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BRAZ-TESOL

december2005

ISSN 1516-182Xin this issue

Articles

• Adapting a Science Project to ESL Students

• Intelligibility

• The Teaching of Pronunciation

The SIG Symposium

The 10th BRAZ-TESOL National Convention

The BRAZ-TESOL 2004/2005 Board Says Goodbye

newsletter

goodbye!

Call f

or

Pap

ers

hello

BRAZ-TESOL NEWSLETTER, ISSN 1516-182X, is a quarterly publica-tion of BRAZ-TESOL, the professional organization of Teachers ofEnglish to Speakers of Other Languages in Brazil. It is distributed freeof charge to individual and institutional members of BRAZ-TESOL.

BRAZ-TESOL GENERAL COUNCIL

Executive Board

President: Vera Bradford

1st Vice-president: Bob Carrington

2nd Vice-president: João Madureira

Secretary: Betty Pow

Treasurer: Marcelo Barros

Advisory Council

Mike Delaney, Albina Escobar*, Elaine Chaves Hodgson, Carmen Lucas*, Magali de Moraes Menti, Donald Occhiuzzo*,Vilma Sampaio de Oliveira*, Maria Angela Fonseca Pedroso,Nadia Sarkis*, Anna Szabo*, Maria Rita Vieira, Sara Walker** Past Presidents

Graphic Design and Desktop Publishing

Claudia Ranzini / Prata Design Gráfico

BRAZ-TESOL represents over 3,000 teachers of English in Brazil.

For membership information, please contact BRAZ-TESOL

Membership Committee:

Av. 9 de Julho, 3166 - Jardins - São Paulo - SP CEP 01406-900

Phone/Fax: +55 (11) 3559-8782 / E-mail: [email protected]

Web site: www.braztesol.org.br

TAKE THE SIT TESOL CERTIFICATE

A 130-hour course for both beginning and experienced ESOLteachers interested in developing their abilities through the School

for International Training’s approach to reflective practice.

Extensive model: March - June 2006 Intensive 1-month model: July 2006

For information, please contact the World Learning—Brazil office in São Paulo.

BRAZ-TESOLnewsletter 3 december 2005

Dear Colleagues,

It is time to say goodbye to another year. It is also timeto say goodbye to our 2004-2005 Board.

Usually when we say goodbye, feelings of sadnessand loss come to our minds. But that is certainly not theway we feel.

Throughout 2005 we were able to make new friendsand to keep old ones, we were able to implement someneeded changes in the way we operate to prepare BRAZ-TESOL for new ventures; we were able to plant goodseeds for a Prosperous New Year and therefore ourfeelings are of accomplishment and fulfillment.

The new Board, headed by Bob Carrington, will takeover in January and immediately start finalizing the plansfor the National Convention in July 2006 in Brasília.Together with the local committee which has beenworking fiercely to get all details sorted out, the newBoard and all of us will celebrate 20 years of BRAZ-TESOL.

The closing issue of our Newsletter brings a letterfrom our president - Vera Bradford - highlighting someof the achievements of the 04/05 Board.

Betty Pow reports on the SIG Symposium held lastSeptember in São Paulo bringing up some importantreasons on why the Special Interest Groups are crucialto the professional development of all of us involved inEnglish Language Teaching.

From Curitiba we get a report on how to get othersubject areas related to ELT, showing us a good way tointegrate the general curriculum into the English program.

Neide Cruz brings a warning about the way studentspronounce the word “culture” expanding to a biggerissue which is the intelligibility of Brazilian learners ofEnglish.

Beatriz Meneguetti gives us the chance to reflect onthe teaching of pronunciation with a quick overview onthe historical background followed by an update oncurrent techniques and suggested activities to helpstudents get it right.

I wish all of you a happy 2006, hoping to meet you inJuly in Brasília to celebrate BRAZ-TESOL’s 20thAnniversary and possibly another World Cup for Brazil!

João Madureira

contents

E D I T O R I A L

Articles

6 Adapting a Science Project to ESL Students

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fabiano Franklin and Yara Araújo

10 Intelligibility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neide Cesar Cruz

12 The Teaching of Pronunciation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beatriz Meneguetti

4 The BRAZ-TESOL 2004/2005 Board Says Goodbye

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Carrington

5 BRAZ-TESOL SIG Symposium

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Betty Pow

8 The 10th National BRAZ-TESOL Convention

Call for Papers

O

BRAZ-TESOLnewsletter 4 september 2005

On Saturday, November 26, the 2004/2005 Board held the last

meeting of its term of office. It was, naturally, a nostalgic occasion,

as it was a farewell to colleagues who have worked very hard

together as volunteers over the two-year period. In addition to

this, we have become lasting friends, all committed to the cause

of BRAZ-TESOL, and hoping that we have been able to make a

useful contribution to an organisation which we fondly hope will

continue to thrive.

