1. Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension
Teaching Emphasis, Grouping and Pause to First
Grade
MEI- 03 English Teaching Methods Speaking and
Listening Skills
By Mitzy Glenn, María González and Deyanira Mora
Educational material created for ULATINA Centro Interamericano de Posgrados.2013 1

2. Relating Pronunciation and Listening
Comprehension
• Intonation and Communication:
 Native speakers vs. nonnative speakers
• Language learners: frustrated, embarrassed,
discouraged.
 Reading vs. speaking

3. Relating Pronunciation and Listening
Comprehension
• Communication and comprehension= listening
skills and pronunciation.
 Both parties
 Process of reassessment
 Matching systems of speech signals

4. Intonation: The “Musical” Signals of English
• Elements:
 Pitch patterns (melody)
 Timing (rhythm)
• Learners: “Speaking the new language with
the music of the old language”
 Musical patterns:
use and recognition=
comprehension.

5. Marking New Information- Old Information
• Old information: ideas discussed or mutually
understood.
• New information: new thoughts- main attention.

6.  Sentence stress: The shift of emphasis in a
conversation- to follow each others’ thoughts
(listener and speaker)
• 4 Physical signals:
1. Pitch change
2. Length of the vowel
3. Clarity of the vowel: atom- atomic
4. Loudness

7. Content words - stressed
Words carrying the meaning Example
MAIN VERBS sell, give, employ
NOUNS car, music, Mary
ADJECTIVES red, big, interesting
ADVERBS quickly, loudly, never
NEGATIVE AUXILIARIES don't, aren't, can't
Structure words - unstressed
Words for correct grammar Example
PRONOUNS he, we, they
PREPOSITIONS on, at, into
ARTICLES a, an, the
CONJUNCTIONS and, but, because
AUXILIARY VERBS do, be, have, can, must

8. Word Stress Rule
Word type Where is the stress? Examples
center
Nouns on the first syllable object
flower
Two syllables
release
Verbs on the last syllable admit
arrange
desktop
Nouns
pencil case
(N + N) on the first part
bookshelf
(Adj. + N)
greenhouse
well-meant
Compound Adjectives
hard-headed
(Adj. + P.P.)
on the last part (the old-fashioned
verb part) understand
Verbs
overlook
(prep. + verb)
outperform

9. Thought Groups and Pause
• Natural divisions we make when reading a text,
speaking to other people, or giving a speech in
front of a class.
• To divide the message people want to convey.
• Musical signals are used to mark the end of
thought groups; the speaker marks the end of a
group with a pause.

10. Thank you!
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11. References
Al-Sibai, D. (2004) Intonation:A Suprasegmental Aspect of the English Language.
Catford, J. C. (1992). Prosodic Features. In A Practical Introduction to Phonetics
(pp. 172-186). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Gilbert, J.B (1984) Clear Speech. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hewings, M. (1995, August) Tone Choice in the English Intonation of Non-Native
Speakers. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching , 33, 251-265. Retrieved
Ranalli, J. M. Discourse Intonation: To Teach or not to Teach? Birmingham:
University of Birmingham. Retrieved May 14, 2004, from http://www. cels.bham. ac.uk
/resources/essays/Rannali4.pdf
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