the more mid /a/ and the more back /a/; in some sys-

tems the /a/ would be considered lax, and the /Å/ tense.


Chapter 18: Short and long vowels

eans spelled

ut the seven

English,

d vow-

s

l.a. For

e longl to the over-tters.

Short and long vowels

Short vowels and long vowels are in contrast. For our purposes, this simply mthat the long vowels and the short vowels sound different and, as a consequence, aredifferent.

The pronunciation of the short (or lax) vowels is essentially the same througholength of the vowel. Technically, these are monophthongs—one-sound vowels. Theshort vowels are /I, E, A, O, ´, œ and U/. The difference between /A/ and /O/ is ignored in thetranscription exercises because this difference has disappeared for many speakers of and, in any case, the distinction is of limited relevance to English language teachers.

The pronunciation of the long (or tense1) vowels begins with one pronunciation anends with another. Technically, these are diphthongs—two-part vowels. The eight longels are /Ay, Oy, and aw/ as well as /iy, ey, ow, uw, and yuw/. Notice that /Ay/, for example, beginswith the vowel /A/ and then moves in the direction of /y/ (essentially where /iy/ is found); sim-ilarly, /Aw/ begins with the vowel /A/ and then moves in the direction of /w/ (essentially in thedirection of /uw/). The five vowels /iy, ey, ow, uw, and yuw/ are also long vowels as well adiphthongs.

The vowel /-́ /, sometimes called a schwa, is an extremely common English voweWhen stress falls somewhere else in the word, other vowels may be reduced to a schwinstance, the /œ/ in graph, becomes a /´/ in photography.

From a teacher's perspective, what is crucial to learn is which vowel sounds arand which are short. The difference between the short and the long vowels is centraEnglish spelling system. In the English spelling system, the short vowel sounds arewhelmingly spelled with a single letter. The long vowels are usually spelled with two le

1. Tense vowels and long vowels are essentially equivalent.



EXERCISE 18.8: VOWEL CHART

Place the following vowels on the blank chart:

iy U E ey O Ay Aw yuw Oy ´ ow uw I A œ

front central back

highlong ('tense') short ('lax' )

midlong ('tense') short ('lax') ,

lowlong ('tense') , short ('lax')

PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.9: VOWELS (AND CONSONANTS)

tease ace chip cheek tike

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

ice peace stood stewed stud

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

lewd led line coat cod

________ ________ ________ ________ ________



rot rut rude feud food

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.10: VOWELS (AND CONSONANTS)

sight site seat suit seem

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

do due dew fiend find

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

east aced eased found don't

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

put putt pot bond boned

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

dead deal yield judged wheezed

________ ________ ________ ________ ________


Chapter 18: Transcription summary {from Mary Haas}

Transcription summary {from Mary Haas}

Consonants:

\p\ \pœt\ pat \h\ \hœt\ hat\t\ \tœp\ tap \v\ \vœt\ vat\k\ \kœt\ cat \D\ \Dœt\ that\c#\ \c#œt\ chat \z\ \zuw\ zoo\b\ \bey\ bay \z#\ \mEz#´r\ measure\d\ \dey\ day \m\ \miyt\ meat\j#\ \j#ey\ jay \n\ \niyt\ neat\g\ \gAy\ guy \N\ \sIN\ sing\f\ \fIn\ fin \w\ \wEt\ wet\∏\ \∏In\ thin \y\ \yEt\ yet\s\ \sIn\ sin \l\ \lEt\ let\s#\ \s#In\ shin \r\ \rey\ ray

Vowels:

\iy\ \biy\ bee \uw\ \s#uw\ shoe\biyd\ bead \s#uwd\ shoed\biyt\ beat \s#uwt\ shoot

\I\ \bId\ bid \U\ \kUd\ could\bIt\ bit \pUt\ put

\ey\ \ley\ lay \ow\ \gow\ go\leyd\ laid \gowd\ goad\leyt\ late \gowt\ goat

\E\ \lEt\ let \O\ \lO\ law\œ\ \mœd\ mad \nOd\ nod

\mœt\ mat \bOt\ bought\´\ \k´d\ cud \Oy\ \tOy\ toy

\k´t\ cut \tOyd\ toyed\A\ \kAd\ cod \hOyt\ Hoyt

\kAt\ cot \Ay\ \bAy\ buy\Aw\ \bAw\ bough, bow \bAyd\ bide

\bAwd\ bowed \bAyt\ bite\bAwt\ bout, “a‘bout \yuw\ \fyuw\ few



PRACTICE TRANSCRIPTION 18.11: VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

