Editor’s Note: This blog post follows up a TESOL virtual seminar titled “15 Content-Based Activities for Incorporating Pronunciation Instruction Across the Curriculum” that took place 10:30 am to noon, 29 January 2014. The virtual seminar was jointly planned by the Speech, Pronunciation, and Listening Interest Section of TESOL International Association (TESOL) and the Pronunciation Special Interest Group of International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL).
Thank you for attending or viewing my virtual seminar on pronunciation instruction and your interest in pronunciation instruction in general. In my presentation, I discussed
- the rationale for including pronunciation instruction in literate/reading and writing classes as well as speaking classes
- the features of pronunciation instruction that are typically covered, namely segementals (the individual sounds of the language) and suprasegmentals or prosodic features (i.e. word stress, sentence-level stress, intonation, linking and blending, thought groups/chunking). Research has shown that pronunciation instruction can have a positive impact on other language skills, such as listening comprehension and reading comprehension. Other research has demonstrated that focusing instruction on prosodic features and suprasegmentals is more effective in improving comprehensibility than focusing on segmentals only or mostly.
- the Celce-Murcia framework of different types of activities to include specifically identifying/analyzing, controlled production, guided production, and free production with an emphasis on a specific language feature
- In addition to the 15 content-based activities themselves (please see the powerpoint in the link for more details and explanations on these), I also recommended what you can do to incorporate pronunciation instruction in your teaching on a personal level and also gave tips for what institutions can do to systematize and standardize their pronunciation instruction across levels and throughout the curriculum.
There were many great questions raised in the postseminar live discussion. I now encourage you to share any questions or comments in the comments area below. Here are some questions to start the discussion:
What new information or ideas did you glean from the virtual seminar that you plan to incorporate or adapt and apply in your own teaching context? Which ideas are similar to ones you already do in your classroom? Which ideas were new to you and that you would like to incorporate and why?
Where do you feel your current program stands in terms of systematic, comprehensive pronunciation instruction? What would need to happen in order to institute or improve pronunciation instruction in your current teaching context? How motivated do you feel to make a change in the current pronunciation instruction at your institute? And what kind of actions would you need to take and support would you need to get to make that change/those changes?