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Yi Zhang

APLNGAPLNGAPLNGAPLNG 410:410:410:410: TeachingTeachingTeachingTeachingAmericanAmericanAmericanAmerican EnglishEnglishEnglishEnglish PronunciationPronunciationPronunciationPronunciation

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

In this tutoring project, I have instructed my student in pronouncing American

English as a pronunciation instructor. My student is a male Chinese, who speaks only

Mandarin and is a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

For the pronunciation instruction, I detected three main problematic pronunciation of

the student and designed three consecutive lesson plans for him.

In the following sections, I will present a Learner's Profile which show the

student's cultural, educational and linguistic background. And then, three target

pronunciation issues of the student will be presented in the Diagnostic Analysis: the

problem of distinguishing /r/ and /l/ as word-initials, the problem of distinguishing /m/,

/n/ and /ƞ/ as nasal word-finals, and the problem of producing /ð/ as word-initials.

After the Diagnostic Analysis, I will present the write-up for the Lesson Plans which

describes the activities in each lesson plan and explains the reasons for these activities.

The Implementation and Evaluation comes after the write-up for Lesson Plans, and it

will describe the lessons as it actually unfolded and evaluate the teaching sessions and

the learner's progress. The final part is Reflection, which accounts for my own

observation and progress during this instruction project. The sample lesson plan,

rubrics and references will be attached to the Appendix at the end of the dossier.

Learner'sLearner'sLearner'sLearner's ProfileProfileProfileProfile

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

In this section, the learner's cultural, educational and linguistic background will

be presented. The learner's motivation and his own need for learning pronunciation

will also be demonstrated in this section.

GeneralGeneralGeneralGeneral BackgroundBackgroundBackgroundBackground

The student is a Chinese student who comes from Fujian Province, which is

among the southeastern part of China. He is now a graduate student at Penn State

University, and has a Teaching Assistantship in the Department of Mechanical

Engineering. He is also taking an ESL class in ESL 117. The student's first language is

Mandarin, and English is his second language, which are the two languages he can

speak. The student has never travelled to an English-speaking country (except the

United States), or countries with another foreign language. He uses English in English

classes which accounts nine hours per week, and when he needs to communicate with

his advisor or native speakers according to actual need.

CulturalCulturalCulturalCultural BackgroundBackgroundBackgroundBackground

During the interview, the student seems to be familiar with basic English

communication skills, and is able to compose phrases and sentences. However, the

student seems somehow hesitate in English speaking during the interview, which I

think it might because of his personality his concern of language proficiency as he is

been "examined" by the tutor. Also, as the culture of China emphasizes much on a

man's modesty, a lot of Chinese tend to be "low-key" and are not so straight forward.

This feature also presents on the Chinese that clearly he did not want to be the

conversation starter and was more willing to talk in a round-about way. For instance,

when I asked him about whether he thinks that English teaching in China is good, he

answered: "It is a good way to learn grammar and words (vocabulary), but maybe it is

better to learn pronunciation in America."

On the other hand, as Asian people like Chinese people are often quiet (which I

think it may be a negative habit for learning a language), the student is accustomed to

the silent way of learning. He said that: "We don't talk much in English classes. We

just listen to the teacher and take notes (on grammatical rules and vocabulary

explanations)." This cultural feature suggests that the production of target language is

relatively insufficient, and the student might need more productive practice in

learning American English pronunciation.

When asked whether he wants to preserve some of his Chinese accents in

speaking English (for the reason that some people do not want to change their

accents), the student said explicitly that he would like to learn the American English

pronunciation as native-like as possible. He does not think that speaking native-like

English would change his cultural identity.

EducationalEducationalEducationalEducational BackgroundBackgroundBackgroundBackground

Though he comes from the southeastern part of China, he is not influenced by

Cantonese, and speaks Mandarin as his native language. Except for him, neither of his

parents speaks English in the family (but this does not indicate that either of his

parents cannot speak English, no matter what level his or hers is). And there were no

foreign language trainings for him in his childhood.

Before middle school, the student only learned Chinese (in this case Mandarin)

and there were on other language lessons available. He started learning English at the

age of 12 years old as a second language, which indicates that the language onset of

English is 10 years. He has learned the language in English classes in China during

middle school, high school and college. During ten years of study, English has always

been a major course in the curriculum throughout each academic year, and the number

of undergraduate semesters in which English is taught as a major course is five.

However, the teaching of English in China seldom pays any attention to the students'

communicative ability such as oral English skills and pronunciation. And the student

experiences the same as most of Chinese students, and he told me that: "The only

thing we learn in English classes is grammar and vocabulary... and there are no tests

or activities for oral English or pronunciation." When asked about the way of learning

English pronunciation out of class, the student answered :" I watch movies and learn

English from them... also TV (series)..." This indicates that though the student has

little access of English pronunciation training in English classes in China, he has

developed his own learning strategy.

The student also mentioned that he has some informal language learning during

years of study. He said that he has some foreign friends in China, and before he came

here, he often talked with them and tried to achieve the native-like English by

communicating with them. However, the student himself showed that he did not value

those experience too much as learning pronunciation. He said: "I talked with them a

lot, (but) I had to think more about what I am trying to say. The pronunciation was

often ignored in the conversation." He also mentioned that preparing for the TOEFL

test was a great learning experience of English. In the interview he said :" I also

prepared for the TOEFL (test), and I practiced a lot in listening and speaking. I

learned something about pronunciation in this procedure..." However, he also

admitted that the practice for TOEFL test was very specified and was confined for just

high scores in standard tests. There was little time or energy for the student to learn

pronunciation from the test.

In general, the student has learned English, basically English grammar, for 10

years in China's educational institutions. And he also has his own method (mainly

through imitation) in English pronunciation training.

PersonalPersonalPersonalPersonal GoalsGoalsGoalsGoals inininin EnglishEnglishEnglishEnglish andandandand itsitsitsits PronunciationPronunciationPronunciationPronunciation

In the interview, the student also suggested his motivation and personal goals in

English learning and trainings for pronunciation.