Among the achievements of these two years, we would like to

mention the following:

1. Completing the organisation of the 9th National Convention

in Belo Horizonte in July, 2004. Despite some administrative

hiccups, we consider the Convention to have been successful

overall.

2. Consolidating existing Regional Chapters, and encouraging

and supporting the opening of new ones. We believe that the

Regional Chapters are the life-blood of BRAZ-TESOL.

3. Changing the time-scale for future Boards. The next Board

will hold office for 2006 only, after which we will revert to the

usual two-year period. This means that, as from 2007/2008,

the new Board will take office over 18 months before the

following convention (to be held in Fortaleza in July, 2008),

which will greatly facilitate organisation.

4. Changing the look and content of the BRAZ-TESOL website.

The website is now being developed by a professional partner

company, and has become much more user-friendly. Further

enhancements and developments are planned for 2006. Much

more information is now available on the website, and the

number of useful links continues to increase.

5. Optimisation of resources. We hired a new accounting firm,

and new legal advisors. We unified the Regional Chapter and

SIG bank accounts, in order to save money on banking fees.

We also updated payment methods for members, both via

bank slips and via the internet. The annual accounts will also

be available for paid-up members on the website from the

end of this year onwards.

Of course, we would like to have done more, but this is very

difficult when Board members also have full-time jobs to hold

down! We hope that BRAZ-TESOL will become an increasingly

professional organisation, and further improvements are

planned for 2006.

Speaking of which, we would like to welcome the new

Executive Board which will hold office in 2006. The members are:

Bob Carrington (President)

Marcelo Barros (1st Vice-President)

Luis Otávio de Barros (2nd Vice-President)

Andrea Guazzelli (Treasurer)

Maria do Socorro Guimarães (Secretary)

We wish them well, and hope that 2006 will be a momentous

year for BRAZ-TESOL. It will be the 20th Anniversary of the

association, and the 10th National Convention will be held in

Brasília. We count on you, the members, to give the new Board

your full support, and we hope to see you in Brasília in July for

the celebrations.

With all our best wishes,

Vera Bradford (President)

Bob Carrington (1st Vice-President)

João Madureira (2nd Vice-President)

Marcelo Barros (Treasurer)

Betty Pow (Secretary)

The BRAZ-TESOL2004/2005 Board

Says Goodbye


W

Whether you are a college undergraduate, a novice or an experienced

teacher, you will find that there are a number of opportunities for

professional development. Attending teacher development programs,

doing project work, going to and/or presenting at conferences,

setting up a study group or joining a teachers' association are some

of the avenues to explore in your career.

We look on the SIG Symposium, held at Unibero, São Paulo,

on September 30 and October 1 as one of those special

opportunities in many ways. First of all, the event was a

milestone in the BRAZ-TESOL history as it brought together all

Special Interest Groups: Children and Young Learners, Culture,

Pronunciation, Translation, and Teacher Education. This means

that, for months, a team of contributing BT SIG members had

regularly met to plan and organize the symposium. Although

preparations and managing the event on site were hard work,

enthusiasm did not flag. Second, first-time and seasoned

presenters (forty-seven in all!) offered a variety of sessions,

workshops, demonstrations to suit a wide range of interests. As

keynote speakers, Professors Reinaldo Pagura (PUC-SP) and

Anna Maria G. Carmagnani (USP-SP) started each day's

activities with the thought-provoking plenary sessions “ELT,

Translation and Interpreting: Is language competence all you

need?” and “Discourse and Identity Construction in the Foreign

Language”, respectively.

Third, it was a great learning experience to see what our peers have

been doing or researching on, as well as make and renew contacts

with publishers, materials writers, and other ELT professionals. SIG

BRAZ-TESOL SIG SYMPOSIUM:an opportunity for professional development

sessions were a good example of this, as they were organized or

delivered by each SIG's central committee members:

• Children SIG - Crafting Stories - Lucy Crichton

• Culture SIG - Cultural Encounters through Literary Narratives

in English - Laura Izarra, Gloria Delbim, Cielo Festino

• Pronunciation SIG - Teaching/Learning Pronunciation: What

Are Teachers’ Main Concerns? - Sonia Godoy, Betty Pow,

Eliane Zamboni, Marcello Marcelino, Silvia Corrêa, Zaina

Abdalla Nunes

• Teacher Development SIG - Technology-Assisted Language

Learning: New Options for Teachers - Regina Halu

• Translation SIG - Translation and Creativity: the language of

advertising - Adauri Brezolin and Alzira Allegro

What also made the SIG Symposium an enriching encounter

was meeting teachers from as far as Palmas, Rio de Janeiro, Belo

Horizonte, and Curitiba. Among first-time attendees were

Unibero undergraduates, who not only took part in the

presentations but also helped out at the registration desks and

as attentive minders to the presenters.

