LANGUAGE ENHANCEMENT

Oral Proficiency
DR. FERDINAND N. CORTEZ University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao

LANGUAGE SKILLS ENHANCEMENT (ORAL ENGLISH)

VOICE- vehicle by which people share/transmit ideas. connects the speaker and listener, the teacher and the student. PARALANGUAGE- loudness level, the rate of speech, or how rapid or slow one speaks, the way silence is used, the range of vocal pitches and the vocal quality of the speaker
ELEMENTS OF VOICE Volume: the intensity, the loudness or softness of the speakers voice Rate: the speed at which the speaker speaks, to be adjusted to the topic or subject being discussed Pitch: the highness or lowness of the speaking voice Vocal Variety: needed to heighten and maintain attention and interest of the listeners

DICTION- articulation of speech sounds clearly and pronunciation of words correctly

Articulation: forming individual speech sounds correctly with your

mouth, so they combine to produce an understandable word.

Pronunciation: stressing and accenting the right syllables in a word SOME BASIC CONCEPTS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Each language has its own system. English has sounds not found in the Filipinos mother tongue. Further, the spelling of English words cannot be a guide for the pronunciation of the words. Filipino learners may have errors through: Substitutions : paib for five, Englis for English Omissions : ak for act, ask for asked Intrusions : evening, business, calm The fundamental method of learning a language is by imitating the pronunciation of an educated speaker.

The two steps of learning a language: Recognition of sounds: ear training to be able to distinguish the correct sound from the incorrect sound (pried pis for fried fish) and to distinguish one sound from another (mom-mum-maam; mop-map, tree-three)

Reproduction Conscious reproduction- through practice Unconscious reproduction- after the speech habits have been formed

RHYTHM OF ENGLISH Word Stress- In words of more than one syllable (polysyllabic), one syllable will receive more stress that the others to give it more importance. The stressed syllable is given: more force, higher pitch, and larger duration Example: teacher, comfortable, testimony

A long word frequently has two stressed syllables, a primary accent and a secondary accent. Example: pro-NUN-ci-A-tion E-du-CA-tion Generally, unstressed vowels are obscured or deemphasized and given the sound of schwa or [I] Example: people, motor, seven, language
Prefixes of negation should be stressed: Example: uneven, incoherent, disadvantaged

Sentence Stress- content words, or words that have meaning in themselves are stressed. These are nouns, verbs (except linking and auxiliary verbs), adjectives and adverbs. Two others are given stress: demonstratives (this, that) and interrogatives (Who, What, Why etc.) Function words, like articles, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and linking and helping verbs are not stressed Phrasing and Pausing Normally, all but the shortest sentences are divided into two or more parts or thought groups. Generally pauses are made after a group of words which has an idea, such as phrase or clause Example: Phrasing/ depends upon the meaning/ of what you say./ No pauses should be made to separate articles or adjectives and the nouns they modify auxiliary and main verbs, prepositions and objects, and adverbs and verbs they modify etc.

Pausing is necessary in a sentence for the following reasons: To separate ideas and set them apart as units of thought , to Example: He rose awkwardly/ looked about nervously/clutched his throat/ shifted his weight once or twice/ and finally began to speak. To point up an important idea to be expressed. Example: The most dangerous force operating today is/ apathy of the people To enable the speaker to catch his breath in a long sentence To allow the speaker some time to organize his thoughts To allow the audience to digest the words previously said To serve as verbal punctuation marks in a sentence, especially when

make the meaning clear

there are commas, colons, semi-colons in the printed page To signal change of ideas or change of mood

Blending- an interrupted flow of breath within the thought group / lamateacher/ from the college of liberal arts/. Intonation- is the tune of what we say The basic intonation pattern of English is the rising-falling intonation. At the end of the sentence, the voice rises above normal, then falls to low. The high note coincides with the last sentence stress. If the last sentence stress is on the very last syllable, the voice makes an inflection, which is a slide from high to low in the syllable All English sentences use the rising-falling intonations except questions answerable by yes or no

CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION

Verbal Words to carry meaning: clear, concise, concrete Grammar clean Organization logical, coherent Vocabulary rich Non- Verbal: Aural and Visual

a. Voice- paralanguage
Volume Rate Pitch

Tone Variety Expressiveness

b. Diction

Pronunciation of sounds of English Stress Phrasing and Pausing Blending Intonation

c. Body Language- Kinesics

Face Eye contact Dress and appearance Posture and movements Gestures

d. Space- proxemics e. Touch- haptics f. Time- chronemics g. Iconics- symbols

VOICE AND DICTION FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING I. VOICE Elements:

The Aural Channel

-

Volume Rate Pitch Variety Flexibility

intelligibility, clarity speed of speech highness or lowness volume, pitch, rate to avoid monotony, underscore ideas

II.DICTION A. 1. Articulation- sharing of speech sounds; forming words vocally with crispness and precision 2. Pronunciation- stressing and accenting the right syllables in a word B. Speech Rhythm Word Stress Sentence Stress Pausing and Phrasing in tough groups Blending within the thought groups Intonation patterns

CRITICAL SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

I. Consonants f v sh ch j fine love English Speech college soft th hard th zh z t three father Asia zero,is time, looked

II. Vowels
short a long a short i long i map late sit seat closed o open o o equals a no, oral law, aural hot, God

Short u or schwa sound In unstressed vowels -

cup, run

diction,pronunciation,semester, teacher, even, seven

DRILLS I. Consonant
f -

fine, find, four, face, fall, friend, Philippines, effect, perfect, fifty, difficult, fifteen, define, half, life, proof, off, safe, laugh, tough very, vote, value, vital, visit, vivid, vase, favor, seven, never, over, river, advice, convince, love, live, give, serve, drive, believe, receive

sh

she, shall, share, show, sharp, champagne, sure, fashion, cushion, election, vacation, delicious, conscious, English, Spanish, brush, dish, fish, crush, crash

ch

chair, chapter, chief, channel, challenge, champion, teacher, preacher, virtue, creature, actual, feature, speech, teach, March, French, much, rich, reach, such

soft th -

hard th z -

(s endings)
zh t -

job, join, joke, June, gentle, genius, general, jewel, enjoy, magic, subject, angel, major, individual, large, image, edge, pledge, college, change, verge three, thirsty, think, thank, thing, Thursday, theme, nothing, birthday, mathematics, method, author, athlete, bath, south, youth, mouth, teeth, month, strength this, then, therefore, thus, they, though, the, their, these, father, mother, rather, other, either, further, brother, with, breathe, loathe, clothe, bathe, soothe zero, zebra, zoo, zipper, zap, zeal, zealot, zinc, freeze, breeze, blaze, analyze, criticize, verbalize, heroism, journalism, plagiarism, egoism, lionize -boys, girls, schools, does, is, please, because, wise, choose, lose, use, abuse, propose pleasure, measure, treasure, vision, usual, leisure, seizure, Asia, corsage, garage, prestige, messages time, today, tomorrow, talk, teach, test, tonight, ten, act, subject, perfect, correct, absent, distract, rent, dropped, talked, stopped, liked, worked, packed, finished

II. VOWELS Short a Maam, map, man, cap, blank, fact, add, subtract, bad, sad, land, cash, lamp, lack, math, pass, last, fast, ask, answer, thank, that, lab, land, crash, track, catch, grammar, gather, lack, transfer, faculty, land, exam, example, actually, finance, balance, absent, practice, personality, canteen, married, guarantee, satisfies, sandwich, salad, practical, anchor, language, Spanish, program, channel, Saturday, anthem, graduate, preliminary, applicant, status, parents, talent, accident, character, personality, capital, matter, happen, master, manager, standard, value, analyze, analysis, national

Mum- mom- maam Hut-hot-hat Cup-cop-cap Luck-lock-lack Stuck-stock-stack Suck-sock-sack Mud-mod-mad Stump-stomp-stamp

rung-rang sung-sang drunk-drank drug-drag begun-began flush-flash bug-bag block-black

fun-fan pot-pat rock-rack cough-calf lust-last pus-pass ton-tan adopt-adapt

Long i -

seat, bee, see, speak, read, teach, eat, leave, she, each, even, fever, believe, receive, meet, leap, teeth, breathe, deal, free, cheese, easy, field, please, repeat, least, feel

