Teaching intonation on questions Susan Thompson

Transcription

1 Teaching intonation on questions Susan Thompson The teaching of English intonation is often perceived as a difficult, if not impossible task, because of the complexities of the intonation system. However, increasing interest is now being focused on the relationship between intonation choices and the speaker s communicative intention. This paper examines current teaching models for intonation on questions, as exemplified in a range of published EFL teaching materials, and discusses one area of intonation on questions which is frequently neglected for teaching purposes: a falling tone on yes/no questions. An alternative teaching model for intonation on yes/no questions is proposed which prioritizes the speaker s communicative intentions. Introduction A casual browse through recently published EFL teaching materials is likely to show that in many of them intonation is either completely missing or dealt with in a rather haphazard way. This perhaps accurately reflects the current uncertain status of intonation in EFL: The average teacher is uncomfortable with intonation, treating it as a difficult subject: difficult to isolate. difficult to describe, and difficult to formulate rules for - rules which will allow students to generate appropriate examples for themselves. As such. it tends to receive little explicit focus in the classroom (Woolard 1993: 24). Given these widespread uncertainties, it is not perhaps surprising that, out of all the possible functions of intonation which could be dealt with. a few old favourites tend to appear again and again in published teaching materials. One of the most popular of these is the choice of falling and rising tones on wh- and yes/no questions. In this article. I would first like to look critically at current models for teaching intonation on questions. I will then focus on one area of intonation on questions frequently neglected for teaching purposes: the function of a falling tone on yes/no questions. I will propose an alternative teaching model for intonation on yes/no questions, and will argue that any such teaching models for intonation should be based primarily on the communicative intention of the speaker. Approaches to We can identify three main current approaches to dealing with this teaching teaching point. which I will term the benign neglect approach. the intonation on grammatical approach, and the interpersonal approach. I outline these questions three approaches below, and detail some of the problems associated with each of them. ELT Journal Volume 49/3 July 1995 Oxford University Press

2 The benign neglect Given the widespread perception that intonation is an immensely approach difficult and complicated subject which is not teachable, and possibly not learnable either (Taylor 1993: 2), it is not surprising to find that many recent EFL materials completely omit the teaching of intonation (see, for example. the Grapevine 1 and the Fast Forward 3). In other recently published EFL materials. the teaching of intonation is implicit rather than explicit. For example. in The Beginners Choice Teacher s Book the teacher is advised that: The grammatical approach 236 Susan Thompson The development of good intonation habits is best dealt with via exposure to and imitation of contextualised examples, with plenty of opportunity of practice. (p. 14) Learners are offered no rules about intonation choices: rather, they are encouraged to acquire appropriate intonation patterns through exposure to authentic or quasi-authentic listening materials, and practice activities such as listen-and-repeat or language awareness tasks. However. although we may accept that some of the finer details of intonation are best acquired rather than taught (particularly with beginners), there appear to be important and generalizable functions of intonation which are teachable. As Taylor suggests, our aim should be to teach features of intonation which can be presented clearly and understandably. in a way that makes sense to both teachers and learners and which give some insight into the broad workings and functions of intonation in English. (Taylor 1993: 2) This, perhaps the dominant, approach, is based on a model which seeks to make a correlation between the grammatical type of question and the intonation pattern chosen. For example. Headway Intermediate Pronunciation. Unit 2.7 provides an exercise on Rising and falling intonation in questions. Learners are asked to listen to two types of questions. wh- and yes/no. and to decide on the tone used for each. They are then asked to formulate a rule about this. The answer key states: Questions with the answer yes or no go up at the end. Questions starting with a wh-word (e.g. what, where, which, who, how, etc.) go down at the end. (p. 89) Similar explanations occur in Pronunciation in Action (186-7). Workout Intermediate (p. 23) and Sounds English (p. 18). The major problem with this simple grammar/intonation model is that it does not work in a number of cases. To indicate this. we can examine two examples of authentic interactions in which wh- and yes/no questions were used. The first example comes from a televised chat show interview. during which sixteen questions were asked by the interviewer: seven wh- and nine yes/no. As Table 1 shows, of the seven wh- questions used, six carried a falling tone, which corresponds well with the grammatical rule given above. However, for the yes/no questions we find that of nine examples, four carried a falling tone, which contradicts the teaching rule.

