This term refers to a way of classifying vocabulary. The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines it as follows:

An approach to the study of meaning which analyses a word into a set of meaning components or semantic features. For example, the meaning of the English word boy may be shown as:

<+human> <+male> <- adult>

(Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics)

Example

Sometimes you see exercises, like this one, in ELT materials based on componential analysis:

Further reading

Channel, J. (1981). Applying Semantic Theory to Vocabulary Teaching. ELT Journal /35.

Gairnes, R. and Redman, S. (1986). Working with Words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Goddard, C. (2011). Semantic Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J. and Schmidt, R. (2010). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 4^th edition. Harlow: Pearson.

Rudzka, B.,.Channell, J.,  Putseys Y. and. Ostyn P. (1981). The Words You Need. Oxford:MacMillan.

Rudzka, B.,.Channell, J.,  Putseys Y. and. Ostyn P. (1985). More Words You Need. Oxford:MacMillan.

This word is used in two different ways. It can refer to words which all derive from the same base word e.g. produce, productive, production, product. Many test items are designed round changing a word in a word family to another in the same family.

It also refers to words that share a form in pronunciation, such as the words in many nursery rhymes.

Example

Here is an example of a test item focussing on changes to base words in word families:

https://elt.oup.com/student/result/engupp/b_vocabulary/unit01/1a?cc=us&selLanguage=en

Here is an example of a nursery rhyme based on words with shared pronunciations:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

Further reading

https://www.google.com/search?q=word+family&sa=G&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=TkheU_6TO4KiO4DGgPgO&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=899

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/

https://elt.oup.com/student/result/engupp/b_vocabulary/unit01/1a?cc=us&selLanguage=en

Bauer, L. and Nation, P. (1993). Word Families. International Journal of Lexicography 6/4: https://www.pdffiller.com/jsfiller-desk16/?projectId=333956463&expId=5487&expBranch=2#c9a5d00684dd7c93147fd63eaaa3e449

Nation, P. and Waring, R. Vocabulary Size, Text Coverage and Word Lists in in Schmitt; N.and  McCarthy, M. , (1997). Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 

http://www.fltr.ucl.ac.be/fltr/germ/etan/bibs/vocab/cup.html

This is a term from phonology which refers to ‘a part of the mouth, nose or throat which is used in producing speech e.g. the tongue, lips, alveolar ridge etc’ (Longman Dictionary of Teaching and Applied Linguistics, p.33). Articulators are also known as speech organs. There are two kinds of speech organ: active and passive.

Example

When we learn to speak a foreign language we sometimes need to learn to use some articulators in different ways, for example, to pronounce the /θ/ phoneme in English, many learners have to place the tongue in a way to which they are not accustomed.

Further reading

Richards, J. and Schmidt, R. ( 2010). Longman Dictionary of Teaching and Applied Linguistics.Harlow: Pearson.

Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/phonetics

http://teachingenglish.britishcouncil.org.cn/article/phonemic-chart

This term from phonology refers to the place, i.e. the two lips, where certain sounds are produced. In English the bilabial sounds are /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/.

Example

Bilabial sounds, such as /m/ and /b/ are usually among the speech sounds that babies first produce.

Further reading

Kelly, G. (2000). How To Teach Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Ladefoged, P., Maddieson, I.(1996).The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.

Marks, J. (2012). Delta Teacher Development: Pronunciation Book. Peaslake, Surrey: Delta.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/labial

This refers to the production of speech as a continuous stream rather than as a sequence of separate sounds. In connected speech, individual sounds may be different from their citation pronunciation, as they are affected by processes such as assimilation, elision, liaison (linking) and shortening.

Example

It’s often quite easy to understand words in isolation, but when they’re part of connected speech they can be much more difficult to recognise. A classic example of this is ‘What do you…?’, which becomes /wɒdʒə/ in connected speech.

Further reading

Celce Murcia, M. Brinton, D., Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dalton, C. and Seidlhofer, B. (2004) Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/connected-speech-2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/features/connected.shtml

Learning English – I would like to buy a hamburger. Retrieved from

A consonant is a speech sound made when the air we breathe out is in some way blocked by an articulator (See Articulator). There are 24 consonant sounds in English, produced in eight different places in the mouth, as can be seen on the Phonemic Chart (See Phonemic Chart).

Example

I never think of / ŋ/ as being a consonant. It sounds more like a vowel. But in fact when you say it you can feel your glottis moving in and blocking the outcoming air.

Further reading

Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

Underhill, A. (2005). Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps/sounds-right

https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/learners/skills/pronunciation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/

This acronym stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. The IPA provides one symbol for each sound produced across the different human languages. The IPA chart shows these sounds in relation to one another. Any one language will only use a subset of all the sounds on the IPA chart. To see the IPA chart, click here:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IPA_1024x768.png

Example

Most language teachers don’t know all the symbols used on the IPA chart. It’s often simpler and more useful for them just to know those used in the language they teach.

