Student ProfileName: YosukeAge: 30Length of residence: two monthsL1: JapaneseOccupation: a designer in engineering

Yosuke is an IECP student in level 2 (among 4 levels of proficiency levels). He was sent to this ESL program from a Japanese company which he is belonging. His company has sponsored his one-semester ESL learning at IECP. After this semester, he is to be sent to a US branch office and to take an internship. After the internship, he is going back to Japan and returning to his original work. In his office in Japan, he barely speaks in English. He admitted that he knows many English technical terms in engineering; however, he is less confident in everyday conversation in English. Although he has occasionally attended at EFL conversation classes in Japan, he has never taken a formal English pronunciation instruction.

Speeking HabitsClarity: clearSpeed: a little fastLoudness: Tone of voice is low, so it’s a little bit hard to hear.Fluency: He sometimes speaks by incomplete sentences.

He pronounces voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ as /h/. He also pronounce voiceless interdental fricative // as voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ or voiceless alveolar stop /t/. He acknowledges that he cannot distinguish retroflex /r/ and lateral /l/ both in speaking and listening. I could hear some problem in alveolar fricative /s/ and /z/ and voiceless alveopalatal fricative // in his speaking, which sounds that breath leaks out. In addition, there are some issues in vowels. One example is schwa //. Because Japanese sound system have only five vowels, it seems difficult for him to distinguish subtle differences in pronunciation of vowels. He tends to raise the intonation pattern at the every pause, and he puts the same stresses (or less stresses) to every word in a sentence which sounds his speaking monotonous.

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LocationReserved reading room at Pattee library

Meeting TimeTwice a week (from Oct. 30th to Nov. 24th): eight sessions (about 1 hour per session) in total, plus one meeting for pre-tutoring assessment and one meeting for post-tutoring assessment

Goals of InstructionTaking into consideration his current speaking proficiency and his needs for language learning, I would like to set the following instruction goals.

1) To help him aware of English specific phonemes which do not exist in Japanese

sound system

2) To help him understand general stress pattern of English speaking

3) To assist his vocabulary development

4) To incorporate work place context in language learning

AssessmentTutee’s speaking will be assessed during sessions and at post-tutoring assessment.

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Day 1Target phonemes: /f/ (and /v/)

Context: Student pronounces voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ as /h/.

Instructional GoalsS will

・ Be able to produce correctly the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ and /v/.・ Develop English vocabularies (words, idioms and phrasal verbs).

Activity 1: Practice how to pronounce /f/Objective: S will be aware of places of articulation of /f/.Purpose: To let S understand the different places of articulation of /f/ and /h/1) The difference in the places of articulation between English /f/ and Japanese /h/.T asks S to try to blow candles on a cake. The form of the mouse when one blows candles similar to the place of articulation of Japanese /h/. S will be aware of the difference.2) The place of articulation of /f/T demonstrates the form of the mouse and S imitates it.3) VoicingWith or without voicing, S will be able to know the difference between voiceless and voiced labiodental fricatives--/f/ and /v/. However, /v/ is a secondary teaching topic for this session, so T will not go further about it.Assessment: T sees S’s understanding and progress through the process above.

Activity 2: ListeningObjective: S will be able to figure out /f/ in words in a songPurpose: To let S be familiar with /f/ in natural speakingMaterial: Song “Look What You’ve Done” by JET

Audio from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjPb2HJl0CoHandout (See the Appendix 1 and 2)

1) T gives S a handout, and S fills blanks while listening to the song.2) After listening to the song once, T and S go over the lyrics and check the answers.3) If S wants, S listens to the song again.Assessment: T checks S’s listening comprehension from the achievement of the task.

Activity 3: VocabularyObjective: S will be able to know and use vocabularies, which contain /f/, in a context.

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Purpose: To develop S’s vocabularyTo review the pronunciation of /f/

Material: Word list (Appendix 3)1) T introduces one idiom (make a fool of sb) and one phrasal verb (take A off B) from the lyrics, which not only contains /f/ but also is frequently used vocabularies.2) T and S discuss and come up with words with /f/ as many as possible.3) T introduces a word list which is made up of words with /f/4) T and S make sure each vocabulary’s meaning and pronunciation5) T and S create a dialogue with the vocabulary (at least 3 items from the list and add as many as S want from the words they brought up in the discussion).6) T and S demonstrate the dialogue.Assessment: T sees how S understands the context, uses the vocabulary in a properly meaningful way, and pronounces /f/ comprehensibly.

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Appendix 1Look What You’ve Done

by JET

Take my (1)photo off the wallIf it just won't sing for you'Cause all that's (2)left has gone awayAnd there's nothing there for you to (3)prove

Oh, look what you've doneYou've made a (4)fool of everyoneOh well, it seems likes such (5)funUntil you lose what you had won

Give me back my point of (6)view'Cause I just can't think for youI can hardly hear you sayWhat should I do, well you choose

Oh, look what you've doneYou've made a (7)fool of everyoneOh well, it seems likes such (8)funUntil you lose what you had won

Oh, look what you've doneYou've made a (9)fool of everyoneA (10)fool of everyoneA (11)fool of everyone

[Cont’d]

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Appendix 2 (Handout for student)Look What You’ve Done

by JET

Take my (1) off the wallIf it just won't sing for you'Cause all that's (2) has gone awayAnd there's nothing there for you to (3)

Oh, look what you've doneYou've made a (4) of everyoneOh well, it seems likes such (5) Until you lose what you had won

Give me back my point of (6) 'Cause I just can't think for youI can hardly hear you sayWhat should I do, well you choose

Oh, look what you've doneYou've made a (7) of everyoneOh well, it seems likes such (8) Until you lose what you had won

Oh, look what you've doneYou've made a (9) of everyoneA (10) of everyoneA (11) of everyone

[Cont’d]

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Appendix 3Word list

make a fool of sb: trick or deceive sb so that they look foolish take A off B be fool for sb: be crazy for sb, be into sb fool around: to waste time doing something without a particular purpose freak sb out: to become sb excited or emotional figure sth out: to think about and understand it piss sb off: to make sb extremely angry

cf) Other examples (/f/ with “ph” spelling)photographyphilosophyparagraph

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Reflection: Day 1

Thu. Oct, 30th 2008, 12:00pm-12:50pm

Yosuke seems already aware of the place of articulation of /f/ and /v/. He could show a

correct form of mouth without my demonstration, and he correctly pronounced individual words

with one or two syllables such as “friend” and “fee.” He is aware of /f/ and /v/ at word initial,

however, word medial /v/ such as “festival” seems to be difficult for him to recognize and

pronounce.

The level of listening activity was above his listening comprehension level. English song is

one of the powerful audio resources especially in EFL context; though, the type of audio material

and type of task should be taken into consideration according to a learner’s proficiency level.

The striking points in his response are as follows:

Error Pattern

1 Photo → follow Misrecognition of flap sound // with /l/

2 Fool of → follow Misrecognition of linking

3 View → few Misrecognition of voiced and voiceless labiodental fricatives

I picked up frequently used vocabularies in a word list. He could articulate vague images of

some idioms. For example, he immediately associated an airplane with “take off,” so I expanded it

more with associated expression of “touch and go” and antonym of “touch down.” Also, he could

imagine a small doll with a word “figure” by his schema of Japanese culture. When I introduce a

vocabulary, firstly, he articulated what image or situation he had with an idiom. Then, I gave the

meaning and some example sentences. We went over the list by following this procedure.

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Creating conversation activity was tough but fun to work together. As a first step I asked him to

choose one idiom from the list, and we developed the dialogue from the key idiom. Although he

murmured “It’s difficult.” several times, he seemed to enjoy this collaborative creation process. I

also enjoyed it. During making dialogue, I pointed out /f/ appears in each word in order to

emphasize the sound.