3 Table 1: The chat show No. of Tone choice occurrences Example wh- + fall 6 what do you do then as a couple now wh- + rise 1 how much more therapy have you got to go through now yes/no + fall 4 were you prepared for it to come back yes/no + rise 5 has it brought you closer to God Since it can be argued that chat show interviews are a rather special type of interaction, and that this might influence the selection of tone choices on questions (Tench 1988: 345). it is worth comparing these results with those for a casual conversation (Svartvik and Quirk 1980: ). Table 2 shows the configuration of intonation choices made by the participants. Table 2: The casual conversation No. of Tone choice occurrences Example wh- + fall 12 what in fact did you do wh- + rise 0 yes/no + fall 8 are you going to America yes/no + rise 6 d you teach Here again we find a heavy preponderance of falling tone on whquestions, but a fairly even distribution between yes/no questions with a falling tone and those with a rising tone. It is true that a number of EFL materials writers who espouse the grammatical approach to intonation on questions have recognized that the neatness of their grammar/intonation model is spoilt by a few fairly common exceptions. The most popular of these seems to be that we may choose a rising tone on a wh- question to perform certain functions. For example. in Headway Intermediate Pronunciation. learners are taught that because the speaker here is using the question to show surprise the intonation goes up at the end of the question (p. 63). Another popular teaching point is the use of a rising tone on whquestions to request a repetition: Sounds English, for example, teaches that a speaker might use such an echo question because he/she did not hear or understand or believe what was said (p. 19). From these examples. it is clear that the writers of these materials accept that a simple distinction between rising and falling tones in questions based on the grammatical type of question is inadequate. Nevertheless. these materials seem to present a rising tone on wh- question simply as an exception to a grammatically-based rule. And, from my own teaching experience, many EFL students (and quite a few EFL teachers) have intemalized the wh- question down, yes/no question up rule so successfully that they are frequently reluctant to let it go even for these exceptions. The interpersonal The recognition that we may choose a rising tone on wh- questions to approach signal surprise or a request for repetition indicates the importance of intonation choices in the expression of attitude and in conversation management, for which we might use the general term 'interpersonal Teaching intonation on questions 237

4 functions. In a number of recently published EFL materials, there is evidence of an increasing focus on the interpersonal role of intonation as it is manifested in so-called 'polite intonation : for example. in Reward Pre-Intermediate students are given practice in listening to and producing 'polite intonation in questions (p. 71) and English Aloud I (p. 27) includes asking questions politely. Workout Upper Intermediate Teacher s Book explains that for wh- questions The intonation in questions changes when you want to be particularly polite and that the intonation rises on the last word and is more polite (p. 101). However. this is as far as it goes with the teaching materials in my study: a fairly limited view of the interpersonal function of intonation on questions which focuses entirely on politeness. And. yet again, these materials concentrate on the function of a rising tone on wh- questions only. The Increasingly. the focus of research into intonation (see. for example, communicative Brown et al. 1980: Brazil 1985; Tench 1988) has shifted away from a function of grammatical view to one which emphasizes the relationship between intonation intonation and the communicative intention of the speaker in a particular situation. For example, Brazil argues that any tendency for certain tone choices on questions to be associated with certain grammatical structures is a fact about situations and not a deterministic relationship between question type and tone selection (1985: 173). Given the development of a communicative approach to language teaching, it seems particularly relevant to consider the teaching implications of a communicative or interactive view of intonation. As Kenworthy argues. 'That work on intonation should focus on its role in interaction should be uncontroversial (1992: 73). In the next section, I will discuss the possible communicative function of tone choice in yes/no questions. Falling tone on So far it should be clear that many EFL materials pay far greater yes/no questions: attention to tone choice on wh- questions than on yes/no questions. Yet a neglected Tables 1 and 2 demonstrate that. at the very least. a falling tone on yes/ choice no questions rivals a rising tone on wh- questions for inclusion in our teaching model. Whereas we find only one example of a rising tone on wh- questions, we find twelve examples of falling tone on yes/no questions in these two interactions. However, in the EFL materials analysed for this study, I found only one instance (in Pronunciation Tasks Unit 46) of a falling intonation pattern on yes/no questions exemplified even as an exception to the general rule. This would be acceptable, perhaps. if the occurrence of a falling tone on yes/no questions were extremely rare, but it should already be clear that this is unlikely to be the case. It is possible that this neglect is due to the lack of an appropriate pedagogic explanation of the function of falling tone on yes/no questions, or it may be because designers of EFL teaching materials are unaware of the frequency of this pattern. Another contributing factor may be the understandable intertextuality of many EFL materials. such that materials writers are strongly influenced by the models used by previous generations of writers. Whatever the 238 Susan Thompson

