4th English for Healthcare Conference
Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, 3–4th October, 2019
The pronunciation of English as a lingua franca for healthcare workers
Robin [email protected]
www.englishglobalcom.com
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1. What is English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)?
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
3. ELF pronunciation – goals, priorities and models
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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Inner CircleUSA, UK, …380 million
Outer Circlee.g. India, Nigeria,
Jamaica, Singapore150-330m
Expanding Circlee.g. Chile, China, Japan, Slovenia, Greece, Spain,
France, Germany, …1,500+ million
ENL
ESL
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Inner Circlei.e NSs
380 million
Expanding Circlei.e. Non-native Speakers
1,500 million
EFL
English as a Foreign Language
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Expanding Circlee.g. Chile, China, Japan, Slovenia, Greece, Spain,
France, Germany, …1,500+ million
ELF =English as alingua franca
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Seidlhofer, 2011: 7
English as a lingua franca refers to
“… any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option”.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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McKay 2002... speakers of English are using the language on a daily basis alongside one or more others and frequently their use of English is influenced by these other languages …
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Slovenian English
SpanishEnglish
GermanEnglish
JapaneseEnglish
Thai English
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Smith et al. 1992… no evidence of a breakdown in the functioning of English as an international lingua franca but that …
… native speakers (from Britain and the US) were not found to be the most easily understood …
… nor were they, as subjects, found to be the best able to understand the different varieties of English.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Graddol, 2006In organisations where English has become the corporate language, meetings sometimes go smoothly when no native speakers are present.
This is not just because non-native speakers are intimidated by the presence of a native speaker.
Increasingly, the problem may be that few native speakers belong to the community of practice which is developing amongst lingua franca users.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Walker, 2010: 161
B [English] like that all the time . what do you think about it what’s your opinion on
A (draws breath) ah . (both laugh) well it’s pretty much the same for me ‘cos I hadn’t really heard of the concept until recently . I’m not sure if . it was the first time when . er I was told about it but em . basically like the entire last year and in other situations before like living in Budapest I was . pretty much how . I was communicatingwith my friends was . there were people from all over . Central Eastern Europe . and elsewhere . and that was how it is . this . English . most wasn’t most people’s first language . except for theAmericans . and the British . and nobody could understand the British
B (both laugh) nobody could understand . yeah
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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³ ELF is the norm
³ Intelligibility is the game
³ NSs are not advantaged
³ What matters is what works
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
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Summary
1. What is English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)?
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
3. ELF pronunciation – goals, priorities and models
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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§ a computer-readable corpuses of NNS spoken English
§ academic, business & leisure
§ to find out how successful NNSs use the language.
Vienna-Oxford InternationalCorpus of English
https://www.univie.ac.at/voice/page/index.php
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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§ the ELFA corpus project
§ the WrELFA corpus
§ the SELF project
English as a linguafranca in academic settings
http://www.helsinki.fi/englanti/elfa/
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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§ He look very sad.
§ We look forward to see you.
§ Our countries have signed agreement about this.
§ … the people which …
Seidlhofer 2004
§ an advice
§ a proof
§ a research
§ vocabularies
Erling & Bartlett, 2006
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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Walker, 2016
… Brexit, vape, selfie stick, dronie (a video selfie taken by a drone), and Vloggerwere among 30 terms published by The Guardian as the buzzwords that defined 2014.
§ Please do not plug out.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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Pitzl, Breiteneder and Klimpfinger (2008) – categories of ELF lexical innovation
• use of prefixes and suffixes: ü non-confidence, non-formal,
non-graduateü re-enrol, re-orient or re-emplaceü increasement, forbiddeness,
linguistical
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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But is it cricket?
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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Walker, 2016… second language use of idioms is fraught with difficulties. … the meaning of idioms can seldom be grasped from dissecting the whole into its constituent parts. Expressions like ‘to go out on a limb’ or ‘by the skin of your teeth’ are quite opaque for learners.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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Pitzl, 2010
S4: you have it in the stores since WHEN? since a couple of months
S1: only er one and a half month.S2: monthsS4: yeah then i think in THAT case we
should not wake up any . any DOGS by going now
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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Pitzl, 2010
ELF: we should not wake up any dogs
ENG: we should let sleeping dogs lie
(= not try to change a situation because you might make things worse not better)
GER: schlafende Hunde soll man nicht wecken
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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Pitzl, 2010
ELF: put my hands into the fire for it
GER: Dafür lege ich meine Hand ins Feur
NED: de hand voor iemand in het vuur steken
ESP: poner la mano en el fuego
ENG: to put yourself on the line (for sby/stg)
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
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³ Language evolves as it is used