There are some points to be considered.

1. I should have print out the word list with their definitions.

2. I should have given him more opportunity to write to strengthen the link between sounds and

letters (spelling).

3. In this session, I focused mainly on word initial /f/, however, word medial /f/ and especially /v/

might need to be taught more.

4. Listening error patterns such as flap sound and linking are so interesting that I may develop

teaching plans for following sessions.

5. It is found in the conversation that he wants to book a flight in a few weeks, but he doesn’t know

how to do it. So, for the next session, I am going to make more content-based teaching plan with

this topic.

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Day 2Target phonemes: /v/, /f/ and //

Instructional GoalsS will

・ Be aware of the difference of voiced and voiceless labiodental fricatives.・ Recognize the occurrence rule of flap sound //.

Activity 1: Warm-upObjectives: S will

・ Be able to articulate reasons of his guessing and thoughts.・ Practice the pronunciation of /v/.・ Be able to know the two meaning of a word “suck.”

Purpose: To review the place of articulation of /f/ and /v/1) T and S see a TV commercial video clip on YouTube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YAAXtkq_c&feature=related2) S guesses what the TV commercial is about. T lets S make a reason of why and how he guesses from the video clip.

Activity 2: Book a flightObjectives: S will be able to know how to book a flightPurpose: To assist S in booking a flight1) T and S discuss what to decide before/during booking flight.Before/during you book flight what should you keep in mind?

Destination: from where to where Date of the flight, departure time Time of the flight and time of stopover Price Any preference for airlines Accommodations Transportations to and from airport etc.

2) T introduces some online booking websites and travel agencies. S jump to the websites and see what actually are they. S will see a format of booking system (such as booking procedure and terminology.)Online booking websites and travel agency offices

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Orbitz: http://www.orbitz.com/ Cheaptickets: http://www.cheaptickets.com/ Amnet: http://www.amnet-usa.com/ Penn State contract travel agencies: http://www.travel.psu.edu/contactus.shtml

Activity 3: The PhotocopierObjectives: S will

・ Be used to pronouncing /f/ and /v/.・ Be aware of the sound and appearance of // .・ Be able to give a direction・ Be able to know the organizational structure and function of a photocopier.

Purposes: ・ To practice pronunciation of words with //, // and //・ To assist S recognize that // occurs only between sounds・ To assist S realize how one machine (photocopier) functions in certain organizations

Materials: Flash cards (Appendix 1) and worksheet (Appendix 2)1) T shows a picture of photocopier in Pattee library and introduces the word photocopier and discuss with S about other synonyms.2) T and S practices the pronunciation of a word “photocopy” which contains both // and //.3) Practice pronunciations of //, // and // with flash cards, T pronounces a word first and S repeats after T. T explains that // occurs only between sounds.4) Referring to a worksheet, T and S discuss who use it, how use it, how look after it, and who responsible for is.5) After the first discussion, T asks S to think about a photocopier in his office and discuss which aspects are different from the photocopier in a library.

Appendix 1Word list for flash cards

/f/ photography, philosophy, paragraph, chef, cuff, fridge/refrigerator, laugh, leaf/v/ vacation, volcano, vacuum, victory, love, leaves, vitamin// little, pretty, butter, Peter, putting. pudding, city, latter, ladder, bitter

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Appendix 2 (Worksheet 1)The Photocopier in Pattee Library

1. Who uses it?

The copier can be used by

2. How do you use it? (Describe the procedure.)

First,

Second,

3. How do you look after it?/ After you use it, what do you do?

4. Who is responsible for it?

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Appendix 3 (Worksheet 2)The Photocopier in Your Company

1. Who uses it?

The copier can be used by

2. How do you use it? (Describe the procedure.)

First,

Second,

3. How do you look after it? After you use it, what do you do?

4. Who is responsible for it?

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Reflection: Day 2

Mon. Nov. 3, 2008, 6:30pm-7:30pm

My intention of the first activity was to introduce smoothly the targeted phoneme /v/. The

spoken language of the video clip was Chinese; however, the punch line is very clear and funny.

That is why I choose this video clip. Yosuke’s response was very fine. He laughed because he

knew a negative meaning of the word “suck.” He knew a word’s meaning and understood what that

TV commercial is for, but he didn’t get the point of the TV commercial since he didn’t know the

other meaning of the word “suck” to vacuum. In addition, he couldn’t come up with the exact

English word to describe the product. Therefore, I introduced him a word “vacuum” in order to lead

him to one of today’s key phonemes. When I make a teaching plan, I assumed that usually guys like

bad or dirty words, and either does he. Although I was anxious about the appropriateness of word

choice as a tutor in a formal context, it seemed succeeded to motivate him to this session.

The second activity was by his request. I let him try to actually search air tickets on a website.

While surfing websites, he brought up an interesting question—can he use Japanese credit card to

purchase air tickets? I had no answer, so we actually followed the purchase step to make sure the

availability. Although it was found that they don’t accept Japanese cards, a pinch turned to be a

chance to explore findings. I could offer him a real material: the actual purchase procedure on

websites (every website takes almost the same procedure). He got an answer by trial.

The third activity was interesting both for teaching pronunciation and for general speaking. I

intended to make the most of his experience and knowledge as an employee of a company. As an

aspect of pronunciation instruction, it was found that flap sound // might be difficult for him to

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pronounce. Despite of repeated practice, he seemed not acquire any hint of pronunciation. It needs

follow-ups. As speaking instruction, it must have succeeded. Firstly, I asked him to describe how a

photocopier is used in the Pattee library. Because I realized that he needs to speak not by words but

by sentences, I integrated writing skill and speaking skills in this task. Before speak, he could

prepare by composing sentences. The worksheet must have scaffolded him to organize his idea.

Especially, when I ask him to explain how a photocopier is used his company, he seemed to become

more relaxed and lively, and he made a contrast between two contexts. For example, in his

company, employees don’t need to pay but need to swipe their IDs before use. Another example

was about maintenance. He told me that he would call a maintenance company when the copier is

out of order. For adult ESL learners, especially ESP (English for Specific Purposes) learners,

bringing their working context and knowledge of job into learning might be very powerful.

Followings are to be considered.

1. Topics/vocabularies which are grounded in his everyday life should be adopted more to teaching.

2. Instruction of flap sound // needs follow-ups in later sessions.

3. Although he mastered word initial /f/ and .v/, constant review will be needed.

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Day 3Target Phonemes: /l/ and /r/

Context: Student tends to pronounce the lateral /l/ and the retroflex /r/ as a Japanese liquid sound. Also S cannot distinguish the lateral /l/ and the retroflex /r/ in listening.

Instructional Goal s S will

・ Be able to produce correctly the lateral /l/ and the retroflex /r/.・ Know the concept of minimal pair.

Activity 1: Tongue TwisterObjectives: S will

・ Be familiar with /l/ and /r/.・ Be able to know the places of articulation of /l/ and /r/, those of which are different from a

liquid sound in Japanese.Purpose: To introduce /l/ and /r/1) T introduces one of popular tongue twisters in Japanese.

「赤巻紙、青巻紙、黄巻紙」（あかまきがみ、あおまきがみ、きまきがみ）/akamakigami, aomakigami, kimakigami/ (red rolled paper, blue rolled paper, yellow rolled

paper)2) T introduces an English tongue twister, which contains /l/ and /r/ and has similar pattern of collocation to the previous tongue twister.

“Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry”3) T and S practice it together. T assists him to be aware of the places of articulation of the targeted phonemes.

Activity 2: VocabularyObjectives: S will

・ Be able to pronounce correctly /l/ and /r/ at word level.・ Be aware that one sound can change a word’s meaning.・ Develop his English vocabulary.・ Review the vocabularies of previous session.

