Features of connected speech help us understand and produce the strings of phonemes

which make up utterances. These features tend to occur in rapid everyday speech. Some of
the features also are more or less common depending on the variety of English that it is
being spoken and also the use of some of them depends on personal habits and preference.
Features of connected speech are adjustments that the words undergone when they linked
in a sentence to ease the transition from one sound to the other.

ASSIMILATION: it is the process by which sounds are influenced by neighbouring sounds

and come to share some or all of their phonetic characteristics. It may happen at word
boundaries and at internal level.
T D N = P B M before P B M
T D N = K G N /nasal/ before K G THESE ARE CASES OF ANTICIPATORY
ASSIMILATION ALSO CALLED REGRESSIVE ASSIMILATION (one sound changes to
another because of the sounds that follows)
TD=
SZ=
THESE ARE CASES OF COALESCENT ASSIMILATION OR ALSO CALLED
PROGRESSIVE BECAUSE TWO SOUNDS COMBINE TO FORM A DIFFERENT ONE
Thats a cute baby / t/ becomes P word boundary
Good girl
On Monday
Apartment (internal) T sounds P before M

ELISION is a process by which a sound either a vowel or a consonant sound is elided. The
reason as in most cases of connected speech is an economy of effort but also in this
particular case a reason might be the difficulty of pronouncing certain combination of sounds
and keep the speech rhythm and speed. T and D are the commonest consonant sounds
that are elided when they appear in a consonant cluster. TEXTS for example (keep speed).
Shua can disappear in unstressed syllables (police , interesting)

Linking and Intrusion when two vowels sounds meet, speakers often link them in various
ways.

Linking R: It is a process by which certain sounds are joined together by means of a r sound
when there is a written r at the end of a word. My brother always get into trouble.

Intrusive R: it is a process that consists on pronouncing a R sound when it doesnt appear in

the spelling. This happens when the 1st word ends in shuaw, a: or o:

Linking j: this case of linking occurs when a word ends in i: or I or a diphthong which finishes
in short I and the word that follows begin with a vowel sound. I am they are.

Linking W: also a linking case that takes place when a word ends in either long or short u or
the following word begins with a vowel sound. In order to ease the transition, the semi vowel
w is used as a linker since it has more or less the same position of the u sounds. Go on -

Juncture: is a feature of connected speech by which the same sounds can be perceived as
different thanks to differences like the length of vowel sounds, variations in degrees of
 syllables stress, timed articulation, and allophonic variations. Besides, context plays and
important role.

Contractions: when two words combine to the extent that the two are pronounced as one
word, or one syllable then were talking about a contraction. Cant shouldnt couldve

Should we teach these aspects of connected speech?

Features of connected speech help to better understand spoken English. There are
different views about whether to teach these features and expect that our sts to produce
them or not. Some believe that features of connected speech shouldnt-t be taught because
we would be asking too much to our students. Others believe that simply exposing students
to these features is enough since they will then naturally incorporate them in their speech.
However, I think they should be taught at least some of them and we should
encourage our sts to produce them because the production of these features might make us
2nd language learners speak in a natural fluent way. Contractions, linking cases and
assimilations are some of the commonest features dealt with In course books.
We as teachers need to be confident in our understanding of the rules of connected speech
before teaching these features. As it says in the material, however successful teaching
features of connected speech turns out to be, it is a good way of enhancing sts
understanding of fast fluent connected speech.

INTONATION

WHAT IS INTONATION, AND WHY TEACH IT?

Intonation: the way in which the voice goes up and down in pitch (how high or low a sound
is) when we are speaking. It is a fundamental part of the way we express our own thoughts
and it enables us to understand those of others. We are sensitive to this aspect of the
language at an unconscious level.

To be of use to sts, work on intonation in the classroom needs to focus on practice rather
than theory. We need to show learners how the choices they make with regard to intonation
serve to determine the meaning of utterances.

As well as helping to determine meaning, intonation gives us clues about the attitude of the
speaker, or how he feels about what he is saying.

Although certain aspects of intonation may be common to many languages, some of the
ways in which intonation is used may be specific to particular ones. Speakers of these
languages will almost inevitably carry their habits of intonation over into spoken English.
There are languages in which intonation has a quite and specific meaning function. These
are called tone languages and they use the voice in quite a different way. This means that
according to the intonation that you give to a word the meaning will change.
Intonation needs to be a feature of classroom language analysis and practice. This will
help students towards greater expressiveness and articulacy in English, and also help them
to a better understanding of some of the subtleties of native-speaker speech.
The main difficulty for Ts and sts with regard to intonation is that its links with specific
grammatical constructions or attitudes can only be loosely (lightly) defined. The reason for
analysing these links is that the same words and structures can be given different meanings,
or convey a different attitude by altering the intonation. Grammatical and attitudinal
analyses of intonation can offer no hard and fast rules, but they can help steer sts
towards appropriate choices of intonation.