5 reason, it appears that the choice of falling tone on yes/no questions is, potentially, an important pattern to consider for teaching purposes. Conducive and Bearing in mind the inadequacies of earlier grammatically-based non-conducive pedagogic rules for tone choice on questions, we need to be clear questions how the choice of a falling tone of a yes/no question creates a different communicative effect from the choice of a rising tone. Whilst recognizing the dangers of trying to attribute a straightforward form - function relationship in intonation, I would like to look at the function of tone choice on yes/no questions with reference to the notion of conducive and non-conducive questions (Hudson 1975; Tench 1988). Conducive questions are those to which the speaker thinks he or she already knows the answer, and expects the addressee to confirm expectations, while non-conducive questions are those to which the speaker does not think he or she already knows the answer, but thinks that the addressee does. Research (e.g. Brown et al. 1980; Tench 1988) has shown that a rising tone on a yes/no question indicates a nonconducive question (a real or open question) whilst a falling tone suggests a conducive (a leading or checking ) question. In the case of the chat show interview, if we accept the notion of a falling tone marking a conducive question, it seems that this interviewer asks conducive yes/ no questions (four occurrences) almost as often as non-conducive questions (five occurrences). This may be illustrated by two extracts from the interview. On this occasion, the interviewees are Roy, who is suffering from a terminal illness, and his wife Fiona. In the first extract, Roy has been explaining how they broke the news of his illness to their children: ROY Interviewer Fiona then I had to phone my son who s in Norway my eldest son my first-born and I just couldn t speak [fall] so did you take over then? I took over yes The interviewer uses a falling tone on the yes/no question. Earlier in the interview, it was established that both Roy and Fiona telephoned all their children with the news of Roy s illness; therefore it is a reasonable assumption for the interviewer that Fiona would take over if Roy were unable to speak to their son. The notion of conductivity therefore helps us to understand why the interviewer uses a yes/no question to check his assumption is correct. In the following extract, the interviewer asks about the effect of Roy s illness on the couple s lives: Interviewer [rise] has it recharged your relationship your lives everything ROY oh it s just made it we re more sure about what we were sure of anyway that s all The use of a non-conducive question here is understandable in that the interviewer cannot predict what Roy s answer might be. particularly Teaching intonation on questions 239

6 since the question is couched in a very open way, indicated by the last choice -everything which leaves Roy with a number of options for his response. An alternative Given the evidence of recent research, it would seem sensible to teaching model abandon the traditional grammatical/intonation of falling intonation on wh- questions (with exceptions allowed) and rising intonation on yes/no questions. since it is clear that this rule is inadequate and misleading. It also appears likely that the great interest in wh- questions with a rising tone may be misplaced, since this occurs relatively rarely: falling tone on yes/no questions is a more significant pattern. It also seems that we can formulate a workable teaching model which is more specific than simply talking about politeness on questions or relying hopefully on a process of natural acquisition to take care of the problem. This teaching rule could be formulated as: When you ask a yes/no question. if you don t know the answer. use a rising tone. but if think you may know the answer, use a falling tone. Learners should be exposed to plenty of authentic examples of yes/no questions and encouraged to think about situations in which they might use a yes/no question to check if they are correct in their assumptions. Clearly, wh- questions must be excluded from this teaching model. since what is at stake in these questions is not a yes-or-no answer but a request for information carried in the wh- word. So, in the utterance where is he going? the speaker asks the addressee to fill the gap indicated by where - there is no question as to whether or not he is going. simply where. It appears that the widely-used teaching model. wh- questions. falling tone, fits most cases. and that the occasional occurrence of a rising tone on whquestions. for example in a request for repetition, may be considered a relatively minor teaching point. 240 Generalizability One advantage of the proposed rule for intonation on yes/no questions is that it can cover other types of yes-or-no questions as well as yes/no questions: in other words, it has greater generalizability for teaching purposes. In the case of queclaratives (Geluykens 1988). or declarative utterances which function as questions, e.g. you re leaving at nine if a falling tone is used. the utterance functions as a statement, while use of a rising tone clearly indicates that the questioner does not know the answer but thinks the addressee does, i.e. the utterance is a nonconducive yes-or-no question. This point is covered by some EFL teaching materials, for example Collins COBUILD English Course 1. which has as one of its teaching points Questions signalled by rising intonation, e.g. No brothers? (T eac h er s Book: 11T). However, the point is simply illustrated by a couple of dialogues, and not actually taught or explained to the learners (see also The New Cambridge English Course 2, Unit 22). Susan Thompson

