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• Conclusion
What is intonation?
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without
intonation, it's impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts
that go with words.
Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to the words: the
'melody' you hear is the intonation. It has the following features:
• It's divided into phrases, also known as 'tone-units'.
Example:
○ Say: 'It's raining'.
○ Now say it again using the same words, but giving it different
meaning. You could say it to mean 'What a surprise!', or
'How annoying!',or 'That's great!'. There are many
possibilities.
• Statements: falling
Conclusion
When working on intonation in the classroom I:
• Remember that intonation is relevant to any speaking activity, and
makes interesting remedial/revision work.
• Remember that students don't always have to 'know' we're focusing
on intonation: every time I drill phrases they're hearing intonation
models.
• Provide realistic and clear contexts.
• Avoid going into theory.
• Help students find patterns / rules-of-thumb, wherever possible.
• Use a consistent system for marking intonation on the board for
example: arrow for tone; tonic-syllable in CAPITALS; double
lines ( // ) for tone-unit boundaries.
• Keep it positive and don't expect perfection. The last thing I'd want
is to make my students so anxious about their intonation that they
stop speaking!
Further reading
Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill
Pronunciation by Dalton and Seidlholfer
How to Teach Pronunciation by Gerald Kelly
Teaching English Pronunciation by Joanne Kenworthy