Teaching Tips

Improving Speaker Intelligibility: Using Sitcoms and Engaging Activities to Develop Learners' Perception and Production of Word Stress in English

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Abstract

The Teaching Tip described in this paper is designed to help students improve their perception and production of word stress (lexical stress) through technology-enhanced materials. First, students become aware of word stress features through a mini video lecture. Next, they complete a perception activity. In this activity, they watch a short clip from The Big Bang Theory and complete a cloze exercise where they choose the word they hear with the correct stress from a dropdown menu (e.g., ex.PER.i.ment or ex.per.i.MENT). Finally, students complete a production activity in which they record themselves imitating the actors using Audacity. They record as many times as they wish until they are satisfied with their performance. Once they have finished, they upload their recording to the course site for feedback. The authors also provide suggestions for adapting the focus of the activity (e.g., final intonation patterns), the activity format (e.g., paper-based), and the text genre (e.g., a fable) for authentic listening materials to provide teachers with ideas on how to vary the activity and keep their students engaged and motivated to learn.

How to Cite:

Lima, E. F. & Zawadzki, Z., (2018) “Improving Speaker Intelligibility: Using Sitcoms and Engaging Activities to Develop Learners' Perception and Production of Word Stress in English”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 10(1).