cave calf keg guest tastes

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

raged frog lodged (to) use (a) use

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

sixths watch wash cents sense

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

psalm palm whole cough broil

________ ________ ________ ________ ________


breathe breath breadth cloths clothes

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

streaks pass pus pushed voice

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

asks smash had sad bumps

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

as jazz coy prints prince

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

kit kite mat mate fights

________ ________ ________ ________ ________



EXERCISE 18.13: TRANSCRIPTION

boot clothes few music why

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

washed rough bridged fox thumb

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

they wreath hooked bushed cute

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

punched though raised shouts judged

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

streams (to) use (a) use pound write

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

EXCERCISE 18.14: TRANSCRIPTION

spins spines pans sprains cloud

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

spies eyes crazed traced shout

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

tossed blouse lice comb gems

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

rot rude thought tough though

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

slight dreams death daze days

________ ________ ________ ________ ________




brave laugh peg guys try

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

staged smog dodged (to) close (be) close

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

shifts wash cash tents tense

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

psych walk hole tough coin

________ ________ ________ ________ ________


soothe tooth width booth teethe

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

steaks pass putt rushed choice

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

pushed crash glad crude thumps

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

ace base toy mints mince

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

bit bite fat fate lights

________ ________ ________ ________ ________




foot foods view mute by

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

wished dough ridge ox dumb

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

them write written pushed cute

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

bunched through raced raised budged

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

streaks youth you sound reached

________ ________ ________ ________ ________


spit spite cans trains loud

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

pies guys blazed spaced trout

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

lost tossed nice tomb combs

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

plot prude throw think that

________ ________ ________ ________ ________

flight screams debt daze bays

________ ________ ________ ________ ________


Chapter 18: Classroom applications

dents.ending

lness.k up ons),hing

d. For

Classroom applications

Intonation

Intonation, the pitch patterns in a sentence, often presents problems for stuNotice, for example, that the following sentence can be a statement or a question, depupon the intonation: He died yesterday versus He died yesterday?

Sample materials and discussion:

In general, overt teaching of intonation patterns has a somewhat limited usefuIntonation appears to be something that, by and large, students either do or do not pictheir own. However, Carolyn Graham's Jazz Chants contains chants (not songs but chantwhich not only are fun but seem to help with intonation. In addition to their value for teacintonation, all of the chants also have other grammatical features that can be exploiteexample, Graham has the following chant, with the theme of selfishness (Jazz Chants:Rhythms of American English for Students of English as a Second Language. 1978. OxfordUniversity Press, p. 15):

Selfish

This is mine!That's yours!

Don't touch mine!Get your own!This is mine!That's yours!This is mine!That's yours!This is mine!That's yours!That's yours!That's yours!

Hey, what are you doing?What are you doing with that?

That's mine!


Chapter 18: Teaching sound distinctions

ther a

quite

ple,

een thepellingtences

et


That's his!


That's hers!

What's mine is mine.What's yours is yours.

What's his is his.What's hers is hers.What's ours is ours.

What's theirs is theirs.

The chant is in clear, non-idiomatic, standard English. In fact, because it is a chant rasong, it does not even have the minor distortions of language common to many songs.

Teaching sound distinctions

The most effective way to teach sound distinctions—the difference between twosimilar sounds—is to make the distinction crucial to understanding some message.

One way to do this is integrating the distinction into a spelling lesson. For examthe following does this:

"Number 1. Spell the word feet." /fiyt/"Number 2. Spell the word fit." /fIt/

Before proceeding, it is necessary that the students already know the difference betwwritten words. The students take the spelling test knowing, as students often do on a stest, which words are going to be given. If the students hear nothing but these sen(without the phonetic transcriptions, of course), the only way to differentiate between fe andfit (or other such minimal pairs) is by distinguishing the sounds /iy/ and /I/.


Chapter 18: Teaching sound distinctions

ey must

Sample materials and discussion: /iy/ and /I/ again

English has two high front vowels /iy/ and /I/, while many languages have only onhigh front vowel. As a result, when speakers of these languages learn English, thelearn to distinguish two vowels where their first language has only one.

=== === ===Work sheet:1

milk wine coffee tea

The butler brought a glass of milk, a glass of wine, a cup of coffee, and a cup of tea.

What was each person served?

1. Students only hear the tape script. They do not, of course, get to see it.

Mr. Keats

Mrs. Keats

Mr. Kits

Mrs. Kits


Chapter 18: Selective listening through the cloze procedure

ead itup intoe tape

Play

theyoup.

ngere used.e stu-

ndals,

Hillsto drink. takef the

wine,

t carryird per-

Teaching notes: Using the Kits/Keats grid. Once the grid has been given out, rtogether. Make sure that the students know what a butler is. Now, divide the students groups of three and then play the tape script of the story through once. The first time this played, some of the students will figure out what the task is and will tell the others. the tape as often as the students request you to.

