STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE INTONATION AS A SECOND LANGUAGE ENGLISH SPEAKER

Abstract

Most non-native English speakers are first language speakers of their indigenous languages, many of which are tonal, as opposed to English which is an intonational language. As a result, earlier investigations have shown that they often find it difficult to properly utilize intonation in their discourse, making their utterances lack the depth and melody of spoken communication. This paper therefore seeks to address the problem by presenting step-by-step approaches to personal intonation learning as most non-native Oral English textbooks do not adequately address this concern. This work is a review study that relies on both published and unpublished sources to establish a distinction between the application of tone in tonal languages and its use in intonational languages. The study concludes with the hope that user’s application of techniques such as pausing, reducing unstressed syllables, practicing imitation and using intonation in context will lead to improved intonation usage.