VOLUMES MENU

T E S O LVolume 1 March, 1967 Number 1

Table of Contents To print, select PDF page nos. in parentheses

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( 3 )

TESOL and the Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold B. Allen ( 4 -7 )

Teaching the th Sounds of English. . . . . . . Elizabeth B. Carr (8-15)

The Language Laboratory in a Small TESOL Program . . .Janet Ross (16-24)

The Place of Dictation in theLanguage Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenton K. Sutherland

(25-30)

A Second Look at Teaching Reading and Composition . . . . Donna H. Carr ( 3 1 - 3 5 )

The Need for Materials for Teaching Englishto Southwestern Indian Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Jane Cook ( 3 6 - 3 8 )

A Decade of Experimentation in Teaching Englishto Spanish-Speaking Children in the Southwest . . .Le Roy Condie ( 3 9 - 4 4 )

Current Trends in the Teaching of Englishin France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Rathmell

( 4 5 - 5 2 ) ( 5 3 - 5 5 ) Curriculum Trends in TESOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clelia Belfrom

English for Speakers of Other Languages: ProgramsAdministered by the U.S. Office of Education . . . .Richard L. Light

Publications Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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( 5 6 - 6 3 )

EditorialIt is with a great sense of pride in accomplishment for the profession

that we present the first issue of TESOL QUARTERLY, a journal for teach-

ers of English to speakers of other languages. Since word first went out that

articles were being considered for publication, the field has responded gen-

erously, and the Editorial Advisory Board has been busily selecting manu-

scripts for this issue. Because we will be serving readers who have varied

backgrounds and interests, the content of the journal will be varied. It is

our intent to provide something of value for each reader in every issue.

Although the major emphasis will be on practical matters, our interpretation

of what constitutes practicality is broad. We feel, for example, that a better

understanding of linguistic theory or of contrastive cultural patterns or of

the problems involved in administering second-language programs may ulti-

mately become, for the individual teacher, as important as a specific class-

room exercise. To be sure, the classroom exercises and specific techniques

will be here, but we would like to think that our readers are being led to

search a little more deeply into the why of certain drills and the where-

fore of certain techniques.

A glance through this issue will reveal the heterogeneity of our contribu-

tors and the varieties of TESOL programs which they representschool

teachers, college professors, curriculum supervisors, administratorsall of

them deeply concerned with TESOL.

We plan, in later issues to review newly published texts and materials,

and we invite our readers to submit questions for an exchange of ideas

section where a forum kind of discussion can be carried on. But most of all

we invite your comments and suggestions, and your manuscripts.

BWR

Vol 1 No 1 March 1967

TESOL and the Journal

Three out of four of the hundredsof teachers responding to the TENESnationwide questionnaire in 1965asked for a journal that would helpthem in their work of teaching En-glish to non-English speakers. Theproportion was only slightly smalleramong college instructors than amongelementary teachers.

But a journal without a member-ship organization to support it cannever quite adequately reflect thehopes and desires of its readers; itnever can quite satisfactorily meettheir needs. A subscription list is nota membership list. Without the im-plicit and explicit participation of anorganization in the affairs of a journal,that journal never quite becomes thecollective voice of its readers.

Nor without an organization can alarge number of people with commoninterests effectively further those in-terests. Without an organization,teachers having a common disciplineand a common subject matter willnot easily come to consider themselvesa professional group.

Now, within a year, we have boththe organization and the publication.We have TESOL and we have itsjournal. Better: we are TESOL andwe have our journal.

Not often has an association beenformed so auspiciously; not often hasa journal been founded in response toso specific and positive a demand.Fortunate in having not just two par-ents but rather the five that spon-sored the preliminary ad hoc nationalconferences in Tucson, San Diego, andNew York, TESOL began life as so

Harold B. Allen

sturdy an infant that within sixmonths it had an executive secretaryand now, within a twelvemonthafterfirst editing the Third TESOL Con-ference proceedingspresents the firstissue of its journal. TESOL owes muchto the generous support and coopera-tion of the officers and leaders of thosefive organizations: the Center for Ap-plied Linguistics, the English Associa-tion of the National Association forForeign Student Affairs, the ModernLanguage Association, the NationalCouncil of Teachers of English, andthe Speech Association of America.Yet what they laid a foundation for isonly a beginning. To be, to exist, isnot the be-all and the end-all.

As TESOL ends its first year, westill dont know how many personsin North America are involved inteaching English to speakers of otherlanguages. But certainly all too fewof us are as yet aware that this in-volvement is with activity calling forprofessional training with specializedknowledge and special skills. All toofew of us are yet moved by a feelingof professional unity.

Yet until a wide and deep awarenessof professional unity based upon aprofessional discipline becomes generalamong us all, we cannot move aheadupon a wide front toward the goal ofbetter teaching. Only a professionalgroup acutely conscious of itself as agroup of professionals can wisely planfor growth and improvement within adiscipline. Those who teach Englishto a mixed group of foreign studentsin a college, to adult emigrs in ametropolitan area, to French-speaking

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4 TESOL QUARTERLY

pupils in a northern Maine elementaryschool, to Cuban refugees in a Miamihigh school, to the indigenous Spanish-speaking children in New Mexico, toEskimos in the Yukon, and Slavic-speaking children in Saskatchewanall these have in common what is sobasically important that it should bethe essential concern of one commonprofessional association. TESOL canbe that association.

What all of us have in common isconcern for the English language andfor the people to whom we would teachit. As a professional discipline, then,English as a second language reliesupon English linguistics and culturalimplications for its subject matter andupon the psychology of language learn-ing and language teaching for itsmethods.

To improve the teaching of Englishas a second language we must firstencourage recognition that such teach-ing is a specialized field, a disciplineby itself. This recognition must arisein schools and colleges with non-English speaking students, in schoolsystems and state and provincial de-partments of education, and particu-larly in the national governmentinWashington and in Ottawa.

The three concerns that so urgentlyrequire more intensive and extensiveresearch, better teaching materials,and expanded and improved prepara-tion of a much greater number ofteachers are concerns that cannot bedenied. One is the concern sharedwith all the English-speaking world,that of teaching English as a secondor as a foreign language overseas. TheUnited States alone has commitmentsall over the world through the Agencyfor International Development, the

United States Information Agency,the Fulbright and Smith-Mundt visit-ing lecturer program, the teacher ex-change program, and various privatefoundations and agencies. Particularlyimportant are those commitments inthe developing countries where theneed for English as the language ofcommerce and education constitutesan immediate emergency. But, asProfessor Albert H. Marckwardt re-cently estimated in a study for theNational Advisory Council on Teach-ing English as a Foreign Language,by 1970 the demand for professionalscompetent to direct teacher-trainingprograms abroad will be ten timesgreater than the foreseeable supply.His report added that an almostequally critical need exists for middlelevel specialists to work abroad onshort-term assignments as teacher-trainers of foreign nationals.

The second concern is that of teach-ing English to the more than 100,000foreign students in the United Statesand Canada. Although the increasinguse of the TOEFL tests has helped toraise the level of English competenceamong newly admitted foreign stu-dents, the need to improve that com-petence after admittance still existsfor most of them. The TENES surveyrevealed that in many colleges anduniversities adequate programs for im-proving that competence do not existand that more than half of the instruc-tors are without any professionaltraining in the discipline.

The third concern is that of teach-ing English as a second language tothe several million American residents,most of them native-born Americancitizens, both children and adults. Itwas the looming consciousness of this

TESOL AND THE JOURNAL 5

concern that underlay the creation ofTESOL and of this journal. Instruc-tion of these millions desperately callsfor professional training and bettermaterialsmaterials prepared for theIndian children of the Southwest, theSpanish-speaking children of Texas,the Eskimos of Alaska, and the im-migrant adults from many lands withmany languages.

What can TESOL and the journaldo? Here is a quick and incompleteglimpse into the future for TESOL andits influence. First, TESOL itselfhopes to accomplish these goals:

1.

2.

3.

4.

A central office, with a TESOL li-brary that can serve as a resposi-tory for TESL textbooks andother materials and hence will beable to cooperate with the Centerfor Applied Linguistics as a clear-inghouse for the profession. Thisoffice is already beginning to func-t ion under the leadership ofthe executive secretary, James E.Alatis.Development of the journal as thecentral organ of the entire pro-fession, with articles reportingresearch and experiment and class-room practice, with special depart-ments for readers questions, bookreviews and criticisms, and withdescriptions of new programs andother significant developments.A newsletter reporting all kinds ofevents relevant to the TESL field,including information about insti-tutions and organizations and news-worthy persons.A national register of competentpersonnel, one indicating the kindof training and experience of everyindividual registered, as well as hisavailability for temporary or long-time assignments elsewhere, espe-cially in foreign countries. It wasthe need for this register that ledto the appointment of the ad hoccommittee that planned the estab-

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

lishment of TESOL and drew upthe draft of the constitution.A publishing program which, inaddition to the journal and thenewsletter, will offer to the profes-sion pamphlets, reprints, specialstudies, recordings, and other ma-terials not likely to be made avail-able by commercial publishers.A speaking and consulting programthrough which leaders will be avail-able to colleges and schools formeetings, workshops, in-service pro-grams, and the like.The annual national convention asan opportunity for the exchange ofinformation and for meeting peoplein the field, with additional pre-convention study groups to con-sider specific problems. TESOLSfirst convention in Miami Beach,prepared so excellently by the sec-ond vice president, David Harris,is only a forerunner and a modelfor future conventions that willhave to be planned for a member-ship five times as large.A planned program of regional andlocal meetings, perhaps with thecooperation of affiliate groups, thatwill bring together local teachersand administrators unable to at-tend the national convention.Organizational cooperation withother organizations and institutionsrelated to our central purpose, notonly the five sponsoring organiza-tions and the newly formed sis-ter organization in England butalso governmental departments andagenciesnational, state, and local.

