Tony

Abiera
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Final Exam

Part I Opinion on Spotlight English

1. Negative: All speech is void of typical rhythm of speech.

At the beginning of the recording, voice #1 makes a point that Spotlight uses a special English
method of broadcasting. Judging from the graphic above, it seems like the creators of
Spotlight want to deliver listening samples that are global in nature and also very clear. To
make the English clear, the method that is employed is simply slowing down the speech of the
voices.

Although this might seem like a great idea at first, it actually makes for a very inauthentic
rhythm of speech. I wonder if the creators of Spotlight are reacting to other English listening
samples that are too fast for listeners. Either way, this listening sample does not provide
authentic listening practice. There is not a defined and typical one/two peak profile, but rather
a monotone voice with slight rhythmic patterns, but nothing close to a typical oral message
sample. As you will see from the rest of my responses, this first major negative problem effect
everything and doesnt effectively accomplish objectives for a listening and speaking or even
pronunciation course.

2. Negative: Odd message unit breaks at the discourse level

Because the speech is slowed down and improper enunciation is given to complex and
compound words like Middle East or Tahini paste, or proper names like Tzafrir. There are
many uneven and unnatural breaks in this listening sample. For example, the sentence: This
increase in conflict concerned Tzafrir. In this sample, voice two seems to break up the message
unit like this This increase in conflict concerned | Tzafrir. This is not a natural place to break
the message unit. But because they want to emphasize the proper name of the main character,
they choose to break up the message unit in an unnatural place. There are many other
examples of this throughout the listening sample, which doesnt conform to the typical size and
complexity of spontaneous speech.

3. Negative: Problem with compression in a phrase/message unit.

This negative problem is connected to number one, but is also a major negative from the forced
sluggishness in speech. Although the creators of Spotlight want to slow down the speech in
general, natural rhythms of speech actually call for compressions in the valley. This rhythmic
effect actually speeds up part of the sentence, so that meaning can be communicated as quickly
and effectively as possible, with emphasis placed on the peaks of the sentence. Since no types
of compressions in the valley is being employed in this recording, all the words are equally
emphasized and enunciated. What comes out to a 15-minute recording, should probably only
be less that ten minutes. By removing all compression in message unit, students are not able to
practice perceiving the natural rhythm in the English language, which in turn effects the
production of oral English that is rhythmically correct. Again, the creators of Spotlight desire to

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Final Exam
make the listening text more clear, but instead they sacrifice rhythmic compressions entirely
and important devices like native assimilation, trimming, reduction, and linking are never
discussed or covered in instruction.

4. Negative: Unhelpful target of speech for students (3P instruction problems).

Since one of the objectives for the class is for students to speak English in everyday situations, it
is imperative to gives students authentic and appropriate targets of speech for proper
production. This listening sample is not one of those. The content of the listening sample is not
the issuethe issues is with the slowed down speech. In teaching pronunciation, it is helpful to
follow the 3P goals of instructions: perception, prediction, and production. Im not sure what
activities go along with this listening sample, but from just listening to this sample, there are
major perception problems createdwhich in turn effects prediction and production of the
language. To improve perception skills, a more authentic listening text would be helpful, so that
students can know what to predict and aim for.

Part II Critique on Lesson Plan

First of all, this lesson plan takes the appropriate approach of focusing on and teaching rhythm
as the foundation to pronunciation and phonology. This is a real strength of the lesson plan.
Many other lesson plan that Ive seen for pronunciation go straight to pronunciation of vowels
and consonants, which is still a part of phonology, but the correct pronunciation fits inside the
rhythmic system of the English language. The discussion of content words versus function
words in the beginning is a very helpful starting place in teaching pronunciation. When students
are able to identify parts of the sentence, they are able to see how words are unstressed or
stressed. This takes time to do, but this chart is helpful reference tool for students to refer to
during the other exercises in the lesson.

As a critique, I would change the notation of how stressed and unstressed words are
differentiated. Instead of capitalizing syllables, I think a notation of some sort on the stressed
vowel is more helpful and easier to read. When I see capitalized words, I simply want to say the
syllable louder and in an unnaturally stressed way. The notation of Speechcraft ( ^ etc.) could
be an alternative to make stress more clear and not distracting.

