Teaching Tips

Personalizing Peak Vowel Training in Stressed Syllables: A Sneak Peek at Blue Canoe for Perception and Production

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Abstract

Placing stress on a different syllable or using a different vowel can momentarily confuse listeners or lead to listeners’ miscomprehension. Because there are nearly three times the number of vowel sounds as letters for writing vowels in English, learning these sounds can be challenging. To distinguish between them, the Color Vowel Chart gives us a name for each vowel sound so that learners can understand, for example, that the peak vowel is pronounced “purple shirt” CIRcular, not “red pepper” SECular. Placing lexical stress accurately and reducing such vowel errors that may be of high functional load can help ELLs speak more intelligibly. In this teaching tip, we will have a look at a method for identifying lexical stress and peak vowel quality, then training learners’ perceptions of vowel quality and practicing their production in context. This multimodal method is based on a communicative framework and utilizes the Color Vowel Chart and some of the features of Blue Canoe, an app that has been designed around the Color Vowel Chart.

How to Cite:

Wallace, L. & Fernandez, S., (2018) “Personalizing Peak Vowel Training in Stressed Syllables: A Sneak Peek at Blue Canoe for Perception and Production”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 10(1).