Second, through the influence ofTESOL, the following may be accom-plished:

1. Appointment of a TESL specialistin a high position in the U.S. Of-fice of Education, one charged withresponsibility for English as a sec-ond language on all levels of edu-cation and hence, desirably, asso-ciated with the office of thecommissioner and not with specificdepartmental alignments such as

62.

3.

TESOL QUARTERLY

those for research and for college,secondary, and elementary edu-cation.Appointment of a TESL specialistas an English-as-a-second-languageconsultant in every state where theTESL problem exists, and, simi-larly, of such a specialist as a top-level consultant in every major citywhere the problem exists.Recognition of the problem by eachrelevant school administration interms of time, materials, and prepa-ration peculiarly required becauseof the special needs of students

4.

5,

learning English as a second lan-guage.Establishment of national guide-lines for the preparation and, per-haps ultimately, certification ofteachers of English as a secondlanguage.Increased research in the specialpedagogy of English-as-a-second-language learning and pedagogy.

The future of TESOL and ourprofession demands much of its lead-ers and of its members. But it is afuture with rich rewards.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Vol 1 No 1 March 1967

Teaching

There isteaching the

the th Sounds of English

nothing boring aboutancient and honorable

th sounds of Englishthe phonemeswhich are so characteristic a part ofthe stream of speech in English butso rare among the other languages ofthe world. If instructor and learnerskeep even a few bits of informationabout the structure of English in mind,these lessons can be the most success-ful effort of a semester.

Zipf reported, some years ago, thatin the stream of speech the word theoccurs once in every eleven words;that is, in a large enough sampling ofspoken English, the article the is usedonce for every other ten words.1 I fthis is true, it is immediately evidentthat the voiced th has an extraordi-narily high frequency in English. Thishigh frequency of occurrence is astimulating idea for a teacher, leadinghim to think that if he is able to de-velop the // even in the word thealone, his efforts will be well spent.But this is not the only exciting sta-tistic connected with the voiced th.Black tells us that among the fiftymost frequently used words on thecollege campus, there are six wordswhich contain //. They are t h e ,that, they, this, there, and with. Thesesix words make up twelve percent ofthe list of the fifty most frequentlyused words. In the next fifty mostfrequent words are five more wordscontaining the //: them, these, thing,then, think. 2

1George Kingsley Zipf, The Psycho-Biology of Language (Boston: HoughtonMifflin Company, 1935), pp. 44-48.

2John W. Black and M. Ausherman, TheVocabulary of College Students (Bureau ofEducational Research, Ohio State Univer-sity, 1955), pp. 26-28.

Elizabeth B. Carr

This high frequency of occurrencegives us a reason for learning as muchas we can about several possible ap-proaches in the teaching of the voicedfricative sound in these words and

foreign students, especially Asianteachers of English as a second lan-guage, get satisfaction from framinglessons that grow out of a knowledgeof structure. However, Asian teachers,who have themselves been schooled inEnglish literature only, tend to placeliterature on such a high pedestal thatthey find it undignified and almost in-sufferable to use intensive repetitionof simple (and to them childish)phrases. A clear presentation of thereasons for intensive drill with thesesmall empty words may help tobreak down a mental block thatmakes some Asian learners despon-dent.

If we begin, then, with the conceptof the voiced th, not as an isolatedentity but as a part of words andphrases that occur constantly in thestream of English speech, we havetaken a step. The futility of drillingon the isolated sound alone should bepointed out, or of relying too heavilyupon single-word drill, except, ofcourse, in the necessary minimal-pairwork to assist in the perception ofcritical contrasts and in the ability toproduce contrasts. It is essential toremember, before framing lessons, thatthe // occurs as often inside a breathgroup (macrosegment) as at the be-ginning of one. The manner of mak-ing the close juncture with othersounds, especially other consonantsounds, is of importance and of in-terest. The th sounds, being made

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8 TESOL QUARTERLY

with the tongue further toward thefront of the mouth than for any othersounds, naturally require a somewhatspecial adjustment to other sounds inthe flow of speech.

In spite of the decision to presentthe th sounds as much as possible inconnection with other sounds, wemust still put first things first andlook carefully at the point of closureand manner of articulation of thesounds themselves. Foreign studentsneed initial information and methodsby which they may make lessons vividto their own students back in thehome countries, by verbal descrip-tions and visual aids. The skilled in-structor of young teachers wishes toassist them in their search for libraryand laboratory aids. Here there is aproblem. When we look for collateralreadings to suggest to our classes,dealing adequately with the physio-

sounds, we uncover the discouragingfact that available texts used inAmerica are somewhat confusing andoften in disagreement. Well-knownand currently popular phonetics booksin America seem to be slanted towardthe native speaker of English and togo under the assumption that he al-ready knows how to make thesesounds fairly well or needs only a lit-tle brushing up. They are employedmainly to train teachers of speechtherapy, to upgrade pronunciation,and to study various dialects of En-glish. Textbook writers with the na-tive speaker in mind have the habitof describing the tongue placementfor two allophones of the th soundsand letting the learner take his choice.The alternatives are the post-dentaltongue-tip position and the interden-

tal one. However, for foreign studentsor foreign teachers of English it isimportant to present the interdentalplacement, for the simple but vitalreason that the post-dental placementleads directly to the substitution of/t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/ for the Englishth sounds.

Bronstein, the author of a populartextbook, says, The fricative con-tinuant th sounds are tip of tongue-teeth sounds, emitted orally. Theyare made with the tongue-tip in con-tact with the inner surface of the up-per teeth, or with the tongue-tip be-tween the upper and lower incisors.3

He does not attempt to describe orto suggest the manner in which thefricative effect is brought about. Ofhis two alternatives as to placement,neither seems exact and meaningfulenough for the foreign learner. If thetongue-tip is in full contact withthe inner surface of the upper teeth,then the sound is likely to come outas a dental stop, linked as it is con-stantly with other stop consonants inthe stream of speech. The light clo-sure and slit-like opening for fricativeemission is not hinted at. As to thesecond alternative, the words thetongue-tip between the upper andlower incisors is not a precise de-scription, since it says nothing aboutthe point of constriction and the kindof opening necessary for the particularfricative emission which will give theacoustic effect we expect of the thsounds. Foreign students, and indeednative speakers, deserve a more me-ticulous description than this one.Bronstein devotes a scant page to the

3 Arthur J. Bronstein, The Pronunciationof American English (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1960), p. 85.

TEACHING THE th SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

th sounds, with no mention of theirrelative frequency and with the blamefor inadequate production set down tocarelessness.

Thomas is considerably more help-ful, although not entirely adequate.He writes:formed by placing the tip of thetongue against either the cuttingedges or the back of the upper teeth,and forcing the breath between thetip and the teeth, or through thespaces between the teeth, or throughboth openings.4 This descriptionadds the fricative concept to the meretongue placement. It is difficult to ex-plain to foreign students, however,what is meant by forcing the breaththrough the spaces between the teeth.(Not all speakers, by any means, havespaces between the teeth. It is con-ceivable that Thomas meant to writespace.) Thomas, like Bronstein,gives alternative positions for thetongue: (1) tip against cutting edgesof upper front teeth (which is an in-terdental position, necessitating thatthe upper and lower teeth be slightlyaparta valuable point to stress forAsian students who often tend toform English sounds with an almost-closed mouth); (2) tip of tongue incontact (presumably light contact)with the back surface of the upperfront teeth.

Thomas recognizes the difficultiesof these sounds for foreign students.He adds: The dental articulation of[t] and [d] characteristic of mostEuropean languages makes it difficult

from [t] and [] from [d]. Some-

4 Charles Kenneth Thomas, An Introduc-tion to the Phonetics of American English,2nd ed. (New York: The Ronald PressCompany, 1958), pp. 77-80.

times he makes too firm atween tongue and teeth;he substitutes [s] or a

and [z] or afor [].5

9

contact be-more oftendental [t]dental [d]

Wise goes considerably further inpicturing the fricative nature of theth sounds. However, he does not givethe interdental alternative positionwhich is helpful for Asians. Of thevoiced th he writes: The consonant[] is a voiced, dental, fricative con-tinuant. It is made by placing thetip of the tongue in light contact withthe back surfaces of the front teethand passing a stream of vocalized airthrough the constricted spaces be-tween the tongue and the teeth. Thevelure is closed and the sides of thetongue are in contact with the uppermolars. He adds a warning, Par-ticularly they [foreign students] willneed to avoid substituting [d] or[z] for it. They should also avoidprotruding the tongue in an exag-gerated interdental position.6

Carrell and Tiffany are helpful in

The sound is made by placing thetongue on, or very close to, the cuttingedge of the upper central teeth anddirecting an unvoiced breath streamthrough this light closure. Thelower teeth usually touch the under-surface of the tonguetip. Velopharyn-geal closure is complete, or nearly so.What is heard is the friction soundcreated by passage of the breath streambetween the tongue and the upperteeth.

