27.902, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acq; Phonetics: Janczukowicz (2014)

Thu Feb 18 19:51:53 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-902. Thu Feb 18 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.902, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acq; Phonetics: Janczukowicz (2014)

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Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:51:24
From: Ildiko Porter-Szucs [ildips at yahoo.com]
Subject: Teaching English Pronunciation at the Secondary School Level

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-3511.html

AUTHOR: Karolina  Janczukowicz
TITLE: Teaching English Pronunciation at the Secondary School Level
SERIES TITLE: Gdansk Studies in Language - Band 1
PUBLISHER: Peter Lang AG
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Ildiko Porter-Szucs, Eastern Michigan University

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY 

The author, Karolina Janczukowicz, intended “Teaching English Pronunciation at
the Secondary School Level” for teachers of English in junior and senior
secondary schools who would like to teach pronunciation in a way that does not
interfere with the regular school curriculum. In the introduction, she
clarifies some concepts fundamental to the ensuing discussion: communicative
efficiency (definition based on Hawkins, 2004), phonetic vs. phonemic
transcription (settling on using the term ‘phonetic’ to refer to ‘phonemic’, a
usage that will be adopted in this review as well), the phonetic systems of
English vs. that of select European languages (i.e., French, German, Italian,
Polish, Spanish), and standard vs. native English. The actual book consists of
four chapters (pp. 17-132) on the following topics: (1) phonetic
transcription, (2) teaching the phonetic system, (3) teaching individual
vocabulary words, and (4) going beyond communicative efficiency. Chapter 1
argues fervently for the necessity of introducing phonetic transcription into
the classroom. After discussing some strategies for doing so, the author
examines the advantages and disadvantages of several conventions of
transcription. Chapter 2, the longest, discusses various aspects of teaching
the phonetic system of English. It begins with select aspects of pronunciation
that are important to foreign learners (vowel and consonant sounds, word
stress, and sound-to-spelling relationships). Chapter 2 continues with a
discussion of the conscious (based on Chomsky, 1965; Chastain, 1971; and
Marton, 1975) and unconscious (Krashen, 1981) learning of languages. The
chapter closes with a chapter-by-chapter examination of five textbooks used in
European secondary schools. The author points out opportunities each textbook
presents to focus on pronunciation in English class. Chapter 3 is devoted to
the learning of vocabulary. The author briefly offers advice on which aspects
of words to include when teaching students new vocabulary before methodically
analyzing the treatment of words whose pronunciation has already been learned
incorrectly. This includes an examination of the difficulty involved in
changing incorrect pronunciation, the automaticity of incorrect pronunciation,
habit-forming mechanisms (i.e., mental vs. behavioral learning), and steps to
be taken to reverse a bad habit. Special emphasis is placed on the attitudinal
and motivational aspects of changing one’s pronunciation. Chapter 4 presents
two activities – public speaking and theater – that allow students with some
proficiency in English to shift their attention away from communicative
efficiency yet engage in meaningful practice of the language. In the
Conclusion, the author offers case studies of two learners who benefited from
explicit pronunciation instruction. The book contains a list of references, an
author index, and a select list of subjects. The book concludes with two
appendices. They include one transcript of a student’s persuasive public
speech and excerpts of four plays performed by secondary-school students. In
each transcript words are marked up whose pronunciation presented challenges
for the student performers. 

EVALUATION

As demonstrated by the summary above, the book contains a puzzling selection
of topics on the teaching of English pronunciation at the secondary-school
level. Regrettably, Dr. Janczukowicz does not justify her choice of these
topics over others. The book reads like a collection of essays, loosely
connected by the thread of pronunciation. There are enough omissions of
fundamental concepts to leave the novice teacher under equipped to teach
pronunciation comprehensively. Yet the number of basic concepts discussed at
length is likely to cause the practicing teacher to skip over various
chapters. On the issue of comprehensiveness, the last fifty years of the 20th
century witnessed the pendulum swinging between (on the one hand) prioritizing
proper pronunciation, as if equating the teaching of English to Speakers of
Other Languages (ESOL) to the teaching of pronunciation, and (on the other
hand) the questioning of the utility or even feasibility of teaching
pronunciation, leading to the abandonment of the enterprise in many ESOL
classrooms and textbooks (Morley, 1991). Already in the late 80s and
especially in the decades since Morley’s article, most of the field has moved
on. The pendulum swings have become less extreme. An examination of the texts
most often used to prepare teachers to teach pronunciation (Avery & Ehrich,
1992; Brown, 1991; Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 2010; Dalton &
Seidlhofer, 1994; Kenworthy, 1987) reveals a striking agreement on the
fundamental concepts needed to accomplish the task. They typically include
discussions of the basics: segmental features (vowel sounds, consonant sounds,
and their transcription) and suprasegmental features (connected speech, word
stress, sentence stress, tonic stress, rhythm, and intonation). Topics that
further develop the future teacher of pronunciation include discussions of
speech, intelligibility, spelling, common learner errors, and pedagogical
techniques (such as drills, chants, and drama). Dr. Janczukowicz has included
some idiosyncratic additional topics and excluded some of these fundamental
topics. For example, of the basics, segmentals, phonetic transcription, and to
a lesser extent word stress are covered. However, sentence stress, rhythm, and
intonation are omitted. This is unfortunate because many have noted the
important role suprasegmental features of speech play in intelligibility:
nonnative English speakers with intelligible pronunciation of segmentals and
standard grammar can still be incomprehensible if their suprasegmental
patterns are unnatural (e.g., Munro & Derwing, 1999). Thus, there seems to be
a consensus in the field that novice teachers require a grasp of all of the
aforementioned fundamentals to effect positive change in their learners.
Experienced teachers, however, will already be familiar with most of the basic
themes, which leads to the question: who might benefit from reading Dr.
Janczukowicz’s book? I would cautiously recommend it to anyone who is
interested in a) the treatment of mispronounced words, b) the role motivation
and attitude play in the study of pronunciation and c) the incorporation of
public speaking and drama into English class. These three areas may be of
interest to teachers. 

REFERENCES 

Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). ‘Teaching American English Pronunciation’.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brown, A. (1991). ‘Teaching English pronunciation: A book of readings’.
Routledge.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. (2010). ‘Teaching pronunciation
in the teaching English as a second or foreign language’. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Chastain, K. (1971). ‘The development of modern language skills: Theory to
practice’. Philadelphia, Pa: The Center for Curriculum Development.

Chomsky, N. (1965). ‘Aspects of the theory of syntax’. Cambridge, Mass: The
MIT Press.

Dalton, C., & Seidlhofer, B. (1994). ‘Pronunciation’. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

Hawkins, J. (2004). ‘Efficiency and complexity of grammars’. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

Kenworthy, J. (1987). ‘Teaching English pronunciation’. Essex: Longman.

Krashen, S. (1981). ‘Second language acquisition and second language
learning’. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Marton, W. (1978). ‘Dydaktyka jezyka obcego w szkole sredniej: Podejscie
kognitywne’. Warszawa: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

Morley, J. (1991). The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers
of other languages. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3), 481-520.

Munro, M. & Derwing, T. (1999). Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and
intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning,
49(Suppl. 1), 285-310.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Ildiko Porter-Szucs is Assistant Professor of TESOL/ESL at Eastern Michigan
University, USA. She prepares teachers of ESOL at the undergraduate and
graduate levels. She teaches courses on introductory linguistics, pedagogical
grammar, second language acquisition, and teaching methodologies. Her primary
research interest includes teacher formation. She is also interested in
formulaic language and second-language assessment.

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