"This is Tom" = /zyzys'tom/. Pronunciation in beginners' EFL textbooks then and...

"This is Tom" = /zyzys'tom/. "This is Tom" = /zyzys'tom/. Pronunciation in beginners' EFL Pronunciation in beginners' EFL

textbooks then and nowtextbooks then and now

Włodzimierz Sobkowiak, IFA UAM

AbstractAbstract

In this presentation I first take a sentimental journey back in time to my first EFL textbooks: Nauka angielskiego, English for everyone, Present day English for foreign students and First things first. I then compare those old textbooks with a random sample of these which can currently be found on bookshop shelves: Angielski dla samouków, Angielski nie gryzie! and Korepetycje domowe. I look at the contents of the respective "lesson/unit one" in each of these books, with particular attention paid to how pronunciation is presented and taught. Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI) is used to analyze some phonolexical variables and demonstrate its potential as a tool for textbook writers.

Presentation planPresentation plan

Some theory: the importance of the textbook in FLT A tool: Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI) Data and analysis: unit one of some EFL textbooks then and

now

- changing methods

- pronunciation aspects

- some PDI phonolexical statistics Application: measuring and controlling PDI from unit one

The importance of the The importance of the textbook in FLT (1)textbook in FLT (1)

“Coursebooks have multiple roles in ELT and can serve as: a resource for presentation material (spoken and written) a source of activities for learner practice and

communicative interaction a reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary,

pronunciation, etc a syllabus (…) a resource for self-directed learning or self-access work a support for less experienced teachers (…)”(Cunningsworth 1995:7)

The importance of the The importance of the textbook in FLT (2)textbook in FLT (2)

“The importance of the textbook cannot be overestimated. It will inevitably determine the major part of the classroom teaching and the students’ out-of-class learning” (Rivers 1981:475)

“The heavy reliance on a coursebook in a foreign language classroom is a crucial issue. The fact that the teachers and learners use the coursebook and its supporting materials as their basic aid proves the importance of selecting and evaluating an appropriate coursebook” (İnal 2006:22)

Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI)Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI) 1 1

“PDI is a global numerical measure of the phonetic difficulty of the given English lexical item for Polish learners. The measure combines: (a) the most salient grapho-phonemic difficulties such learners are known to have reading English, i.e. mostly spelling pronunciation, (b) some commonest phonemic L1-interference problems known from the literature and my own teaching experience, finally (c) some of the notorious developmental L2-interference pronunciation errors observed in all learners of English regardless of their L1 background” (Sobkowiak 1999:214).

Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI)Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI) 2 2

Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI)Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI) 3 3

A sample of PDI-indexed text from the micro-corpus of EFL textbooks used in this study

Sentimental journey begins...Sentimental journey begins...

MacCallumMacCallum & Watson 1946 & Watson 1946

MacCallumMacCallum & Watson 1946 & Watson 1946

Smólska & Rusiecki Smólska & Rusiecki 19651965

Smólska & Rusiecki Smólska & Rusiecki 19651965

Candlin Candlin 19631963

Candlin Candlin 19631963

Alexander 1973 Alexander 1973

Alexander 1973, teacher’s bookAlexander 1973, teacher’s book

Korepetycje domoweKorepetycje domowe (2004 ) (2004 )

Angielski dla samoukówAngielski dla samouków (2011) (2011)

Angielski nie gryzie! Angielski nie gryzie! (2011) (2011)

SSome PDI phonolexical statisticsome PDI phonolexical statistics

  then now

sentences in sample 37 40

words in sample 135 209

average sentence length (in words) 3.65 5.22

mean PDI value per sentence 5.62 7.78

mean PDI value per word 1.54 1.48

'easy' words in sample (PDI=0) 10 59

'easy' words per sentence 0.27 1.48

High sentence PDI: global High sentence PDI: global measuremeasure

Spike has brown spots and long white ears (PDI=14)

I live in a big flat in a small neighbourhood (PDI=15)

I work with many other teachers men and women (PDI=16)

Peter and John are talking to their wives (PDI=21)

High sentence PDI: word-High sentence PDI: word-weightedweighted

Coventry is in England (2.5)

I have a girlfriend (2.5)

Peter and John are talking to their wives (2.6)

