IN THE NAME OF GOD

Introducing and Ending topics

pitch level:It can be used to indicate relationship between successive tone units in terms of the informational value speakers attribute to them.Example; Some times He used cut the grass OUR place and some times WE’D cut the grass outside the place.

in this example all underlined words show the function of intonation in conveying contrastive stress.

Social meaning and roles/ degrees of involvement:

Some sentences such as: Good HEAVENS/ does not it give you the CREEPS/ absolutely DREADful/ Display pitch movement.

Brazil’s (1997) model of communicative role of intonation:

Brazil’s concept;. What knowledge speakers share about the world. about each other experience . about atittude and emoticons

Brazil mentioned:

Tones ending in a rise ( fall–rise or rise)

For part pf the message which speaker regards as part of the existing common ground.

Tone ending in a fall ( fall or rise-fall)

for what they see as adding to common ground.

By intonation:

1. Interlocutors negotiate their mutual relationship.

2. They can indicate how they view the topic under discussion.

3. It enables participants to check common ground.

Stress and unstress:

Type of words;1.Content words (noun, verb, adjective)Þ Carry the meaning (stressed)e.g. numb – beautiful

2.Function words (article, prepositions, pronoun, conjunction) => Indicate grammatical relationships (unstressed) e.g. He, in, but

What is sound segments?

The smallest units we can isolate intuitively or individual sounds which make up utterances.

Assimilation:

When we speak, we tend to minimize our articulatory effort by making sounds more like each other.

Elision:

Living sounds out altogether.

Linking:

inserting a sound to make for a smoother transition.

What is allophone:

In phonology an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phonem.

Sometimes certain sounds are pronounced differently depending on the position they occur in.Such as pronunciation of /l/

Clear l => laterDark l => hospital

Reason for focusing on sentence – level study (Cook 1989):

Teaching formal grammatical knowledge that provide the basis for communication.

Proficiency in specific aspects of pronunciation/ grammar/ vocabulary can be assessed.

Abstract sentences is important when they isolate the language from complexities of a particular context.

The treatment of language as sentences has been successful in language learning.

Reason for focusing on text:

Communicative competence requires more than producing and understanding sentence.

Texts in the form of dialogue are used in language teaching.

Dialogues should introduce features of real-life discourse.

Discourse- based activities prepare students more effectively for communication in the target language out side the classroom.

How can a Discourse- based Approach be applied in classroom practice:

At a macro- level students can be sensitized to;

Functional purpose Generic structure Gate- keeping contexts

At a micro- level;

exchanging structure Turn- taking Conversational moves

Should we use only authentic text?

Teachers can potentially offer students a continuum of spoken text samples from single sentences to scribed dialogues to semi scribed dialogues to complete natural speech.

Advantages of scripted dialogues:

1) They valuable for students because they control vocabulary and grammatical structures.

2) It is a vehicle for practicing particular patterns through word or sentences-level exercises.

Disadvantages of scripted dialogues:

1. They present spoken discourse as unrealistic and unproblematic.

2. They rarely reflect the grammar, discourse features.

Semi-scripted dialogues:

They are based on recordings where speakers are given a general out line of a dialogue and ask to include features of natural discourse.

Authentic texts:

o Can introduce student to a full range of transactional and interpersonal speech.

o They can highlight language variation.o They may also be fragmented

(hesitation, false starts, unclear utterance).

o They may include many different grammatical features.

Elicited mechanical production:

Lesson and repeat technique Þ involves, learners in imitating chunks

of language provided by the teacher.Þ It is used in language laboratory.

Ear training for sound contrast:

e.g. Reading contrasting sounds or words aloud to a class an asking them to decide what has been uttered.

Sounds for meaning contrast:

Use of minimal pairs :(Pairs of words distinguished by one phonem only) can be embeded in sentence such as;

This BED is not BAD.

Learning strategies:

Includes:a) Awareness-raising questionnaires.b) Learner diaries.c) Recording of learners production.d) Dealing with incomprehensibility.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

NIAZ MOHSENZADEH.