As you can imagine, holding events like the BRAZ-TESOL SIG

Symposium 2005 is only possible because professionals and

institutions kindly offer their support. In this respect, we are all

very grateful to Professors Cleide Maria Bocardo Cerdeira,

Adauri Brezolin and Alzira Allegro and for the spacious premises

and resources offered by Unibero. A great many thanks to

sponsors Cambridge University Press, Livraria Martins Fontes

Editora Ltda., Macmillan do Brasil, McGraw-Hill ELT, Oxford

University Press, and Pearson Education do Brasil. And just as

books were part of our activities, so was the tasty, creamy coffee

offered by Nestlé do Brasil for our coffee breaks.

Last but not least, at the Annual General Meeting, held during

the SIG Symposium, two important announcements were made:

the newly-elected board and the appointment of Sara Walker as

BRAZ-TESOL honorary-life president. Congratulations to all! For

more information on these topics, please check the BRAZ-TESOL

website: www.braztesol.org.br.

Having had lots of food for thought for two days, it was time

for participants to join for the raffle over soft drinks and delicious

cheese kindly offered by Queijos Quatá. Feedback from

participants was very encouraging and their suggestions will also

help us plan future SIG encounters. We hope to see you then!

Betty Pow

On behalf of all BRAZ-TESOL SIGs

Betty Pow

SIG

N

ew

s


THE PROGRAM

The ESL program at ISC, the International School of Curitiba,

services the English language needs of Non-English and Limited

English Speaking (NES, LES) students in grades 1 to 12. The

program’s main aims are to mainstream ESL students as

efficiently and effectively as their background and learning

abilities allow, while maintaining their motivation and self-

esteem, and to include the entire faculty in providing an inclusive

environment for all NES and LES students.

Our most desired outcomes are to use English to communicate

in social settings, to use English to achieve academically in all

content areas and to use English in socially and culturally

appropriate ways. The ESL curriculum utilizes the four language

skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The

combination of grade-level content and multi-level teaching

strategies stimulate the development of English language skills

that facilitates transition into the mainstream classes.

One of the main difficulties that ESL students face in their

mainstream classrooms is using content-focused language in

order to perform academically at a level that is compatible to their

grade level.

Aware of this difficulty, ESL instructors Yara Araújo and Fabiano

Franklin have recently had the opportunity to enhance their

students’ awareness in their science mainstream classrooms by

developing a project about ecosystems in the ESL classroom.

The project was taken from a 6th grade science mainstream

classroom and suffered slight adaptations for the ESL class. One

of the main adaptations was making the vocabulary more

accessible for ESL kids, by simplifying some of the concepts in

order to make the project at the same time language and science

oriented.

HANDS ON: THE PROJECT

The main objective

was to spur a discussion

on ecosystems, and for

that we started from basic

definitions like what an

ecosystem is, its main

features (i.e. biotic and

abiotic factors and

resources that enable to

maintain life in the

community and how all

the elements interact with

each other) and what role

we play in our ecosystem.

After that it was time to present concepts through the use of

realia, and this was achieved by displaying 4 stations in the class

and having students evaluate which ones were good

representations of an ecosystem and which ones were not. In our

project, the stations were a piece of moldy bread, an aquarium, a

bottle of nail polish and a flowering plant with worms in it. Then

students were asked to identify biotic and abiotic factors on each

station and put them down in their journals. Groups work best if

they offer a greater variety of students with different proficiency

levels, which is why the instructors had previously selected them.

Once this was accomplished, students were encouraged to do

some critical thinking over the stations that did not represent an

ecosystem by brainstorming ideas on what it would take for those

stations to become ecosystems. These ideas have also been

recorded in their journals and they were later discussed with the

rest of the group. By then day 1 was over and students were asked

Adapting a Science Project to ESL Studentsa

rtic

le

Fabiano Franklin

Yara Araújo

Stations were first displayed

for students


to bring some empty 2-liter bottles the next day and told that they

would build their own ecosystem!

When day 2 began, each group was given a small amount of

gravel, sand, and aquatic plant (i.e. Elodea) and asked to design

a plan on how their ecosystem would work. This should include a

simple sketch and a written explanation (remember the focus on

language). After this was done, the plan was submitted and

approved by the teacher (so the teacher has a chance to focus on

the language that

was being used).

Once the plans

were approved,

students begin

the construction

of their ecosystem

and at last are

given a live fish to

add to the bottle.

ASSESSMENT

Students were assessed on their ability to construct an

ecosystem that was a safe and successful environment for a live

fish, their participation on class discussion and their journals

(taking into consideration each student’s proficiency level), and

by having another class discussion after the project was ready in

which students discussed and explained the role they play in their

ecosystem. This was also a great opportunity to discuss topics

such as environmental conservation and recycling.

Students brainstorm with ESL instructor’s

assistance

Students proudly pose

next to their ecosystems

Fabiano Franklin was a math teacher for 1 year and has been a secondary

ESL teacher at ISC for one year and a half. He also has a 10-year background

in EFL teaching. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from UFPR and is

currently pursuing ESL certification at Bridge-Linguatec Institute.