The facial chart presented with thisdescription is one of the most helpfulto be found, showing as it does the

5 Ibid., p. 61.6 Claude Merton Wise, Introduction to

Phonetics (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1957), pp. 134-135.

10 TESOL QUARTERLY

upper and lower teeth as definitelyapart, and the tongue as clearly in aposition to be visible to the eye ofthe listener and observer.7

Among writers of textbooks forspeakers (or teachers) of English asa second language, there are severalwhich should be reviewed. The textby Brigance and Henderson, althoughwritten some years ago, was createdwith problems of Asian speakers ofEnglish (or second-generation Asian-Americans) in mind and has hadmany years of use in Hawaii, in highschool and in college. The authorscarefully avoid the post-dental closurein their description of the formationof the sounds in question: Sides [ofthe tongue] pressed against the upperside teeth; tip pressed against theedge of the upper front teeth. Breathforced out gradually between tongue-tip and teeth with a friction-likesound.8 This is the only text whichhas come to light in which the exactadaptation of the th sounds to othersounds is dealt with. The sections en-titled Plosives followed by fricatives,Nasals followed by fricatives, Fric-atives followed by plosives, Fric-atives followed by nasals, and Fric-atives followed by fricatives areparticularly valuable.9

Black, a recent writer on foreignstudents problems, is far less me-ticulous in his description of eitherthe point of closure or the manner ofarticulation. He says:

7 James Carrell and William R. Tiffany,Phonetics: Theory and Application inSpeech Improvement (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960), p. 188.

8 William Norwood Brigance and FlorenceM. Henderson, A Drill Manual for Improv-ing Speech, 3rd ed. (New York: J. B. Lip-pincott Company, 1955), pp. 29-31.

9 Ibid., pp. 88-105.

The fricatives . . . are formed bypartial stoppages of the breath streamand in a manner to produce one oranother amount of swish-like or fry-ing noise. . . . The unique characterof the particular hissing or fryingsound of the fricatives is determinedby the place at which the partial ob-struction to the air flow occurs andthe size of the opening through whichthe air escapes. The places of articu-lation are: . . .tongue between the teeth; orfor somespeakersagainst the upper teeth orthe gum, at about the point at whichthe teeth and the gum join.10

Dr. Black seems to be speaking to thenative speaker rather than to the non-native one, who needs a more precisedelineation of the features of this pairof sounds.

Shen, who is the most painstakingof all writers in the United States inregard to point of closure and mannerof articulation, adds the concept airescaping over the top of the tongueand a small diagram of the front viewof the articulators (as they appear tothe listener) to her clearly interdentalrepresentation of the tongue position,given in a second side-view diagram.11

Her front-view diagram makes excel-lent sense. We usually look at thespeaker addressing us, and it is saidthat we are all unconscious lip-readersto a certain extent. As listeners wedo not profit by the time-honoredside-view diagrams, which are actuallyX-ray-eye-views.

It is probably clear from the surveyjust given that available reference ma-

10 John W. Black, American Speech forForeign Students (Springfield, Ilinois:Charles C Thomas, Publisher, 1963), p. 59.

11 Yao Shen, Articulation Diagrams ofEnglish Vowels and English Consonants(Ann Arbor, Michigan: Braun and Brum-field, 1958), pp. 5, 46.

TEACHING THE th SOUNDS OF ENGLISH 11

terial is less than adequate for use asoutside reading for foreign studentsneeding to improve their own con-cepts of these two consonant pho-nemes or wishing to glean ways andmeans of teaching them across thesea. The instructor in TESL classesin the United States should be awareof this inadequacy and give definiteguidance in the matter, recommend-ing such a careful description of thepoint of closure as Yao Shen gives andsuch clear indications of the mannerof articulation as Carrell and Tiffanyor Brigance and Henderson give.There seems to be no foundation atall for the fear, sometimes expressedby older writers, that the tongue mayprotrude awkwardly. There is muchgreater danger that the post-dentalposition may initiate and reinforcethe substitution of [t] and [d] forthe voiceless and voiced th soundsrespectively.

Neither the Japanese nor theKorean language possesses the thsounds in its inventory of phonemes.Native speakers of these languages

/z/ for //. In training or retrainingJapanese or Korean teachers of En-glish it is a good thnig to convincethem that they should make, and usein class, tape-recordings of nativespeakers of English pronouncing min-imal pairs of words to show the con-trasting features, acoustically, of thesepairs of phonemes. Teacher-traineesneed to become familiar with thetape-recorder and with the making oftaped lessons for student use. Theyneed, urgently, to have opportunitiesto practice using this material beforea group of learners. Such a tapeshould begin quite simply: This is

a lesson contrasting /z/ as in Z e nwith // as in then. Please listen. Donot repeat. Zoe-though; Z-thee; Zen-then; close-clothes; breeze-breathe;bays-bathe; sees-seethe; shes-sheathe;rise-writhe; tease-teethe; lays-lathe.Now please repeat after me. Zoe(pause) -though (pause); Z (pause)-thee (pause); Zen (pause) -then(pause); close (pause) -clothe (pause);etc. Now please repeat the two wordstogether. Zen-then (pause); Zoe-though (pause); Z-thee (pause); close-clothes (pause); breeze-breathe(pause); bays-bathe (pause); sees-seethe (pause); etc. Now listen andrepeat, one person at a time. Theinstructor calls on individual studentsto repeat after the tape to display theability to make the contrast. Heshould teach the student-teacher howto stop and start the recorder skill-fully when extra time is needed forpractice.

Even a brief drill with minimalpairs of words should be planned sothat it ends with a discriminationtest. For example, the instructor mayindicate on the blackboard that wordscontaining /z/ will be called No. 1and that words containing the sound// will be called No. 2. The voice onthe tape will pronounce only one ofthe words of each minimal pair. Thestudents are to listen closely and toreply One or Two. The tape thenreads: l. Zoe 2. thee 3. though 4.Z 5. clothe 6. breeze 7. bathe 8. sees.The tape may also give the answers,to allow for immediate checking bythe students themselves. It shouldread: Your answers should be asfollows: 1. No. 1; 2. No. 2; 3. No. 2;4. No. 1; 5 No. 2; 6. No. 1; 7. No. 2;8. No. 1. A similar routine may then

12 TESOL QUARTERLY

be worked out and put on tape for

Even if the instructor is a nativespeaker of English and usually givesthe minimal-pair drill directly, withhis own pronunciation, he may wishto make a tape-recording of the drillalso. Students may use such a tapefor extra practice in their dormitoriesor in the laboratory, and they maydub it off to take to their home coun-tries for use in teaching or for re-fresher work in keeping their ownpronunciation up to a high point ofperfection. If foreign teachers of En-glish are assisted to take a supply oftapes home with them, made by na-tive speakers, they will not fall intothe bad habit of relying upon theirown pronunciation as a model fortheir classes. Foreign teachers oftenfear that tapes are too hard to makeand that native speakers must alwaysbe paid for pronouncing the materialfor a lesson. These fears can easily bedispelled while the student-teacher isstudying in the United States, and hecan return home with a supply oftapes and the knowledge of how tomake more.

In Thailand and in Laos the sub-

likely to be /t/ and /d/ respectively.Thai students seem to have more dif-ficulty with the // than with itsvoiceless counterpart. This is possiblyan illusion brought about by thegreater frequency of // in the streamof speech in English. Minimal-pair

trasting /d/ and // should be under-taken and continued with diligence.

During many hours of observingEnglish classes in Thailand, the writernoticed that, although some young

teachers were familiar with the con-trastive analysis of Thai and Englishand with the minimal-pair method ofworking on critical points, they wasteda great deal of time and lost momen-tum in their class lessons by turningaway from their students and writinglong lists of pairs of words on theblackboard. A suggestion which wasoffered there is repeated here. Min-imal pairs of words may be printedby hand on double flash cards, inheavy black ink or paint, with thewords one above the other on a card.Thus sets of cards might be made forThai problems with pairs of words onthem as follows:

dine day die load read seedthine they thy loathe wreathe seethe

There is another quite hilarioustechnique called the object box. Ashoe box should be filled with minia-ture objects for which the Englishname contains one of the th sounds.There may be a thermometer, athumb tack, a thimble, and a calen-dar showing Thursday, the third ofthe month, the thirteenth, and thethirtieth. There may be a small paste-board birthday cake and a diminutivesignpost showing north and south.There may be a piece of cloth. Suchan object box may immediately sug-gest small children, but its use neednot be limited to nursery school.Used along with pattern practice, forforeign students of almost any age, ithelps with the lesson in two ways. Itprovides amusing visual cues for thepattern practice. It makes a bridgebetween pronunciation and grammarthat is highly desirable. A greaternumber of Asian teachers of Englishfeel confident in teaching patternpractice than in teaching pronuncia-

TEACHING THE th SOUNDS OF ENGLISH 13

tion. If object boxes containing ob-jects to cue in special words for thepattern substitutions are used, thedrill on such difficult sounds as the

the grammar drill.Time and thought should be spent

on framing drills for listening and re-peating in connected phrases. Onlyby hearing and speaking words in con-nected breath-groups can the stu-dents become accustomed to linkingthe th sounds with adjacent sounds.Such linking (close juncture) is ofparticular importance with these pho-nemes, since their point of closure isfurther toward the front of the mouththan in the case of other sounds. Theadjustment of other sounds to them(and of them to other sounds) is alittle more exacting than in the link-ing of other sounds. The nativespeaker produces these junctures au-tomatically, but the second-languagespeaker may be taught to make themwith near-native effect. A good begin-ning is with phrases containing al-veolar stops and nasals before the//. The prepositions at, in, on, andsuch words as send, mend, end, bendprovide material for the following drillphrases, linking tongue-tip-alveolarconsonants to the //.