More recent theories analyze how intonation relates to the surrounding discourse, rather
than specifically to grammar or attitude. The term Discourse defines any meaningful stretch
of language (a sentence, an utterance). Analysing intonation within discourse means that the
wider context of a conversation is taken into account and enables us to see how intonation
conveys ideas and information. Intonation helps us indicate what is shared knowledge
between the speaker and the listener and what is new information. In this approach,
intonation patterns are related to the context in which they occur. The advantage of
this approach in that it is possible to give clear rules with regard to the appropriate
choice of intonation patterns in a given context.

TONE, TONIC SYLLABLES AND TONE UNITS

Utterances are made up of syllables and the syllables where the main pitch movement in the
utterance occurs are called tonic syllables (nucleus or pitch movement initiator).
Pitch movement initiator: a syllable in which pitch contrast begins or the last accented
syllable in an intonation unit.
The syllables that establish a pitch that stays constant up to the tonic syllable are called
onset (head) syllables. (first accented syllable of a unit and whose pitch remains constant
up to the change on the tonic syllable)
The pitch that is held from the onset syllable to the tonic syllable is known as the key (a
change in the pitch level, either high or low).
Tone/intonation unit (an utterance or part of it which contains a tonic syllable)
The tonic syllable is the last stressed syllable in a tone unit. A key feature of intonation is
that we, as speakers, can use it to indicate to our listeners what we think is new information
in a conversation and what is old, or already shared, information.

The main movements of pitch, within a tone unit, are called tones. (fall, fall-rise, rise, rise-
fall).
When explaining arrows can be used. or hand movement.

APPROACHES TO INTONATION
1. GRAMMAR AND INTONATION
a. Information questions: falling intonation: What's your name?
b. Questions expecting a yes/noanswer: rising. Is it the blue one?
c. Statements: falling. He lives in the hose on the corner. Its over there.
d. Imperatives: falling. Sit down.
e. Question tags expecting confirmation: falling. Youre French, arent you?
f. Question tags showing less certainty: rising. Youre French, arent you?
g. Lists of items: rising, rising and finally falling. You need a pen, a pencil and some paper.
These rules may not cover the full range of possibilities, but neither do they create problems.

2. ATTITUDE AND INTONATION (FOCUS ON PEOPLE)

Another way of looking at intonation is to consider how it varies according to the speakers
attitude towards a situation. Intonation gives important indications, but it is also important to
appreciate that our choice of grammar and vocabulary can also be a very obvious indicator
of our attitude towards a situation.
The main difficulty of this approach in the classroom is that the same intonation pattern can
be used to express widely differing attitudes. When we are speaking in a matter-of-fact way
we usually use a succession of falling tones. However we could describe the intonation of
someone who is expressing a sense of relief in the same way.
However, teachers can do some useful work with relating intonation to attitude in the
classroom in the same way as we did with grammar and intonation. In dealing with the link
between intonation and attitude, the classroom setting allows us the opportunity to work on
the confident use of intonation.

3. DISCOURSE AND INTONATION

A discourse approach to intonation examines how the stresses we make, and the tone we
employ when speaking, relate our utterances to the surrounding language. The term
discourse, as mentioned at the start of the chapter refers to a stretch of meaningful
language. The wider context of conversations is important, and we can see how the
speakers intonation indicates his interpretation of what is shared knowledge and what isnt.
The advantage of this approach over the grammatical/attitudinal indicator approaches is that
clear rules can be given with regard to appropriate choices of patterns M .

The most basic intonation choice is between what are known as referring tones and
proclaiming tones. The two most frequently used tones in English are the fall and the fall-
rise. A falling tone is called a proclaiming tone and the fall-rise is called a referring tone.

Referring tone (fall-rise): shared information, questions, to check info, to find

out info, to be polite, and when we enumerate.
Proclaiming tone (fall): new info, when we add info, to give facts, express
opinions, ask for new info.

High key: contrast, to engage the listener, excitement.

Low key: used to make comments aside, when the speaker talks to himself, explanations.

HOW TEACHABLE IS INTONATION?

A part of the art of successful teaching is in helping sts to narrow down the number of
availables options, and to make appropriate choices with the language they use. This should
also be the teachers aim when teaching intonation.

The significance of intonation is best dealt with in clear contexts, and through the analysis of
examples, with ample opportunity for both, receptive and productive work.
Work on intonation can, and should be, built into lessons from beginning level to advanced
level.