Yara Araújo has been an elementary and secondary ESL teacher and

Guided Reading specialist at ISC for three and a half years. She has a

B.A. in Letras English/Portuguese and taught at ACBEU Ribeirão Preto

for ten years. She is currently pursuing ESL certification from Bridge-

Linguatec Institute.


Why a National Convention

in Brasília?

Here are just 10 reasons

1. It is the capital of the country. So it is the prefect place to

celebrate BRAZ-TESOL’s 20th Anniversary.

2. Brasília is central. For this reason it is easy to get to from

almost all regions of Brazil by either plane, bus, or car.

3. Brasília is made for events. You will find that the hotel sec-

tor is not more than 15 minutes from the airport by car

and the convention center is within easy reach of the

hotels. The bus stations are event closer.

4. You won’t have to go far. The hotel sector is within walking

distance not only from the convention center but from

the “Esplanada dos Ministérios” where the main sights of

Brasília can be found.

5. The event building. The convention center has recently

been refurbished and is probably one of the most modern

buildings of its kind in Brazil. It has a vast auditorium and

lots of space for exhibitions, courses, workshops, and

presentations.

6. The climate. In July the weather is nice and warm and it

doesn’t rain.

7. The city itself. Brasília is one of the most famous cities in

the world. Its cathedral, congress, and ministries are

easily recognizable.

8. The cultural activities. The convention goes over the week-

end when there is a lot to do in the evenings. The local gov-

ernment provides extra cultural projects during the July

period.

9. The people. Brasília is a cosmopolitan city with people

from every region of Brazil making it a place where each

person will find a familiar face.

10.It is relatively safe. It is recognized as one of the safest of

all of the big cities in Brazil.

The 10th

BRAZ-TESOLNationalConvention

Call for Papers

> Closing Date: 28 February, 2006

The 10th BRAZ-TESOL National Convention: “Teaching,Learning, Leading” will be held in Brasília, the capital ofBrazil, from July 8th to 11th, 2006, at the Ulysses GuimarãesConvention Center. A forum for professionals in the field ofEnglish Language teaching, the convention promotes thediscussion of theoretical and practical issues related to theteaching of English to speakers of other languages. It is aunique opportunity for BRAZ-TESOL members andinternational colleagues to get together, present their workand reflect on their practices. Renowned specialists in ELTwill be giving specialized courses as well, besides leadingworkshops and delivering papers and plenary talks.

The Academic Committee invites all BRAZ-TESOLERS –teachers, teacher trainers, researchers, programadministrators, and materials writers – to submit proposalsfor presentations. A description of the types of presentationsthat the convention will include and details about how tosubmit a proposal follow.

The closing date for receipt of proposals is February 28,

2006, but we encourage you to submit your work as early aspossible. Please submit your proposal by e-mail as anattachment, if possible, [email protected] not scan a handwritten form as we need to copy and pasteyour text into the database.

Receipt of proposal forms will be acknowledged by e-mail.All proposals will be read by members of the AcademicCommittee and designated readers, and notification ofacceptance will be sent by mid-April, 2006. DOWNLOAD THE

PROPOSAL FORM from: www.braztesol.org.br.The members of the Academic Committee are:

Isabela Villas Boas, Paulo Kol, and Inez Woortmann.We look forward to receiving your proposal.

Inez Woortmann

Academic Committee Chair, 10th BRAZ-TESOL National Convention


TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS

a) Talk (45 minutes)

In a Talk, the presenter puts forward ideas related to an area of ELT and discusses them. The ideas might be based on classroom experience,

research, or reading. Practical applications of the ideas are usually presented to the audience, and the last 5 minutes at the end of the talk

are reserved for questions and/or comments.

b) Workshop (90 minutes)

The longer time allotted to a Workshop allows the presenter(s) to engage participants in activities that encourage them to explore the ideas

that have been put forward. A common framework for a workshop is: introduction of the topic and presentation of relevant ideas; activities

for exploration of the ideas; discussion and reflection segment led by the presenter(s).

c) Demonstration (45 minutes)

A Demonstration should be a highly practical session focusing on classroom materials and/or activities. As the name suggests, most of the

time available should be devoted to demonstrating materials or activities that have been developed and tried out by the presenter(s).

Theoretical discussion is usually kept to a minimum, but time is built in for questions and comments from the audience.

d) Panel Discussion (45 minutes)

A Panel Discussion consists of a group of 3 to 5 people, one of whom acts as the moderator or the timekeeper. During the first 30 minutes,

panelists take turns expressing their thoughts on the topic at hand. The final 15 minutes of the session usually involve audience participation.

e) Poster Presentation

A Poster Presentation consists of a visual display of any topic related to classroom experience, activities/materials design or any other area

in ELT. All posters will be displayed in the same area and presenters will have the opportunity to stand by their posters to offer explanations while

participants visit them during pre-established periods of time. However, we suggest that a written description of the experience/activity/

materials be displayed along with the poster(s) for those periods when the presenter is not available to give explanations to the public.