In these phrases the /t/, /d/, and/n/, by a kind of regressive assimila-tion, adjust themselves to the ap-proaching //. Fronted allophones ofthe alveolar sounds are used. Thiscan be explained quite simply to thestudents by giving the direction:

Make the closure for the /t/, /d/,and /n/ with the blade of the tongueon the gum-ridge, and the tip of thetongue already in the position for theth sound. Students should watchthe teacher produce this juncture,then should proceed with the listening-repeating method. (This is a casewhere hand-mirrors may be used forthe moment.) The teacher shouldcall for individual production, check-ing the position of the tongue to seethat the tip is visible as the junctureis made. This routine is valuable forJapanese students, if they can becajoled into doing it, because suchexercises help in achieving flexibilityof jaw-movement. Many Japanesespeakers try to produce English soundsin the same way in which they pro-duce Japanese speech soundswithteeth nearly closed. They feel a greatdeal of embarrassment about partingthe teeth and showing the tongue. Al-though it may be impossible to bringabout change in some individual cases,still, many younger Japanese learnerswill try to copy the muscular habitsof English. Many Asians of theyounger generation are becoming en-thusiastic about linguistics and con-sequently are ready to notice and toaccept the marked differences in struc-ture between their languages andEnglishand even to find these dif-ferences interesting.

Linguistic knowledge tends to be aboon to both teacher and student inthe learning English as a second lan-guage operation. It gives the teacherknowledge on which to base lessons.It gives the student a broader point ofview about languages and their dif-ferences, and it may possibly implantan enthusiasm in him which will make

14 TESOL QUARTERLY

him want to speak English in the eleven words, on the average, he mayEnglish way. If a bright foreign stu- possibly rise to the challenge and con-dent knows that he is going to pro- quer the English phoneme //.nounce the article the once in every UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

Vol 1 No 1 March 1967

The Language Laboratory in

A Small TESOL Program

The value of a language laboratoryin teaching modern languages in ourhigh schools and colleges has beenwell established, and the languagelaboratory for classes in French, Ger-man, or Spanish has become partof the equipment of the up-to-dateschool. However, although audio-visual courses for English as a for-eign language have been developedand language laboratories are used inlarge-scale English-teaching programsin this country, perhaps less use ofthe language laboratory has beenmade in a small TESOL programthan in other modern language teach-ing in our schools. One reason forthis may be that fewer students areusually involved in a TESOL pro-gram than in the foreign languageclasses for native students, exceptperhaps in areas with a large foreignborn population. A more importantone may be that the opportunity thatthe laboratory provides to hear nativepronunciation is not felt to be socritical for the student who is livingin an environment where the languagehe is learning is being spoken allaround him by native speakers. Inmany small schools a language labora-tory provided for the larger numberof American students of foreign lan-guages may already be used tonearly full capacity, leaving littletime or room for students in theTESOL program, and the purchase ofadditional expensive electronic equip-ment for a small number of studentswho do not need it in order to hear

Janet Ross

the language spoken by natives is notfelt to be justified. Perhaps the mostdeterring factor, however, is the timeand effort involved in developing auseful language laboratory programwith materials suitable to meet theneeds of the particular group beinginstructed. Commercially preparedtape recordings and records designedto be used in learning English as asecond language are not plentiful, andthose that do exist have largelybeen planned for beginning instruc-tion. The college TESOL programenrolls students with a fair amountof proficiency in English, but withweaknesses in varying areas. Somemay need work in discrimination andpronunciation of certain sounds; somemay need to develop mastery of cer-tain structure patterns; still othersneed to improve listening skill. Thetask of the instructor in preparing hisown material to meet all these vary-ing needs is difficult and as time con-suming as teaching another class. Set-ting up procedures for use of thelaboratory and supervising it to insurethat the students do more than pas-sively play the tapes adds anotherchore. Thus the teacher of Englishas a foreign language may concludethat while the laboratory may havevalue, the value is not great enoughto be worth the time and trouble, andthat no machine can really replacethe teacher.

These are valid objections. And itis also true that a language labora-tory, whether for English as a foreign

15

16 TESOL QUARTERLY

language or for any other foreign lan-guage, that is inefficiently used, thatis used merely as a time-saving sub-stitute for a class period of goodteacher instruction, or that is carriedout with inadequate supervision, orprovided with material that does notmeet the instructional needs, fails toreinforce instruction. Yet the lan-guage laboratory properly used isa powerful teaching device in theTESOL program, as it is in othermodern language programs, if theteacher is prepared to spend the timeand energy to make it successful.

One value of the laboratory is thatit provides a structured approach tolistening. Although the foreign stu-dent in the United States does hearEnglish all around him, and althoughthrough the medium of television hehas an opportunity to hear it withvisual stimuli to interpret and rein-force meaning, he does not hear thelanguage in the structured, system-atic way that is possible with the lab-oratory. The lab gives him an oppor-tunity to train his ear by hearingmeaningful sound distinctions re-peated until he can discriminatethem, to listen to repeated structurepatterns, and to drill systematicallyon points of difficulty. But if thegood teacher provides an opportu-nity for this structured approach tolanguage through class instruction,wherein lies the advantage of theuse of electronic equipment? Whilea class period of instruction solely bymeans of a tape recorder may not bea substitute for a class period ofteacher instruction, one advantage ofthe tape recorder in the classroom isin its use when material is to be re-peated. Listening comprehension ex-

ercises can be played over and overin class until sound distinctions be-come clear or structures are mastered,thus saving effort on the part of theteacher. Furthermore, difficult pas-sages can be singled out for specialattention. But the greatest value ofthe tape recorder or of a languagelaboratory is its use outside of classto supplement the class instruction.In this way, not only does the studentget additional hours of practice in lis-tening to language structures pre-sented in a systematic manner, butinstruction can be individualized.

This individualized instruction is asecond value of a language labora-tory. Outside the classroom the stu-dent can work on the particular prob-lem of pronunciation or structure inwhich he is weak as he cannot in agroup situation. Or he can developthe skill in which he is deficientpronunciation, listening comprehen-sion, or the ability to use patternsof grammatical structure. The oppor-tunity to do this is especially impor-tant in classes made up of studentsof varied language backgrounds andvarying levels of proficiency in En-glish in general, or with proficiencyin different language skills. Suchclasses pose a real problem in collegeor university programs, particularlyin smaller schools, where the enroll-ment does not justify differentiatedclasses.

Another value of the laboratory isits directness. The student workingby himself in the language laboratorybooth has other aural stimuli cut toa minimum, and he can concentrateon the sounds coming directly to hisears, especially if earphones are used.Thus he can often distinguish finer

THE LANGUAGE LABORATORY 17

sound differences than he can in theclassroom situation. Depending onthe type of equipment used, he alsohas the distinct advantage of hearinghimself and directly comparing hispronunciation and use of structurepatterns with that of a native speaker.

How can a language laboratory fora small program be set up and oper-ated so that the maximum value willbe realized, and the considerable time,labor, and expense involved to makeit successful be justified? Some sug-gestions will be offered here, basedon procedures used in a small pro-gram in which the author has beenconcerned.

Selection of equipment is the firstpoint to consider, though the equip-ment itself is less important than thematerials, method, and approach. Ifa well-equipped language laboratoryis not available for the TESOL pro-gram, a great deal can be done withthree or four or even with one taperecorder with which students workindividually. Exercises must be de-veloped according to what the equip-ment will allow. With some types,listening only is possible. With othertypes, the individual student has nocontrol over stopping the machine orreplaying portions according to hisparticular need. In some laboratorieshe can record, but cannot play backthe original tape and his recording.If a machine is to be used by itselfwithout other expensive laboratoryequipment, a four-track machine witha headset including a microphone ismost versatile. By four-track ismeant a machine on which two chan-nels can be played on each side of atape. One channel thus becomes themaster channel on which the record-

ing is made and the other the channelon which the student records his re-sponses. The advantage is that afterhe has recorded, the student can playback the tape and hear both the mas-ter channel and his own recording andthus compare the two. Then by againsetting the machine at record hecan do over again the items on whichhe has errors. When the student isnot recording, the double-track fea-ture becomes less important. Anytape recorder that can be controlledby the student individually, that isnot geared to a master machine playedby someone else, has the advantageof allowing the student to replay por-tions of the tape which he did notunderstand or on which he needs ad-ditional drill. Many of the materialsto be described here, however, can beadapted to the particular kind ofequipment available.