Purposes:・ To assist S practice pronunciation・ To lead S to a following reading activity (build schema as a pre-reading activity)・ To assist expand his vocabulary knowledge

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Material: flash cards (See Appendix 1 for a vocabulary list)1) Practice pronunciations of / and /r/ with flash cards, T pronounces a word first and S repeats after T.2) T put some flash cards of previous session to review /f/, /v/ and //.3) S choices some words and read them aloud. T dictate them and assess his pronunciation.

Activity 3: Let’s Read a Picture BookObjectives: S will

・ Be able to correctly pronounce /l/ and /r/.・ Be able to describe situation in a picture.・ Know vocabularies of exclamation.

Purposes: ・ To assist S pronounce /l/ and /r/ correctly in natural speaking speed・ To offer S with more opportunity to speak

Material: “Wacky Wednesday” by Dr. Seuss1) T explains the meaning of wacky.2) T and S read sentences aloud in turn.3) There are several “wacky” things in each page. T scaffold S to find and articulate what whacky things are in a picture.4) Some exclamation expressions appear in this book (See the Appendix 2 for examples of vocabularies.) T and S discuss what they would say when they run into a surprise.

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Appendix 1Word List

*1 Words with blue color are minimal pairs of /l/ and /r/.*2 Words with pink color are from “Wacky Wednesday” by Dr. Seuss. (As a pre-reading activity)lap – wrap leader – reader loom – room lies – rise long – wrong lent – rent belly – berrylight – right – write walk – work (*3 not a minimal pair but frequent words which Japanese learners of English often confuse both in pronouncing and in listening)yell run get rid of

Appendix 2Exclamations in “Wacky Wednesday” by Dr. Seuss

“Oh Man!”“Gee!”“Hey!”“Wow!”“By cracky!”“Look!”

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Reflection: Day 3

Thu. Nov. 6, 2008, 6:30pm-7:30pm

This session’s topic was about the most common and critical issue for Japanese learners of

English—lateral /l/ and retroflex /r/. Yosuke find himself that he cannot distinguish these two

sounds, and also that he cannot pronounce retroflex /r/. The assessment data also suggested his

distinct feature of liquid sound which is very close to English lateral /l/.

As a first activity, I introduced a Japanese tongue twister in order to reduce his anxiety about the

targeted phonemes and tongue twister itself. Then, we moved on to an English tongue twister. In

this activity I firstly introduced him a picture which shows the place of articulation of /l/. I told him

to pronounce Japanese liquid sound by saying /ra/, /ri/, /ru/, /re/, and /ro/, and let him articulate

where the tip of his tongue touches in his mouth. We reached to a conclusion that the tip of the

tongue touches at the hard palate. Then, we compared the difference of the places of articulation of

these two phonemes: Japanese liquid sound and English /l/. The degree of difference is quite little.

That is why I explained to him, for native Japanese speaker, pronunciation of /l/ is easier than /r/. It

is understandable that he pronounces /l/ very well. Thirdly, I introduced the place of articulation

of /r/. He seemed to notice the difference of these three kinds of liquid sounds, and he got to

pronounce /r/ better as we practiced.

Second activity was done by flash cards of minimal pairs. He must have understood that one

sound changes a word’s meaning through this activity. He could pronounce /r/ as one sound.

However, when it comes to be combined in a word, he tended to replace /r/ for /l/. At dictation

activity, all the phonemes I could not dictate his speech was /r/. When I introduce a new vocabulary,

I always keep in mind two things: one is to give him enough time to imagine about a word first. His

guessing is often times close to the meaning of a word. Besides, it will be a good opportunity for

him to articulate his thought in English. The other point that I keep in mind is to expand his

response to other vocabularies. Among the vocabularies, the most interesting response from him

was a minimal pair of lap and wrap. At first, he guessed a meaning of lap as “plastic wrap.” It was

predictable because of the phonetic character of his L1. So, I showed him a picture of “the

girlfriend lap pillow” which is a famous product for its uniqueness and silliness in Japan. Many

Japanese “single” males crave for one. (Please, google it. You’ll see why.) I expected that he

surely knew this commodity, and my guess was exactly right. He knew it! I hope he’ll remember

this word “lap” and will not confuse lap and wrap any more.

The third activity was today’s main activity. We read a picture book together. Before starting

reading, I let him guess the meaning of a word “wacky” which is in the title of the book. Even for

me, this word was a new word. He had no idea, too. After I gave him a definition (unusual and

funny), I introduced a Japanese comedian who has the same sound name as wacky in order to assist

him to remember the word. The reason was the comedian’s appearance and behavior are somewhat

unusual and funny, which embodies the word’s meaning. He, of course, knew him and agreed with

my suggestion. Then we moved on to reading. During reading, I realized that his pronunciation of

voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ improved. Especially he pronounced a word “four” with clear /f/

and /r/ pronunciation. However, he had difficulty in pronouncing words in sentences, which starts

from retroflex /r/ such as “wrong.” I think we have to keep on working with /r/ for few more

sessions. At each picture, I asked him to explain his findings by his words. Even though we had to

end up our session at the three quarter of the story, (because the next users of the meeting room

waited us) he seemed to enjoy this activity. It was my first time to have applied children ’s picture

book to adult ESL teaching, and this experience made me realized this powerful effect. I strongly

recommend the book of “Wacky Wednesday” for teaching beginner level adult learners of English.

Followings are considered:

1. He needs to practice pronouncing /r/ in a natural speaking.

2. How to teach and practice effectively flap sound //

3. Recycle flash cards in following sessions for review.

Day 4Target Phonemes: /l/, /r/ and //

Instructional Goal s S will

・ Be able to produce correctly the lateral /l/, the retroflex /r/, and the flap sound //.・ Be able to discuss about his workplace setting.

Activity 1: Tongue TwisterObjectives: S will

・ Review /l/ and /r/.・ Be able to pronounce //.

Purpose: To supplement S’s // pronunciation1) T introduces an English tongue twister, which contains //.2) T and S practice it together. T assists him to be aware of the places of articulation of the targeted phoneme.

Betty Botter had some butter,"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.If I bake this bitter butter,it would make my batter bitter.But a bit of better butter--that would make my batter better."

Activity 2: VocabularyObjectives: S will

・ Be able to articulate the targeted phonemes that he has learned.・ Be able to make sentences with the vocabularies.

Purposes:・ To review the vocabulary and phonemes S has learned for three sessions・ To assist S to apply flash card knowledge to real usage

Material: flash card1) Flash cards are scattered on the desk.2) T gives a hint to describe a word of cards. (See Appendix 1 for the word list)3) S chooses the card and read the word aloud.4) S chooses the relative word to the first word as a minimal pair and read it aloud, too.

5) S makes sentences with either of the words.Assessment: S’s response will be an evaluation for pronunciation and memory retention of the vocabulary.

Activity 3: Discussion (Workplace Culture)Objectives: S will

・ Know general work-based vocabularies.・ Be able to articulate problems and solutions.

Purposes:・ To introduce vocabularies which are familiar with S’s life・ To assist him to discuss by identifying problems and solutions

1) T gives S two copies of worksheet. (See Appendix 2)2) S and T go over discussion items with discussion. T introduces work-based vocabularies which are in the items.3) First S and T discuss about S’s current workplace culture and ideal workplace culture with a handout (Appendix 2).

Appendix 1Word List: Minimal Paris of /l/ and /r/

belly – berrylap – wraplace – racelong – wronglies – riselight – right – write

Appendix 2 (Worksheet for student)Workplace Culture

Direction: Complete the worksheet.1) For your actual work place, mark each column with a red pen and draw a connecting line to each item.2) For your ideal work place, mark each column with a blue pen and draw a connecting line to each item.