The students have to hear the distinction to get information from the tape andhave to produce the distinction in order to discuss what they hear with others in their gr

Adaptation note: The solution to this puzzle is not, of course, obvious. For youor for less capable students, a simpler task involving the same four characters can bFor example, the grid could simply list the four names at the top of the columns, and thdents would have to listen to a straightforward script to find out who was wearing sawho had a red dress, and so on.

Tape script for "Mr. and Mrs. Keats"

On Thursday night, Mr. and Mrs. Kits had dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Keats' Berkeley mansion. After they were seated, the butler checked to see what each person wanted One of the men said, "I only drink milk." One of the women asked the other, "Do youcream in your coffee?" Mrs. Keats said, "Bob and I don't drink wine anymore." One oKits said, "I'd like a glass of milk, please." The butler brought a glass of milk, a glass of a cup of coffee, and a cup of tea.

What did each person order?

[adapted: Carol Heard, CATESOL Newsletter, August 1981, page 11]

Selective listening through the cloze procedure

The natural primary focus of a language learner is those parts of the sentence thathe most meaning—the basic nouns and the main verbs. Grammatical items like the thson singular -s on the verb in the sentence He runs carry little information and are seldom



arners

odi-

icles

the

y were be

nguagempleteditional

e was

important to the overall meaning of the utterance; as a result, beginning language leinstinctively pay less attention to these forms.

One device for focusing student attention on such "less important" forms is the mfied cloze procedure (see step 2). For instance, if the students are having difficulty witha andthe, the cloze procedure can be used to focus their attention on the difficulty:

1. Record a listening passage on a tape recorder.

2. Prepare a written copy of the recorded passage, but with all instances of a andthe deleted. [It is useful to tell the students precisely how many of the artare missing.]

3. Divide them into groups of three. (optional)

4. Play the recording as many times as they wish in order for them to fill-inmissing words.

5. After the sheets are exchanged and corrected, the students have—if thenot divided into groups of three—a copy of a complete text which may nowexploited for reading, or whatever.

This procedure can be used to focus the students' listening on whatever part of the lathat the teacher wishes. Also, because the procedure automatically produces a cotext, it is an ideal procedure to integrate into other tasks without taking that much addwork to prepare.

Sample material:

Tape script:Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson was an example of an American success story. By the time h

twenty-five, he'd done more things than most men do in a whole life-time. He'd begun work-



of that

ng his

ight

e was

ing in

rm and

been

n jet

nuary

ay, ofr stu-

mply or 'Het on the

ing in a small electronics firm when he was sixteen. Five years later he was president

firm and he'd tripled their gross profits. In the meantime he'd won two Olympic gold medals.

He'd been married and divorced twice by the time he was twenty-three. He began flyi

own jet when he'd only taken four flying lessons. That was his downfall. One stormy n

last January he flew into the Sierra Nevadas and hasn't been heard from since.

[Material from Carol McConnell]

=== === ===Work sheet: [8 omissions]

Robert Johnson was an example of an American success story. By the time h

twenty-five, he done more things than most men do in whole life-time. He begun work

small electronics firm when he was sixteen. Five years later he was president of that fi

he tripled their gross profits. In the meantime he won two Olympic gold medals. He

married and divorced twice by the time he was twenty-three. He began flying his ow

when he only taken four flying lessons. That was his downfall. One stormy night last Ja

he flew into the Sierra Nevadas and hasn't been heard from since.

=== === ===

Note: There are two ways that the students are able to do the task. The obvious wcourse, is for the students to fill in the missing segments by listening. However, othedents, particularly those with more grammar training, will fill in the missing segments siby using their knowledge of grammar. Notice 'He gone' must either be 'He had gone'has gone'. Which of the strategies a particular student chooses depends in large parnature of the previous training.


Chapter 18: Terms

the dif-sually

ctions.ars, I forms

ms?

Sample material: Dictation

Dictation, using the same basic text, is an exercise that can be used to focus on ference between the reduced forms used in normal conversation and the full forms uused in writing.

Dictation: Robert Johnson

1. If he had been a little more careful, Robert Johnson might not have died.2. If I had been him, I wouldn't have flown by myself with only four lessons.3. If you had been him, would you have done the same thing?4. If he had lived for another twenty years, I wonder what he would have done.

The dictation is given in normal speaking style, that is, these are read using the contraFor example, the fourth sentence would be given as 'If he'd lived for another twenty yewonder what he'd've done'; but the students are required to write the full, unabbreviated(as in (4)).

Terms

If you were asked, would you be able to explain or give an example of each of these ter


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