ON PRESENTATIONS:

The Academic Committee encourages proposals from ELT professionals who have a variety of interests and experience. The committee

especially welcomes proposals from members of BRAZ-TESOL who have never made a presentation at a major national convention.

When deciding on which proposals to accept, the committee will take into account the extent to which the description of a presentation

(i.e. the 350-word abstract) demonstrates that the presenters: 1) have a clear idea of the content of the session; and 2) have thought about

how they will conduct the presentation. In addition, the committee will take into consideration the extent to which convention participants

may benefit from attending a presentation.

ON CONVENTION FEES:

To attend the convention all participants and presenters must pay the registration fee and be members in-good-standing of BRAZ-TESOL. If

you are a BRAZ-TESOL member and intend to submit a proposal, please check your membership status. In order to check your status please

call Silvana at (11) 3559-8782 or access www.braztesol.org.br.

Date: 8th-11th July 2006

Location: Ulysses Guimarães

Convention Center, Brasília, DF.

[email protected]

> http://www.braztesol.org.br/

culture to people” [itsnɾt�b i˜� i ˜alɔ ɔf�k�jutʃə� tə�p�ipou]; and

“In Italy the the roman culture” [in�itəlidə�de�� oumən�k�jutʃə�].A similarity in the pronunciation of the first syllable cul is found

in the four productions. It is the pronunciation of [ju] instead of

/�l/: [�k�jutʃə�]; [�k�jutə�]; [�k�jutʃə�] and [�k�jutʃə]. This similarity

is also found in the pronunciation of the remaining 3 participants

who mentioned this word in the interviews, indicating, therefore, a

kind of regularity in the pronunciation of this first syllable. This

pronunciation might suggest a spelling pronunciation3, that is, the

letters /ul/ being pronounced as [ju]. However, in the word

agriculture, produced by one of the participants during the

interview, the letters /ul/ are pronounced as [ɔ ], [a�� ikɔ tʃə]. This

is regarded as being a counter example which does not validate

the inclusion of [ju] as being a spelling pronunciation. Thus, it was

not possible to find an explanation for the mispronunciation found

in ‘culture’.

The intelligibility of ‘culture’The 25 British listeners heard the 30 samples once, and were

asked to carry out tasks. In one of the tasks, they were required to

write down what they had heard. The analysis and discussion here

focuses on the listeners’ orthographic transcriptions of the 4

samples containing the word ‘culture’.

None of the listeners was able to recognise this word correctly.

Most of them expressed surprise when told it was culture, and

acknowledged their difficulty to recognise it. Listener 1, for

instance, said:

“the way they pronounce culture I just couldn’t understand.”

In the sample “I say sometimes that I I’m don’t have culture”

[aiseisəm�taimzεtaiaim�dɔuhεv�k�jutʃə�], ‘culture’ was written in

3 different ways: (1) future by 19 listeners; (2) children by 3; and (3)

chew by 1. Two listeners left the space blank. Three examples of

the transcriptions include:

(1) “I say sometimes I don’t have a future”;

(2) “It seems sometimes I don’t like children”;

(3) “I think sometimes I don’t like to chew”.

IntroductionI carried out a study (Cruz, 2000) which investigated the

pronunciation intelligibility in spontaneous speech of Brazilian

learners’ English. The objective of the study was to find the extent

to which features of mispronunciation in the speech of Brazilian

learners of English affected their intelligibility to British listeners.

In order to collect the data, ten Brazilian learners of English living

in the south of Brazil, with varying English proficiency levels,

enrolled in the extracurricular courses at UFSC1(Federal University

of Santa Catarina) were interviewed by an Englishman. Thirty

samples containing features of mispronunciation were selected

from the learner data, and presented to 25 British listeners living

in Birmingham, England. The listeners were unfamiliar with the

way Brazilians pronounce English words2.

Out of the 10 participants, 7 produced the word ‘culture’ several

times in the interviews. Out of the 30 samples selected, 4

contained this word, produced by 4 different participants. The way

the learners pronounced such a word was totally unexpected, as it

was not predicted by any of the studies - Mascherpe (1970), Lessa

(1985), Lieff and Nunes (1993), and Baptista (2001) - which present

the phonemes of English which are regarded as being difficult for

Brazilian learners to pronounce, and to the sound types these

learners produce due to these difficulties. These studies served as

a guideline for the identification of the features of

mispronunciation in the speech of the Brazilian learners who

participated in my research.

‘Culture’ occurred in the samples: “I say sometimes that I I’m

don’t have culture” [aiseisəm�taimzεtaiaim�dɔuhεv�k�jutʃə�];“We we learn about the other culture and now [wiwil&�nəbautid'e�d'ə� �k�jutə� εnεnnau]; “It’s not bringing a lot of

1 Extracurricular courses are open access language courses offered byUFSC. Each English level course lasts one semester, and includes threehours per week. 2 The opportunity I had to study as a Visitor student at the University ofBirmingham, England, on a one-year Brazilian Government scholarship -CAPES - gave me the chance of collecting data with the British listeners.