The student said in the interview:" I want to learn English because I want to study

in America, and it will help me to find a better job." As suggested, the motivation of

learning English in this case is mainly concerned with the consideration of study and

career. The emphasis on English learning is on the actual use in learning processes

and workplaces. The student also said that even he had not chosen to study in America,

he would need English in order to find a job in China. And the better English he

acquires, the better chances that he will have a good job.

He also said that with a better American English pronunciation, he can do better

in his Teaching Assistantship and may find a job here in America. He wishes that he

can acquire a very native-like American English pronunciation during the

pronunciation training, so that he can communicate freely with Americans and blend

into the American culture.

PersonalPersonalPersonalPersonal InterestInterestInterestInterest inininin thethethethe CorrectionCorrectionCorrectionCorrection ofofofof PronunciationsPronunciationsPronunciationsPronunciations

The student also suggests his personal interest in the correction of pronunciations.

In the interview he said that:" I would like to work on the /θ/ and /ð/ sounds. I find it

hard to pronounce." Just as many other Chinese students, the student has little

confidence in producing the "th" sound, for in neither Mandarin nor Cantonese exists

this particular sound.

Beside for /θ/ and /ð/ sounds, the student says that the tongue positions during the

producing of English words baffles him all the time. He is eager to learn the

knowledge of how the tongue is placed during pronunciation and hope to find a way

to produce sounds naturally.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

The student is a typical Mandarin speaker, and is eager to learn American

pronunciation for communication and study. And he is deeply influenced by the Asian

culture and has little access to oral English for many years under Chinese institutions.

DiagnosticDiagnosticDiagnosticDiagnosticAnalysisAnalysisAnalysisAnalysis

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction forforforfor thisthisthisthis SectionSectionSectionSection

This section presents the three major phonetic problems of the student, which are

the problem of distinguishing /r/ and /l/ as word-initials, the problem of distinguishing

/n/, /m/ and /ƞ/ as nasal-finals, and the problem of producing /ð/ as word-initials. The

description of the problems will be presented and samples of each pattern will be

demonstrated. Also, a potential problem, which is the problem of producing /æ/ and

use /ɛ/ as the substitute, will be described with examples.

TheTheTheThe ProblemProblemProblemProblem ofofofof DistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishing /r//r//r//r/ andandandand /l//l//l//l/ asasasasWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-Initials

The student has a problem of producing /r/ sound and constantly pronounce the

word-initial /r/ as /l/. This leads to the confusion of "red" and "led", "read" and "lead",

etc.

During the interview, I started a spontaneous speech in which I asked the students

about his basic information, hobbies, career goals and such a like. The students

showed little confidence during conversation when he pronounced words such as

"read", "right", "realize" and "red" and often pronounced them as /liyd/, /layt/,

/lɪəlayz/, and /led/. This clearly suggests that the student has problems in pronouncing

the /r/ sound and regularly substitute the sound for /l/. However, with further

communication, I found out that the student had no problem in producing words such

as "great", "bring", "freely", and "pronounce", etc. This, on the other hand, suggests

that the students do not have problems in producing the sounds that are not initiated

with the /r/ sound. With closer examination, it is clear that the student constantly

stretches out the tongue and flaps it during the pronunciation of word-initial /r/, which

makes the /r/ sound similar to the /l/ sound.

The problem that are shown in the student's pronunciation suggests a very

common feature for Chinese students in English pronunciation. "Chinese speakers

often pronounce word-initial /r/ as /w/. This can lead to confusion between words

such as 'right' and 'white'. Alternatively, they may substitute /l/ for /r/, particularly in

initial consonants clusters" (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992: 116). As it is suggested, the

constant use of /l/ instead of /r/ in word-initials shows this feature. Also during the

class discussions about the problem of distinguishing /l/ and /r/ sound, we talked

about the potential influence of the local dialect on language learners. And because

the student comes from the southern part of China, where a lot of provinces' dialects

do not make distinguish between /r/ and /l/ and use /l/ to substitute /r/, the student's

pronunciation problem may also be caused by his dialect background and language

habit.

However, there is an interesting fact that the student was totally capable of

producing the words such as "rope" and "rote", in which the sound that follows the

word-initial /r/ is /ow/. One possible explanation would be that because /ow/ is a

rounded vowel, there is little room for the student to flap his tongue and produce the

/l/ sound.

TheTheTheThe ProblemProblemProblemProblem ofofofof DistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishing /m/,/m/,/m/,/m/, /n//n//n//n/ andandandand ////ƞƞƞƞ//// asasasas NasalNasalNasalNasalWord-FinalsWord-FinalsWord-FinalsWord-Finals

The student has a problem in distinguishing /m/, /n/ and /ƞ/ sounds, which

confuses understanding in the words such as "sin" and "sing", "seem" and "seen",

"some" and "sun", etc.

In the interview, the student made several clarifications when pronouncing the

word "seem" and still sounded like the word "seen", and pronounced "sun" instead of

"some" during conversations. And in the passage reading process, the pronunciation

of /n/ and /ƞ/ in the words was very similar. This suggests that the student might have

the problem of distinguishing and producing the /m/, /n/, and /ƞ/ sounds. With the help

of some minimal pairs (in sentences) consist of /m/, /n/ and /ƞ/, the student's problem

became clear. For example, the sentence: "It is a sin to sing this song." The transcript

of the student is: "ɪt ɪs ə sɪn tu sɪn ðɪs sʋƞ." In order to verify this phonetic pattern, I

used other minimal pairs such as "grin" and "ding", "can" and "came". The transcript

turned out to be "grɪƞ" and "dɪƞ", and "kæn" and "kæn". This can potentially cause the

confusion of meaning during conversations.

As is suggested in the book "Teaching American English Pronunciation, due to

the shorter word-final nasal sounds, Chinese English speakers may not be able to

identify the nasal that has been produced, which leads to the confusion of words such

as "sin" and "sing" (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992: 116). The student in this case shows the

same common problem that a Chinese English speaker would have. The key in the

problem of producing those sounds is that the student does not have the sense of

lengthen the words with the final nasal sounds, and constantly shorten them with his

Chinese language habit.

Also, the student has a typical problem in producing the /n/ sound when it is the

final nasal sound. For example, the student will pronounce "down" as "daʋ" and drop

the /n/ sound. Though this problem usually happens on students with Cantonese

background, in this case, it happens regularly on this Mandarin background student as

well.