In a program in which the writerhas used the laboratory, an averageof twenty-five to thirty foreign stu-dents are enrolled in two classes.While these classes represent twolevels of instruction, the students ineach one are most heterogeneous intheir abilities and needs. The labora-tory consists of six booths or posi-tions with partitions rising aboutfour feet from the floor. They wereconstructed by the physical plant ofthe school from material that hadbeen used in another office. Each po-sition is equipped with a four-tracktape recorder and headset with micro-hone. The machines have been wiredwith a switch that can be turned offso that the master channel will notbe used by the foreign students torecord, as by so doing they woulderase the master tape. A device has

18 TESOL QUARTERLY

also been added to each machine sothat an extra headset can be pluggedin for monitoring purposes. This kindof laboratory permits only one stu-dent to work on a particular tape atone time unless the tape is played tothe whole group at once without theuse of headphones. This system isadapted to a small program. If a largenumber of machines were used, a dif-ferent system might be more effective.

A greater chore than selection ofequipment is the preparation of tapedmaterial. Commercially prepared ma-terials are expensive and may not fillthe needs of a particular class, or ofcertain students within the class, es-pecially at the advanced levels. Withstudent help in preparation of scriptsand in recording, and with time todo the work involved, an instructorcan develop his own material.

Certain types of exercises lendthemselves to use in the languagelaboratory. To aid in mastering pro-nunciation, the instructor can tapeexercises in sound discrimination usingminimal pairs to be listened to or re-peated by the student. He can alsotape phrases and sentences for imita-tion of stress patterns. For structuredrill, transformation exercises are suc-cessful and involve more active stu-dent response than exercises callingfor mere repetition. After the stu-dent gives his response, the correctresponse may be given on the tape,and a second pause provided, so thatthe student may correct his error orrepeat the correct response. For moreadvanced students a passage may berecorded containing a number of ex-amples of the structure to be mas-tered. After hearing it, the studentsmay answer questions either orally or

in writing which call for using thestructures in the passage. A greatvalue of the tape recorder is its usein listening comprehension. For thispurpose short passages may be tapedto be played over and over, and ques-tions provided to test understanding.Scripts are useful with listening ex-ercises to establish the relationshipbetween sight and sound. More often,however, students concentrate merelyon the sound. For advanced students,taped classroom lectures provide prac-tice in note taking. Or a short essaymay be read to an advanced class onwhich the students take notes inpreparation for writing a summary oranswer to an essay-type question thefollowing day. The essay is also taped,so that the student who has difficultymay listen as many times as neces-sary. Use may also be made of dia-logues about practical situationsbuying a shirt, ordering a meal, mak-ing a telephone call, etc. The studentlistens to the entire dialogue, thenrepeats after the master tape. Thenhe takes one of the parts in the dia-logue and replies to the voice on themaster channel. Examples of exer-cises of various types will be found atthe end of this article.

Much of this material can be pre-pared in advance of the beginning ofthe course. Other material will beadded as the class progresses in orderto supplement instruction if the needarises. In the preparation, use canbe made of student help. In writingstructure or pronunciation tapes, theinstructor can set up the pattern tobe followed, and a student assistantcan supply further examples. Or theinstructor can select passages to beused for listening comprehension, and

THE LANGUAGE LABORATORY 19

student assistants, under guidance,can write questions on them. Stu-dents can also compose passages il-lustrating the points on which struc-ture drills will be based, such as theuse of have plus the past participle(have given, have seen, etc.) or theplacement of adverbs. They can alsocompose dialogues. If students dothe recording of the master tapes,they may need some instruction inenunciation and timing, and in theformat in which the exercises are pre-sented. For the laboratory describedhere, much of the material was writ-ten by the instructor, who was givena reduced teaching schedule for thispurpose. Much of it was written bya graduate student working closelywith her. Some exercises were devel-oped from class assignments in acourse in methods in teaching Englishas a foreign language. The recordingwas done almost entirely by studenthelp. Not all programs will be fortu-nate enough to have this assistance.

With good equipment and mate-rials, the success of the laboratorydepends ultimately on how the ma-terials are handled and how the lab-oratory is run. Sending the studentsto listen with little supervision isoften a waste of time. How can theinstructor insure that the studentreally listens or that he reproducesthe patterns correctly, without spend-ing more time in the laboratory thanhe perhaps spends in teaching hisclasses? A partial answer is to havethe taped exercises culminate in writ-ing. For example, after the studenthas listened to the tape and producedthe correct responses orally, he canbe asked to write them, or he canwrite the answers to questions on pas-

sages he has listened to, as suggestedearlier. Pronunciation tapes can endby having the students indicate ona check list whether pairs of soundsthey hear are alike or different, or byhaving them mark stress patterns. Inthe program described, each studentis provided with a booklet of dittoedwritten exercises based on the tapes,and the use of the written exercisesseems to be particularly effective. Aspecific assignment is made to eachstudent, and the written exerciseserves as visual proof that he hasdone it.

Even with this check, however, su-pervision is needed. The describedprogram has been fortunate in havinga graduate student as laboratory su-pervisor who has herself learned En-glish as a foreign language and whoplans to return to her native countryto teach English. The course in-structors give her an assignment sheeteach week indicating what exerciseseach student is to do. She keeps aschedule sheet for each student onwhich the student indicates in theproper square the hour he came tothe lab and the exercises he com-pleted. She monitors the oral re-sponse when necessary, and the writ-ten exercises are turned in to her.Part of the success of the programmay lie in the fact that she checksthem immediately with the student,and if she feels he has not masteredthe material, she gives him back thetape to be done again. At the end ofthe week she hands in a report to theinstructors of the English classes tell-ing what each student has done. Anundergraduate student or, in a highschool program, a competent sen-

20 TESOL QUARTERLY

ior could do a great deal of thissupervision.

Is the language laboratory worththe time and money? It increases in-struction time by providing additionalcontact with the language under con-trolled conditions. A TESOL programmust take care of individual differ-ences not only in level of proficiencyin English but also in language back-grounds, and the laboratory makes itpossible to do this in a way that itcannot be done in the classroom. Forexample, Japanese students can drillon the /r//l/ distinction which is dif-ficult for them, the Latin Americanson /b//v/, the Germans on voicingfinal consonants. There are uniqueinstructional features inherent in thelaboratory method of presentation.Yet the use of a language laboratoryis time consuming, and the inexperi-enced teacher may be at a loss as tothe best procedures. Material onceprepared must be constantly revisedas weak points become apparent, asstudents tire of the material, or asnew points that need drill are identi-fied. Some of the procedures outlinedhere, however, have lessened theproblems in the program in whichthey have been tried.

BALL STATE UNIVESITYMUNCIE, INDIANA

Sample Exercises

A. PRONUNCIATION

1. Distinguishing Vowel SoundsI will pronounce the groups of

words in Section A of your script.In each group circle the word thatcontains a different vowel sound.I will pronounce each group twice.Here is an example:

Tape: fit, bean, bin, pit.You should have circled the wordbean.1. bin, key, eat, people2. sit, bin, build, fee3. right, steak, height, by4. lays, says, led, friend5. back, cat, ten, plaid6. ton, cup, fear, does7. hear, fur, her, sir8. cop, heart, are, care9. car, ought, law, or

10. fool, good, cool, boot

First I will read the pairs ofwords in parentheses in the sen-tences. Then I will read the sen-tences on your script choosing oneof the words in parentheses. Checkthe word you hear. This is anexample:

Tape: knit, knotI like to knit that yarn.You should have checked knit,the first word of the pair.

1.2.

3.4.

5.6.

8.

9.

I saw the (mate, mat) first.I looked up at the (stairs,stars).I (went, want) to do it.Paul lay down on his (cot,coat).The officer was (cut, curt).There is no place for the(sheep, ship).He (bet, bit) a silver dollar.The (boat, boot) was notclean.Put the meat in the (pit,

7.

pot) .10. The general thought his men

were (fit, fat).2. Distinguishing /l/ and /r/

Listen to these pairs of words.I will say one word in the pairtwice. On your script circle theword which you hear twice andthen repeat the pair. For example:late, rate, late

(Circle late on your answer sheet.Then repeat late, rate.)

1. rate, rate, late

THE LANGUAGE LABORATORY 21

2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.

10.

rung, lung, rungtell, tear, telltale, rail, talelock, lock, rocklane, rain, rainroad, road, loadwall, war, wallland, ran, rana roof, a roof, aloof

(The students are provided withscripts for these exercises. Thestudent script for this last exer-cise will contain only pairs ofwords.)

B. STRUCTURE1. Passive Voice

a. Transformation ExerciseYou will hear a sentence in the

active voice. You will change it tothe passive. For example, you willhear: John ate the apple. Y o uwill say: The apple was eaten byJohn; or The apple was eaten. Thepassive is often used when it is notimportant to name who did theact. For example: Someone foundthe letter yesterday. The passiveis: A letter was found yesterday.Now begin the exercise.1. The present wrote a letter yester-

day.(Pause for student response.)

A letter was written yesterdayby the president.

2. Someone painted the house white.(Pause.)

The house was painted white.(Pause.)

3. Someone mailed the letter yester-day.

(Pause.)The letter was mailed yesterday.

(Pause.)4. Someone finished the work by six

oclock.(Pause.)

