Connected speech

Coursebook Analysis

Introduction: The following report has been written after having carried out a deep analysis of the course book “Total English” intermediate by Antonia Clare and JJ Wilson-Pearson Longman. It does not contain an introduction with reference to teachers or students or how the book is organized. It provides educators with just a list of contents and topics divided into units. Keys are presented at the end of the coursebook.

Inclusion of pronunciation practice: There is a pronunciation practice section in some units of the book. Not all the exercises are presented in the same form: Some of them aim to teach the phonemic symbols. Example: In Pgs 8 and 9, Unit 1, there is an exercise providing different words, which you must distribute into two columns, each one for two different vowels. In pg. 30, 31, Unit 4, there is an activity to practice stressed syllables, although, there is no explanation for this.

There is no friendly explanation regarding pronunciation in activities referred to it. In some units we can find activities related to:

• Vowel number 12 and number four.
• Pronunciation of verbs endings
• Pronunciation of compound nouns
• How to sound polite (intonation)
• Silent letters.
• Stressed activities.
• Word stress.
• Contractions
• Distinction between vowel number four and ten.

 Introduction of new vocabulary and practice: As in almost every book, this one provides plenty of vocabulary. It is worth mentioning that it contains lots of useful phrases, collocations, antonyms, a full range of verbs and nouns, examples of word formation, and also specific vocabulary based on friendship, education, jobs, media, life style, spare time, holidays and memories. In addition, there is a section that introduces the vocabulary containing specific vocabulary in order to revise it.

Listening and speaking communicative Tasks: In connection to the audio material, listening and speaking abilities are fully trained. In every unit, there is a different section for each of these tasks. Speaking activities consist of instructions to organize a discussion group, in a controlled environment (i.e. providing the verb which should be used) or through a loose activity, such as a game. During these speaking activities, the assignments encourage the learners to make an effort to think about the future, to make use of their imagination and express their opinions. As regards listening activities, the student can make use of the CD (which matches with the Workbook) at his/her disposal; and the teacher is able to present the activities contained in the Class-audio CD.

Reading texts: Every unit has a main text to be read, which contains the topic of the unit. Vocabulary and Grammar taught in the unit is based on this main text. This text tends to be "long", according to the level and the age of the learner. Also each unit has two or three readings which are shorter in comparison with the main one.

Critical aspects:

• Pronunciation contents do not follow an order of relevance according to the students’ level. For example, in unit 1 the content of pronunciation to be taught is word stress. We believe that contents related to vowels and consonant patterns are more suitable at initial stages. In fact, we agree with Underhill’s theory about pronunciation learning stages. In this theory, he claims that at first level students should work with individual sounds. At a second level, they should be capable of stringing sounds together into words, adding also the distinctive energy profile called word stress. Finally, at a third level, teachers and students should consider the inclusion of aspects related to connected speech as well as intonation. (Successful pronunciation learning-Adrian Underhill. 2007).

• There is no friendly explanation of pronunciation topics. There are not small graphics indicating the position of the lips and the tongue (mouth movement). The lack of simplicity may affect students ‘comprehension.

• According to Adrian Underhill, the approach of the pronunciation learning process should be:

• Experimental: since the student should learn through experience. Underhill believes that students should learn sound, not symbols and the way to achieve this is by enabling students to experience sounds and sound sequences in a physical and vivid way. Teachers should bear in mind the idea of using symbols as memory hooks which can trigger the auditory and physical experience (Successful pronunciation learning-Adrian Underhill. 2007. Page 3).  We can say that the approach of our course book is experimental because activities and examples are designed with basis on daily experiences (9). Furthermore, we can identify problems of contextualization when taking into consideration how different our culture is in comparison with the North American one.

• Physical: according to Adrian Underhill, one of the aims of teaching pronunciation is to get pronunciation work “out of the head and into the body”, to make pronunciation a physical as well as a cognitive activity. Teachers should promote on their students the ability to stop thinking about pronunciation in the abstract by focusing on the muscles that produce sound, rhythm and articulation (Successful pronunciation learning-Adrian Underhill. 2007. Page 1) . In our opinion, the course book contains only activities that prop up speaking and practice activities of some vowels and consonants regardless of the way they are produced articulatorily.

• Insightful: as the key is in awareness rather than repetition (drilling). Underhill insists in the active and inquiring role of teachers, since behind   their set of psychological attitudes lie the technical facilities that may help of hinder students when working and analyzing the different sounds. Teachers should be intrigued and curious about the way pronunciation is included and worked into the classroom. (Successful pronunciation learning-Adrian Underhill. 2007. Page 4). As far as we are concerned, the course book does not provide space for practical analysis for students to get aware of the sounds they are dealing with. Moreover, the pronunciation aspects are mainly focused on drilling stages(repetition)

• Humanistic: because it should engage students’ curiosity and sense of fun. ‘’The traditional or mainstream way of approaching pronunciation teaching and learning easily becomes cerebral and disconnected from the body, resulting in approaches that are either too academic or too much based on experience’’ (Successful pronunciation learning-Adrian Underhill. 2007. Page 1).  The Course book pronunciation activities are not designed in a creative or funny way, but in the form of academic activities as students are mainly asked to repeat the sounds and group words with a particular sound.

[pic 1]

• Practical: because it helps students when necessary. The course book is practical because it develops pronunciation activities according to the topic of the unit. However, success is difficult to achieve as contents are not presented in a logical order of relevance. For example: before learning word accentuation we need to know about consonants and vowels.[pic 2]

• According to Novak, students will be able to learn a new content only if they contain relevant or relative concepts in their cognitive structures. The contents should follow a sequence from general concepts to specific ones or vise versa. Adrian Underhill suggests the following order:

1. Vowels: monophthongs
2. Vowels: diphthongs
3. Consonants
4. Joining individual phonemes to make words
5. Stress in words
6. Sounds and simplifications in connected speech
7. Intonation and word stress

Proposed activity number 1:

• The pronunciation content lays on producing and recognizing the long vowel sounds /i:/, /u:/ and /ɔ:/.
• The coursebook should provide some examples as well as small pictures portraying the way those sounds are produced, so students can notice the lips/mouth position.
• After the teacher has introduced the topic, he pronounces the words aloud and then, he does it again, but this time in a silent mode while asking students to put attention to the way the mouth/lips move. Once he does this, he pronounces the words one by one again almost exaggerating and asks for students’ repetition.
• The book should contain funny short phrases or tongue twister for students to play with them. Let’s consider the case of a coursebook which contains them and requires students putting their fingers on each side of the mouth, or the bridge of the nose and the jaw. This works in those cases where the teacher or the book aims to make students aware of the differences in the sounds production. When promoting those kinds of activities we are following Underhill’s ideas of Pronunciation Teaching.

Why is important to chose a course book?

The course book provides a rich resource of materials and a structured, well thought out syllabus. The good course book offers the students stability and security. The good course book offers the students a sense of progress and achievement. There is always something to go back to and revise. It offers the students a sense of confidence and satisfaction as they feel they are working within a framework and they know where they are headed and where they've been.

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