TheTheTheThe ProblemProblemProblemProblem ofofofof ProducingProducingProducingProducing ////ðððð//// asasasasWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-Initials

The student has a problem in producing the /ð/ sound, especially in long

sentences during casual conversation or reading, which makes it difficult for

understandable communication.

As in Mandarin there is no /ð/ sound, for the words such as "that", "the", "there"

and so on which has the initial /ð/ sound, the student does have problems in producing

them. In the book "Teaching American English Pronunciation", the problem of

Chinese student producing /ð/ sound is also pointed out, which says:" Chinese

students will often substitute either /t/ or /f/ for /θ/ in 'think' and /d/ for /ð/ in 'this'"

(Avery & Ehrlich, 1992: 117). However, in this case the student did not use /d/ as a

substitute for /ð/, but he used /l/ instead, especially during conversations with rapid

speed. For example, the transcript for sentence:" These are the final versions of the

tape" is "lɪz ar lə faynl vərʃəns əf lə teyp." The /ð/ sound is clearly substituted by the /l/

sound. In conversation, the student constantly used /l/ as the word-initial every time

when he produced the preposition "the", which turned out to be "lə". However, this

phonetic phenomenon only happens when /ð/ is the word-initial. For the words that

are not initiated with /ð/, student have few problems in producing them. Also, for

single words such as "the", "this" and "that", the student was able to pronounce them

correctly as "ðə", "ðɪs" and "ðæt".

With more interactive conversations and the use of minimal-pair materials, the

way of the student's pronunciation of /ð/ sound is revealed. In conversations with

normal speed, to stretch out the tongue between the teeth and produce /ð/ was very

uncomfortable for the student and he reduced the /ð/ with a quick tongue flapping to

avoid pauses in sentences. As the tongue was flapped, the sound similar to /l/ was

produced. This statement is verified with the evidence shown in the separate practice

of /ð/. The student had not problem in producing the single sound /ð/ or single words

that were started with /ð/. But when it came to the sentences and paragraphs, the

student often tended to use /l/.

TheTheTheThe PotentialPotentialPotentialPotential ProblemProblemProblemProblem ofofofof ProducingProducingProducingProducing ////ææææ//// andandandand UseUseUseUse ////ɛɛɛɛ//// asasasas thethethethe SubstituteSubstituteSubstituteSubstitute

The student also has a potential problem in the pronunciation of vowels, in which

he substitutes /æ/ with /ɛ/ and makes confusions on words such as "bed" and "bad",

"pen" and "pan", and so on.

During the interview, the /æ/ sound in words such as "bad", "lack" and "strategy"

were somehow degenerated to the /ɛ/ sound and became the sounds as /bɛd/, /lɛk/ and

/strɛtəʤɪ/. However, this substitute of the sounds was not constant, and the student

seemed to be baffled by /æ/. For further clarification, the student was asked to

produce single /æ/ and /ɛ/, and he could sometimes make a difference by comparing

them separately. This shows that the student might be unfamiliar with the

pronunciation strategy in producing mid and low vowels.

On the other hand, as Chinese speakers who have this problem is particularly

severe when /æ/ is before nasals (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992: 118), the check for the

words such as "ten" and "tan", and "bend" and "band" is necessary. And in this case,

the problem showed in producing the former pairs is more or less at the same level of

the other patterns of words which contain the /æ/ sound.

Write-upWrite-upWrite-upWrite-up forforforfor thethethethe LessonLessonLessonLesson PlanPlanPlanPlan::::

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction

In this section, each activity that is included in the lesson plan for the student's

problem of distinguishing /r/ and /l/ will be briefly described. And the specific reason

for the activity will also be explained. The learner's progress through the practice of

each activity will be demonstrated with the assessment measures in the activities as

well.

PartPartPartPartA:A:A:A: PerceptionPerceptionPerceptionPerception

In the first activity "Listen carefully", the instructor will ask the student to listen

carefully to the words initiated with /r/ sound. In doing this activity, the student will

have a clear view of the sound of /r/, and set up the bases for further /l/ and /r/

distinction. As the student has a problem in substitute /r/ with /l/ in words with /r/ as

word-initials, this perception activity is the first step for him to get to know the correct

pronunciation of /r/. The correct input by the instructor will help the student to have

the awareness of the right pronunciation of /r/. This activity is heavily input based.

In the next activity "Same or Different", the instructor will read the pairs and

phrases which all start with /r/, and the student will distinguish them and tell the

instructor whether they are the same or different. This activity will help the student

understand the different sounds of /l/ and /r/ as word-initials, and he will then have the

awareness of the problem, which during the interview and in the diagnostic analysis

was an impediment in comprehensive communication. As the student has no problem

in producing /r/ when it is not word-initials, this practice also targets /r/ only as

word-initials. This activity, though still emphasizes input, requires the student to make

distinguish between /r/ and /l/.

In the third activity "Yes or No" the student will be asked to try to find out

whether there is /r/ sound as word-initials in the example phrases and tell the

instructor their answers accordingly. In doing this activity, the student will consolidate

the correct pronunciation of /r/ by making judgement without any comparisons as it

had in the second activity. As the student has already had the awareness of the

problematic /r/ as word-initials, this activity will let the student to further confirm this

problem, and gain confidence for the productive activities afterwards.

PartPartPartPart B:B:B:B: ProductionProductionProductionProduction

The first activity is "Repetition Practice", in which the instructor will read each

word in the list and the student will be asked to repeat the words after the instructor.

This repetition practice will allow the student to produce the /r/ sound as word-initials

in a guided procedure, so that the student will get to know the way of this type of

pronunciation in single words during this practice. As it is shown in the diagnostic

analysis, the student has a problem in the tongue position during the production of /r/

as word-initials. By doing this repetition practice, the student will be more and more

familiar with the tongue position during the sound production. As the first step for the

student's output practice, repetition practice is a simple and effective way to start with.