Intelligibility:Have you ever cared about theway your students are likely topronounce the word ‘culture’?


by Neide Cesar Cruz

artic

le

In the sample “we we learn about the other culture and and

now” [wiwil&� nəbautid'e�d'ə� �k�jutə� εnεnnau], culture was

written in 8 distinct ways. A total of 9 listeners wrote the word

children, in transcriptions such as, “we learn about the other

children”. Eight left the space blank, and the remaining 8 wrote

each a different word. Four of these words – catering, tutor,

tutoring and countries – are part of the English language lexicon.

Two examples include:

(1) “we learn about the other countries and now”; and

(2) “we learn about the order of catering and now”.

The remaining 4 – cutarian, cuterin, ater terain, and cuter – are

not found in the English lexicon. When asked to explain the

meaning of these words, the listeners were unable to explain, and

stated that they wrote what they had heard.

In the sample “it’s not bringing a lot of culture to people”

[itsnɾt�b i˜�i˜alɔ ɔf�k�jutʃə�tə�p�ipou], ten listeners left the

space blank. The remaining 15 wrote different words: (1) cute by 3

listeners, such as in “it’s not really a lot of cute people”; (2) future,

queues and kill by 2 listeners each, such as in “it’s not a law to kill

people”; and (3) cue, children, clear, cuta, cutar and que, by one

listener each. The last three words do not exist in the English

lexicon, and the transcriptions, such as “bring a lot of cuta to

people”, are not meaningful.

Finally, in the sample “In Italy the the Roman culture”

[in�itəlidə�dep�� oumən�k�jutʃə�], eleven listeners left the space

blank. The remaining 14 wrote different words: (1) queue, such as

“In Italy the Roman queue to …”; and (2) use them, queued, came,

kill me, like you, cuter, children, queues, kill them, and queu (non-

existent). Two examples include:

(1) “In Italy they run like you”; and

(2) “In Italy the women are cuter”.

An important point concerning the transcription of the 4

samples refers to the phonetic factors which might have

influenced the listeners to write the words which take the place of

‘culture’. In addition to the pronunciation of [ju] instead of /�l/, the

pronunciation of this word contains lack of aspiration of the initial

plosive in its 4 occurrences, the alveolar plosive [t] instead of the

voiceless affricate /tʃ/ in the second sample, and the production of

the final vowel as either schwa or as the rhoticised schwa [ə�].Considering the words written, it is possible to interpret that the

feature of mispronunciation in the first syllable, [ju] instead of /�l/,served as a phonetic clue, and can be regarded as a factor which

influenced the listeners, since most of the words they wrote have

at least one syllable produced either as /ju/ or as /jl/ on its first

syllable, such as future, chew, cuter, kill, queues, and so on.

Final considerationsI continue to carry out studies investigating the pronunciation

intelligibility of Brazilian learners’ English. Data involving learners

living in the Northeast of Brazil, who study at the university I work

for – Federal University of Campina Grande – is being collected.

These learners’ pronunciation of the word ‘culture’ is similar to the

learners’ productions mentioned here. The data has been

presented to different groups of listeners: Americans newly arrived

in Brazil, speakers of English as a Foreign Language from different

first languages, American listeners familiar with the way Brazilians

pronounce English words. None of the listeners have been able to

recognise the word ‘culture’ correctly.

It is now appropriate to repeat the question I posed in the title

of this article: Have you ever cared about the way your students

are likely to pronounce the word ‘culture’? Well, if you haven’t, I

honestly suggest you to start paying attention to it. In case your

students’ pronunciation of the word ‘culture’ is similar to that

shown here, [ju] instead of /�l/ in the first syllable, please, correct

them. The results I’ve been obtaining in the studies I’ve been

carrying out enables me to state that this type of pronunciation

strongly affects the intelligibility of Brazilian learners’ English.

References

BAPTISTA, B. O. Frequent pronunciation errors of Brazilian learners of

English. In:

M. B. M. Fortkamp & R. P. Xavier (Eds.) EFL teaching and learning in Brazil:

Theory and Practice. Florianópolis, Insular, p. 223-230, 2001.

CRUZ, N. C. Pronunciation intelligibility in spontaneous speech of Brazilian

learners’ English. Florianópolis, Tese de Doutorado, 2004.

LESSA, A. B. C. T. (1985). A ortografia como um fator de interferência da

pronúncia do inglês como língua estrangeira. Unpublished master’s

thesis, PUC-SP, São Paulo.

LIEFF, C. D. & NUNES, Z. A. English pronunciation and the Brazilian learner:

How to cope with language transfer. Speak Out!, V. 12, P. 22-27, 1993.

MASCHERPE, M. Análise comparativa dos sistemas fonológicos do Inglês

e do Português. São Paulo: Empresa Gráfica da Revista dos Tribunais

S.A., 1970.


