In this episode and the accompanying study notes we will learn about intonation, stress and rhythm patterns and how their correct use is vital for speaking English naturally and fluently.
You will need to use appropriate intonation in the test. You also need to understand the intonation used by the interviewer. The rising tone is also used for showing expectation as you can hear when this furniture maker talks about seeing the inside of some rare timber:. And I go down and it is really a fascinating day when I actually see a log being put on the head rig and that first cut And I can't wait to have a look at that grain that's actually opened up after a tree has been growing for or years.
The Art Gallery of South Australia commenced the joint program in art history with the University of Adelaide in Listen to the rising and falling tones used by the woman in the next clip to explain the properties of granular materials:.
Take vacuum packed coffee for example. This is very much solid like behaviour because it's stiff, stiff as a brick and at the same time it's strong enough to hold your weight.
And yet, if we open the pack, I can pour it just like I would pour water…. This makes Intonation am important part of pronunciation because it makes the important words stand out, it gives a rhythm to the English language, and it affects the pronunciation of the emphasized and non-emphasized words. I see this as a problem because not emphasizing the right word and emphasizing the wrong word can cause comprehension problems for the listener.
It can also change the pronunciation of the word such that it sounds like a different word. This is because an emphasized vowel sound can sound different than a non-emphasized vowel sound for the same vowel. It is the difference between the long vowel sounds and the short vowel sounds for a particular vowel. The effects of improper intonation are that by placing stress on the wrong word it can change the vowel sound on two words.
The two being the one you stressed but should not have stressed, and the word that should have been stressed and was not stressed. Improper intonation will cause this. The non-emphasized vowel sound may not be the schwa sound, but the short vowel sound will usually be different than the long vowel sound. This decreases comprehension by the listener which will lead to misunderstandings or not understanding.
Without intonation, it's impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words. Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to the words: the 'melody' you hear is the intonation.
It has the following features:. Why teach intonation? Intonation exists in every language, so the concept we're introducing isn't new. However, learners are often so busy finding their words that intonation suffers. Yet intonation can be as important as word choice - we don't always realise how much difference intonation makes:. Though it's unlikely our learners will need native-speaker-level pronunciation, what they do need is greater awareness of intonation to facilitate their speaking and listening.
Can I improve my own awareness of intonation? It's difficult to hear our own intonation. Choose somebody to listen to closely: as you listen, visualise the melody in your head, 'seeing' how it's divided into tone-units. Next time you do a class speaking activity, focus on your students' intonation.
Are there students whose language is 'correct', but something doesn't sound right? Do they come across as boring or insincere? It may well be their pitch range isn't varied enough. How I help my students Awareness-raising Some techniques I find useful for raising learners' awareness of intonation:.
Intonation doesn't exist in isolation. So it makes sense to approach it together with other factors. Intonation and grammar Where patterns associating intonation and grammar are predictable, I highlight these to my students. I see these as starting-points, rather than rules. For example, Question-Tags: Students in groups are assigned jobs to mime to each other.
But if you can learn these two main patterns well, the rest will follow! To improve your intonation, you will first need to become aware of it. So before you do anything, record yourself speaking English.
Now that you have a recording of yourself speaking, you can listen to it and hear what needs work. Does your voice sound flat? Does it rise and fall in a way that sounds natural? FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. Unlike traditional language learning sites, FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the English language and culture over time.
FluentU has a variety of engaging content from popular talk shows, nature documentaries and funny commercials, as you can see here:. FluentU makes it really easy to watch English videos.
There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition and useful examples. Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. You can start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, by downloading the app from the iTunes or Google Play stores.
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