Short i

in, this, it, fill, fit, ship, live, sit, slip, chip, lady, baby, ready, Miss, mister, women, many, critic, captain, mountain, fountain, certain, curtain, language, village, advantage, sausage, college, knowledge, senate, climate, graduate, immediate Live-leave fit-feet hill-heal Still-steal sit-seat sick-seek Itch-each grin-green hit-heat Bit-beat pitch-peach hill-heel Fill-feel bitch-beach ship-sheep

Closed o

no, so, also, zero, radio, video, stereo, colon, motto, potato, though, solo, vocal, local, going, know, show, slow, grow, tallow, follow, tomorrow, only, omit, over, open, okay, old, cold, bold, told, notice, vocabulary, pronunciation, October, November, moment law, saw, lawn, pawn, slaw, thaw, dawn, awesome, daughter, author, audit, taut, laudable, bought, taught, water, warm, warning, war, bald, broad - [a] hot, God, mop, office, Orator, progress, object, opposite, body, operator, comment, Congress, contest, bottom, color, common, logic, sorry, apologize, dollar, foreign, commandant, sponsor, philosophy, sociology, biology, economics, doctor, orange, scholar, comfort, October, comma, double

Open o -

Letter o

Short u -

but, cup, cut, culture, fundamental, wonder, color, flood, blood, tongue, love, money, young, closet, gloves, Mother, sun, son, done, one, won, once, oven, her, term, germ, herb, clerk, nerve, serve, err, church, curve, turn, burn, curse, purse, hurt, blurt, word, work, world, worm, worse, worst, bird, third, girl, girdle, circle, virgin, birth, thirst the neutral sound in unstressed vowels father, mother, preacher, mentor, color, favor, mental, final, motor, little, vehicle, title, example, contribute, distribute, picture, lecture, tenure, doctor, professor, similar, registrar, moment, judgment, assignment, seven, chicken, eleven, even, wanted, rented

schwa -

WORDS OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED 1. a piece of paper, a sheet of paper, pad paper, coupon bond, rubber band, fax, people, our, hour 2. [] centennial, millennium, decade, prevalent, scarce, sever, diabetic, depreciate, prayer 3. [] culture, fundamental, ultimate, multi-lingual, country, southern, journalism, journey 4. poem, renege, nuisance, unravel, awry, privy, president, precedent (n), precedent (adj) 5. [ j ] education, graduate, gradual, soldier 6. [ d ] radio, audio, video, studio, audience, dual, duty, due, duet, dew 7. [gz] exam, example, exact, exist, exotic, exhort 8. contrasting pairs: [ s ] and [ z ] ice-eyes precedent-president house (n)-house (v) price-prize face-phase use - use rice-rise place-plays advice - advise peace-piece loose-lose lice-lies gross-grows lacy-lazy cease-sees-seize

DIPHTHONGS [aI] life, time, night, right, bright, why, icon, wise, file, Im, Ive, Ill, cry, try, apply, feisty, heist

[au]

how, now, brown, cow, out, our, hour, oust, town, towel, powder, loud, proud, abound
boy, toy, joy, oil, boil, toil, poise, coin, join, joint, voice, noisy, soy, point, anoint day, play, pray, prey, eight, ate, late, mate, train, brain, stain, stale, stage, raid, maid, aim, ache, April, angel, lady, away, sale, bake, matinee, sachet, gauge, amoral, apolitical, latent, heinous, remain, abstain, retain, Amen

[I]

[eI]

SENTENCES 1. Ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country 2. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan. The proper study of mankind is man 3. Breathes there the man with soul so dead. Who never to himself hath said This is my own, my native land? 4. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.

COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS: Stress/Syllabication 1. Professor 11. amicable 21. pronunciation 2. semester 12. negotiate 22. education 3. committee 13. talented 23. preliminary 4. honorable 14. orator 24. subsidiary 5. distinguished 15. condolence 25. manual 6. eligible 16. interpret 26. actually 7. ceremony 17. appreciate 27. communication 8. circumstances 18. controversy 28. clarification 9. contribute 19. testimony 29. anniversary 10. accuracy 20. percentage 30. differentiate