Next, the student will be asked to read the sentences in "Reading the Sentences"

which include different words with /r/ sound. The objective is to let the student

produce the /r/ sound in a less guided way, and be able to apply the correct /r/ sound

in sentences, which allow little time to think and replace the tongue position during

production. As the student has more problems in producing this sound in natural

speech, the practice in sentence level will be a more challenging learning stage for the

student, and will equip him with the ability to produce /r/ correctly in long sentences.

The progress of the student will be assessed in this activity as he produces the sounds

in sentence level practice, which is a step further compared with words in the first

activity.

The following activity is a dialogue, in which the student will read the dialogue

with the instructor, and try to act it out during reading. The objective of this activity is

that the student will be able to pronounce /r/ in a dialogue with actual communicative

content, and set up the bases for further less controlled practice. As it was shown in

the interview that the student substituted /r/ with /l/ as word-initials, this dialogue will

train the student's pronunciation of /r/ in an interactive communication. The learner's

progress will be further assessed in this activity as the student will have to produce the

/r/ and /l/ initiated sounds and act the dialogue out at the same time.

For activity "Communicative Conversation", the student will be asked to use the

words start with /r/ and put them in a dialogue with the instructor. In doing so, the

student will be able to pronounce /r/ as word-initials in a mission, which imitates the

authentic situation in everyday lives. As the practice is very communicative, the

student actually faces the same difficulty in producing /r/ as word-initials as he did

during the interview. This requires the student to have a clear sense of tongue position

in the production and pronounce in a correct way to carry out the mission without

making confusions in meaning. Compared with the former activities, this activity

actually assesses the student's ability to produce the sound which presents the learner's

pronunciation progress in a "real" world situation.

In the activity "Making a Story", the student will be asked to make a story with

the words given. In so doing, the student will be able to produce /r/ as word-initials

and express himself at the same time. Though the words given are aimed at the

practice of /r/ as word-initials and contrast /l/ as word-initials, the topics and the

content are decided by the student himself, which allows more freedom for the student

in the practice. In this way, the activity makes it even harder for the production of /r/

as word-initials, because the student need to think of the content without additional

information and pay attention to the /r/ sound during speaking at the same time.

AssessmentAssessmentAssessmentAssessment

The assessment for this lesson is called "Correction", in which the student will

judge whether there are mistakes in the sample sentences read by the instructor and

correct them with right ones. The objective of this activity is to assess the student's

progress in both the perceptive and productive ability. This is the most challenging

activity for the student in which he must combine his perceptive and productive

abilities.

For the student, the assessment will be an out-of-class practice which is a tongue

twister practice. In doing the tongue twisters which requires a quick and accurate

tongue position, the student will further train his muscles and become more familiar

with /r/ as word-initials. Success in these tongue twisters will make the student at ease

during the actual daily conversations. Also, as tongue twisters are very challenging

practice, they are better practiced for the student back home rather than in front of the

instructor which might harm the student's confidence if not successful.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

The activities that are listed are designed with the development of the learner's

progress, and for each of the productive activity the learner's progress will be assessed

as the difficulty rises. The Final assessment for the student is quite challenging, but

can actually unfold the progress both of the student's perceptive and productive

progress. The tongue twister practice for outside activity is also challenging but far

more interesting, and they are easy to be carried out out of the class.

ImplementationImplementationImplementationImplementation andandandand EvaluationEvaluationEvaluationEvaluation

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction forforforfor thisthisthisthis sectionsectionsectionsection

This section mainly discusses the actual implementation of the tutoring project

and how the student has made progress on the three phonetic problems (the problem

of distinguishing /l/ and /r/ as word-initials, the problem of distinguishing /m/, /n/ and

/ƞ/ as nasal word-finals and the problem producing /ð/ as word-initials). There are six

sessions and each lasts one hour. Detailed description of the implementation and

evaluation of each tutoring sessions will be illustrated. The assessment measures will

also be presented and evaluated along with the description of the learner's progress.

LessonLessonLessonLesson 1:1:1:1: DistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishing /r//r//r//r/ andandandand /l//l//l//l/ asasasasWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-Initials

A. Implementation

The first section of my lesson is Perception. It is designed to help the student

perceive the target pronunciation (in this case, it is /r/) and understand the difference

between the target sound and his substitution for the sound (in this case, it is /l/). The

first step for this section is called "Listen Carefully" and the student listened to the

words with /r/ as word initials. After I told the student the instruction of this activity, I

read the sample words and for each word I read twice. And next, it is "Same and

Different" in which the student was asked to tell whether the minimal pairs of words

and expressions have the same initial pronunciation or not. I read the sample pairs

with a longer pronunciation and read twice for each pair. And the student responded

with "same" and "different" accordingly. After that, it was the activity "Yes or No"

and he should say "Yes" if it starts with /r/, and say "No" if it is not. I read each word

twice and with normal speed. He stopped for some times and asked me to repeat the

words. I repeated the words with a longer pronunciation and then the student can

make it clear about the words.

The second section is Production, in which the student will produce the sound in

different activities and I can therefore assess his progress during this section. First I

did a repetition practice. I read the /r/ initiated words, and asked the student to

pronounce the words each time after I read them. Every time when the student had

problems in producing the words, I would stop and repeat the word, and point to my

mouth to show the student my mouth movement. After this activity, I applied the

dialogue which is designed with many /r/ and /l/ initiated words. I explained to the

student that we would take turns to role play this dialogue with the transcript. I acted

as Micheal, and he Garry. After the reading, I addressed some of the problematic

pronunciation during the reading and demonstrated again for the student. Next, I listed

a shopping list for the student which contained the vegetables and fruit that are started

with /r/ or /l/. I led the student and read the words in the list, and then showed him the

model dialogue pattern which he could use. Each time, I pointed to one type of

vegetables/fruit and asked the student to use it in the dialogue and I responded him as

a shop-assistant. The last part of Production is "Make a Story". I listed several words

initiated with /r/ and /l/ and asked the student to use those words to make up a story in

five minutes and then tell the story to me. And it was carried out by the student as

suggested.