7 Tag questions Similarly. with tag questions, which are one of the most commonly taught uses of intonation (Kenworthy 1992: 74). a falling tone may be identified with a conducive function, whilst a rising tone can be associated with a non-conducive function. So, with a falling tone: [fall] he s nice. isn t he? the utterance is conducive, and the speaker simply requests confirmation of an assumption; with a rising tone: [rise] he s nice, isn t he? the utterance is non-conducive, and the speaker genuinely elicits information from the addressee. This point is well-covered by the EFL materials examined for this study; Streetwise Intermediate. for example. teaches: When the intonation on a question tag falls, we expect the answer to be yes. When the intonation rises. we are not sure of the answer and the question tag works like a genuine question (p. 74). Similar explanations are offered in Speaking Clearly. Unit 16, and The New Cambridge English Course 2, Unit 33. However, no linkage is made in the materials examined for this study between the intonation choices on tag questions and on yes/no questions, though it is evident that these two question types are related to each other. If we compare [fall] isn t he nice? with [fall] he s nice, isn t he? they both project the expected response yes. However. if we compare [rise] isn t he nice? with [rise] he s nice. isn t he? they both allow the addressee freedom to respond either negatively or positively. The importance of So far, I have been arguing that choice of falling or rising tone on a context yes/no question is related to the communicative value of the question itself, i.e. whether it is a real question or not. However, it may be appropriate at this point to remind ourselves of the huge importance of context in any interpretation of the meaning of an intonation choice. Given the subtlety of intonation in different contexts, no relatively simple rule about intonation choices is likely to cover every eventuality. For example. speakers might decide to use a rising tone on a yes/no question, indicating that they don t know the answer when in fact they do, in order to appear tentative and uncertain: such occurrences can be associated with politeness (Brown and Levinson 1987). For teaching purposes, we may have to be satisfied with a rule of Teaching intonation on questions 241

8 thumb which fits most cases and is straightforward enough for the learner to be able to assimilate. Nevertheless, a wise teacher will strive to raise learners awareness of the context-dependency of intonation, and will be prepared to admit that sometimes it is difficult to decide exactly why somebody chooses to use a particular intonation choice in a particular situation. Clearly there would be some problems in assigning a straightforward communicative function to a particular tone choice on yes/no questions (or indeed any other kind of intonation choice). However. I would argue that this would be no more of a problem for teachers and materials designers than to continue broadly ignoring the falling tone on yes/no questions. Conclusion As EFL practitioners, we are faced with the task of devising teaching models which balance simplicity and teachability with accuracy and generalizability. I would like to argue that the rule for teaching intonation on yes/no questions proposed in this paper meets these objectives, and conforms with current developments in helping our learners to understand and use interactive and communicative functions of intonation. Received April 1994 EFL materials Cunningham, S. and B. Bowler Headway Intermediate Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Geddes, M Fast Forward 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Greenall, S Reward Pre-Intermediate. Oxford: Heinemann. Haycraft, B English Aloud 1. Oxford: Heinemann. Hewings, M Pronunciation Tasks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mohamed, S. and R. Acklam The Beginners Choice Teacher s Book. London; Longman. Nolasco, R Streetwise Intermediate. Oxford: Oxford University Press. O Connor, J. D. and C. Fletcher Sounds English. London: Longman. Radley, P. and C. Millerchip Workout Intermediate. London: Nelson. Radley, P. and C. Millerchip Workout Upper Intermediate Teacher s Book. London: Nelson. Rogerson, P. and J. B. Gilbert Speaking Clearly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Swan, M. and C. Walter The New Cambridge English Course 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, L Pronunciation in Action. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. Viney, P. and K. Viney Grapevine 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Willis, J. and D. Willis Collins COBUILD English Course 1. London: Collins. 242 Susan Thompson

9 References Brazil, D The Communicative Value of Intonation. Monograph No. 8. Birmingham: University of Birmingham English Language Research. Brown, G., K. Currie, and J. Kenworthy Questions of Intonation. London: Croom Helm. Brown, P. and S. Levinson Politeness: Some Universals in Language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Geluykens, R On the myth of rising intonation in polar questions. Journal of Pragmatics 12: Hudson, R The meaning of questions. Language 51: l-31. Kenworthy, J Interactive intonation in A. Brown (ed.). Approaches to Pronunciation Teaching. London: The British Council/Modern English Publications. Svartvik, J. and R. Quirk (eds.) A Corpus of English Conversation. Lund: CWK Gleerup. Taylor, D. S Intonation and accent in English: what teachers need to know. Interna- tional Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 31/1: l-22. Tench, P The Roles of Intonation in English Discourse. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Woolard, G Intonation matters. Modern English Teacher 2/2: The author Susan Thompson is Deputy Director of the Applied English Language Studies Unit at the University of Liverpool. where she teaches courses for EFL and ESP teachers and coordinates language and study skills courses for overseas students. She has an MA in Applied Linguistics and is working towards a PhD in the analysis of academic discourse. She has worked in EFL/ESP and teacher training in Finland. Portugal. Hungary. Saudi Arabia. and China. and has published teaching materials and articles on ELT and discourse analysis. Her current interests include the analysis of spoken discourse. and the teaching of oral skills and pronunciation. Teaching intonation on questions 243