³ Most users of English are not native speakers
³ NNSs will use English in creative ways
³ What matters is what works
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
Talk tothe world
Summary
1. What is English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)?
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
3. ELF pronunciation – goals, priorities and models
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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Jenkins, 2000
Pronunciation
VocabularyGrammar
3%
68%
25%
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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§ allergy
§ arthritis
§ bedsore
§ blister
§ death
§ gloves
§ pain
§ patient
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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§ obstetrics
§ renal
§ scalpel
§ scrubs
§ therapy
§ virus
§ vomit
§ wound
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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Ø consonants
Ø consonant clusters
Ø features of connected speech
Ø rhythm & intonation
Ø sentence stress
Ø vowels
Ø weak forms and schwa
Ø word stress
1. Consonants§ ache / ‘h’§ copy / coffee § wound / ‘voond’§ pin / bin
but not§ /ɵ, ð/ (thin; that)§ variation /r/ (sterile, floor)
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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2. Consonant clusters§ (stomach) sitomach – insertion§ (gloves) goves – deletion
§ I live in eSpain – insertion§ I live in pain – deletion
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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✅
⛔
✅
⛔
3. Vowel quantity (length)
• live / leave • peace / peas• back / bag
• bruise = /bruːz/ not [brus]
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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3. Vowel quality
• bus, crutch, scrub up
• /ɜː/ – burn, hurt, nurse
• again, fatal, fever, infant, virus
• aid, cause, head, migraine, side
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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4. Nuclear stress placement
• I love watching surgery.• I love watching surgery.• I love watching surgery.• I love watching surgery.
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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4. Nuclear stress placement
N How are you today, Kath? Are you still in pain?
P Well, there’s pain around my stomach.N What kind of pain is it?P It’s a burning pain.N Do you always have it?P It never goes away. Never.N Is it getting worse?P No, it’s staying about the same.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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Oxford English for Careers: Nursing 1. OUP, 2007
4. Nuclear stress placement
N How are you TODAY, Kath? Are you STILL in pain?
P Well, there’s pain around my STOMACH.N What KIND of pain is it?P It’s a BURNING pain.N Do you ALWAYS have it?P It never goes AWAY. NEVER.N Is it getting WORSE?P No, it’s staying about the SAME.
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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Oxford English for Careers: Nursing 1. OUP, 2007
1. Consonants2. Consonants clusters3. Vowel quantity 4. Sentence (nuclear) stressPlus
1. Consistent vowel quality
2. Lexical stress
3. Simple C–V linking
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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Non-core features• the ‘th’ sounds• NS vowel quality• schwa, weak forms• stress-timing (rhythm)• features of connected speech• tones (pitch movement)
The Lingua Franca
Core
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
3. English as a lingua franca pronunciation
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³ Pronunciation matters for intelligibility
³ Not all features of pronunciation matter equally
³ The LFC highlights key features for intelligibility
³ What matters is what works
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
Talk tothe world
Summary
1. What is English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)
2. ELF lexicogrammar and idiomaticity
3. ELF pronunciation – goals, priorities and models
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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1. Integration
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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2. Listening & accents
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign accented speech.
2. Listening & accents
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign accented speech.
By the end of the study, the students reported a major gain in confidence in interacting with speakers with an L2 accent.
2. Listening & accents
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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Julia Scales 2006
English language learners could hear, analyze and compare key features among a variety of accents.
Such an approach would address both intelligibility and listening comprehension, increasing communication flexibility and respect for accent diversity.
John Field 2003
The way we listen (and above all what we find intelligible) is very much a product of our previous experience as listeners.
… it is only a matter of time before they accumulate enough mental traces of the local phonological system to be able to decode what they hear with a fair degree of accuracy.
2. Listening & accents
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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http://accent.gmu.edu
Listening & accents
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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http://accent.gmu.edu
2. Listening & accents
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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Using scripted texts
• familiarisation with text
• listen to 3/4 accents
• identify accents (map)
• comment on ‘odd’ / ‘unexpected’
Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca, Oxford University Press, 2010.
3. With mixed-L1 groups
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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Teaching the Pronunciation of English.
University of Michigan Press, 2017.
Chapter 9. Patsko & Walker.
• student – student dictation
• sound hunts
• communication games &
info-gap activities
4. With shared-L1 groups
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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4. With shared-L1 groups
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
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• student recordings
• using the (m)other-tongue
• cloning the stars
Teaching tips
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
4. ELF pronunciation in the classroom
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Do a careful needs analysis at the beginning of a course – find out who your Ss will use their English with.
Consult the literature and learn as much as you can about the learners’ L1(s).
Do NOT see the LFC as inflexible; it is descriptive rather than prescriptive.
Double check any intelligibility issues you detect. Be sure the speaker's pronunciation problem isn’t just reflecting what we like to hate about an accent.
Be prepared to be surprised! Real communication is never as neat and tidy as we would like it to be.
³
³
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³
The pronunciation of ELF for healthcare workers
1. What is English as a lingua franca?
Talk tothe world
Summary
4th English for Healthcare Conference
Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, 3–4th October, 2019
The pronunciation of English as a lingua franca for healthcare workers
Robin [email protected]
www.englishglobalcom.com
Talk tothe world