Further reading

International Phonetic Association (1999). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Jones, D. (1988).English Pronouncing Dictionary, 14th ed. London: Dent.

Ladefoged, P. (1990). "The Revised International Phonetic Alphabet". Language 66/ 3.

Laver, J. (1994). Principles of Phonetics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Pullum, G. K., Ladusaw, W.A. (1986).Phonetic Symbol Guide. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

A diphthong is a sound in which one vowel sound glides towards another, as in /bɔɪ/, /seɪ/, hɪə/. In RP English there are 8 diphthongs.

Example

You can see the RP English diphthongs in the top right hand corner of the phonemic chart, which you can find (with audio) at http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-ia.htm

Further reading

Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps/sounds-right

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/TEphonemic_GreyBlue2_0.swf

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/diphthong

This is the study of the use of morphemes (See Morpheme)  to form words. Morphology shows us how different kinds of morphemes combine or operate singly to form words.

Example

Here are a few things we learn from morphology:

-          words can contain just one morpheme e.g. dictate, book, compare, persuade

-          words can contain more than one morpheme e.g. dictation, books, comparison, persuaded

-          morphemes may or may not be able to stand alone e.g. these morphemes can stand alone: on, net, can; these morphemes can’t stand alone : im-, -tion, -ed

Further reading

Carstairs McCarthy, A. (2001) An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Carter, R. and McCarthy, M. (1988). Vocabulary and Language Teaching. London and New York: Longman.

Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

https://busyteacher.org/9530-my-brother-is-very-success-teaching-morphology.html

http://blog.britishcouncil.org/2013/05/31/three-myths-about-english-spelling/

’ology 80s retrieved from

Phonetics is the study of all the speech sounds used in all human languages. The IPA chart (See IPA) represents these sounds. Unlike phonemics (also known as phonology - see Phonology), phonetics is not concerned with the sounds of individual languages. It studies the production, transmission and reception of speech sounds in all languages. Phonemics studies those sounds which are meaningful (i.e. which may distinguish between one word and another) within one language.

Example

We learn from phonetics that there is a sound called a glottal stop. But we learn from phonemics, not phonetics, that the glottal stop does not change meaning in standard English and that it is therefore not a phoneme in standard English, but an allophone (See Allophone) of /t/.

Further reading

Carr, Philip (2003).English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.

Ladefoged, Peter. (1982).A Course in Phonetics (2nd ed.). London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Roach, Peter (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology, 4^th edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

A chart showing the phonemic symbols for a particular language arranged according to whether they are vowels or consonants and their place and manner of articulation.

Example

The British Council’s Sounds Right phonemic chart can be downloaded for the iPad from https://itunes.apple.com/app/sounds-right/id387588128?mt=8 and for the PC from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/TEphonemic.zip

There are different ways in which the phonemic chart can be used to help learners with their pronunciation.

Further reading

Kelly, G. (2000). How to Teach Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.macmillanenglish.com/phonemic-chart/

http://www.phonemicchart.com/

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-phonemic-chart

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sounds-the-pronunciation-app/id428243918?mt=8

Macmillan Pronunciation Skills videos with Adrian Underhill

Introduction:

The Phonemic Chart, Part 1:

The Phonemic Chart, Part 2:

This term has various meanings. The Longman Dictionary of Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines it as follows:

1     another term for PHONEMICS

2     (for some linguists) a cover term for both PHONETICS and PHONEMICS

3      The establishment and description of the distinctive sound units of a language (PHONEMES) by means of DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

(The Longman Dictionary of Teaching and Applied Linguistics, p.435)

Example

As a teacher of English I found it very useful to study phonology. It helped me to understand what sounds there are in English and where and how they are pronounced. This helped me develop ideas for how to help my learners with their pronunciation.

Further reading

Carr, Philip (2003).English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.

Ladefoged, Peter. (1982) A Course in Phonetics (2nd ed.). London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Richards, J. and Schmidt, R. (2010). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 4^th edition. Harlow: Pearson.

Roach, Peter (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology, 4^th edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://linkingphonetics.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/cambridge_p_roach_english_phonetics_and_phonology_nopw.pdf

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PHONOLOGY1.htm

A plosive is a type of sound produced by air popping on one of the speech organs as it is released (See Speech Organ). The plosive sounds in English are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.

Example

In my experience learners of English rarely have problems producing the plosive sounds. Is that what you have found with your students, too?

Further reading

Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Marks, J. (2012). Delta Teacher Development: Pronunciation Book. Peaslake, Surrey: Delta.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/pronunciation

http://allphonetics.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/plosive-story-p-b-t-d-k-g_14.html

A question tag is a clause usually containing an inverted subject and an auxiliary or modal verb, and inserted at the end of a statement. It turns the statement into a question or a request for confirmation, depending on its intonation, with a rising tone indicating a question and a falling tone signalling a request for confirmation. A question formed by adding a question tag to the end of a statement is called a tag question.