A young gentleman (2.7)

These are chairs (2.7)

Coventry has many concerts (2.8)

Pardon? (3.0)

I like music (0)My name is Max (0.5)It is a big school (0.8)His name is Spike (0.8)Nice to meet you (1.0)We must buy some tomatoes (1.0)The book is open (1.0)This is a window (1.0)I play the piano sometimes (1.0)She is very pretty and clever too (1.0)

Low sentence PDI: word-Low sentence PDI: word-weightedweighted

No the lady is not old she is young

This is his dog

I teach many students girls and boys

I work with many other teachers men and women

I live in a big flat in a small neighbourhood

She works in a bank and she lives with me

Spike has brown spots and long white ears

PDI(Z)=3 sentences: high word-PDI(Z)=3 sentences: high word-final devoicingfinal devoicing

A young gentleman

Yes

Pardon?

Thank you very much

Hello

I am a teacher

PDI(Z)=0 sentences: no word-PDI(Z)=0 sentences: no word-final devoicingfinal devoicing

I teach in a school in Coventry

They are all very intelligent

I like music

Hi I'm Jane

What's your name

Nice to meet you

ConclusionsConclusions

The changing methodological trends in FL pedagogy over the decades affect EFL textbook pronunciation treatment in a variety of ways, which means, among others, that...

Phonetic achievement of learners may vary depending on the treatment of pronunciation in the textbook used, especially considering the importance of the textbook in a formal FLT setting

The lexico-grammatical and pedagogical limitations on the content of the first lessons/units in EFL textbooks leave authors little space for phonetic control, but...

Such control of the beginning (and subsequent) textual material is feasible if attention is paid to such variables as pronunciation difficulty and L1 transfer

The Phonetic Difficulty Index (PDI) can be used to measure and control some of these variables and give the textbook authors a tool of phonetic control over the text

Bibliography: primary sourcesBibliography: primary sourcesAlexander, Louis George. 1973. First things first: an integrated course for

beginners. Warszawa: PWN. [Reprint of the first English edition, 1967, Harlow: Longman]

Birkenmajer, Maria & Elżbieta Mańko. 2004. Korepetycje domowe. Jezyk angielski (nowa edycja). Warszawa: Langenscheidt Polska.

Candlin, Edwin Frank. 1963. Present day English for foreign students. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Wiedza Powszechna. [Reprint of the first English edition, 1963, London: Hodder and Stoughton]

Dostalova, Iva, Sarka Zelenkova & James Branam. 2011. Angielski dla samouków. Ożarów Mazowiecki: Firma Księgarska Olesiejuk. [Reprint of the Czech edition, 2003, Praha: Fragment]

MacCallum & Thomas Watson. 1946. Nauka angielskiego; szybko, łatwo i przyjemnie. Celle-Unterlüss: Wydawnictwo Antoniego Markiewicza. [Reprint of the English edition, 1937, Nauka angielskiego. English for Poles. An easy and quick method; London: Orbis]

Nowak, Agata. 2011. Angielski nie gryzie! Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Edgard.Smólska, Janina & Jan Rusiecki. 1965. [1st ed. 1963]. English for everyone.

Warszawa: Państwowe Zakłady Wydawnictw Szkolnych. Back to plan

Bibliography: secondary sourcesBibliography: secondary sources

Cunningsworth, Alan. 1995. Choosing your coursebook. Oxford. Heinemann.İnal, Bülent. 2006. "Coursebook selection process and some of the most

important criteria to be taken into consideration in foreign language teaching". Journal of Arts and Sciences 5. 19-29.

Rivers, Wilga M. 1981. Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. Chicago University Press: Chicago.

Sobkowiak, Włodzimierz. 1999. Pronunciation in EFL Machine-Readable Dictionaries. Poznań: Motivex.

Sobkowiak, Włodzimierz. 2004. "Phonetic Difficulty Index". In W.Sobkowiak & E.Waniek-Klimczak (eds). 2004. Dydaktyka fonetyki języka obcego. Zeszyt Naukowy Instytutu Neofilologii Państwowej Wyższej Szkoły Zawodowej w Koninie nr 3. Konin: Wydawnictwo PWSZ w Koninie. 102-107.

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Thank you!