The work was finished by sixoclock.

5. John turned on the light.(Pause.)

The light was turned on by John.(Pause.)

b. Listening and ResponseExercise

I will read a short passage thatmakes use of the passive voice.You will answer questions on it,using the correct form of the verb.Listen to the passage as manytimes as necessary in order toanswer the questions. Here is thepassage:

(The tape contains a page-longpassage beginning: In 1849 goldwas discovered in California)

I will now re-read portions ofthe passage, and then ask ques-tions on the portion I have read.Answer these questions, using com-plete sentences. After you haveanswered the questions, you willhear the correct answer.

In 1849 gold was discovered inCalifornia. By that time, the regionhad been explored by the Spanish,and they had given it its name,which means heat of the ovens.1.

2.

3.

2.

When was gold discovered inCalifornia?

(Pause for student response.)Gold was discovered in 1849.

(Pause for student repetition.)By whom had the region been ex-plored?

(Pause for student response.)The region had been explored bythe Spanish.

(Pause for student repetition.)By whom had the region beengiven its name?

(Pause for student response.)The region had been given itsname by the Spanish.

(Pause for student repetition.)Combining Sentence Patternswith WhoIn this exercise I will give you

22 TESOL QUARTERLY

two short sentences. Insert thesecond sentence into the first oneby substituting who for the subjectin the second sentence. Forexample:

The man came back. The manwent away. If you combine thesesentences with a who, this is the re-sult: The man who went away cameback.1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The man left.The man was here.

(Pause for student response.)The man who was here left.

(Pause for student repetition.)The boy likes school.The boy makes good grades.

(Pause for student response.)The boy who makes good gradeslikes school.

(Pause for student repetition.)The dog bit the man.The dog barked.

(Pause for student response.)The dog who barked bit the man.

(Pause for student repetition.)The girl is the president.The girl is waving.

(Pause for student response.)The girl who is waving is thepresident.

(Pause for student repetition.)The boy had an accident.The boy drove fast.

(Pause for student response.)The boy who drove fast had anaccident.

(Pause for student repetition.)(The students are not provided withscripts for these structure exercises. )

BibliographyBrooks, Nelson. Language and Language

Learning. New York: Harcourt, Braceand World, 1964.

Cordner, S. Pit. The Language Labora-tory: English Language Teaching, XVI(1962), 184-188.

Council of Chief State School Officers, andOthers. Purchase Guide for Programs inScience, Mathematics, and Modern For-eign Languages; Supplement to PurchaseGuide for Programs in Science, Mathe-matics, and Modern Foreign Languages.

Boston: Ginn and Company, 1959, 1961.Dykstra, Gerald, A New Dimension in Lab-

oratories, Language Learning. XI(1961), 147-152.

Gravit, Francis W., and Albert Valdman,eds. Structural Drill and the LanguageLaboratory. Report of the Third Labora-tory Conference held at Indiana Univer-sity, March 29-31, 1962. Bloomington,Indiana: Publication of the Indiana Uni-versity Research Center in Anthropology,Folklore, and Linguistics, No. 27, 1963.

Hayes, Alfred S. Language Laboratory Fa-cilities: Technical Guide for the Selec-tion, Purchase, Use and Maintenance ofLanguage Laboratory Facilities, U.S. Of-fice of Education Bulletin 1963, No. 37.Washington: U.S. Government PrintingOffice, 1963.

Hocking, Elton. Language Laboratory andLanguage Learning. Department of Au-diovisual Instruction, NEA MonographNo. 2. Washington: National EducationAssociation, 1964.

Hok, Ruth. Oral Exercises: Their Typeand Form, Modern Language Journal,XLVIII (April, 1964), 222-226.

Huebner, Theodore. Audio-Visual Tech-niques in Teaching Foreign Languages:A Practical Handbook. New York: NewYork University Press, 1960.

Hutchinson, Joseph C. The Language Lab-atory. . . How Effective Is It? U.S. De-partment of Health, Education, and Wel-fare, Office of Education. Washington:U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964.

Hutchinson, Joseph C. Modern ForeignLanguages in High School: The LanguageLaboratory. U.S. Office of Education Bul-letin 1961, No. 23, OE-27013. Washing-ton: U.S. Government Printing Office,1961.

Ingram, S. R. Audio-Aids in Modern Lan-guage Teaching, Visual Education (June,1961) , 5-8.

Lado, Robert. Language Teaching: A Sci-entific Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964.

Lorge, Sarah W. Language LaboratoryResearch Studies in New York City HighSchools: A Discussion of the Programand the Findings, Modern LanguageJournal, XLVIII (November, 1964), 409-419.

Marty, Fernand. Language LaboratoryLearning. Roanoke: A-V Publications,1960.

Marty, Fernand. Programming a BasicForeign Language Course: Prospects forSelf-Instruction. Roanoke: A-V Publica-tions, 1962.

THE LANGUAGE LABORATORY 23

Modern Language Association of Ameri-ca. A Dozen Dos and Don'ts for Plan-ning and Operating a Language Lab oran Electronic Classroom in a High School.New York: MLA Materials Center, nodate.

Morton, F. Rand. The Language Labora-tory as a Teaching Machine. Ann Ar-bor: University of Michigan Press, 1960.

Najam, Edward W., ed. Materials andTechniques for the Language Laboratory.Report of the Language Laboratory Con-ference held at Purdue University, March23-24, 1961. Bloomington, Indiana: Pub-lication of the Indiana University Re-search Center in Anthropology, Folklore,and Linguistics, No. 18, 1962.

Oinas, Felix J., ed. Language TeachingToday. Report of the Language Labora-tory Conference held at Indiana Uni-versity, January 2223, 1960. Blooming-ton, Indiana: Publication of the IndianaUniversity Research Center in Anthro-pology, Folklore, and Linguistics, No. 14,1960.

Scherer, George. The Use and Misuse of

Language Laboratories. Language ofLearning: The Individual and the Process,ed. Edward Najam. Report of theIndiana University-Purdue UniversityForeign Language Conference held atIndiana University, March 11-13, 1965.Bloomington, Indiana: Publication of theIndiana Research Center in Anthropology,Folklore, and Linguistics, No. 40, 1966,214-224.

Spencer, Richard E. and Edmond L. Sequin.The Relative Effectiveness of Earphonesand Loudspeakers as a Means of Present-ing a Listening Test in a Foreign Lan-guage, Modern Language Journal,XLVIII (October, 1964), 346-349.

Stack, Edward M. The Keating ReportA Symposium, Modern Language Jour-nal, XLVIII (April, 1964), 189194.

Stack, Edward M. The Language Labora-tory and Modern Language Teaching,rev. ed. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1966.

Turner, Daymond. Occupation: LanguageLaboratory Director, Modern LanguageJournal, XLVIII (March, 1964), 151-154.

Vol 1 No 1 March 1967

The Place of Dictation in the Language Classroom

For a long time now, languageteachers have made extensive use ofdictation as a teaching device. Indeed,many teachers almost always reservea portion of class time for this activity,rarely questioning its validity as aneffective language-teaching technique.In observing and consulting dozens oflanguage teachers over the past dec-ade, I have been surprised to find thata majority of them have been unableto tell me why they use dictationex-cept that they have always done soor exactly what their students learnfrom it. The purpose of this article,then, is to examine critically the pos-sible uses of dictation as a language-learning activity, and to point out sev-eral parallel pedagogical principles.

The past abuses of dictation, itseems to me, have occurred mainlybecause instructors have, more oftenthan not, used the technique incor-rectly and at the wrong time. WhileI would agree that dictation can onoccasion be used effectively in mostlanguage classrooms, such effectivenessdepends to a large extent on (a) whenit is used, i.e., at what stage in thesequence of language-learning activi-ties, and (b) how it is handled. Thesetwo important considerations can bediscussed only if we agree on the pur-poses of dictation which, in my mind,are at least two:

1. Dictation is the transference of pri-mary auditory language symbols(speech) into secondary graphicones (writing). It would seem tofollow that one purpose of this ac-tivity is to serve as a learning device

Kenton K. Sutherland

which promotes this ability to de-code sequences of oral symbols intowritten ones.

2. A concurrent pedagogical purposewould be to serve as a testing deviceto check on student progress.

Dictation exercises, it would seem,ought to help an instructor identifyspecific problems in the ability to com-prehend, retain briefly, and immedi-ately write down brief stretches oflanguage, in the assumption that suchability is closely related to general lan-guage performance. It should be men-tioned that this assumptionthat acorrelation actually exists between theability to take dictation and generallanguage performancehas not, to myknowledge, been scientifically proved.Indeed, many of my colleagues havequestioned the usefulness of the activ-ity at all in their enthusiasm for atotal aural-oral, or audio-lingual, ap-proach, and perhaps not without rea-son. The only answers I can give suchcritics are necessarily impressionisticones: It has been my observation thatstudents who are exposed to properlyhandled dictation exercises not onlylearn to recognize the relationship ofspeech to writing at an earlier stage,but also improve more rapidly in theirability to comprehend stretches of spo-ken materialtheir ears, so to speak,become more sensitive and discrimi-nating.

The ability to write and compose ina foreign language also improves, Ihave found, from the experience andpractice of having copied down good,clear models. As an important side

24

DICTATION IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM 25

result, students with exposure to dic-tation activities also learn to be moreat ease with such graphic landmarksas capitalization, punctuation, spelling,and contractions.

