2.- THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING INTONATION IN EFL CLASSES
María
Gabriela Valenzuela Farías, Chile
Suprasegmentals are aspects of the English
language that are not commonly taught in schools where English is a foreign
language. Awareness and formal instruction are necessities, especially for EFL
students that are not immersed in the English culture. Different activities can
be incorporated in normal English classrooms to help and empower students to
produce and perceive English intonation.
Suprasegmentals are aspects of the English
language that are not commonly taught in schools where English is a foreign
language. According to Crystal (1969, as cited in Johns-Lewis, 1986) intonation
is not a simple concept, due to the numerous prosodic systems, such as pitch,
tempo, rhythm and loudness that are included. However, intonation plays a key
role for exchanging ideas, attitudes and emotions during a conversation. It is,
according to Wennerstrom (2001) the melody of the voice at the moment of
speaking. That is why awareness and formal instruction are necessities,
especially for EFL student sthat are not immersed in the English culture,
therefore the possibility of the native speaker input is remote, and the
chances for unintelligibility or misunderstanding while speaking in the L2 are
real possibilities.
Levis (1999) stated that intonation is the
voice quality, intensity and prosody. In his work, Levis referred to Ladd’s
(1996) work to exemplify that intonation is defined as the different pitch
movements that an utterance can have in a discourse level (rise, fall,
fall-rise) Intonation gives the speech life, without which the verbal
communication of a person would be monotonous, and unexpressive, in other words
it would lack “life”.
In English different linguistics systems such
as tonality, tonicity and tone are set to signal different functions. Wells
(2006) has defined 6 important functions of intonation which are attitudinal,
grammatical, focusing, discourse, psychological, and indexical function. It is
because of these functions that explicit instruction to ESL students will
empower them with knowledge and awareness of the similarities and differences
between their L1 and L2.
Tones in English are essential to master in
order to avoid misunderstandings; according to Roach (2009) English has 3
simple tones (level, fall and rise) and 2 complex tones (fall-rise and
rise-fall). There are certain general uses for the previously mentioned tones,
but also it is important for EFL students to be aware that in everyday
language, native speakers do not alwaysfollow “generalrules” especially if they
are in informal situations.
The tendency for falling tones is in
wh-questions, statements, commands, and for giving the idea of finality. On the
contrary, rising tones according to Roach (2009) are used to give the notion
that something else is coming, or the idea that the speaker has not expressed
his or her final thought; its use might also indicate a question for the
listener. Falling-rising tones can have different pragmatic uses which can lead
to confusion and misinterpretation for non native English speakers. According
to Halliday (1967) rising-falling tones are a signal of hesitated answers. For
Roach (2009) the set ones represent “limited agreement” between speakers.
Intonation is part of the language and formal instruction
is necessary in EFL classrooms, especially if the focus is communicative
competence. Suprasegmentals have been neglected from EFL classrooms and only
some segments of English have been taught in English instructions,
unfortunately not in a systematic way, leaving these aspects of phonetics to
the willingness of the teacher.
EFL students are normally taught grammatical
structures, vocabulary and certain distinctive sounds between their L1 and L2.
These are some of the reasons whys tudents are worried and pay more attention
while speaking to grammar and vocabulary and leave intonation out of their
speech. According to Gilbert (1994) foreign English speakers cannot hear or
identify the intonation of a native speaker. EFL students with no formal
instruction in suprasegmentals are not being empowered for having a correct
communication. Languages have different patterns of intonation; for example,
Spanish speakers with no instruction in English intonation would tend to
transfer their L1 intonation obtaining a “flat sound” (Celcie-Murcia, Brinton,
&Goodwin, 1996.) Chinese speakers, for instance, will tend to apply Chinese
rhythm over English sentences, producing in some cases unintelligible
utterances. It is for these reasons that phonetics and especially
suprasegmentals need to be put back into the curriculum, and incorporated with simple
exercises in EFL classrooms.
When teaching intonation, visuals of pitch
(such as fall, rise, and falling-rise) are useful in creating a concrete image
of something as abstract as intonation. Simultaneously showing the contrast
between English and the students´ L1 would help to understand the differences
in intonation patterns. Examples:
Another tool is using a Kazoo; sometimes for a
non-native speaker the idea of intonation can be difficult to understand,
especially if students have never been exposed to real language and highlighted
the idea of rhythm in their voices.
The kazoo creates a relaxing environment for
learning; in some countries this instrument is a new object, so students will
be curious to play with it. Different dialogues can be demonstrated with the
kazoo, intonation patterns and differences between L1 and L2.
Rubber bands have been long used for teaching
stress patterns, but also they can be helpful to show intonation contrast. Each
student should have a rubber band, and they will stretch it every time that
they hear, for example, a falling intonation. Also students can be practicing a
conversation in pairs, and every time a partner identifies a tone, he or she
can stretch the rubber band. This in expensive tool will give the students a
concrete idea about what intonation really is.
Short dialogues can also be helpful for
practicing intonation as long as students are asked to put their emotions and
attitudes into the phrases they will utter. Rubber bands and kazoos can be
incorporated during the dialogues to make the practice more fun and
challenging.
A: I finally got a new car.
B: That's wonderful news! I'm so glad to hear.
Hsiang-Pao Lin, Chuen-Yn Fan, and Chi-Fen Chen
(2000)
English intonation plays a fundamental role in
language communication. EFL students who do not receive formal instruction
about suprasegmentals in general, are at adisadvantage for mastering the target
language and the communication purpose. Intonational patterns can vary from
language to language, and not being aware of the possible changes between L1
and L2 can lead to problems at the moment of speaking. It is important to
incorporate exercises of intonation in formal classes. Empowering students with
a deeper knowledge of the English language will help them to achieve their
primary goal, which is being able to communicate without misunderstandings.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., &Goodwin,
J. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to
speakers of other languages.Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress
Gilbert, J. B. (1994). Intonation: A navigation
guide for the listener (and gadgets to help teachit). In J. Morley (Ed.),
Pronunciation pedagogy and theory. Bloomington: TESOL, Inc.
Halliday, M.A.K (1967) Intonation and Grammar
in British English, The Hague: Mounton
Hsiang-Pao. L, Chuen-Yn. F, Chi-Fen. C (2000)
TeachingPronunciation in the Learner- CenteredClassroom
John-Lewis, C. ( 1986). Intonation in
Discourse. Houlton, ME: College-Hill Press, Inc
Levis, J (1999). Intonation in theory and
practice: Revisited. TESOL Quarterly, 33(1), 37-63
Roach, P (2009) English Phonetics and
Phonology. A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.
Wells, J. ( 2006) English Intonation : An
Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress. Wennerstrom, A. (2001). The
music of everyday speech: Prosody and discourse analysis. New York: Oxford
UniversityPress
About the Author
M.Gabriela Valenzuela has her Master degree in
TESOL, she currently works at the Universidad Católica de la Santísima
Concepción in Chile teaching linguistics and phonetics. Her research interest
are related to acoustic phonetics and language variation. E-mail:
mgvalenzuela@ucsc.cl
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