B. Evaluation of the implementation process

In the Perception part, "Listen Carefully" and "Same of Different" went well and

the student can tell the difference of /r/ and /l/ with the sample words and the help of

minimal pairs. But in the last part of Perception, the "Yes or No" activity did not go

well. In this activity, the student had no contrastive minimal pairs and he had to figure

out the initial sound by himself. Maybe it is because the insufficiency of minimal pair

activities, the student was apparently unprepared for the new one. I think in the future,

I will prepare more contrastive practice before this activity, and single out some words

from the minimal pairs for the student to distinguish, so that the student will be

warmed up and be more prepared for "Yes or No" section.

In Production, the repetition activity and the "Make a Story" activity went on well

and the student could produce the initiated /r/ correctly. But I think that I will cut

some of the repetition practice in the future, because student tends to get impatient

with too much repetition practice. For the role-playing dialogue practice and the

shopping activity, I think that the acting was not authentic and that the role-play

seemed like reading practice. In the future, I will use some tools or pictures in order to

create an authentic situation and abandon the model dialogue so that the student can

have more choices.

C. Implementation and evaluation of the assessment

The assessment for the student is designed with the "Tongue Twister" practice. I

used two types of tongue twisters, in which one contains only /r/ initiated words and

the other is a mix of /r/ and /l/ initiated words. The student's pronunciation of /l/ and

/r/ will be examined in this activity along with the fluency of sentences. In

implementation, I first read the sentence in a normal speed and asked the student to

read it afterwards. In the process of this activity, I encouraged the student to speak

more and more quickly and trained his muscle memorization. The student could

finally read the tongue twisters in a rapid speed with clear and correct pronunciation.

This assessment went very well, though before the lesson he could not even

pronounce the single /r/ initiated words. There were only one or two confusing

pronunciations of /l/ and /r/, and the flow of language was relatively fluent. But in

order to assess the student more clearly, in the future I will put this tongue twister

practice at the beginning of Production, so that in the final assessment the student will

feel accomplishment and progress with the contrast.

D. The learner's progress:

The learner established a perceivable ability in distinguishing /r/ and /l/ as

word-initials after the perceptive activities by answering correctly of the questions

from the instructor. And through the practice of minimal pairs, the student was able to

produce the /r/ initiated words individually. The successful demonstration of further

less controlled activities also showed the student's progress in production. Finally, the

outstanding outcome of tongue twisters demonstrated that the student has acquired the

habit of muscle movement and can produce /r/ as word-initials automatically.

LessonLessonLessonLesson 2:2:2:2: DistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishingDistinguishing /m/,/m/,/m/,/m/, /n//n//n//n/ andandandand ////ƞƞƞƞ//// asasasas NasalNasalNasalNasalWord-FinalsWord-FinalsWord-FinalsWord-Finals

A. Implementation

The first section for this pronunciation instruction is a listening practice. The first

thing I did was to use prepared minimal pairs of words which end with /m/ /n/ and /ƞ/,

and read them to the student and asked whether he could tell the difference among

those words. After this listening practice, I noticed that the student had no problems

distinguishing between /m/ and /n/ or /m/ and /ƞ/, but between /n/ and /ƞ/. So I jumped

over the contrastive practice that contains /m/ and only did the ones with /n/ and /ƞ/.

Next, I used the chart of pronunciation from The Phonetic Chart

(http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm) to show the student the different sounds of /n/

and /ƞ/ and the visual chart of muscle movement from Library of English Sounds

(http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/index.html) to show the

movement inside the mouth. I led the student pronounce these two different sounds

separately and added much more emphasis on the nose when producing /ƞ/ in order to

demonstrate the difference. After doing this, I turned back to the initial minimal pairs

and tested the student, and the result was positive. After the minimal pair practice, I

used the dialogue "Sing the Song", in which words such as "inn", "bring" and "sin"

were part of the song's name. The student asked me: "Can you sing the song?" and I

responded: "Which one?" and he answered with the song's name. After this activity, I

prepared a reading passage which had many words ended with /n/ and /ƞ/. I asked the

student to read the passage and pay attention to /n/ and /ƞ/ as nasal-finals. I also had

the student record himself when he was reading. The student then checked his reading

and noticed the difference of the two targeted sounds. The last part of the tutoring

session is a spontaneous dialogue in which I discussed with the student about skiing.

We talked about different types of skiing and our experience of skiing.

B. Evaluation of the implementation process

The listening practice and the use of audio/visual charts were very helpful in

detecting the student's real problems and explaining the way sounds produce. And the

repetition practice with minimal pairs were useful for me to decide whether the

student could produce /n/ and /ƞ/ differently. The use of recordings in the reading

passage section went on well and the student could assess himself with the help of the

recordings. However in the activity "Sing the Song", the student expressed anxiety

and uninterest, which I think it might be it was too easy or the practice pattern was not

interesting. In the future, I will first play the songs first (it must be famous ones) and

ask the student to guess the name of the songs and then carry out the dialogue. This

may help make the activity more challenging and interesting for the student.

C. Implementation and evaluation of the assessment

The assessment for the student is to learn a song called "Seasons in the Sun" by

Westlife. I asked the student to learn to sing this song and record himself during

singing, and try to assess himself on the different nasal-finals. The criteria for this

assessment is how the student clearly pronounce differently regarding /n/ and /ƞ/ with

the contrast of words such as "season" and "sun", etc.

After a week when I checked the student with the song, the result was

encouraging. He could sing the song with a better difference between /n/ and /ƞ/. And

though there was a problem of over-exaggeration, he appeared to understand the way

to produce the two different sounds as I pulled out some words from the song and had

him pronounce them.

D. The learner's progress

The result of the minimal pair practice after audio/visual explanation suggested

that the learner was clear that the ways of producing /n/ and /ƞ/ are different. With the

activities that were designed with a great amount of contrast, the student gradually

learned the difference in /n/ and /ƞ/ pronunciation. And the successful result of the

assessment also showed the student's progress in producing /n/ and /ƞ/ differently.

LessonLessonLessonLesson 3:3:3:3: ProducingProducingProducingProducing ////ðððð//// asasasasWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-InitialsWord-Initials

A. Implementation

The first section of this lesson is Detection, in which it is designed with different

possible sounds that could be used by the learner to substitute /ð/ as word-initials. I

used sample words such as "dice", "lies" and "thighs" to detect whether the student

had problems in perception. The result turned out that he could distinguish all the

words easily, and so I abandoned other perceptive activities and jumped to production.

