Re: [iatefl_pronsig] Re: "There's no agreement..."
Hi Steph, Alex et al. I read the IELTS rubric, and it does seem pretty detailed and likely to be useful to scoring test takers. However, i noticed that there was no mention of prosody or suprasegmental features. I liked the part about "L1 accent has minimal effect on intelligibility." This alludes to native-like pronunciation, and we can infer, prosody.
Well, i must get back to my sylable-adding and phonetically challenged Japanese university students. Today is presentation day...
Cheers, c.
--- On Fri, 19/6/09, stephanie gilkes <stephaniegilkes@...> wrote:
From: stephanie gilkes <stephaniegilkes@...> Subject: [iatefl_pronsig] Re: "There's no agreement..." To:
iatefl_pronsig@... Date: Friday, 19 June, 2009, 12:28 PM
Hi Alex,
that's a very good point, the descriptors are quite vague and, at least by default, they are native-speaker referenced. I can't quote them exactly (for confidentiality reasons, although also due to a poor memory!), but the description of prosody (in the higher bands) is mainly in terms of discourse 'chunking' and only talks about it being 'acceptable' . I'm sure you are right that examiners would interpret 'acceptable' to mean 'the way native speakers do it.'
Although fairly vague, the 'revised pronunciation scale' (2007) is a vast improvement on the old scale, which was extremely vague. It's available here for anyone who is interested: http://www.ielts. org/PDF/UOBDs_ SpeakingFinal. pdf
Steph
--- In iatefl_pronsig@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "pronsig_mod" <pronsig_mod@ ...> wrote:
>
> Hi Steph,
>
> I think the fact that prosodic features are 'tested' in oral exams is an important point. The problem is deciding which aspects of prosody should be measured. The definitions used in international exams and in the Common European framework are incredibly vague - generally they just say that intonation must be correct!
> Oral examiners are experienced teachers and are given training, but intonation seems to be judged subjectively with little indication of what counts as a significant error. If intonation patterns are just about 'sounding like a native' then surely we should drop them completely from tests that are supposed to be measuring communicative competence.
>
> Alex.
>
>
>
>
> --- In iatefl_pronsig@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "stephanie gilkes" <stephaniegilkes@ > wrote:
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I just wanted to add a minor point to this discussion. Regarding item 5 'intonation doesn't really matter': on a practical note, it does matter for people intending to take the IELTS exam. In the new pronunciation scale, prosodic features are essential criteria for bands 7 to 9.
> >
> > Steph
> >
> > --- In iatefl_pronsig@ yahoogroups. co.uk, jmtiziani@ wrote:
> > >
> > >
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