I meet with my line manager by appointment only

□　　　　□My line manager has an “open-door” policy.

I am not encouraged to take initiative.

□　　　　□ I am encouraged to take initiative.

Everyone has their own separate work place.

□　　　　□ The work environment is communal.

The boss makes all the decisions. □　　　　□Decisions are made collectively through consultation.

I am told what to do. □　　　　□ I am involved in project planning.

My colleagues don’t socialize much after work.

□　　　　□My colleagues regularly meet for social events.

There is not much variety in my daily/weekly routine.

□　　　　□ I do different things every day/week.

I work on one task at one time. □　　　　□ I have to work on “multi-task.”

There are not many opportunities for promotion.

□　　　　□There is a good career structure with promotion opportunities.

I can work flexible hours and take time off when I want.

□　　　　□ My hours and holiday dates are fixed.

Vocabulary

Open-door: allowing anybody to come freely

Initiative: ability/power to decide what to do next and to do it

Booth: small area separated from a larger public area by screens or thin walls

Communal: public, shared by a group of people

Consultation: meeting which is held to discuss something

Socialize: to meet other people socially (i.e. at a party)

Routine: a sequence of actions regularly followed

Multi-task: to do more than one thing at the same time

Reflection: Day 4

Mon. Nov. 10, 2008, 6:30pm-7:30pm

Today was the continuous session of liquid sounds of lateral /l/ and retroflex /r/. The tongue

twister activity showed that he still have a difficulty in pronouncing flap //. Rising non-final

intonation stood out during this activity. Multi-tasking activity seemed to be overloading to him, so

I didn’t point out about intonation this time. I should follow about this topic later sessions.

Since we already covered the flash cards at the last session, I tried to extend the word-level

activity to sentence-level activity. I tried to develop our conversation from his sentence. The

intention was to develop his conversation skill to maintain conversation. We are almost the same

age and we share the same L1 background, so we could share the common topic we could talk

together. From the conversation, I learned something about I have never known such as F-1 and

baseball. In light of pronunciation, he became to pronounce correctly and more easily retroflex /r/.

Activity 3 was for offering him to describe his workplace environment. Instruction moved to

direct pronunciation practice to more practical language use. Because I also have a work experience

in a company, we were able to share and compare our different company culture. Here, I asked

many questions to elicit his speaking and to expand his vocabulary knowledge. I asked him not only

to describe the situation but also to consider more about it. For example, I asked him to explain job

routines or terms what I didn’t know, and I asked him to think any solution if he sis not satisfied

with the current situation. It was an exciting experience for me because I learned many things I

have never known about other company.

Day 5Target Phonemes: // (and //)

Target Suprasegmental Aspect: Stress in sentences

Instructional Goal s S will

・ Be able to correctly produce the interdental fricatives of // and //.・ Be aware of word stress pattern in sentences in listening.

Activity 1: Listening and pronunciationObjectives: S will

・ Know the place of articulation of // and //.・ Know the difference of voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives.・ Be able to pronounce // and //.

Purpose: To assist S to be aware of the place of articulation and practice pronunciation. 1) T introduces a YouTube video clip. Orison learns his “th” soundhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbBybuasX7A2) While watching video clip, T tells S to see how Orison (a boy in the video clip) uses his mouth and tongue when he says

“Thank you.”“Thumbs up.”“I have something to tell you.”

3) T introduces a picture (Appendix 1) for follow-up.

Activity 2: PronunciationObjectives: S will

・ Be able to pronounce //.・ Be able to distinguish // with other phonemes (/s/ and /t/) in listening.

Purposes: To assist S to practice listening and pronunciation of target phonemes1) At a website http://www.manythings.org/pp/ S practices listening and pronunciation by answering quiz.Go over following lessons: Lesson 10: // and /s/ and Lesson 22: // and /t/

Activity 3: ListeningObjective: S will be able to distinguish // with /s/ in listening.Purpose: To assist S to be sued to listening // in natural speaking context1) T and S watch a YouTube video clip together. Discuss about minimal pairs of // and /s/.What are you sinking about? [think vs. sink]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR0lWICH3rYFedEx Daughter is Sick [sick vs. thick] (Discuss about office communication, too.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLPSv9cPDQs&feature=related

Activity 4: StressObjective s : S will

・ Be aware of stress pattern in sentences.・ Know about content words and functional words..

Purposes:・ To help S know the difference between Japanese stress pattern and English stress pattern.・ To assist S to realize sentence cognition pattern in listening English

1) T and S watch a YouTube video clip together.　　It shows how strange if there is no stress in speech.Verizon Dead Zones-Freaky Brothershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QrlEYNfODI2) T introduces Japanese word pairs which have the same sounds but different stress.Ex) はし（橋・箸）　かき（柿・牡蠣）　あめ（雨・飴）T explains that in Japanese, the indicator of stress (accent) is pitch.3) T explains that the indicators of stress in English are not only pitch but also time and volume. (However, in this session, we don’t go deeper about word level stress)Ex) feet vs. fit, pool vs. pull, cheek vs. chick4) T introduces a dialogue between two co-workers. S listens to the conversation without script first. After the first listening, T asks some comprehension questions about content.Talking to co-workers—interactive practice (Listening #1)http://www.talkenglish.com/LessonPractice.aspx?ALID=4895) At the second listening, S listens to the conversation with a script (Appendix 2). T tells S to mark acoustic signals of stress (i.e. the words that are said more loudly, more clearly, and more slowly) in a dialogue.6) T and S make a list of stressed words in a dialogue, and then T introduces roles of content words versus function words in sentences.

Appendix 1Place of articulation (interdental fricatives)

Appendix 2Listening Script (Handout for Student)

Talking to co-worker

Direction: Mark the words that were said more loudly, more clearly, and more slowly.

A: “Hey Jack. How is your day going?”

B: “Just finishing the project. Other than that, not much. How about you?”

A: “I’m just about finished for the day. I have one more task to do, but I wanted

to take a break first.”

B: “Did you have to work with Jake on that project?”

A: “Unfortunately, yes.”

B: “Oh my gosh. I feel so sorry for you.”

A: “Don’t remind me. I’m just glad it’s over.”

B: “Yeah. I remember when I worked on the data conversion tool with him.

Everything he did, I had to re-do. It would have been faster if I did it alone.”

A: “That’s exactly what happened to me. It took me longer because I had to re-

do everything he did. That really pissed me off.”

B: “Next time the manager wants me to do a project with him, I’m going to tell

him that I will do it myself.”

A: “That’s a good idea. Hopefully, the manager will realize how useless he is.”

B: “Exactly. If you’re not busy, you can do my work.”

A: “Ha ha. I got enough to do.”

B: “Yeah. I’m just kidding.”

A: “Aright dude. I better finish my work. I’ll talk to you later.”

VocabularyFinished for the day: it might be the same as “call it a day: to stop working)

Remind sb of sth: to let sb remember sth

Glad: feeling happy and pleased

Piss sb off: to make sb extremely angry

Placement of Stress in Sentences

Content Words: express independent meaning ・ Nouns (e.g. kitchen, Peter)

・ (Most) principal verbs (e.g. visit, construct)

・ Adjectives (e.g. beautiful, interesting)

・ Adverbs (e.g. often, carefully)

Function Words: have little or no meaning in themselves but express grammatical relationships

・ Determiners (e.g. the, a, some, a few)

・ Auxiliary verbs (e.g. don't, am, can, were)

・ Prepositions (e.g. before, next to, opposite)

・ Conjunctions (e.g. but, while, as)

・ Pronouns (e.g. they, she, us)

Usually STRESSED!!

Usually UNSTRESSED!!

