Analyzing your diagnostic tests Here is the process I recommend for analyzing your diagnostic tests.

We will meet in our groups to analyze our diagnostic tests on Wednesday. First, listen to a diagnostic test and rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 for intelligibility, segmental, and suprasegmentals. This is just like we did in class before. Here are the scales you can use: Intelligibility 1 2 3 totally unintelligible Segmentals 1 2 major problems 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 completely intelligible

10 no problems

Suprasegmentals 1 2 3 major problems

10 no problems

Second, discuss with your group your ratings and the reasons for your ratings. What problems did you identify for segmentals? What problems did you identify for suprasegmentals? What are the biggest problems for intelligibility? Third, listen to the sample again several times and find specific examples of the problems you identified in step #2 above. If you cannot find an example of a problem, then it is NOT a problem. You have to be able to identify at least one place where a problem occurs for it to be a problem. Fourth, refer to the back of your textbook to find additional ideas about potential problems with segmentals. Also, check in Bro. Wolfs book Teaching American English Pronunciation for ideas about segmental and suprasegmentals. Listen again to the diagnostic test to see if you can identify any of these problems with segmentals. Listen to identify specific examples. Again, if you cannot identify a specific example, then it is not a problem. Fifth, use the accent analysis pages from the diagnostic test packet to find additional ideas about potential pronunciation problems in the speech sample. Sixth, make sure to write down the list of issues your group identifies as well as the evidence that supports the conclusions about pronunciation problems. You do NOT have to agree with the whole groups analysis, but it is helpful to have a record of all of the groups ideas. Finally, figuring out pronunciation difficulties can be a very challenging but rewarding activity, so remember to smile, laugh, and have fun while you engage your brain and your ears!

Here is some extra information to help guide your analysis. After you have analyzed each sample individually, do some analysis across all four speech samples. Here are some questions from the Pronunciation Doctor assignment sheet to help you: Analyzing a single speech sample o Which of the pronunciation difficulties common to the participants L1 background did you notice? Did the participant exhibit a lot of these difficulties or few? Can you offer an explanation of why that is? o List the pronunciation difficulties you identified. Then, rank them in order from the strongest to weakest impact on intelligibility. Justify your ranking. o What seems to have the biggest impact on intelligibility for this participant, segmentals or suprasegmentals? Why do you think so? Analyzing across speech samples o Of the three speech samples you analyzed, which one seems to have the best intelligibility? Which one has the worst? Explain why that is. o If you had two or more participants with the same first language background, what were the similarities and differences between them? Were these similarities and differences predictable or were you surprised? Explain. o If the participants used different diagnostic tests, which one of the diagnostic tests do you think gave the best representation of pronunciation difficulties? o What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the diagnostic tests the participants used?

Here is what we will do on Friday during class On Wednesday we will analyze the samples. On Friday, we will brainstorm teaching ideas for addressing the pronunciation issues identified in the analysis. Objective: By the end of class on Friday, you should have an idea about what pronunciation features you would teach to each person whose speech you analyzed. You do not need to create a detailed lesson plan. However, you do need to know what you would teach and how you would teach it (a general idea). Also, you will need to explain your rationale behind your pedagogy. In other words, explain why you chose to use a particular activity for teaching. Prescribing a pronunciation pedagogy In class on Friday, we will meet in our groups again to discuss all participants individually and your ideas for addressing their pronunciation difficulties. These ideas can come from anywhere including the textbook or your past experiences. In this section of your paper, you will need to describe two things. First, because the context of instruction has a direct influence on the type and effectiveness of the instruction you provide, describe the context of the instruction. Second, describe the teaching ideas you came up with. Explain the activities and what pronunciation problem(s) they address. Also, explain why the activities you chose would be more effective than other possible activities.