Example

Here are some tag questions that use different question tags:

He left last night, didn’t he?

She can’t swim, can she?

Nobody understands, do they?

You’ll bring it tomorrow, won’t you?

Further reading

Parrott, M. (2010). Grammar for English Language Teachers, 2^nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

The regular beat at which a language is spoken, and which in English is achieved through the use of stress and weak or no stress.

Example

Try saying these sentences, following the stress marks* given

(ˈ = primary stress; ˌ = secondary stress)

This should help you feel their rhythm:

^|Breakfast

He had ^|breakfast

The ^|news _|paper

He _|read the ^|news _|paper

_|After he had ^|breakfast he _|read the ^|news _|paper

Further reading

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. and Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Couper-Kuhlen, E. (1993). English Speech Rhythm:Form and Function in Everyday Verbal Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/rhythm

Roach, P. English Phonetics and Phonology. Glossary: https://www.peterroach.net/glossary.html

This stands for Received Pronunciation. It refers to the standard pronunciation of British English that shows no regional features. RP is sometimes known as BBC English. Although RP is subject to change and is spoken by a small minority of British people, it is widely used in recording for ELT materials.

Example

There is not full agreement on what RP is. Some say it is ‘educated English’, some that it is ‘upper class English’. Is the Queen’s accent RP or not, for example?

Further reading

Crystal, D. (2005). The Stories of English. London:  Penguin.

McArthur, T. (2002). The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Roach, P. (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34/2.

Trudgill, Peter (1999). The Dialects of England. Oxford: Blackwell.

Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation? J.C. Wells: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/rphappened.htm

Academic English – Professor David Crystal on standard vs. non-standard English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature2_4.shtml

These terms refer to features of pronunciation. The segmental features are the phonemes or individual sounds whereas the super-segmental are rhythm, stress and intonation.

Example

I have a student whose pronunciation of individual phonemes is really quite good, but he has real problems with stress, rhythm and intonation. I’d read that learners usually have problems with segmentals and not with suprasegmentals, but he’s the other way round and I don’t quite know how to help him.

Further reading

Brazil, D., Couthard, M. and Johns, C. (1980). Discourse Intonation and Language Teaching: Harlow: Longman.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. and Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Roach, Peter (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology, 4^th edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

http://hancockmcdonald.com/talks/pronouncing-meaning-rhythm-and-stress-games

These terms refer to whether or not sounds are produced by vibrating our vocal cords. Voiced sounds in English are all the vowels and some consonants e.g. /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/.  Unvoiced, or voiceless sounds are produced without vibration of the vocal cords e.g. /f/, /k/, /t/.

Example

To hear and feel the effect of using or not using the voice we can say pairs of consonants, the only difference between which is use or non-use of the voice, i.e. whether they are voiced or voiceless. Try saying these pairs and feel what is happening to your voice by placing your fingers on your throat to feel the vibration or lack of it.

/f/     /v/

/t/     /d/

/k/    /g/

/s/    /z/

/ʃ/    /ʒ/

/tʃ/  /dʒ/

Further reading

Baker, A. (2006). Ship and Sheep. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/features/voicing/

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/voiced-unvoiced-consonants

One meaning of this term is its use in phonology to refer to one of two types of speech sound: vowels and consonants (See Consonant). Unlike consonants, vowels are produced without the speech organs (See Articulators/ Speech Organs) blocking the outgoing air. There are 20 vowels in RP English including both single vowels and diphthongs. In this meaning, vowel is sometimes called vowel sound.

Another meaning is the written symbol used to represent a vowel. In English these are: a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.

Example

I think it is very useful to use the phonemic chart to teach English vowel sounds bit by bit. I think it really helps learners, particularly older ones, to hear the difference between the vowel sounds and get a feel for where and how to pronounce them.

Further reading

Dalton, C. and Seidlhofer, B. (2004) Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan.

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

This is a phonological term referring to the place in the mouth where some sounds are produced. The alveolar ridge is the ridge behind the teeth. The sounds produced when the tongue makes contact with the ridge are called alveolar. In English the alveolar sounds are /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/.

Example

I’ve always found that it helps students to be aware of where in the mouth sounds are formed. When students have problems with any of the alveolar sounds I show them a labelled diagram of the mouth then get them to touch the ridge with their tongue as they try to say the problem sound. Then I tell them to practise at home in front of the bathroom mirror!

Further reading

Kenworthy, J. (1987). Teaching English Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman.

Marks, J. (2012) The Pronunciation Book. Peaslake, Surrey: Delta

Underhill, A. (2005) Sound Foundations. Oxford: MacMillan.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/pronunciation