The Sound System

I am observing ESL 4300/6300, a course for non-native English speakers who have been admitted to the university. The course is entitled “Advanced Pronunciation.” There are both graduate and undergraduate students in the class, making it a large class with an enrollment of 27 students. Most students are in the class as an elective option in order to improve their English pronunciation; a few graduate students are in the class because their respective departments have made the course mandatory, and improving their spoken English (i.e., becoming more comprehensible to native speakers) is a requirement for employment as lab or course instructors. It seems that the respective departments believe a semester-long course on English pronunciation will result in dramatic improvements, so there is considerable pressure on the course instructor. Given the large number of students in the class it is a challenge to provide as much individualized tutoring and support as most students expect; consequently, the teacher is trying to use group and pair work in addition to the short lectures, individual exercises in the pronunciation workbooks, and one-to-one tutoring. The students are mostly from China and Japan, but there are two students from Thailand and three from Mexico. Because of an overlap in teaching schedules, I arrive about 30 minutes into the class. Homework has already been checked and submitted, the short lecture on the specific sounds on focus has just ended, and the students are ready to begin a paired activity. Students are participating in an activity called “Dictation Pairs,” and the teacher has targeted specific sounds from the lecture for the students to practise. They each have a handout with four columns; minimal pair words lists have been written in each column with two columns containing boldfaced words, and partners have complementary handouts. The task is for one student to read the boldfaced words in the minimal pair sets while the other student circles the word she or he hears. When all of the words in the column have been read, students check their own work and switch roles. I mill around as the students dictate their words-class/crass, bland/brand, fright/flight, steam/ esteem, sport/support, please/police, rope/roped, stare/Astaire, bus/busts, class/ clasp, and soak/spoke. [Personal notes, Christison, spring 2002]

Task: Reflect

Before you begin this chapter, take a few moments to reflect on the vignette above and what you already know about the sound system of English.