Reflection: Day 5 Thu. Nov. 13th, 2008, 6:30pm-7:30pm

Firstly, we watched a video clip to see the place of articulation of voiceless interdental

fricative. In addition I introduced a picture which shows a place of articulation of the target sound.

Yosuke could articulate an individual phoneme.

Next activity focused on voiceless interdental fricative only in order to avoid physical and

cognitive overloading. For Japanese learners of English, these interdental fricative sounds are the

most challenging phonemes, so I decided to pick up one of them in a one session. Along with the

quizzes on the website, he repeated model voice first and then answered the quizzes. This activity

helps him not only practice the phoneme of // but also listen and distinguish // with other similar

phonemes (/s/ and /t/). It was found that he has a difficulty in distinguishing // and /s/ both in

listening and pronunciation. On the other hand, the difference between // and /t/ seemed not much

difficult to him.

The first video clip at the following listening activity was intended to let him be familiar

with // in more natural speaking context. Although he could tell the phonetic difference between //

and /s/, he could not get the point of the clip. Therefore, we discussed about the intention of the

story. Unfortunately, I also got lost as I explained the plot. However, he seemed to understand one

sound change the meaning of a word that sometimes leads to a critical mistake, which is the point of

the instruction. The second video clip was not directly related to today’s instruction goal.

Nevertheless, I adopted this video clip following reasons: first, to associate a word “sick” with a

word “thick,” secondly, to introduce one example of office communication. At the last session, it

was found that he wants to know how to communicate his colleagues and bosses in English. That is

a very urgent issue to him because in a month he will be sent to a US branch office of his company.

Therefore, I would like to incorporate pronunciation instruction and vocabulary development

instruction to English business communication context in the tutoring sessions.

I intended to add instruction of suprasegmental features to instruction of individual phonemes.

The first video clip shows how intelligible and strange if one speaks monotonously (I think this

video clip is a very appropriate material to highlight awareness of stress in sentences.) Comparing

stress system in two languages, we moved on to seeing stress patterns in sentences. After listening

the dialogue and marked the words, we made a list of marked words. I intended to visualize the

evidence of how he listen sentences in order to let him realize his cognition pattern. Today’s

instruction was limited to listening; however, it must be enough as an introduction of this topic. In

the following sessions I would like to adopt speaking instruction of suprasegmental features, too.

Followings should be considered:

・ Pronunciation training of /s/

・ Instruction of other suprasegmental features

・ Speaking instruction of suprasegmental features

Day 6Target Phonemes: // (and //)

Target Suprasegmental Aspects: stress in sentences

Instructional GoalsS will

・ Be able to correctly produce the interdental fricatives of // and //.・ Be able to distinguish the interdental fricatives with alveolar fricatives of /s/ and /z/.・ Be able to distinguish the interdental fricatives with alveolar stops of /t/ and /d/.・ Be aware of word stress pattern in sentences.

Activity 1: Pronunciation PracticeObjective s : S will

・ Know the place of articulation of // and //.・ Know the difference of voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives.・ Be able to pronounce // and //.

Purpose: To assist S to be aware of the place of articulation and practice pronunciation. 1) T and S review a place of articulation of interdental fricatives with a picture (Appendix 1).

Activity 2: Pronunciation and ListeningObjective s : S will

・ Be able to pronounce //.・ Be able to distinguish // with other phonemes (/d/ and /z/) in listening.

Purposes:・ To review learned phonemes・ To assist S to practice listening and pronunciation of target phonemes

1) At a website http://www.manythings.org/pp/ S practices listening and pronunciation by answering quiz.Go over following lessons:Lesson 6: // and /z/ and Lesson 18: // and /d/Assessment: T assesses S’s listening comprehension and pronunciation performance through quiz procedure.

Activity 3: Pronunciation in a sentenceObjective: S will be able to pronounce // and // smoothly in a sentence.

Purpose: To assist S to be sued to pronouncing // and // in natural speaking context1) T introduces one tongue twister which contains both voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives.

Those three thugs think that they threw those things there.2) T and S make sure sound and meaning of each sound. At the S’s handout, IPA symbols of // and // are associated with each word (Appendix 2.)3) If S had a difficulty in speaking, T may insert pauses in the sentences to scaffold his pronunciation.

Activity 4: Stress in sentencesObjective: S will review the rule of placement of stress in sentences.Purpose: To help S apply his sentence cognition pattern in listening to his sentence speaking1) T introduces a direction of text message (Appendix 3.)2) Following the direction, S creates a text and sends it to T.3) T and S read the message together, make a list of words in the text, and lead S to review the rules of content vs. function words.

Activity 5: Speaking with stressObjectives: S will

・ Be able to put stresses in a sentence.・ Know that placement of stress changes in context.

Purpose: To inform S variation of placement of stress1) With example sentences (Appendix 4), T introduces that word stresses are related to rhythm of speaking: even though the total numbers of the syllables in the sentence are different, the rhythm and speed of the sentences are almost the same because of the same word stress pattern.2) With example dialogue (Appendix 5), T and S discuss what the major sentence stress means in a dialogue. T leads the discussion and explains that the major word stress in a sentence varies depending on context.3) T gives S some setting (Appendix 6) and asks several questions about the setting. S has to answer the questions. When he answers, T emphasizes S to put major sentence stress in his speech.

Appendix 1 (Handout)Place of articulation (interdental fricatives)

Appendix 2 (Handout)Tongue Twister

// // // // // // // // // //Those three thugs think that they threw those things there.

Appendix 3 (Handout)Text Message

Direction: Send a text about following information. When you text, create a message as shortest and cheapest as possible.

To: your colleagueWhat to send: Our customer Mr. Sato will arrive at the airport tomorrow at 12:30pm from Tokyo. Please pick him up at the airport and take him to the office by 3:00.

Appendix 4 (Handout)Expanding Sentences

1) ●

Lynn ●

used ●

Tim’s ●

car.

2) ●

Linda ●

used ●

Timothy’s ●

car.

3) ●

Linda can ●

use ●

Tim’s ●

car.

4) ●

Linda can ●

use ●

Timothy’s ●

car.

Note 1: Dots at the words in the sentences stand for stressed words in a sentence.

Note 2: Example sentences are retrieved from Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English

Pronunciation, New York: Oxford University Press.

Appendix 5 (Handout)Information focus

Example dialogue:

Where did you ●

go last weekend?

I went to .

How did you there?

I ●

drove to Chicago.

Note 1: Dots at the words in the sentences stand for major sentence stress in a sentence.

Note 2: Example sentences are retrieved from Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English

Pronunciation, New York: Oxford University Press.

Appendix 6 (Handout)Information focus

Direction: According to following situations, answer to Shiho’s question. When you answer, please be careful in word stress .

1) Last week, you bought a T-shirt at Macy’s in Nittany Mall.2) My boss is great.3) My dog is sick.

Supposed T’s questions are as follows:1) Last week, you bought a T-shirt at Macy’s in Nittany Mall.T’s Qs:

When did you buy it?Did you buy it at Wal-Mart?Did you buy it at Macy’s in New York?

2) My boss is great.T’s Qs:

Who is great?Whose boss is great?

3) My dog is sick.T’s Os:

How is your dog?Who is sick?Whose dog is sick?