WORD AND SENTENCE STRESS

WHAT IS WORD STRESS?

Stress: extra energy or breath force exerted on a syllable.

Accentuation: a suprasegmental or prosodic feature that affect long stretches of utterances
by making them stand out with respect to the others.
Accented syllable: when a syllable is starter of pitch movement or has the natural potential
to be one, we shall say that it is accented, irrespective of whatever other elements are
present.
Prominet syllable: when any of the elements causing prominence are present, but the
syllable is incapable of acting as PMI, we shall simply say that it is prominence.

Some find it relatively easy to spot stresses, and others will take time to be able to do so
consistently. Whichever group you fall into, you need to be aware of stress, and to deal with
it specifically in class. If sts are first made aware of stress, and then given practice in
identifying stressed syllables, they will be better able to work towards using it appropriately
when speaking.

WHAT IS UNSTRESSED?

In order for one syllable to be perceived as stressed, the syllables around it need to be
unstressed. For stressed syllables, four features were identified that cause prominence at
syllable level:

Pitch: how high or low a sound is.

Quality: the feature of two sounds by which they are perceived as different: pure and
diphthongs.
Quantity: how long or short a sound it.
Stress: extra energy exerted on a syllable.

RULES OF WORD STRESS

When stressing words there are certain tendencies that could be considered but they only
tell us what is true most of the time, and it is always possible to find exceptions. It is not
suggested that teachers simply pass on this info to their sts: It will be of some use, and is
certainly worth studying at appropriate times, but it will not always be available for sts to
recall and use in real-time communication. It maks sense to use such info to help sts to
discover patterns which are applicable and relevant to the langauge they are learning at a
particular time, but always bear in mind that they are rules of thumb only.

Examples of rules or tendencies:

 Everyday nouns and adjectives of two syllable length are stressed in the first
syllable (sister, mother, brother, paper).
Prefixes and suffixes are not usually stressed.
Compound words formed from a combination for two words tend to be
stressed on the first element. (postman, newspaper, teapot).
In the case of words which can be used as both nouns and verbs, the noun
will tend to be stressed on the first syllable and the verb on the last syllable. Increase
(n), increase (v)

LEVELS OF STRESS

Scalar notation:
Primary
Secondary
Prominence
Unaccented

In practical terms, a two-level division (stressed or unstressed) is usually adequate for

teaching purposes. Two levels of stress are enough to attune learners ears and attention to
how stress acts within words and utterances.

SENTENCES: STRESS TIMING AND SYLLABLE TIMING

English is stress-timed or isochronous language since stresses occur at regular intervals

within connected speech, and the duration of an utterance is more dependent upon the
number of stresses than the number of syllables.
Other languages, like Spanish or Japanese, are said to be syllable timed. This means that
the syllables, either accented or unaccented tend to occur at fairly regular intervals of time.

Regularity of speech rhythm varies wildly according to context, as it may bring in factors
such as the relationship between the speakers, their confidence, nervousness, etc. and
whether their speech is rehearsed or spontaneous, not to mention, personal habits or
accents, dialects, and so on. the words and syllables which we choose to stress are in fact
dictated very much by context and the meanings we wish to communicate when speaking.

SENTENCE STRESS AND WEAK FORMS

There are large number or words in English which can have a full and a weak form and
therefore these words are pronounced differently. These words are more often the
function words, filling in between content words, and making sentences work
grammatically. Keep in mind when teaching weak forms that in certain positions the full
form is necessary.
Weak forms are an important feature of ordinary everyday speech and sts should be given
the opportunity to practice both, strong and weak forms, and receive feedback on their
production.

RAISING AWARENESS OF WORD AND SENTENCE STRESS

Each time the teacher plans to introduce a new vocabulary item, it is imp that he considers
what sts actually need to know aobut the word: meaning, collocation, currency, spelling and
pronunciation.

There are various ways in wihch the teacher can encourage awareness of stress:

Receptive awareness is imp, as it is through this that successful production

tends to come.
Coral and individual drilling usually combine receptive awareness and
productive skill. (It is vital to give sts this opportunity to practice.) Try drilling words in
a natural manner first, then exaggerate the stressed syllable.
Beating out the pattern of stress with your hand or finger, speaking or singing
the stress pattern, and so on.
Listening activities

It is imp to get into the habit of indicating the stress pattern on any new words you have
presented, particularly those words which you would like sts to note down, remember and
use.
When showing stress on the board you can use circles, boxes, marks, underlined or write it
in capitals (stick to one).

