Pragmatics and Prosody in English Language Teaching [Paperback]

This volume explores the elusive subject of English prosodythe stress, rhythm and intonation of the language, and its relevance for English language teaching. Its sharp focus will be especially welcomed by teachers of English to non-native speakers, but also by scholars and researchers interested in Applied Linguistics. The book examines key issues in the development of prosody and delves into the role of intonation in the construction of meaning. The contributions tackle difficult areas of intonation for language learners, providing a theoretical analysis of each stumbling block as well as a practical explanation for teachers and teacher trainers. The numerous issues dealt with in the book include stress and rhythm; tone units and information structure; intonation and pragmatic meaning; tonicity and markedness, etc... The authors have deployed speech analysis software to illustrate their examples as well as to encourage readers to carry out their own computerized prosodic analyses.This book examines the development of English prosody and the role of intonation in the construction of meaning. It offers a problem-solving approach to prosodic difficulties in ELT and contains examples using freeware acoustic analysis programs.

1.Introduction .- Theoretical approaches to the teaching of Prosody 2. Issues in the acoustic measurement of rhythm .- 3. Prosody and second language teaching: Lessons from L2 speech perception and production research .- 4. Factors affecting the perception and production of L2 prosody: Research results and their implications for the teaching of foreign languages .- 5. Function vs. form in speech prosody  Lessons from experimental research and potential implications for teaching .- 6. Prosodic adaptation in language learning .- Pragmatics, Prosody and communication 7. Prosody and meaning: Theory and practice .- 8. Prosody and feedback in native and non-native spl³ã