Reflection: Day 6 Mon. Nov. 17th, 2008, 6:30pm-7:30pm

In this session, I mainly taught the voiced interdental fricative // because I left this phoneme in

order to avoid Yosuke’s physical and cognitive overloading. Firstly I asked him to demonstrate to

pronounce the voiceless interdental fricative // to see his understanding. He did exactly pronounce

the voiceless interdental fricative. The second activity was on the website. The website I adopt to

this instruction was the same website I used at the last session. Along with the quizzes on the

website, he repeated model voice first and then answered the quizzes. This activity helps him not

only practice the phoneme of // but also listen and distinguish // with other similar phonemes (/z/

and /d/). Same as the case of voiceless interdental fricative, he seems to have a difficulty in

distinguishing // and /z / both in listening and pronunciation. He has a difficulty in differentiate

these two sounds either word initial, medial, or final. On the other hand, he distinguished // and /d/

in listening even though he couldn’t pronounce accurately, and he already found himself having

more trouble with interdental fricatives and alveolar fricatives than alveolar stops.

It diverted from the instruction plan, however, I introduced two YouTube video clips of TV

commercials. At the last session, he asked about the word “dude,” but knowing its various usage, I

was not sure how exactly native English speaker use this word in conversation and its

appropriateness among various contexts. Therefore after the last session, I double-checked my

understanding about the word to a native English speaker. Then I introduced the video clips. For

me, as a non-native English speaker, colloquial expression is one of the mysteries to struggle with

finding out. Its usage, meaning and appropriateness very depend on contexts, and I have been

constructing and re-constructing my lexicon from everyday conversation. I applied my learning

strategy to teaching. I thought the materials which are contextualized in his real life would be the

most effective resource for him to feel language familiar and internalize the knowledge.

He still needed to put extra consciousness when he pronounced voiced interdental fricatives;

however, I could see his progress in pronunciation. After working with individual phonemes, we

moved on to suprasegmentals. As a review of the last session at which we discussed about “content

vs. function words” in sentences, I adopt another medium of communication, text message to let him

realize how we differentiate these two concepts unconsciously other than in speaking in our

everyday life. Below is his text message (All mistakes are uncorrected.):

Mr.sato arrive airport at 3pm. Pleare pick him up and bring to office at 3pm.

After sending and receiving the text, we categorize words into each speech of words, and I induced

the concept of word stress in sentences. From this activity, he seemed to comprehend the concept.

The final activity was moved from text based to speech based. In this activity, I intended to let

him understand the importance of word stress at a sentence level as well as at a word level. From

the assessment data and conversation with him, I noticed that he tends to put little stress on words,

which makes his speaking less comprehensible. In order him to understand well, I incorporated

physical response (clap hand) to speaking and I exaggerated my speaking by speaking loudly,

clearly, and slowly. I realized that he tends to pronounce the voiceless alveopalatal fricative // as /s/

in the word “Chicago,” so I think we need to focus on the instruction of // and /s/ later on. I was

not sure his understanding about the concept of information focus until we move to speaking activity

(Appendix 6). When he was put in a context, he could make stress in sentences, and finally I could

hear his utterance of “to emphasize” at the end of the session, which might represent his

understanding. I think putting in a particular context is effective on language learning.

Nevertheless, when we went back to the natural conversation, he uttered less stressed. It will take

time to internalize the knowledge.

Followings should be considered:

・ Emphasized instruction of interdental fricatives and alveolar fircatives

・ Instruction of voiceless alveolar fricatives and voiceless alveopalatal fricatives

・ Other suprasegmental features: intonation

Day 7Target Phonemes: /s/ and /z/

Target Suprasegmental Aspects: intonationContext: Student has a difficulty in distinguishing alveolar fricatives and interdental fricatives both in listening and pronunciation.

Instructional GoalsS will be

・ Able to pronounce correctly voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives.・ Able to distinguish /s/ and // and /z/ and // in pronunciation.・ Able to know patterns of the final intonations.

Activity 1: Pronunciation PracticeObjective: S will know the place of articulation of /s/ and /z/.Purposes:

・ To review of the places of articulation of voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives・ To let S notice the difference of the places of articulation between alveolar fricatives and

interdental fricatives1) T tells S to pronounce Japanese /sa/, /su/, /se/ and /so/, and let him be aware of the place of articulation of Japanese /s/.2) With video clips on a website, T and S practice together voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives.http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.htmlAssessment: T assesses S’s achievement by listening and watching his articulation.

Activity 2: Pronunciation Practice with WordsObjective s : S will

・ Be able to pronounce /s/ and /z/ in words.・ Be able to distinguish /s/ and // and /z/ and // in pronunciation.・ Be able to know the plural, third-person-singular, and possessive rules of pronunciation.

Purpose: To assist S practice the target phonemes Material: Flash cards (vocabulary list at Appendix 1)1) T and S go over pronunciation practice with flash cards which are made up of words with /s/ or /z/ at word initial, medial, or final position. Also the flash cards include minimal pair of /s/ and //. Besides pronunciation, T also makes sure S’s understanding of vocabulary.2) T and S go over flash cards which made up of singular and plural nouns. T scaffold S to infer the

plural rule of pronunciation. If S could not elicit the rule, T introduces the rule.3) T applies the plural rule to third-person singular and possessive rules.

Activity 3: IntonationObjective s : S will

・ Be able to know patterns of the final intonations.・ Be able to articulate final intonations.

Purposes:・ To assist S to be aware of intonation pattern of the final intonation・ To let S review the word stress pattern in sentences

1) T gives worksheet 1 (Appendix 2) to S and explains the patterns of final intonations (rising-falling intonation and rising intonation) with example sentences.2) S practices the intonation patterns with the example sentences.3) T tells S to listen to the audio first, and the T asks S about the content of a dialogue.Final intonation Office Basics—interactive practice (Dialogue 2 & 3)http://www.talkenglish.com/LessonPractice.aspx?ALID=4434) T gives S a script of the dialogue (Appendix 3, Worksheet 2.) In the second round, S should mark all the stressed words in sentences while listening to the dialogue. After the second listening, T and S check together what kind of words S marked. T and S discuss whether it follows the word stress pattern in sentences (content vs. function words.)5) In the third round, S should draw arrows on each sentence, which represents intonation of each sentence.6) After T checked S’s comprehension, T and S do a role play with the dialogue. T emphasizes S to pay attention to stress and intonation pattern in speaking.

Appendix 1Vocabulary

Words containing either /s/ or /z/ at word initial, medial, or final position

sea see seat sip

sit sin say saxophone

strange speak zoo zero

rice rise possess compass

thousand spice space buss

buzz prison poison rose

accident divorce currency FedEx

espresso sir

Minimal Pairs of /s/ and //

pass path boss both

sick thick sink think

sank thank bass bath

mass math mouse mouth

face faith seam theme

Words for the plural rule

leaf leaves belief believes

thousand thousands chip chips

rose roses right rights

buss busses

Appendix 2 (Handout 1)

Patterns of Final Intonations

Intonation—rising and falling pattern of the pitch of the voice (= melody)

1. Final Intonation

1.1. Rising-falling Intonation

The most common intonation pattern in English

It appears in simple declarative sentences, commands and wh- questions.

When the voice falls down to the bottom of the pitch range, it usually indicates that the

speaker has finished speaking.

Ex)

He wants to go ●

home.

She gave him five ●

dollars for it.

Give her a ●

sweater.

What would like to ●

do with it?

Major sentence stress: Among word stresses in a sentence, usually one content word within a

sentence receives greater stress than the others. In most cases the major sentence stress falls on the

last content word within a sentence.

1.2. Rising Intonation

It appears in close-ended questions (questions asking yes or no).

Ex)

Does he want to go ●

home?

Did she give him five ●

dollars for it?

Do you want to ●

give it to him?

Note 1: Dots at the words in the sentences stand for the major sentence stress in a sentence. In the printed copy of

S’s handout, I drew arrows to visualize intonation patterns.

Note 2: Example sentences are retrieved from Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English

Pronunciation, New York: Oxford University Press.

Appendix 3 (Handout 2)

Office Basics—Interactive Practice

Direction 1 : Mark stressed words in speech.

