chlorine, we immediately notice that the taste is not quite the
same. We only notice the taste of our own familiar water in
contrast to something a little di"erent. In the same way, we
often don’t notice familiar intonation patterns until
something calls our attention to them.
Sometimes when people hear a language they don’t
understand, they say that it has a “sing-song” sound—it
sounds like music. What’s really happening is that they’re
noticing the melody of the new language because it is new
and unfamiliar. Their own language may also have a “sing-
song” sound to speakers of another language.
Why do learners have trouble with
intonation?
In a way, it seems that intonation should be the easiest aspect
of pronunciation to learn. After all, intonation is accessible.
We can easily hear the “melody” of speech, even if we don’t
understand what’s being said, just as we can hum along with
a song without knowing the words. But students often do
have trouble using intonation naturally. Here are some
factors that might stand in their way:
- Lack of knowledge: If students haven’t been taught
about intonation, or if they haven’t been exposed to
enough “real” English to hear its typical intonation
patterns, they may simply not have the information they
need to produce natural-sounding intonation. After all,
intonation has not always received much attention in
many traditional language classes.- Lack of noticing: Even if students have received
information about intonation from the teacher or a
textbook, they may not have noticed or remembered it.
Perhaps they haven’t been paying attention to the
intonation of the models they’ve heard, or they might
have been daydreaming in class, or for many other
reasons, they just don’t realize it’s important. Being given
information is not enough; the learner has to notice and
pay attention to the information. - Habits: For language learners, the melody of their own
language is such an ingrained part of them that it may
not have occurred to them that anything di"erent is
possible. It’s sometimes hard for learners to realize that
the teacher really does want them to speak di"erently,
and then to take the steps that are necessary to change.
This is especially true for adult learners; their language
habits have been with them for a very long time. - Overly careful models: When reading sentences for
students to repeat, some teachers are in the habit of
saying them extremely slowly and carefully. They may
even give each word its own full emphasis with a little
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