Teaching tools
High-Variability Phonetic Training
Title: Incidental phonetic training
Task type: Videogame
Task goal: Practice English phonemes
Participation: Individual
Linguistic feature: English /r-l/, /æ-ʌ/
Learner proficiency: B1-C2
Learner L1: Japanese
Author: Kazuya Saito
Published in: Saito et al. (2022)
Explicit Pronunciation Instruction
Title: Starting Point -Hearing Marathon-
Task type: Repetition and shadowing
Task goal: Practice English phonemes, lexical stress and rhythm
Duration: 5 activities (30 min. each)
Participation: Individual
Linguistic feature: English /r/, /l/, /θ/, ð/, /v/, lexical stress and rhythm
Learner proficiency: B1-C2
Learner L1: Japanese
Author: Kazuya Saito
Published in: Saito (2011)
Title: Starting Point -Hearing Marathon-
Task type: Repetition and shadowing
Task goal: Practice the English syllable, lexical stress, rhythm and intonation
Duration: 5 activities (30 min. each)
Participation: Individual
Linguistic feature: English syllables, lexical stress, rhythm and intonation
Learner proficiency: B1-C2
Learner L1: Japanese
Author: Kazuya Saito
Published in: Saito (2011)
Title: Explicit pronunciation instruction
Task type: Repetition, shadowing, semi-spontaneous production practice, and fluency enhancement
Task goal: Practice the target segmentals and improve fluency
Duration: 4 days (50 min. each)
Participation: Individual
Linguistic feature: English segmentals, fluency
Learner proficiency: A1-C1
Learner L1: Japanese
Author: Yui Suzukida
Published in: Suzukida & Saito (2024) DOI: 10.1017/S1366728922000700
*You can find a Functional Load List for efficient teaching of English segmentals in the Access tab below*
Title: Explicit rhythm pronunciation instruction for English for Specific Purpose Learners (B.A. Engineering)
Task type: Awareness-raising, repetition, shadowing, kinesthetic learning, debates, pairwork, listening discrimination, etc.
Task goal: Practice L2 English rhythm to improve (engineer) students’ comprehensibility and fluency
Duration: 10 sessions (30 min. each)
Participation: Monologic / in pairs / small groups / large groups
Linguistic feature: English word stress, sentence stress, rhythm, connected speech, sentence focus
Learner proficiency: B1-B2
Learner L1: Catalan / Spanish
Author: Leticia Quesada
Published in: Quesada Vázquez (2019)
Pronunciation-Focused Communicative Tasks
Title: Reef or leaf?
Task type: Argumentation and debate
Task goal: Practice English segmentals through debate
Duration: 4 days (30 min. each)
Participation: In pairs/ small groups
Linguistic feature: English contrasts /r-l/ in lexical minimal pairs
Learner proficiency: A2-C2
Learner L1: Japanese
Author: Kazuya Saito
Published in: Saito (2013a, 2013b, 2015)
Title: The farewell party
Task type: Problem-solving, Decision-making task
Task goal: To decide about different food to bring in a farewell party taking into consideration several dietary restrictions.
Duration: 20-25 minutes
Participation: In groups of 3
Linguistic feature: Three different pronunciation forms of plural -s: [s] as in cups; [z] as in bottles; or [əz] as in dishes.
Learner proficiency: A2-C2
Learner L1: Spanish
Author: Joshua Gordon
Adapted from: Gordon (2022)
Title: Agree or disagree?
Task type: Argumentation & debate
Task goal: Help students to develop critical thinking, express opinions, and provide counterarguments
Duration: 90 minutes
Participation: In pairs/ small groups
Linguistic feature: English contrasts /iː-ɪ/ in lexical minimal pairs
Learner proficiency: B2
Learner L1: Mandarin Chinese
Author: Yaoyao Ruan
Adapted from: Saito (2013)
Published in: Ruan & Saito (2023)
Title: Visiting Barcelona – A Foreign Accent Imitation Task
Task type: Listening comprehension, Reading aloud, Information-gap (map task)
Task goal: To give directions following the route marked on the map, while the other classmate draws the route. Learners speak Spanish mimicking an English accent.
Duration: 35-40 minutes
Participation: In pairs
Linguistic feature: English voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/
Learner proficiency: A1-C2
Learner L1: Spanish
Author: The Barcelona L2 speech research group
Published in: The Barcelona L2 speech research group (forthcoming)
Task-Based Pronunciation Teaching
Title: What can I do when I travel?
Task type: Awareness-raising, Problem-solving, Decision-making task
Task flow: Pre-, During-, Post task phases
Task goal: To agree on a city to visit and an activity to do as an end-of-course trip.
Duration: 30-40 minutes
Participation: In pairs/ small groups
Linguistic feature: English contrasts /iː-ɪ/ and /æ-ʌ/ in lexical minimal pairs
Learner proficiency: A2-C2
Learner L1: Spanish
Author: Ingrid Mora-Plaza
Published in: Mora-Plaza (2021), Mora-Plaza et al. (forthcoming)
Title: Collecting parcels
Task type: Information-gap, Decision-making task
Task flow: Pre- and During- task phases
Task goal: To give and follow instructions to help you partner collect all the parcels.
Duration: 3 days (10-15 min each) sequenced from simple to more complex
Context: computer-based (lab)
Participation: In pairs/ small groups
Linguistic feature: English contrast /iː-ɪ/ in non-lexical minimal pairs
Learner proficiency: A2-C2
Learner L1: Spanish
Author: Joan C. Mora & Mayya Levkina
Published in: Mora & Levkina (2018)
Title: Apartment Hunting
Task type: Information-gap, Decision-making task
Task flow: Task cycle
Task goal: To share information about different apartments and decide on the most convenient one in terms of budget, location and facilities.
Duration: 20-25 minutes
Participation: In pairs/ small groups
Linguistic feature: English word stress
Learner proficiency: A2-C2
Learner L1: Spanish
Author: Joshua Gordon
Published in: Gordon (2021)
Adapted from: Hewings (2004)
Title: Unusual trip
Task type: Awareness-raising, Problem-solving, Decision-making task
Task flow: Pre- and Task phases
Task goal: To agree on a city to visit and an activity to do.
Duration: 30-40 minutes
Participation: In pairs/ small groups
Linguistic feature: English contrast /iː-ɪ/ and /æ-e/ in lexical minimal pairs
Learner proficiency: A2-C2
Learner L1: Chinese
Author: Jiying Xu
Published in: Xu, Saito, Mora-Plaza (2024)
Adapted from: Mora-Plaza (2021), published in Mora-Plaza (2023)