Perhaps more important, however,many students begin to realizeaftera short exposure to dictated mate-rialthat the omission or misuse ofsmall function words is a serious error,that such devices are highly importantto the grammatical signaling systemof the language. Many students ac-tually never hear certain unstressedsyllables and one-syllable functionwords and, according to the authorsof one article on the subject of dicta-tion, they never fully realize theirproblems in incorrectly identifyingwhat they hear. They may be able toread and spell a word, but they dontrecognize it when it is spoken, or theyconfuse different words or phrases withthe ones they are hearing. 1 The stu-dent, in other words, discovers thethings he doesnt hear 2 via dictationexercises. In short, dictation activitiesseem to help students to become moreconscious of the structure of the lan-guage, and as teachers point out howfunction words are being obscured andcompressed, so can they teach theirstudents to hear them better.

Since dictation employs a secondarygraphic form of language, it would fol-low that effective utilization of the ac-

1J. Sawyer and S. Silva, Dictation inLanguage Learning. Language LearningXI, 12 (1961), 41. This worthwhile articlecontains a discussion of several types of dic-tation activities, e.g., phonemic text vs.orthographic text dictation, as well as goodsuggestions for handling them in the class-room and for marking dictation papers.

2 Ibid.

tivity as a teaching-learning devicewould necessarily proceed from pri-mary to secondary forms, from speechto writing. What this means is thatstudents should be requiredat leastin the early stages of language learn-ingto take dictation only after theyhave had plenty of practice with thespoken form of language. To be sure,dictation can also be used occasionallyto provide a change of pace, a newfocus, for students who have becomeweary of oral drilling, but it is impor-tant that the activity followratherthan precedeoral practice of the pat-terns to be dictated, and that it pro-vide the students with additional prac-tice in using language correctly, ratherthan with a tricky guessing game inwhich they mostly make mistakes. Asfor the place of dictation in the manip-ulation-communication scale of class-room activities, Clifford Prator haspointed out that it is a chiefly manip-ulation activity, involving decontrol ofall the mechanical elements of writingbut preserving strict phonological andgrammatical controls.3 As such, dic-

3 Clifford Prator, personal letter and nota-tions on previous article, January 10, 1966.Professor Prator is Vice-Chairman of theDepartment of English, University of Cali-fornia, Los Angeles, as well as head of theCertificate Program for Teachers of Englishas a Second Language of the same institu-tion. For a discussion of the manipulation-communication scale, see his Developmentof a Manipulation-Communication Scale inThe 1964 Conference Papers of the Associa-tion of Teachers of English as a SecondLanguage of the National Association forForeign Student Affairs, ed. Robert P. Fox(New York, 1965). Professor Prator is cur-rently at work on a book to be entitled ten-tatively The Three M's of TESOL: Matter,Methods and Materials for Teaching En-glish to Speakers of Other Languages, whichcan be expected to contain additional refer-ences to the manipulation-communicationscale.

26 TESOL QUARTERLY

tation would certainly be one of thefirst writing activities that we wouldwant to have students engage in. Thesuggestion that dictation should besubstituted for composition, largely ifnot wholly, during the earlier stages ofinstruction 4 is not a new idea.

In considering the classroom me-chanics of dictation, we can derivesome valuable pedagogical insightsfrom looking at the activity from thepoint of view of programmed instruc-tionthe theory upon which teach-ing machines are based. Most read-ers will probably recall that pro-grammed learning owes its existencemainly to Harvard Universitys bril-liant behavioral psychologist, B. F.Skinner. His life work has been an in-vestigation of the learning process andan attempt to pin-point the lawsthat govern it. While experimentingwith pigeons, Skinner discovered hisbirds could be taught to accomplishmany astonishing featssuch as whirl-ing in a circle or pecking out a tuneon a toy pianoproviding each stepof their behavior was rewarded witha grain of corn. Psychologists call thisprocess of rewarding reinforcement,and reinforcement is central to Skin-ners theories about programmed in-struction. In 1954 Skinner publishedan article in which he argued that peo-ple could be taught the same way hehad taught his pigeonsthat is, theycould be reinforced each time theytook a correct step toward masteringa subject. The article signalled thebirth of programmed instruction.

4 Edward S. Joynes, Dictation and Com-position in Modern Language Teaching,Modern Language Association Publications,XV, App. I (1900), xxV-xxx.

In a program for people, the rein-forcement factor is not corn but a moreoblique kind of encouragement. Thestudent is rewarded at each step bybeing told instantly that his answeris correct. That is why a programmerarranges his material in a tightlygraded series of small steps so as al-ways to invite a correct response.Getting things right, says Skinner, isa pleasant experience which will en-courage the student to learn more.

If a student commits an error on aprogram, it is considered the fault ofthe program, not of the student.There are no wrong answers, runsthe programmers sloganonly wrongquestions. 5

Certainly the basic elements in pro-grammingthe idea of breaking upthe material into small steps, askingthe student to respond to each item,and rewarding him for correct an-swershave been practiced by goodteachers for centuries. And it is pre-cisely these elements that will produceresults in language classrooms as wellas in self-instructional teaching-ma-chine programs. We can see that indictation, for example, the student isimmediately reinforced by his ownand frequently the teachersobserva-tion that his sentences correspond tothe ones dictated. As the teacher ob-serves the ability of his students to

5This discussion of programmed instruc-tion is taken from an article by RichardMargolis entitled Programmed Instruction:Miracle or Menace? in Revolution inTeaching: New Theory, Technology andCurricula, eds. Alfred de Grazia and DavidA. Sohn (New York: Bantam Books, 1964),pp. 108-120.

DICTATION IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM 27

perform this task, he is able to adjusthis instructional programby speed-ing up or slowing down, jumping aheador going back to review previous mate-rialaccording to the performance ofthe group, perhaps better than a ma-chine can.

In order to take advantage of pro-grammed learning techniques in class-room dictation activities, it seems tome that language instructors need tokeep several important principles inmind: 6

The Principle of Specific Objectives.This principle tells us that a dictationshould be planned as an activity whichinvolves specific structures and vocab-ularyand possibly even specialsoundsfor specific purposes (at leasttwo of which were stated earlier inthis article).

The Principle of Appropriate Prac-tice. In dictation, this means that thestudents must have had sufficient pre-vious practice with the elements thatenter into the sentences to be dictated,including written practice, before theycan be expected to perform acceptably,and that they must receive, via the dic-tation activity, plenty of additionalpractice with correct forms. A dicta-tion, therefore, should never be usedas a way to catch students in as manyerrors as possible, but rather as an-other way to provide them with asmany successful language experiencesas possible.

6 For a more complete discussion of theseprinciples see W. James Popham, TheTeacher-Empiricist, A Curriculum andStudy Supplement (Los Angeles: AegeusPress, 1965). Another very excellent volumeon the subject is Robert F. Mager, Prepar-ing Objectives for Programmed Instruction(San Francisco: Fearon Publishers, 1962).

The Principle of Individual Differ-entiation. In giving a dictation, a lan-guage teacher needs to recognize thatthe speed and performance of the stu-dents will vary greatly. He shouldnot attempt, therefore, to dictate an-other phrase or sentence until he hasobserved that all (or nearly all) ofthe students have written down thepreceding one. Careful observation ofthe performance of the students is alsonecessary so that future classwork anddictations will reflect the various ob-served weaknesses and strengths intheir performances. Recurring errorsand problems should be pointed out tothe class, and persistent individualproblems should be dealt with throughindividual conferences, planned reviewsessions, and special assignments.

The Principle of Immediate Rein-forcement. This is perhaps the mostcrucial principle to the effective out-come of dictation and the one mostcommonly violated by language teach-ers. If we can learn anything at allfrom Skinners work, it is that a stu-dentif he is to learn from his per-formanceis going to do so right awayand not an hour or a day or a weeklater. As Goodwin Watson has pointedout :

Behaviors which are rewarded (rein-forced) are more likely to recur. Thismost fundamental law of learning hasbeen demonstrated in literally thou-sands of experiments. It seems to holdfor every sort of animal from earth-worms to highly intelligent adults.The behavior most likely to emerge inany situation is that which the subjectfound successful or satisfying pre-viously in a similar situation. Noother variable affects learning so power-fully. The best-planned learning pro-vides for a steady, cumulative sequenceof successful behaviors. Reward (rein-

28 TESOL QUARTERLY

forcement), to be most effective inlearning, must follow almost imme-diately after the desired behavior andbe clearly connected with that behaviorin the mind of the learner. The simpleword right, coming directly after agiven response, will have more influ-ence on learning than any big rewardwhich comes much later or which isdimly connected with many responsesso that it cant really reinforce any ofthem. Much of the effectiveness ofprogrammed self-instruction lies in thefact that information about success isfed back immediately for each learnerresponse. A total mark on a test theday after it is administered has littleor no reinforcement value for the spe-cific answers.7

Except in testing situations, then, dic-tations should be (a) corrected imme-diately (b) by the student himself. Ifthe teacher wants to pick up the pa-pers for his own information, he shoulddo so only after the students have hadthe chance to learn from their own re-sponses. Indeed, most dictation activ-ities would probably be even moreeffective as reinforcement if the stu-dents were allowed to check their workas soon as they had copied down asentence, rather than waiting until theend of the entire dictation, since thelearner cannot improve until he hasbeen informed whether or not eacheffort has been successful.