The first productive activity is demonstrated with minimal pairs of /l/ and /ð/ as

word-initials. I read the words and expressions in pairs and the student repeated after

me. The result was that he had no problems in producing the single words with /ð/ as

word-initials. Because of the result, I jumped several activities and turned to the

reading material which contained words with initiated /ð/. I asked the student to read

the passage and he substituted /ð/ with /l/ in the reading. So I told he that the tongue

should not flap in the mouth but rather stay in between the teeth. And then, I asked

him to read the passage again. Next, I asked the student to exaggerate the sound by

letting him pull out his tongue as much as he could when producing /ð/ initiated

words, and told him to memorize the muscle movement in contrast with /l/. After the

instruction, I asked the student to read the passage again with exaggerated

pronunciation of /ð/. The final activity is a "The 'th' Number Song"

(http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/songs/thsong2.html). I asked the student to first read

the lyrics of the song, and then I played the music for two times and had the student

learn the tune of the song. At last, the student sang the song and I accompanied with

him to sing the song.

B. Evaluation of the implementation process

The Detection activity and the minimal pairs of production were of great help in

determining the student's problematic /ð/ which only substitute with /l/ and occurs in

sentences. The reading activity was also successful in revealing the problematic

pattern, and the follow-up explanation was practical (though to some extent

"non-standard" because of the over exaggeration). But for the final activity in which

the student should learn to sing the song, I found out that the material was somehow

childish and was not suitable for the student. "The 'th' Number Song" was more like a

song that should be taught in elementary schools. In the future, I will try to find out

something that is more suitable for the learner's age and educational background.

C. Implementation and evaluation of the assessment

The assessment for the student was to read the poem "The Girl I Saved"

(http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2010/10/friday-poem-the-girl-i-saved.html). I

asked him to record himself so that he could do self-assessment at home. Also, I

would be able to know his progress by checking the use of /ð/ in the recording.

The assessment was effective. As I checked with the student's recording, it was

clear that he paid much attention to /ð/ and paused for some times when before

producing the sound. He exaggerated many words such as "the", "thanked" and "that"

in the same way we did during class by stretching the tongue out of the mouth.

Though this over-exaggeration in reading the poem was a little awkward, he stopped

using /l/ as the substitution of /ð/.

D. The learner's progress:

As the learner only had problems in producing long sentences, the reading

practice and exaggeration of the sound made the student cleared about the muscle

movement. And the success of singing "The 'th' Number Song" suggested that the

student had acquired the ability to produce /ð/ even in sentence level.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

In general, the student is now able to distinguish the three patterns of sounds and

produce them clearly in communication without misunderstanding. He has gained the

awareness of the three patterns of sounds and are now accustomed to the muscle

movement of these sounds.

ReflectionReflectionReflectionReflection

As a pronunciation instructor, I had five classes with my Chinese student and

helped him with the three major phonetic problems that causes the misunderstanding

of meanings. And I have felt great progress during and after the tutoring project, in

which I have learned a lot for being a pronunciation instructor.

Before this project, I used to think that teaching pronunciation is merely another

type of English teaching, and it should be relatively simple as I only need to tell the

student the correct way to pronounce certain sounds. However, when I actually have

the opportunity to be a pronunciation instructor, I find out that it is not the case. And

through the instruction, I myself have progressed as a pronunciation instructor.

First, I have learned that the gathering of the learner's language history is of great

importance. I have become aware that the information of the student's cultural,

educational and linguistics background reveals a great deal of the student, and as a

instructor I can actually anticipate the potential problematic pronunciation patterns.

For example, in class we discussed the importance of knowing the student's linguistic

background. In the interview, I specifically asked the language background that

whether he speaks Mandarin or Cantonese, which both have their own potential

patterns of certain English sounds. By doing these, I saved a lot of time, and built up a

leaner profile which contributes to the final dossier, thus making the project

systematic and professional.

Second, I have learned how to transcript correctly from the student's oral English

samples, and diagnose the phonetic problems. I used to wonder what should I start

with the student with his pronunciation, or in a simple way, what should be done for

the first step. As it was discussed in class that to acquire the speech samples of the

student and make transcripts of them can help the instructor know the exact

pronunciation of the student and cross out the repeated problematic pronunciation

patterns. This helps me to establish a perceivable ability that I will analyze the

student's pronunciation critically, and then apply my knowledge of phonetic symbols

to "target" the problematic pronunciation which is most frequent in the direct

transcripts.

Third, I have become much clearer about the design of well targeted lesson plans

and acquired the awareness of the design of backup lesson plans. I learned that

usually there are two parts of a pronunciation lesson plan that one is perception and

the other is production. In the design of perception, I realized that though enough

examples and minimal pairs are very useful in detecting the student's ability to

recognize or distinguish sounds, those methods should not be "over-dosed", but

should be flexible according to the student's responses. For example, if the student has

already showed the awareness of the difference of /l/ and /r/ in the first perceivable

activity, there is no need to apply the similar activities in order to avoid repetition and

redundancy. In the design of production, I now tend to use more communicative

activities, such as role playing, targeted but less controlled conversations and so on.

Though sometimes, the problematic pronunciation of the student only appears a

couple of times during these activities, the student will feel that he/she has gained

experience in the authentic language environment and the way to pronounce the

sounds in a natural way. This is also a good way of assessment, for that the instructor

will know the student's progress in a natural speech rather than in a controlled practice

in which student pays much attention in his/her pronunciation. What's more, during

the actual teaching, I realized the importance of preparing the backup lesson plans. At

times, there were situations in which I found that the activity for the student did not fit

the student's level or interest during the actual class. This was extremely frustrating

when I noticed the student struggled to pronounce the sounds required in the activity.

However, if there is to be a backup lesson plan in which some activities are revised or

changed by other types of activities, I will have the opportunity to alternate some of

the original activities accordingly.

During the instruction, I have found that sometimes to show the student with the

movement of the mouth for certain sounds are very useful. Besides the use of charts

or audio materials, the demonstration of the target sound with a longer pronunciation

presents clearer muscle movement for the student to observe. I can also use my figure

to point out the tongue movement for the student and even exaggerate the actual

pronunciation just to show the different ways that sounds can be produced. This direct

presentation helps a lot in the explanation of problematic pronunciation, and the

student would in fact "feel" the different muscle movement as he adjusts the way he

produce sounds.

