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ELT in Japan

Issue #4 (October 2011)

This issue's feature articles are:

1. Teaching English /l/ and /r/ to EFL learners: a lexical approach

2. Basics of vocabulary study in TOEIC practice class

3. Another way to integrate more vocabulary practice and learning into TOEIC lessons

Feature 1: Teaching English /l/ and /r/ to EFL learners: a lexical approach

Charles Jannuzi

University of Fukui, Japan

Introduction

English /r/, /l/ and contrasts across these two categories of sounds are often judged to be

pronunciation and listening perception problems for a variety of EFL learners, most from E. Asia.

The language backgrounds most often associated with these problems are Japanese, Korean,

Chinese and some languages of SE Asia (e.g., Thai but also Cantonese Chinese). Other language

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speakers may also express an interest in improving their pronunciation of English /r/ and /l/,

including Russian and German EFL learners, in order to reduce an accent.

Perhaps the most well-known group to have a problem with the two categories of English /l/ and /r/

sounds is Japanese EFL learners. This could be because their native language background creates

the most difficult problems to overcome, both in terms of listening perception and spoken

production. It could also be, in part, because Japan attained affluence before most of the rest of Asia

and hired native speakers of English to help teach and model the language. Meanwhile, because of

their relative affluence, many Japanese learners of English went abroad to study. So a lot of

information based on knowledge and experience of Japanese and Japanese learners of EFL has been

exchanged and discussed in 'global ELT'.

This paper describes and explains classroom procedures and activities to guide and help learners

make a systematic distinction between English /l/ and /r/. One unifying principle of the procedures

is that they adhere to a lexical approach—that is, pronunciation is best taught using the most

frequent and useful words of the English lexicon. The procedures and activities are not limited to

English /l/ and /r/ and could be extended and applied to other problem sounds and contrasts of

English or any other language.

What is the issue for Japanese learners of English?

In the case of Japanese learners of English, just what is the issue? Accounts vary and can even

contradict not only each other but themselves. The most common, internally consistent account is

based on a simple 'contrastive analysis'. Japanese is said to have one categorical sound (or

phoneme) whereas English has two. The Japanese sound is often referred to as a type of [r] that is

tapped, flapped and/or trilled. The Japanese sound never closes a syllable and has a very limited

distribution in Japanese (for example, it is only found at the beginning of words if they are foreign

loans). In other words, the word-initial form of Japanese /r/ is limited to words of foreign origin

(e.g., ramen, a type of Chinese noodles now a national dish in Japan, or ramune, a soda the name

for which seems to be derived from the English word lemonade). Another commonly occuring form

of the Japanese /r/ is as the initial part of the syllables (syllable onsets) used in grammatical

inflections (such as verb forms, which are suffixes in Japanese).

English-speaker descriptions of the Japanese sound--or of the Japanese learner of English's inter- language sound--represent the Japanese (or inter-language) sound as variably resembling English

/l/, /r/, or /d/ (especially [d] in the middle of a word, like in the word middle). Phonetic descriptions

have also said that the American medial tapped, voiced [t] of words such as little are quite like the

Japanese /r/.

However, it is not really clear how useful a cross-linguistic, contrastive analysis of phoneme

inventories is in diagnosing the problems or in helping Japanese learners of English to overcome

them. For one thing, the often-stated argument that Japanese has only ONE phoneme, Japanese /r/,

is arguably wrong. That is because, using structuralist criteria for determining what is and what is

not a phoneme, we can isolate at least two Japanese [r] sounds that are distinct: initial [r-], such as

in the word rou (candlewax) from palatalized initial [r-] in ryou (dormitory).

Also, it is also misleading to teach EFL learners that there is one English /r/ and one English /l/.

That is because they will hear native and fluent speakers of English make a wide array of both

categories of sounds in actual speech. The real issue, though, is: What is THE SAME across the

[l]s that make them an English /l/, and what is THE SAME across the [r]s that make them an

English /r/? Phonology as an academic pursuit has not really answered that question. Phonetic

analysis shows, in terms of articulation, that there is a wide variety within both categories of

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sounds. Interestingly, the distribution in the lexicon of English [r] sounds strongly parallels English

[l] sounds: word-initial (right vs. light), word-initial cluster unvoiced (crime vs. climb), word-initial

cluster voiced (grow vs. glow), post-vocalic (fear vs. feel, stir vs. still), medial (correct vs. collect),

and unstressed syllabic (batter vs. battle).

There is some complementary distribution if we consider clusters: [tr-] as in true but no [tl-], [sl] as

in slide but no [sr-], [shr-] as in shred but no [shl] (except some loan words), and [l] can cluster with

[r] post-vocalically, as in girl or world, but not vice versa. Moreover, since both of these sound

categories tend toward phonetically 'vowel-like' (voiced and relatively unobstructed), perhaps it is

not surprising that in some cases they might reduce to a vowel or vowel lengthening in some

accents, dialects and word contexts (such as post-vocalic [r] in the forms of the English of London,

Boston, NY and New Orleans, or the lost [l] of the words chalk, talk, walk, etc.).

Given the variety of English /r/ and /l/ sounds and how they parallel each other in the phonotactics

and lexicon of English, it is little wonder that EFL learners, even after they have practiced making

an English /r/ vs. /l/ distinction (often initial [l] vs. initial [r], e.g., led vs. red, light vs. right, etc.),

lose the ability when actually communicating orally. The one distinction they may have learned gets

lost in the thicket of the lexicon, the various [l] and [r] sounds in all their positional variation, and in

all those varieties of English. Therefore, it is best to teach--over a period of time and through a

variety of activities--the full parallel variety of English /r/ and /l/ sounds as found in the MOST

FREQUENT WORDS of the lexicon. A proposed sequence is this: first the variety of English /l/s,

then the variety of English /r/s, then /l/ vs. /r/ contrasts in common words, then a follow up on the

variety of post-vocalic [r]s in rhotic accents, such as US and Canadian forms of English.

What sequence should be used to teach English /l/ and /r/?

One line of reasoning might say that, since English /r/ is typically the last consonant acquired by

native speakers, it might be best to teach English /l/ first to EFL learners because of the inherent

difficulties with the English /r/ group of related sounds. A different line of reasoning that might

support this first approach might be based on inter-language analysis. If Japanese has its own /r/

sound, the argument goes, then Japanese learners of EFL would find it easier to differentiate and

master English /l/ first. However, as noted above, Japanese /r/ and Japanese learners' inter- language /r/ and /l/ sounds are often described as sounding more like English /l/ (or /d/ or medial

voiced tapped [t]) than English /r/. If all these arguments are considered together, the issue of which

sequence to follow starts to look rather difficult to decide.

One compromise might be to conclude that the Japanese /r/ and palatal /r/ are not acceptable

substitutes for either English /l/ or /r/ and to start an instructional sequence with English /l/ first.

The strongest justification for English /l/ coming first is that even English native speakers, in terms

of production, typically acquire /r/ last in their language development and this complex set of

sounds actually often requires remedial practice.

Sequence of instruction

So one possible proposed sequence of instruction (as a pronunciation segment of a longer class,

such as 20 minutes out of a 90 minute class period) is as follows:

First class: English /l/

Second class: Review of English /l/, English /r/