PUTTING SENTENCE STRESS INTO PERSPECTIVE

Sentence stress is an integral feature of language, as well as grammar, lexis and intonation.
Whether youre dealing with stress as an aspect of particular language structures, or dealing
with stress for its own sake, you should aim to ensure that your sts have the opportunity to
both distinguish it through receptive exercises, and to practice it productively.

PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING

ENGLISH SPELLING IS NOT PHONETIC

There is not a one to one relationship between spelling and pronunciation in English (forty-
four sounds and twenty-six letters = many letters and represent more than one sound. Many
sounds can be represented by more than one letter or a combination of letters). This
complex relationship is a major difficulty for learners. However, by trying spelling closely in
with pronunciation work, teachers can show rules and patterns to sts which they can then
apply when they come across new words (heard or read).

REGULAR FEATURES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING

Some pair of letters are associated with a particular sound (ph /f/ ) these letter
pairs are known as digraphs ( a combination of two letters representing one sound).
 In certain cases a digraph can have two or three different sound associations. Eg:
Ch /t/ as in chip, Ch /k/ as in character, Ch // as in machine.

PROBLEMS AND APPROACHES IN THE TEACHING OF PRONUNCIATION AND

SPELLING

The difficulties can be particularly acute for learners whose L1 has a more phonetic script
system. Such learners may, for example, tend to try and give a sound value to every letter in
an English word.

What can teachers do to minimise the influence of spelling/pronunciation patterns and habits
of language 1?
One approach is where teachers work on the pronunciation of a word or
longer utterance orally before showing sts the written form. However, giving sts a
written record in itself is not enough to help them remember the pronunciation unless
the relatively complex links between english spelling and pronunciation had been
made clear.
Ts should get into the regular habit of using phonemic symbols in combination
with a written record of the language being practiced, and make a point of drawing
stss attention to the most imp spelling/sound relationships.
Regular dictionary work is also to be encouraged.

The Flying Boat

1) Which two activities does your group like the most? Why?
Activity B and H. We like activity B because by rewriting the story sts will show
an understanding of the text and they will be able to transfer the ideas and the
content of the interview to a story, which for young learners could be motivating.
In addition, this is an activity that leads sts to practice reading and writing skills
together. We also like activity H because it is a freer activity in which sts are
given the opportunity to develop their creativity as well as to improve their
speaking skills during the second part of the activity (act it out) and to work in
collaboration with a classmate.
2) Which two activities do you like the least? Why?
Activities we like the least C and I: Despite the fact that activity C is similar to
activity H (writing something and act it out) we think this is activity lacks some
guidelines for sts to follow as activity H does. Besides, Sts may find it difficult to
come up with questions for a hypothetical pilot since there isnt enough input in
the reading passage that could channel sts ideas into possible questions for an
interview. We also dislike activity I because we think that a listening activity is a
good way to open doors to deeper, richer tasks like discussions and reflections.
This activity just consists of listening, understanding and checking with a
classmate; it could be exploited in another way.
3) Whats the aim of each of the activities? (A-J)
 A: To GUESS THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN VOCABULARY BY SCANNING THE
TEXT AND CLASSIFYING NEW WORDS ACCORDING TO THE PART OF SPEECH.
B: TO transfer the content of the interview into the form of a story and
PRACTICE the PAST SIMPLE.
C: To improve writing skills by creating an interview and practice oral skills by
reading the interview aloud.
D: To get an understanding of the text by reading intensively and writing titles
and subtitles for the different sections, which would prove understanding.
E: To write a logical or suitable conclusion for the interview that proves the
understanding of the text.
F: To show an understanding of the sequence of events by retelling the story
orally.
G: To practice verb tenses by rewriting the story from the past to the present.
H: To practice speaking skills by creating a role play about being passengers of
the flying boat.
I: To show an understanding of the listening passage by identifying the
differences between travelling by flying boat and plane nowadays.
J: To recall the knowledge of some past participle forms of irregular verbs.

4) Which of the activities might you use for a group of thirty 13-year olds? In which
order would you use your chosen activities? why?
We would choose activities A, D and I respectively. Activity A is a good activity to
begin with because it would allow sts to get a deeper understanding of the text
by guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words taking into consideration the
context. Besides, by doing this, we would be providing sts with a new strategy
which can be useful for the understanding of future reading passages. After this
activity, we would go on with activity D. Now that sts have a clearer
understanding of the text, they could summarize the main ideas of each
paragraph by writing titles and subtitles. Finally, we would round off the topic
with activity I (listening for the differences) but instead of asking sts to check
the answers with a classmate, we would check and comment on the listening
passage and the topic in lockstep. In this way, sts would practice their speaking
skills by expressing their opinions, and commenting on the topic.