3 Spelling pronunciation refers to a pronunciation which is based on thespelling of a word without regard to its historical or traditionalpronunciation

Neide Cesar Cruz holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the Federal

University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. At present she teaches English and

Phonetics and Phonology at the Federal University of Campina Grande,

Brazil. Her research interests are foreign language learning/teaching,

pronunciation and English as an International Language.


By Beatriz Meneguetti

Overview On Historical Background

On The Teaching Of Pronunciation

As happened to methodology along the years, theteaching of pronunciation has also suffered the pendulumeffect, mainly over this last half century. From irrelevant in

the Grammar Translation Approach, growing in prominence

with the rise of the Direct Method and Audiolingualism,

only to be pushed to the sidelines with the ascendancy of

CLT (Jones, 2002).

From the 80’s with the Communicative Approachpreaching that the primary purpose of the language is

communication… the focus brings renewed urgency for the

teaching of pronunciation (Celce-Murcia et all, 1996). Thereis a claim for surpassing the threshold level of pronunciationfor non-native speakers of English.

Nowadays, much more emphasis is being given to the“intelligibility” of oral production of non-native speakersrather than achieving perfection on RP pronunciation, forexample. Intelligible pronunciation is an essential

component of communicative competence (Morley 1991)and this is observed on segmental and suprasegmentallevels.

The Teaching of Pronunciation Update

Production of sounds, e.g., accuracy of place of

articulation and manner of articulation may cause certainuneasiness both for students and teachers. Some trainingand explicit analysis may help overcome that, but not allsounds will present a high degree of difficulty as some L2sounds are even the same as in L1. A justified clear focus on

those sounds which might present difficulty might be worthhaving.

Beyond the mechanical ability to produce sounds orrecognise their symbols, pronunciation plays a pivotal rolein our social and personal lives as it may convey not only themeaning of a given message but also countless aspects ofone’s community, personality, or even sense of humour. The

significance of success in L2 pronunciation learning is far-

reaching, complicated by the fact that many aspects happen

subconsciously and so are not readily accessible to

conscious analysis or intervention (Seidlhofer 2001).I believe that as our groups are monolingual, formed by

speakers of Portuguese, and most our teachers areBrazilian, whenever encountering any difficulty incommunication students tend to rely on L1 to bridge thisgap. So, either there is an immediate translation or the useof interlanguage – using the sounds and intonation ofPortuguese to say English words and sentences. Aseveryone in class shares the knowledge of Portuguesesuprasegmental or prosodic features, such usage seemsto be widely accepted as a means to overcome anypossible problem. However, this procedure creates anartificial language, understood, probably, only by themembers of this community as the accent gets thick, thusunintelligible.

The messages produced by students are normally “tone-less” and “emotion-less”, but we frequently congratulatethem for the simple fact that they uttered L2. This lack ofintonation or proper use of stress can and should beovercome.

The issue here is when interlanguage turns out to beinterference. Students might never get the sound or

The Teaching ofPronunciation

artic

le


intonation at least close to what the sound/intonationshould be and the production is fossilized, creating aplateau beyond which it is difficult for learners to progress

without exceptional effort or motivation (Seliker 1972).Herbert (2002) says that words stressed incorrectly or

with inappropriate pitch or intonation will impede the

learner in getting the intended message across. The

messages are largely conveyed through the prosodic

features of language. She also states that not all problemsare at production level, some have to do with perception –backing my opinion up.

Celce-Murcia et all (1996) state that the modern teachingof pronunciation has two main approaches, the intuitive-

imitative one, dependable upon students ability to listen

and imitate the model, which obviously presupposes theexistence of good models to be followed. As I see it, this isvery much self-inducted. The second approach is theanalytical-linguistic. The latter was established as acomplement of the first, presenting explicit information onphonetic alphabet, articulatory descriptions, use of charts,contrastive analysis, and other aids to supplement

listening, imitation and production.Much of the literature today suggests that employing

multi-sensory modes in pronunciation teaching helpsbreaking down barriers learner might have or create. Theuse of visual and auditory reinforcements is recommendedas well as tactile and kinaesthetic ones.

Making use of authentic material, poetry, chants,nursery rhymes, advertisements from radio or TV, can be ofgreat help in showing learners that particular feature inpronunciation is existent and not merely a devised task toimpose strain on them.

Nowadays, psychology, drama, arts, and otherdisciplines can be related and used to better deal withpronunciation in class.

Possible activities to be used and published materials

The range of activities to be used varies accordingly tothe purpose expected. For individual sound practice, forexample, used more often in the beginning of the languagecourse, I make use of the traditional “listen and repeat”approach. Students are presented a table with wordswritten in three columns, the one in the middle with thesound to be focused. This activity is called “The TargetSound”, after listening and repeating the table, studentsconcentrate on the target sound and as a class we elicitother words having the same sound. I normally write thesymbol on the board or display a flashcard with it while theactivity is being done. As further practice we do a “soundbingo”. A list of all words is prepared and one student isasked to say the words while others fill in their bingocharts, and in turns, students either read or listen to thewords.

