An Introduction to Applied Linguistics

‘a. He wants to buy my boat. / b. He wants to buy my vote.’ is to be matched with 
‘a. Will you sell it? / b. That’s against the law!’
The same principle can be applied for teaching how to employ pitch height for 
contrast, for example when emphasizing the correct word composer versus the 
incorrect word author: ‘The 
AUTHOR
of the concerto is Mozart. – The 
COMPOSER
of 
the concerto is Mozart’. Similarly, chunking into tone units can be practised with 
effective information gap activities, such as arithmetic pair practice, where the 
correct answers depend on correct grouping, and students thus get immediate 
evidence of the importance of chunking, as in:
‘(2 + 3) × 5 = 25 // two plus three // times five // equals twenty-five’ // vs. 
‘2 + (3 × 5) = 17 // two plus // three times five // equals seventeen’
(Gilbert, 2005: 109)
Peer dictation activities also challenge learners as both listeners and speakers.

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Speaking and Pronunciation
Cognitive Analysis
Many learners, in particular more mature ones, welcome some overt explanation 
and analysis. These notions include a wide range of methodological options, 
such as:
• ‘Talking about it’, for example discussing stereotypic ideas about ‘correct’ and 
‘sloppy’ speech for introducing assimilation and elision as crucial features of 
connected speech.
• Phonetic training: explanations of how particular sounds are articulated, with 
the help of videos and head diagrams, and conscious exploration and analysis 
by learners how they themselves articulate L1 and L2 sounds.
• Teaching learners phonemic script: controversial, but appreciated by many 
students as it better enables them to conceptualize the L2 sound system, to use 
pronunciation dictionaries, to record pronunciation themselves, and to draw 
comparisons with their L1.
• Giving rules, especially when they are simple and comprehensive, for example 
for the pronunciation of the -ed past tense marker and the -s inflectional ending 
(Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin, 1996: Chapter 8).
• Comparison of L1 and L2 sound systems: since learners tend to hear the sounds 
of a new language through the filter of their L1, it can be very helpful for them 
not to be taught just the articulation of the new sounds, but the system of 
phonemes, that is, the relevant oppositions.
• Analysis of sounds in texts: Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994: 55, 58, 91, 159f) 
demonstrate how dialogues not designed for pronunciation work can be used 
for awareness-raising of the functions of stress and intonation, for example, 
pitch height for smooth turn-taking.
• Looking up the pronunciation of new words in a pronunciation dictionary (for 
example, Wells, 2008): a good investment in learner autonomy.
Whole Brain Activities, Communication Activities and Games
These are intended to activate the right brain hemisphere and often involve 
music, poetry, guided fantasies, relaxation techniques such as yoga breathing, 
and kinaesthetic experiences (Laroy 1995). Whilst many of the techniques 
already mentioned can contain a game-like element, there are activities which 
are primarily focused on a particular communicative purpose or outcome, such 
as mini-plays whose interpretation depends entirely on the learners’ use of voice 
quality and intonation (Dalton and Seidlhofer, 1994: 162) or many of the games 
in Hancock (1996).
Learning Strategies
Learner training with the aim of fostering learner autonomy and enabling students 
to develop strategies for coping on their own and for continuing to learn is perhaps 
the most valuable thing that can be developed in learners. Ways of working towards 
these goals include awareness-raising questionnaires, learner diaries, recording of 
learners’ production, dealing with incomprehensibility and employing correction 
strategies such as soliciting repetition, paraphrasing and checking feedback (see 
Thornbury, 2005 for many well-founded and practical suggestions).
In conclusion, however ambitious the learning objectives may be, it might be 
helpful to think about the different aspects of pronunciation along a teachability–

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212 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
learnability scale. Some things, such as the distinction between voiced and voiceless 
consonants, are fairly easy to describe and to generalize – they are teachable. Other 
aspects, notably the attitudinal function of intonation, are extremely dependent 
on individual circumstances and therefore nearly impossible to isolate out for 
direct teaching. In other words, some aspects might better be left for learning (or 
not) without teacher intervention (Dalton and Seidlhofer, 1994: 72ff).
Further Reading
Burns, A., Joyce, H., Gollin, S. (1996) ‘I see what you mean’ Using Spoken Discourse