Although the rhythm of the English language is the focus and foundation of this lesson, there
are major problems with the rhythm rules presented. As I was reading through part III, the
stressed timing was not an accurate way of describing the actual natural rhythm of the English
language. I tried the pen tapping technique and the illustrated example did not fit the actual
rhythm of spontaneous speech. By trying to fit spontaneous speech into a prescribed rhythm,
students are misled in the actual rhythm of the English language. The rhythm of the English
language follows more of a two-peak profile. There are not necessarily equal spaces between
stressed syllables as claimed in this lesson plan, rather there is a predictable structure that
helps with the rhythm of the English language. For example, with the sentence: The Danes

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Final Exam
brought the bread and cheese the two peaks are at Danes and Cheese, with everything
in the middle is in the valley. Although these words are in the valley, that doesnt mean all
those vowels loose their stress. There is still stress on the word brought, but it is not stressed
to the same degree as the peak words (primary, anchor, and tertiary degrees of stress).
Because of this inaccurate stress timing system, the actual production of these sentences are
unnatural and not easy to produce.

In addition, there is a false dichotomy presented in exercise 13. By using the language actual
syllables, the learner is lead to believe that unstressed syllables are not counted as real
syllables and just squeezed out. Although unstressed vowels/syllables are compressed, they still
count and are important. Again, this language fits well with the stress timing systems that is
presented, but it goes against and does not fit in the more accurate two-peak profile of actual
spontaneous speech.

All in all, this lesson plan does well to emphasize the importance of rhythm in the English
language (which is unique to other world languages). The last note on the last page emphasizes
this point. It is important to get down the rhythm of the English language before getting to
correct vowels and consonants production. In fact, I believe correct rhythm is the necessary
foundation to categorize and learn correct pronunciation of vowels and consonants. Its a
matter of order and scaffoldingbuilding on the necessary foundation of rhythm them=n
moving on from there.

Part III Journal of MINE Thoughts

1. The Rhythm of the English language is the necessary starting point for phonology.

As I mentioned above, rhythm plays such an integral part of teaching proper pronunciation of
the English language. It is absolutely necessary to teach the overall structure of the two-peak
profile to students and have them effectively identify it before moving on the the nitty-gritty of
phonemes and phonics, which is the traditional starting point of teaching phonology. The two
peak profile dictates what the vowels and consonants should sound like within a message unit.

2. The goal is intelligibility not a perfect ______ accent.

Pronunciation can be a tricky area of English language teaching. As world Englishes develop and
become more abundant, there cannot be a standard for the perfect accent, even within
American and British accents. That should NEVER be the goal or objective of a
pronunciation/phonology class. Instead, a phonology teacher should aim for students to
produce intelligible speech. Since rhythm is what hinders intelligibility of ESL/EFL learners the
most, rhythm should be given appropriate attention in classroom instruction. The teacher must
also realize that production of correct phoneme/phonics is connected to rhythm, so an
intelligibility problem, might be more of a rhythm problem.

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Final Exam

3. Proper integration of phonology is an important pedagogical principle

Although I might not be teaching a specific pronunciation course, there are still ways to
integrate phonology into curriculum that are based on the four skills or other organizing
factors. More and more these days, pronunciation classes/phonology classes are being dropped
and not offered at English programs. This is even true with aspiring English teachers who are in
masters programs. Phonology is not given appropriate attention, yet it is in an important area
to address. With the last module, I was presented with several different methods of effectively
integrating phonology. I will most definitely put these tips to use, so that the important area of
pronunciation/phonology is not skipped and forgotten, but rather integrated.

4. Unstressed vowels are important (and unique)!

This might be a small deal, but through this course, I have realized how unstressed vowels are
not invisible or silent, rather they are unique and still important. For many years, we have
been under false belief about the English language system. What are called unstressed vowels
now, back then didnt get any attention. In this course, I have been able to identify unstressed
vowels and really hear what sounds they make. The charts/graphs were very helpful for me and
I know will be helpful as well for teaching my students to identify these unstressed, but still
important parts of the speech.