Direction 2: Draw an arrow at the end of each sentence to show intonation pattern.

Dialogue 1:A: “Do you have a lot of work?”

B: “Yeah. I’m pretty busy. Why?”

A: “Oh. I needed some help on documenting this process.”

B: “Does this have to be done right now?”

A: “The manager wants it by Friday.”

B: “I’ll try to free up my schedule. Remind me again tomorrow morning, and I’ll

help you in the afternoon.”

A: “Do you need to read the documents first?”

B: “Yeah. That would help.”

A: “I’ll print you a copy and then drop them off.”

B: “Make sure you drop it off before five because I have to leave early.”

A: “No problem. Thanks.”

Direction 1 : Mark stressed words in speech.

Direction 2: Draw an arrow at the end of each sentence to show intonation pattern.

Dialogue 2:A: “Are you new here?”

B: “Yeah. I just started yesterday.”

A: “Welcome aboard. I’m Jack.”

B: “I’m Mark. Nice to meet you.”

A: “What are you going to be working on?”

B: “I’m going to work on the planning team. But I haven’t started yet. I’m still in

training.”

A: “The planning team is great. Our marketing team works with them closely.

We’ll end up working together sometimes.”

B: “That’s great. Oh, can I ask you some questions?”

A: “Sure.”

B: “Does this company have a casual Friday?”

A: “Not really. You can get away with wearing slacks, but I’ve never seen

anyone wear jeans.”

B: “That’s alright. Do you know any good places to eat around here?”

A: “Yeah there’s a deli right across the street. They have fresh sandwiches and

sometimes hot dishes like teriyaki. It’s pretty good.”

B: “That sounds good. Thanks for the info.”

A: “No problem. If you need anything, I sit right around the corner here.”

Reflection: Day 7 Mon. Nov. 21st, 2008, 4:30pm-5:30pm

Through the previous sessions, I have noticed that Yosuke needs to practice pronunciation of the

voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives, so toady the instruction topic was these two sounds. When

I prepared the teaching plan for this session, I happened to find an informative and practical website

for English pronunciation practice. You can see the motion of the place of articulation of each

phoneme. I thought I could have found this website earlier. During practice of individual

phonemes, he noticed that the place of the tongue he articulate the alveolar fricatives is different

from what it supposed to be. He said that when he pronounces these sounds, the tip of his tongue

touches the upper front teeth. Compared to my pronunciation, which I demonstrate exactly as the

same as the model figure, I assume that the cause of his distinctive pronunciation of the phonemes

might not be his L1 background but be his unique feature. The previous instructions might have

worked well to him. Today, he could pronounce differently the voiceless interdental fricative // and

the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. After spending a few minutes in practicing, he still seemed to

struggle with pronouncing correctly the alveolar fricatives; I decided to exaggerate to pronounce

these sounds in the next activity.

During word level pronunciation practice, I realized that he could be more conscious in

pronouncing correctly when a word is associated with its minimal pair. Because of the repeated

practice, I could see his progress in pronouncing the retroflex /r/ and the voiceless interdental

fricative especially at word initially. On the contrary, the sounds at word medially and word finally

are paid less attention in his speech. It can be assumed that the phoneme at word initially is more

noticeable than phonemes at other places in a word. I may have crammed too much in this section.

Even though it is related to the instruction of the alveolar fricatives, the section of plural rule might

have been overloading to him.

The next activity was about one of the suprasegmental aspect, intonation. Yosuke applies

Japanese intonation to English speaking which make his speaking less comprehensible; therefore,

instruction of intonation will be profitable for improvement. First, I explained the basic rules of the

final intonation, and then we moved on to listening activity. The first round of the listening was to

grasp the overall context of the dialogue. At the second round, I told him to mark all the stressed

sound in sentences. I intended him to make sure the concept of content vs. function in a dialogue.

The third round was focused on intonation. The dialogues not only are contextualized in the office

setting, but also contain simple question sentences, so they must be practical both in content and

linguistic aspects. When it comes to role play the dialogue, he turned to be less conscious of each

phoneme pronunciation and intonation. Therefore, I picked up some words and phrases, and make

him practice. At the second round of the role play, he became more fluent and paid attention to each

segment of the sounds.

Following should be considered:

・ Instruction of voiceless alveolar fricatives and voiceless alveopalatal fricatives

・ Non-final intonation and tag question

Day 8Target Phonemes: /s/ and //

Target Suprasegmental Aspects: non-final intonation and tag questions

Instructional GoalS will

・ Be able to pronounce correctly voiceless alveolar fricative of /s/ and voiceless alveopalatal fricative of //.

・ Be able to make non-final intonation and intonation patterns in tag questions.

Activity1: Pronunciation PracticeGoal: S will know the place of articulation of voiceless alveopalatal fricative //.Purposes:

・ To review of the places of articulation of voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives・ To let S notice the difference of the places of articulation between the voiceless alveolar

fricative /s/ and the voiceless alveopalatal fricative //.1) T and S review the place of articulation of alveolar fricatives at the website.http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html2) T asks S to say Japanese five /s/ sounds of /sa/, /shi/, /su/, /se/, and /so/. Then, T and S discuss how the place of articulation of /shi/ is different from other four sounds.3) T introduces a video clip about the place of articulation of voiceless alveopalatal fricative // from the same website. Because the video clip does not show well a subtle difference of tongue movement in /s/ and //, T shows the picture (Appendix 1) for more detailed explanation.4) T and S continue practice until S acquires the knack of it.

Activity 2: Pronunciation Practice with WordsGoals: S will

・ Be able to pronounce /s/ and // in words.・ Be able to distinguish /s/ and// in pronunciation.

Purpose: To assist S practice the target phonemes Material: Flash Cards (Appendix 2 for word list)1) T and S watch YouTube video clips together to see how /s/ and // are pronounced in words.Gawain’s Word “Sleep”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9VGJ6wY8bw&feature=relatedGawain’s Word “Shark”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUpFDcPDiA8&feature=relatedT and S practice those words together by emphasizing /s/ and // at word initial.

2) T and S go over pronunciation practice with minimal pairs of /s/ and //. (Appendix 2 for word list)3) T and S continue practice until S acquires the knack of it.

Activity3: Pronunciation in a sentenceGoal: S will be able to pronounce /s/ and // smoothly in a sentence.Purpose: To assist S to be sued to pronouncing /s/ and // in natural speaking context1) T introduces a tongue twister which contains both /s/ and //.

She sells sea shells by the sea shoe.2) At the S’s handout, IPA symbols of /s/ and // are associated with each word (Appendix 3.)3) If S had a difficulty in speaking, T may insert pauses in the sentences to scaffold his pronunciation.

Activity 4: IntonationGoals: S will

・ Be able to know patterns of the non-final intonations and intonation pattern of tag questions.・ Be able to articulate non-final intonations and tag questions.・ Know the rule of coordinating conjunctions.

Purposes:・ To assist S to be aware of intonation patterns of the non-final intonation and tag questions・ To assist S to notice the rule of coordinating conjunctions

1) T gives handouts (Appendix 4) to S and explains the patterns of the non-final intonations (rising-falling intonation and continuing rise) and tag questions with example sentences.2) S practices the intonation patterns with the example sentences.

Activity 5: Reading a picture bookGoals: S will

・ Be able to articulate various intonations he learned.・ Review the pronunciation of the retroflex /r/ and the voiced interdental fricative //.

Purpose: To let S use an integrated skills and knowledge in a natural speakingMaterial: “Would you rather be a bullfrog?” by Dr. Seuss1) T asks S to read the picture book aloud. When S reads, S has to pay attention to pronounce as correctly as possible each phoneme he learned, and also he has to put intonation in his speech.2) At some points, T and S discuss about the content to expand it.