The Principle of Graduated Se-quence. As in oral drilling, dictationexercises will proceed most effectivelyfrom simple to gradually more com-plex forms, and to progressively moreand more effort on the part of thestudents. The teacher needs to pacethe increase in the speed and size of

7 Goodwin Watson, What Do We KnowAbout Learning? Revolution in Teaching,pp. 82-83.

graduation so that it is consistent withthe students ability to perform, never,of course, breaking up phrases morethan in normal speech. Although moststudents would probably like teachersto slow down on dictationssomewould even prefer to have them givenword by wordit is important thatthe teacher keep the students reachingahead by dictating larger and largerportions of material in a series of con-tinuous sequences, allowing as muchtime between word groups as may beneeded for writing. While the speed ofdictation should always be normal,most language teachers would probablyagree that beginning students shouldbe dictated to in a slow-normalspeed rather than in a super-fast speedwhich would hardly be appropriateeven for a trained stenographer takingdictation in his own native language.Earl Stevick suggests here that dic-tating this way without distortion isa valuable skill that requires prac-tice and, for most people, some coach-ingthat it is not just somethingthat comes naturally to any nativespeaker. 8

In summary, I suggest that thesefive educational principles can directlanguage teachers toward the more ef-fective use of dictation in their class-rooms. The actual way that dictationsare handled will, of course, have a greatdeal to do with the level of instruction

8 Earl Stevick, notation on previous ver-sion of article, January, 1966. Dr. Stevickis a resident linguist and specialist in Afri-can languages at the Foreign Service Insti-tute. He has published several works in theteaching of English as a second language,including Helping People Learn English(New York: Abingdon Press, 1958) andA Workbook in Language Teaching (NewYork: Abingdon Press, 1963).

DICTATION IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM 29

and with the ages of the students, aswell as with the personality and clev-erness of individual instructors. Ithink it is safe to say, however, thatas long as these principles are incor-porated into a dictation activity, posi-tive results will necessarily follow forany level and for any teacher.

An interesting final suggestion forthe use of dictation as a self-instruc-tional device is made by Leonard New-mark who, in commenting on an earlierversion of this article, wrote the fol-lowing:

Since you talk about dictation in termsof programmed instruction, why nottalk about it as a device that lends it-self well to self-instruction with a tape-recorder? Nothing about the techniqueyou describe requires a live teacher andcertain of the principles You mentione.g., The Principle of Individual Dif-ferentiationare better served by atape-recorder which allows the slowstudent to play the dictation over asmany times as he needs, without forc-ing the good student to listen to un-needed repetitions; the poor studentalso benefits by not being forced tocompete in the exercise against thegood student. Correcting the dictationagainst the original script can be donein the laboratory as well as in theclassroom. Of course, the teacher canbe used as an expensive substitute fora machine, but I dont quite see whyhe should be so used. If you feel thatvisual cues (lip movement and handgestures, for example, are necessary foroptimal dictation training, I suggest

you consider the possibilities now madeavailable by videotape-recorders.9

This should prove to be an interestingexperiment for those readers who haveaccess to tape- and/or videotape-re-corders. Anyone care to try it?

In conclusion, here are six dictationtechniques suggested by Earl Stevick,which are arranged in approximate or-der of difficulty. Which are suitablefor your group? he asks: 10

Dictation with key words written onblackboard.

1. Each phrase or sentence repeatedwithout limit.

2. Each phrase given only twice.3. Each phrase given only once.

Dictation without key words given. 11

4. Unlimited repetition.5. Each phrase given twice.6. Each phrase given once.

COLLEGE OF THE DESERTPALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

9 Leonard Newmark, personal letter, Janu-ary 12, 1966. Professor Newmark is chair-man of the Department of Linguistics, Uni-versity of California, San Diego. He is oneof the co-authors of Using American En-glish, a highly teachable approach to dia-logues and written material from an entirelyfresh viewpointthe learning and use oflanguage wholes rather than as a patchworkof features. (New York: Harper and Row,1964) .

10 A Workbook in Language Teaching, p.68.

This heading is listed as Dictation withkey words given. Dr. Stevick has informedme, however, that this was a typographicalerror and that it should read Dictationwithout key words given, as shown here.

Vol 1 No 1 March 1967

A Second Look at Teaching Reading and Composition

It may be that some of our assump-tions about the teaching of both read-ing and composition to non-nativespeakers of English and the relation-ship between these two skills needs tobe re-examined. While this articlemakes no attempt at a comprehensivere-examination, it does, hopefully, offersome suggestions that may be con-sidered in future explorations.

Up to now many of us have assumedthat the proper approach to teachingcomposition to non-native speakers isone that goes step by step from writingsentences to writing paragraphs towriting full length compositionsinthat orderand that there should beconsiderable mastery of each step be-fore the student proceeds to the nextone. To be sure, this is a logical orderof progression and does point in thedirection a student must proceed, butin following these steps, we are forcedto assume or at least to proceed as ifwe assumed that because a studenthas learned to manipulate English sen-tence patterns, he has somehow orother learned to handle the ideas ex-pressed in them. Unfortunately thisis not true.

All too frequently we find studentswho are able to write beautiful sen-tences but who come up with some-thing almost unintelligible when askedto compose a paragraph, or studentswho seem to have mastered the sim-ple paragraph but who explode into achaotic discourse when asked to com-pose a full length essay. At the sametime, students who can read and an-alyze a sentence, word for word, but

Donna H. Carr

who can not comprehend the idea ex-pressed are not anomalies in our class-rooms. And to these same students aparagraph can be equally incompre-hensible even though they understandeach sentence. Such students appearto lack the ability to relate the ideasexpressed and frequently pick outsmall, insignificant facts as the maintheme.

Perhaps some of the students dif-ficulties stem from a confusion on thepart of the teacher between sentence-building exercises and compositionexercises. In sentence-building exer-cises the emphasis is on correctlywritten sentence patterns. The stu-dents concerns are with words, wordorder, and grammar. But in composi-tion exercises, the emphasis must beon the logical arrangement of ideasinto paragraphs and full length com-positions. It therefore doesnt followthat because a student can write sen-tences, he can compose. These twokinds of skills must be differentiated.

When a teacher reinforces patternsdrilled orally by having her studentswrite these patterns several times, herstudents are building sentences. Whena teacher asks her students to writeseveral sentences patterned after amodel, again her students are buildingsentencesthey are not composing.Even when a teacher asks her stu-dents to turn sentences into questionsor questions into sentences or to re-write a paragraph putting the verbsinto another tense and making allnecessary changes, she is still askingher students to concentrate on sen-

30

TEACHING READING AND COMPOSITION 31

tence building. The emphasis is stillon word order and grammar.

The teaching of composition to non-native speakers, then, simply stated,must be concerned primarily withgetting students to relate and to or-ganize ideas, and to express them inEnglish paragraph and essay patterns.And it follows, of course, that com-position exercises must be exercisesthat emphasize and concentrate on thedevelopment of these particular skills.That such exercises are much harderto develop and to handle in the class-room than are sentence-building exer-cises goes without saying, and mayaccount for their scarcity. Neverthe-less, they must be developed and theymust be properly used.

With this definition of teachingcomposition in mind, it now becomesquite clear that the teaching of com-position is only distantly related tosentence building. It also seems rath-er obvious that the teaching of com-position quite probably has an affinitywith the teaching of reading compre-hension. Reading, too, is concernedwith ideas and their relationships asexpressed by their authors in para-graphs and essays.

That there is a relationship betweenreading comprehension and composi-tion is not a new and startling dis-covery. In fact it has never beenquestioned. However, this relation-ship has never been sufficiently ex-ploited in the classroom nor perhapseven clearly defined. It has frequentlybeen pointed out that a compositionassignment or exercise should beginwith or should be based on a readingthat serves as a model. But just howa reading is to serve as a model andwhen the student is ready for this

sort of exercise is not always clear.As many have discovered, it is not asimple read and then write process.Perhaps the following explication willsuggest some possibilities.

First of all, the reading model is tobe read intensively, that is, an-alytically. To read a selection an-alytically, two basic steps are re-quired: first, the student must gleanfrom the reading the ideas the authoris discussing; and second, he mustextract from the reading the organiza-tional pattern the author has used toexpress his ideas. It may be that forour non-native speakers, the first stepcannot be successfully accomplisheduntil the second step has been. Thusthe importance of this second stepcannot be overemphasized. It is thissecond step, the extracting from thereading the organizational pattern,that plays such a vital role in both theteaching of reading comprehension andthe teaching of composition. And, un-fortunately, it is this second step thatis usually omitted.

Any student, native or non-native,will find it extremely difficult to under-stand completely the ideas an authoris expressing until he can understandthe organizational pattern the authorhas used to express them. For manynative speakers, but by no means allof them, the organization patternsused in the English-speaking cultureshave become so well established thatthey use them or accept them withouteven being aware of their existence.But for most of our non-native speak-ers, these patterns are alien, and untilthey have been taught these patterns,they will have difficulty with bothread