A possible influence I had had on the pronunciation tutoring experiences would

be that I will consider more of the student's own need in the future. Maybe it is

because of my educational background in China where students are asked to do things

by teachers' orders, I am not accustomed to ask the student's own opinion about what

he/she likes or what he/she wants to learn. I sometimes "assume" that the student

needs to know some pronunciation knowledge. However, with the experience of this

pronunciation tutoring project, I become aware that the student has their own goals of

pronunciation, and they know what they need most in the correction of problematic

sounds. In first lesson, I did not asked the student's own need in learning American

English pronunciation, nor the sounds that he thinks is problematic (though I made it

up in the following classes). But I think in the future, certain attention shall be paid in

the students' own need of their pronunciation.

To conclude, I have learned a lot from the pronunciation instruction and gained

much experience about how to carry out a lesson for pronunciation practice. I become

aware of the order of data collecting, diagnostic analysis and lesson design. These will

greatly help me for my future teaching career.

AppendixAppendixAppendixAppendix

AppendixAppendixAppendixAppendix 1:1:1:1: AAAA LessonLessonLessonLesson PlanPlanPlanPlan forforforfor TTTTwowowowo TTTTutoringutoringutoringutoring SSSSessionsessionsessionsessions

////rrrr//// andandandand ////llll//// asasasas word-initialsword-initialsword-initialsword-initials

PPPPERCEPTIONERCEPTIONERCEPTIONERCEPTION PPPPRODUCTIONRODUCTIONRODUCTIONRODUCTION

1. Listen carefully

2. Same or different

3. Yes or no

1. Repetition practice(words and phrases)

2. Usage in sentences

3. Dialog reading with role playing

4. Guided conversation

5. Make a story

6. Correction (Assessment)

7. Homework (tongue twisters)

TargetTargetTargetTarget Sound:Sound:Sound:Sound: /r//r//r//r/

PerceptionPerceptionPerceptionPerception

1. Target /r/ as word-initials

ListenListenListenListen carefullycarefullycarefullycarefully forforforfor thethethethe followingfollowingfollowingfollowing wordswordswordswords startsstartsstartsstarts withwithwithwith /r/,/r/,/r/,/r/, andandandand telltelltelltell thethethethe studentstudentstudentstudent totototo trytrytrytrytotototo perceiveperceiveperceiveperceive thethethethe commoncommoncommoncommon featuresfeaturesfeaturesfeatures ofofofof them:them:them:them:

Red Read Rat RootResponse Recent Recognize RumpRam Ran Race ReasonRecall Resign

2. Target /r/ as word-initials; contrast /l/ as word-initials

SameSameSameSame andandandand different.different.different.different. ListenListenListenListen totototo thethethethe followingfollowingfollowingfollowing pairspairspairspairs ofofofof wordswordswordswords andandandand phrases,phrases,phrases,phrases, andandandand telltelltelltellmemememe ifififif thethethethe wordswordswordswords areareareare samesamesamesame orororor different.different.different.different. SaySaySaySay "same""same""same""same" orororor "different":"different":"different":"different":

Examples: "Lack"-----"rack" different"Right"-----"Right" same

Lead/Read D he writes about/he likes about DRed/Led D red eyes/red noses SRat/Rat S lean upon/ear ring DLong/Long S nice rum/a huge lump DRest/Rest SRazor/Laser DLap/Rap DReign/Ring SRump/Lump DLace/Race D

3. Target /r/ as word-initials; contrast /l/ as word-initials

YesYesYesYes orororor no.no.no.no. TryTryTryTry totototo findfindfindfind outoutoutout whetherwhetherwhetherwhether theretheretherethere isisisis /r//r//r//r/ soundsoundsoundsound asasasas word-initialsword-initialsword-initialsword-initials andandandand answeransweransweranswer"Yes""Yes""Yes""Yes" orororor "No":"No":"No":"No":

later N lack Nwrite Y rotation Ylens N left Nroot Y regard as Yresponse Y lie down Nlack N recall Y

ProductionProductionProductionProduction

1. Target /r/ as word-initials

RepetitionRepetitionRepetitionRepetition practice.practice.practice.practice. TheTheTheThe studentstudentstudentstudent willwillwillwill repeatrepeatrepeatrepeat eacheacheacheach wordwordwordword afterafterafterafter thethethethe instructor:instructor:instructor:instructor:

read red rememberreason react refundrecent reunite regainresponsible rehearse rustrudimentary right raceResistance

2. Target /r/ as word-initials

PracticePracticePracticePractice withwithwithwith sentences.sentences.sentences.sentences. TheTheTheThe studentstudentstudentstudent willwillwillwill bebebebe askedaskedaskedasked totototo readreadreadread thethethethe sentencessentencessentencessentences withoutwithoutwithoutwithoutguidance:guidance:guidance:guidance:

Recently, I have read a lot of new novels.

Lee, do you remember that in the last spring, we regained our glorious trophy of thecricket tournament?

Mr. Greg relies on his grandchild to pay for the room's lease.

In the research of literature, rhetorical analyses on the readings are often of greatimportance.

Laura applied laser beams to razor the glass as it melts under a high temperature.

3. Target /r/ as word-initials; contrast /l/ as word-initials

TheTheTheThe instructorinstructorinstructorinstructor andandandand thethethethe studentstudentstudentstudent readreadreadread thethethethe followingfollowingfollowingfollowing dialogdialogdialogdialog withwithwithwith eacheacheacheach playsplaysplaysplays forforforfor aaaarole,role,role,role, andandandand thenthenthenthen switchswitchswitchswitch thethethethe roles.roles.roles.roles. PayPayPayPay attentionattentionattentionattention totototo thethethethe boldedboldedboldedbolded words:words:words:words:

Micheal: Hi Garry, did you notice that the readingsreadingsreadingsreadings of this chapter has been changedfor the Directions of Car RepairmentRepairmentRepairmentRepairment?