“Conflicting Situation” is another activity. Role-playcards are given out with similar stories but with minordifferences to be worked out during the activity. Forexample, one card contains a piece of information such as“you need to buy a blue skirt, ask for help” whilst the other

has “a client wants a brown shirt, check understanding”.

This kind of activity caters for working on using stress toemphasise contrasts and clear doubts.

For intonation, I take the tapescript from a passage or ashort dialogue and ask students to listen and put arrows at

the end of the sentence, indicating falling or rising pitches.Then, I ask them to prepare similar texts for them to act outin pairs.

Another suitable idea is to work with students helpingthem to read “punctuation”. Again, I start with a model andgive the text out for students to identify the pauses. I playthe audio material for them to check and then identify thereason for such pauses – which normally have to do withmeaning. Students practice reading afterwards.

An activity proved to be effective, at first for recognitionof stress-timed versus syllable-timed languages and thenpractising contrasting word and sentence. After the explicittackling of the relationship – syllable x stress – I hand inslips of paper with words with different number of syllablesand stress patterns, and put on the floor or on my desk,slips with sentences, also with different number ofsyllables and stress patterns. As a game, students have tomatch word to sentence according to the similarity ofsyllables and patterns. Checking is made by sticking thepairs on the wall and reading both, sentences and words,aloud as a class.

Fortunately, there are many published materialsavailable to work in this area. Some relatively new such asEnglish Pronunciation in Use, by CUP, is developed fromindividual sounds work, mainly through listening andrepeating, to exercises to raise awareness of sounds versusspelling, to sections of stress and intonation, and finallyconnected speech. Tongue-twisters, poems, rhymes,chants, and jokes based on minimal phonological


differences are also present in this materialBooks such as Three or Tree, Ship or Sheep by CUP,

although not recent, can still be found and are based onminimal pair drilling focusing in contrastive analysis.

The Headway series, by OUP has separate materials forpronunciation practice with many different kinds ofexercises, such as grouping words according to the soundor dialogues to be practiced, stress, intonation, and others.These books focus on typical difficulties presented byspeakers of different nationalities.

Pronunciation Games by CUP is a photocopiable materialfull of ready-made ideas to be used with students. Theyinclude from bingo charts and boardgames to role-play cards.

Bibliography

BROWN, H. D., (2001) Teaching by Principles – An Interactive Approach to

Language Pedagogy, Second Edition, Longman.

CELCE-MURCIA, Marianne et alli (1996), Teaching Pronunciation – A

Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages,

Cambridge University Press.

HANCOCK, M. (2003). English Pronunciation in Use, Cambridge University

Press.

HERBERT, J., (2002). Chapter 17: PracTESOL: It’s Not What You Say, but How

You Say It! In Richards, J and Renandya, W. (Ed.), Methodology in Language

Teaching – An Anthology of Current Practice, Cambridge University Press.

JONES, R.H., (2002). Chapter 16: Beyond “Listen and Repeat”:

Pronunciation Teaching Materials And Theories of Second Language

Acquisition. In Richards, J and Renandya, W. (Ed.), Methodology in

Language Teaching – An Anthology of Current Practice, Cambridge

University Press.

MORLEY,J., (1991). The pronunciation component in teaching English to

speakers of other languages. TESOL Quarterly 25, 481-520.

SEIDLHOFER, B. (2001). Chapter 8, Pronunciation. In Carter, R & Nunan, D.

(Ed.), The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other

Languages, Cambridge University Press.

UNDERHILL, A. (1994), Sound Foundations, Heinemann.

WONG, R. (1987). Teaching Pronunciation: Focus on English Rhythm and

Intonation. Prentice Hall-Regents.

Beatriz Meneguetti is the director of Cultura Inglesa Maringá and a

Sworn Translator. She's being an EFL teacher for over 20 years and her

duties also include teaching and teacher training. She's got BA in LetrasAnglo, Post graduation in EFL Methodology, she holds the following

Cambridge ESOL certificates - FCE, CPE, CEELT 2 and DELTA.


ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS AND MANAGERS

• SIT TESOL Certificate (in São Paulo: March 2006 Extensive & July 2006 Intensive)

• IDLTM – International Diploma in Language Teaching Management

• Master of Arts in Teaching

For information about these and other SIT programs offered in the U.S.or in Brazil, contact the World Learning—Brazil office in São Paulo.

BRAZ-TESOL / SIT Scholarship

Applications are now being accepted for the

Earn a Master of Arts in Teaching (ESOL) at SIT in the United States.

Programs begin late June and late August For complete information, please consult:

www.worldlearning/brazil Inquire: [email protected]

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BRAZ-TESOL / SIT Scholarship

ELT Calendar 2006

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