Word stress game how to#

Nevertheless, Japanese students will pronounce all these names using Japanese phonemes and stress patterns. Less known are Phil Jackson, the coach, Steve Ker, and Luc Longley. Most students are familiar with players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. Students first hear a tape recording of the starting line up of the Chicago Bulls. This is the logic behind the 'Starting Line-Up' activity.

Word stress game how to#

Surely, everyone would agree on how to say the name of a famous basketball player like Michael Jordan. The pronunciation of someone's name is an excellent place to start. The distinction between Japanese and English stress patterns needs to be brought to students attention. The sheer volume of these words, Pennington argues, exerts a tremendous pressure on students to continue pronouncing English using Japanese phonology. This distinction, however, is somewhat blurred by the large number of English loan words in Japanese. This is in sharp contrast to the variety of syllable types and stress patterns found in English (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992, p.53). Japanese has predominately open syllables which are equally stressed. This has some serious implications considering the significant differences between English and Japanese syllables and stress patterns. In its absence, they use Japanese stress patterns when speaking English (Pennington, 1987, p.10). Japanese students often do not realize the difference between stressed and reduced syllables in English. Correct word stress plays an essential part in understanding and being understood. Hearing the wrong stress pattern would send a listener searching in the wrong category. Related research has also found that word stress may be the means by which English speakers categorize their vocabulary memory (Clennell, 1986, p.92). Incorrect placement of word stress by Indian English speakers led native listeners to hear 'yesterday' as 'study' (Wong, 1987, p.230). Brazil observed that native English speakers perceived stress even in its absence (1980 cited in Clennell, 1986, p.91). These features are essential for word recognition. Their raised pitch, clear vowels and longer length distinguish stressed syllables. Certain syllables are stressed compared to others. English syllables share this relationship of strengths and weaknesses. One player's weaknesses are made up by another's strengths. The Starting Line-UpĪ championship team like the Chicago Bulls is a collection of complementary elements. Effective teachers, like great coaches, can create champions through informed, communicative, and systematic instruction. This paper will close by arguing that instruction in stress usage is a worthy investment of time even though the payback may not be realized immediately. Four sample activities based upon the Chicago Bulls will bridge the gap between theoretical implications and classroom instruction. This paper will explore how the communicative effects of stress can be promoted with Japanese students studying English. The final challenge is whether instruction focusing on stress will be retained and used outside of the classroom. Successful instruction equally relies upon presenting and practicing this relationship in a systematic manner. To help students past this point, they must be shown the relationship between stress usage and understandable communication. Beyond a certain point, students cannot advance further without due attention to their pronunciation (Celce-Murcia, 1987, p. Students often do not realize their own intelligibility (Wong, 1984, p.6). Rita Wong, among others, has successfully recast pronunciation instruction in terms of its communicative value. Researchers like Oyama (1979 cited in Long, 1990) and Ueno (1994) have also found that pronunciation instruction does not make a significant impact upon students' speech. Recent articles by Scovel (1981) and Long (1990) have cast serious doubt as to whether native-like pronunciation is an achievable classroom goal. Teaching stress at the word or sentence level, however, is not a priority in most English classrooms. Without its proper use, a speaker or a listener cannot easily communicate with someone else. The placement of stress can be considered as dribbling.

Yet, all these exchanges rely upon the suprasegmental feature of stress. Without this skill, players cannot move on the court. Amongst all this action, there is the basic principle of dribbling. Points are scored with a mixture of slam-dunks, jumpers and three pointers.

You do not have to be a fan of basketball to appreciate the excitement of the game.