dictations to check students’ comprehension of individual
sounds, words, and reduced forms.When teaching grammar: Keep the pronunciation of
grammar forms in mind as you teach—both sounds and
intonation patterns—and give students practice in using new
grammar with appropriate pronunciation.
- When we think of the connection between grammar and
sound, the pronunciation of -s and -ed endings comes to
mind immediately. When you teach these grammatical
endings, be sure to emphasize the three sound forms of
each and give students plenty of practice in using them in
speaking. Don’t let students confuse sound patterns with
spelling patterns, since both of these are a little complex
and follow separate rules. - When teaching grammatical structures that have common
reduced forms, like going to for future time, modals
followed by have (should have > shoulda, would have >
woulda, could have > coulda), or expressions with to
(like want to > wanna, have to > hafta), be sure students
know and practice the sounds of the reduced forms.
When giving examples, try not to pronounce them too
slowly and precisely; this will only give students a false
idea of what the forms will sound like in real life. (See
the end of Chapter 9 for lists of common reduced forms.)- In teaching the a#rmative and negative pair can and
can’t, be sure to point out the usual di"erences in stress
and vowel clarity. A similar di"erence in stress occurs
with pairs like are and aren’t, were and weren’t,
although the vowels in these don’t change. - When teaching the formation of questions (yes/no, WH-,
or tag questions), be sure students know and use
appropriate intonation patterns for each type. For
commands and requests, illustrate the di"erence that
intonation can make in the tone and feeling of these
forms. - Finally, include some listening practice with the sounds
of new grammatical forms. It’s not enough for students to
learn to use grammar themselves—they also need to
recognize it when someone else uses it. Practice by
letting students listen to sentences using the forms they’re
learning and identify whether they’re present or past
tense, a#rmative or negative, and so forth.
- In teaching the a#rmative and negative pair can and
Teaching pronunciation in a large class
In an ideal world, all language classes would be small, and
teachers would have plenty of time to give individual
attention to each student’s pronunciation. However, this is
often not the case. How can we teach pronunciation in a
large class of 30, 40, or more students?
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