Appendix 1 (Handout)

The place of Articulation /s/

The place of Articulation //

Appendix 2 (Flash Cards)Minimal pairs of voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and voiceless alveopalatal fricative //

see she seen sheen

seat sheet sit shit

sin shin sip ship

sick chic cell shell

suit shoot mass mash

class clash sixish

selfish shellfish

Appendix 3 (Handout)Tongue Twister

// /s/ /s/ // /s///She sells seashells by the seashore.

Appendix 4 (Handout)Patterns of Non-Final Intonations and Tag Questions

Intonation—rising and falling pattern of the pitch of the voice (= melody)

2. Non-final intonations

2.1 Rising-falling Intonation

It appears in complex sentences.

In a complex sentence, there usually are two kinds of inflection—the non-final intonation on

the first phrase and the final intonation on the second phrase. The first falling intonation (the

non-final intonation) does not go down as far as the second falling intonation (the final

intonation.)

cf.) 1. Final Intonation 1.1. Rising-falling Intonation

When the voice falls down to the bottom of the pitch range, it usually indicates that the

speaker has finished speaking.

Ex)

After she ate a sandwich, she got sick.

When I bumped into my girlfriend at the restaurant, she was with another guy.

The ship you saw at the port was from Seattle.

2.2. Continuation Rise

It is often used with lists.

The pitch of the voice rises slightly on each noun of the list, which indicates continuation of

your speech.

The pitch of the voice falls at the final noun of the list, which indicates the final intonation (the

rising-falling intonation.)

Ex)

My classmates are Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese.

I have been to Chicago, Seattle and Mississippi.

For making a cake, you’ll need egg, milk, butter, sugar and flour.

3. Tag Questions

Tag questions can have either rising-falling or final-rising intonation.

The meaning of the sentence varies depends on its final intonation.

Ex)

Shiho is from Japan, isn’t she?

→

Shiho is from Japan, isn’t she?

→

Note 1: Dots at the words in the sentences stand for word stresses in a sentence. In the printed copy of S’s

handout, I drew arrows to visualize intonation patterns.

Note 2: Reference: Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English Pronunciation, New York: Oxford

University Press.

Reflection: Day 8Mon. Nov. 24th, 2008, 3:00pm-4:00pm

I have found that voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and voiceless alveopalatal fricative // seems to

be challenging sounds for him to pronounce correctly. For a review of the last session, we covered

flash cards we did (minimal pairs of voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and voiceless interdental fricative

//, see the Appendix 1 on Day 7). Here, I could see the improvement of his pronunciation. He

became to distinguish between two sounds (voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ and voiceless interdental

fricative //) in his pronunciation. However, with regard to today’s target phonemes of voiceless

alveolar fricative /s/ and voiceless alveopalatal fricative //, he seems to have a difficulty in

pronouncing both sounds. Specifically speaking, he pronounced correctly the words such as suit,

shoot, mass, mash, class, and clash which contain simple /s/, simple //, /suw/ or /uw/. On the

contrary, he took extra effort to pronounce /si/, /siy/, /i/ or /iy/ despite of repeated practice. It may

take time to improve these sounds’ pronunciation. The purpose of showing video clip of Gawain’s

Word (from Between the Lions) is not only just for fun but also for letting him realize that a word is

made up of clusters of phonemes.

One of the instructional goals of the activity 4 was to help him understand patterns of the non-

final intonations and intonation pattern of tag questions. ESL learners sometimes don’t take

seriously the knowledge of grammar for speaking fluency. However, this is the case in which

learner’s grammar knowledge helps him to understand holistic system of speaking. Before I

introduce this topic, I was not sure if he knew the concepts of complex sentence and of conjunctions.

Therefore, I asked him to write a complex sentence first, and he could make a complex sentence

(I’m sorry that I lost the piece of paper he wrote down the sentence.) Yosuke had a tendency to raise

the non-final intonation, so we repeated to practice the example sentences several times.

Nevertheless, it might difficult to internalize this intonation pattern in a short time. The example

sentences were created to include the target phonemes. Here, he also had a little difficulty in

pronouncing the words of Chicago, Seattle, and Mississippi. It is also found that flap sound // is

still hard for him to pronounce naturally, which was found at the words of Seattle and butter.

Final Assessment

Describing job routines1) T gives a set of word cards to S. (Appendix 1)2) On the white board, T sets four columns of “too much,” “a lot,” “not much,” and “not enough.”3) Referring to his job routine, S arranges each card to one of the columns.4) T asks S about his routine, and S answers. The primary question and answer format will be like:

T: How much do you spend in ~ing?S: I spend too much/ a lot/ not much/ not enough (in) ~ing.

Then, T expands the discussion by asking more detailed information about each routine.

T assesses following items:・ The pronunciation of phonemes S learned during sessions・ Suprasegmentals: stress in a word level, stress in a sentence level, speech intonation・ Fluency・ Communication skills such as paraphrasing, repeating questions, and further explanation.

Appendix 1

check update plan chat

listen interview call query

arrange think sort out prepare

write find out attend discuss

correct teach

Final Reflection of the Tutoring Project

This project was intensive tutoring project. Considering his English proficiency (beginner to

intermediate level), urgent needs of language learning (he has to take internship at a US branch

office at the end of this semester.), I intended to offer him clear, exact and quick answers as much as

possible. In tutoring sessions, I employed many activities which have clear and specific language

instructional goals. The instructions had specific linguistics goals in pronunciation, so I could assess

clearly whether we accomplished the goals or not. Even though it is only a little, I could see his

language development throughout the sessions. It may be because he is a beginner, so a little

progress easily stood out, or it may be that his high motivation in language learning assisted his

progress in a short time frame.

His language development throughout the tutoring is little but outstanding. For example, he

became to articulate clearly and correctly retroflex /r/, labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/ at word initial

position. In regard to suprasegmental aspects, it has not completed to modify his non-final rising

intonation pattern which was one of the critical issues in his English speaking. Nevertheless, I hope

that this instruction should be able to notice him some English specific phonetic characters. I also

hope that through this tutoring session, he will be motivated more to learn English.

This tutoring project brought me a lot of profits. First, I am planning to be involved in adult EFL

education in Japan in the future, so it was a good opportunity for me to trace how adult Japanese

speaking ESL learner learns English: language (pronunciation) acquisition process, word association

pattern and communication style, etc. Second, I realized that if a learner has clear needs for

language learning and I know the target context very well, I could apply the theoretical framework

of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) in teaching. In Yosuke’s case, to bring workplace culture

into the instruction was a very powerful tool to develop his conversation and thought. Third, I found

that a teacher should have some degree of expertise in communication with students and material

development. Seeing his positive reaction to the teaching materials I created, I realized that not only

academic materials provoke their thoughtful language learning activity. Children’s books, TV

commercials, YouTube video clips, magazines, newspaper articles—these are always available in

everyday life. If a teacher is creative and thoughtful, the teaching will be creative, too. Especially

in EFL context, it’s somewhat hard for learners to see actual everyday language activity. However if

the teacher carefully choose materials, students will gain a lot from them.

This semester, I have two tutees including Yosuke and two conversation partners. Besides that I

have taught voluntary ESL class. Having various language learners at the same time, I have come to

know that every learner has quite different needs for language learning and different learning styles,

and that not all learners have clear goals for language learning (which I learned from another tutee.)

I think I was fortunate to have Yosuke as my tutee. He is the best tutee I had this semester. I really

appreciate his high motivation, patience, generousness and curiosity in learning which helped me to

teach English to him. I felt the limitation of this short-time intensive tutoring. I wish I could

continue this tutoring project with him next semester so that I would be able to see more language

improvement.