Garry: Not that I can recallrecallrecallrecall. So we don't necessarily need to memorize the terms inthe chapter Variations of LatestLatestLatestLatest Engines, rightrightrightright?

Micheal: Nope. But I'm sure that if you cover the passagepassagepassagepassagessss of the original chapter, itwill help a lotlotlotlot in your new readingsreadingsreadingsreadings.

Garry: Good point. We may also go to the librarylibrarylibrarylibrary and find out more referencesreferencesreferencesreferences aboutthe new chapter, and we will have better responsesresponsesresponsesresponses to the teacher's questions nextweek. By the way, if we had done this lastlastlastlast week, it would be much better.

Micheal: Alright. Is it OK for you to come at 3:00 and meet me in front of the RallyRallyRallyRallyLibraryLibraryLibraryLibrary?

Garry: Sure thing! Don't forget to bring your cricket paddle. We can have some sportslaterlaterlaterlater on after the readingreadingreadingreading.

Micheal: That is reallyreallyreallyreally a great idea. I will certainly bring it with me. See you laterlaterlaterlater.

Garry: See you.

4. Target /r/ as word-initials; contrast /l/ as word-initials

CommunicativeCommunicativeCommunicativeCommunicative conversation.conversation.conversation.conversation. TheTheTheThe studentstudentstudentstudent willwillwillwill bebebebe askedaskedaskedasked totototo buybuybuybuy somesomesomesome vegetablesvegetablesvegetablesvegetablesandandandand fruitfruitfruitfruit fromfromfromfrom thethethethe market.market.market.market. TheTheTheThe itemsitemsitemsitems thatthatthatthat hehehehe needsneedsneedsneeds totototo buybuybuybuy areareareare listedlistedlistedlisted andandandand thethethethestudentstudentstudentstudent willwillwillwill askaskaskask thethethethe pricepricepriceprice ofofofof eacheacheacheach itemitemitemitem (the(the(the(the modelmodelmodelmodel dialoguedialoguedialoguedialogue presentedpresentedpresentedpresented belowbelowbelowbelow isisisisjustjustjustjust anananan exampleexampleexampleexample andandandand thethethethe studentstudentstudentstudent cancancancan createcreatecreatecreate hishishishis onlyonlyonlyonly dialogue)dialogue)dialogue)dialogue)::::

Vegetables:Red cabbage $9Radish $5Lettuce $6Leeks $9Loofah $6Russet potato $5Rhubarb $10

Fruit:Lemon $4Raspberry $4Red bayberry $7

Example:

Customer: Hi. I have a question.

Shop assistant: Yes?

Customer: How much is the lemon?

Shop assistant: It is 4 dollars each.

Customer: OK. I'll take three of them.

5. Target /r/ as word-initials

MakingMakingMakingMaking aaaa story.story.story.story. TheTheTheThe studentstudentstudentstudent willwillwillwill bebebebe askedaskedaskedasked totototo makemakemakemake aaaa shortshortshortshort storystorystorystory usingusingusingusing thethethethe wordswordswordswordsprovidedprovidedprovidedprovided below:below:below:below:

Words for the story: lion, rat, race, reward, renowned, lazy,rest.

6. Target /r/ as word-initials; contrast /l/ as word-initials

AssessmentAssessmentAssessmentAssessment forforforfor thethethethe student'sstudent'sstudent'sstudent's progress.progress.progress.progress. TheTheTheThe instructorinstructorinstructorinstructor willwillwillwill saysaysaysay somesomesomesome sentencessentencessentencessentenceswhichwhichwhichwhich mightmightmightmight bebebebe wrongwrongwrongwrong andandandand thethethethe studentstudentstudentstudent isisisis askedaskedaskedasked totototo saysaysaysay thethethethe correctcorrectcorrectcorrect wordwordwordword orororor phrasephrasephrasephrasethethethethe instructorinstructorinstructorinstructor shouldshouldshouldshould havehavehavehave usedusedusedused ((((http://teflchina.org/teach/speak/pronunciationLvsR.htm ):):):):

A. Please be sure to rock the door behind you. lock the door

B. That's a heavy road, let me help you carry it. a heavy load

C. He rolls heavy barrels down a lamp. down a ramp

D. Turn left, then right, then light again, you wont miss it. then right again

E. How many frogs are on the lock? on the rock

F. Two wrongs don't make a light. *Proverb* right

7. Target /r/ as word-initials; contrast /l/ as word-initials

HomeworkHomeworkHomeworkHomework forforforfor thethethethe studentstudentstudentstudent outoutoutout ofofofof thethethethe classclassclassclass---Tongue---Tongue---Tongue---Tongue twisterstwisterstwisterstwisters ((((http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm).).).). TheTheTheThe studentstudentstudentstudent willwillwillwill bebebebe askedaskedaskedasked totototo practicepracticepracticepracticeonononon thesethesethesethese tonguetonguetonguetongue twisterstwisterstwisterstwisters backbackbackback home,home,home,home, withwithwithwith typetypetypetype AAAA (target(target(target(target /r//r//r//r/ asasasas word-initials)word-initials)word-initials)word-initials) andandandandBBBB (contrast(contrast(contrast(contrast /l//l//l//l/ andandandand /r//r//r//r/ asasasas word-initials):word-initials):word-initials):word-initials): Type A:

Rudder valve reversals;Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery;Rolling red wagons;Wow, race winners really want red wine right away!

Type B:

The crow flew over the river with a lump of raw liver;The little red lorry went down Limuru road;Ralph rakes leaves really, really lousily.

AppendixAppendixAppendixAppendix 2:2:2:2: ReferencesReferencesReferencesReferences

Avery, P. & Ehrlich, S., 1992. Teaching American English Pronunciation. OxfordUniversity Press.

English Tongue Twisters, http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm, 2010

Friday Poem: "The Girl I Saved",http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2010/10/friday-poem-the-girl-i-saved.html, 2010

Library of English Sounds ,http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/index.html, 2010

Mrs. Jones - Sing Along: The "th" Number Song,http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/songs/thsong2.html, 2010

TEFL China Teahouse, http://teflchina.org/teach/speak/pronunciationLvsR.htm, 2010

The Phonetic Chart, http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm, 2010