“What is the best way to organize class discussions and conversation groups and still promote pronunciation learning?”
          Answer by Janet Goodwin:

Using Discussion Gambit Cards to Practice Prominence & Intonation

This purpose of this activity is twofold:

1. To give learners the tools to participate effectively in a discussion (i.e., the typical gambits)
2. To practice appropriate prominence and intonation patterns while using these discussion gambits

These cards can be used in any discussion in which the participants need to express ideas and opinions and in which there might be disagreement. Although the cards could be used in a whole class discussion, they are recommended for small group discussions of 3-5 participants. Depending on the level of the learners, the teacher should make a decision regarding how many gambits to use and how linguistically complex. (A sample sheet of gambit cards is provided here.)

Procedure

1. The teacher should first present the various types of "gambits" (i.e., discourse moves) a participant might make during adiscussion: beginning a discussion (the designated leader uses these gambits); participating & expressing an opinion; expressing agreement; expressing polite disagreement, clarifying one's opinion; and asking for clarification.
2. At this point, the teacher can either elicit some examples from the class or proceed directly to the overhead (see attachedfile of gambit cards for an example). The learners should also receive a copy of the overhead as a worksheet.
3. While pronouncing each gambit aloud, the teachers mark s both an appropriate (perhaps not the ONLY appropriate)prominent element and intonation contour on the overhead. An example might be: "In MY opinion" (the capitals show the prominent element in this phrase). Learners should make the same notations of prominence and intonation on their sheets.
4. While looking at the gambits with the notations, learners practice each gambit chorally until the teacher is satisfied that thelearners are producing acceptable prominence and intonation for each gambit.
5. Ideally, learners should then cut up the sheet into "cards." In this way, they will have their own notations for prominenceand intonation on the cards to help them. Then, during the discussion, each participant tries to use as many differentgambit cards as possible.
6. In one variation, the teacher can assign a point value to different cards and players can earn points by "playing" the cards,i.e. using the gambit in the discussion. For example, the teacher can assign 1-3 points per gambit, depending on thecomplexity of the phrase--e.g. "in my opinion" might be only 1 point but "I see what you mean but..." might be worth 2 points, etc.
7. Players keep the stack of cards in front of them but move each "played" card to a new stack (to be able to tally points atthe end).
8. The teacher (or a designated student within each group) can monitor for correct placement of prominence and intonation.
9. The cards can be used over again; however, the teacher might need to copy them on heavier stock and laminate them if they are used frequently.

For additional tips on running a structured discussion, see:

Goodwin, J. (1997). Getting into the content. In D. Brinton & P. Master (Eds.), New ways in content-based instruction. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

For additional information on prominence and intonation patterns in English, see:
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. & Goodwin J. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers ofEnglish to speakers of other languages. Cambridge University Press.

Discussion Gambit Index Cards

Beginning a discussion
 

Is everyone ready to begin?

The question we are going to discuss today is ________

We're here to talk about  _______.

What do you think about ________?

 

 Participating in the discussion
 

I think that ________

Well, in my opinion, ______

To bring up another point, ________

I'd like to point out that__________

As I see it, ___

Don't you agree that_____

Expressing agreement
 

That's a good point.

I couldn't agree more.

That's my feeling exactly.

I tend to agree with you.

Expressing polite disagreement
 

But don't you think that ________

I'm not sure I agree with you  on that.

What I think is___________

I can see your point but__________

I see what you mean but _________.

 

Clarifying one's opinion
 

That's not exactly what I mean is ____

Let me put it another way____

What I 'm trying to say is____

My point is that____

 
Asking for clarification

I didn't follow what you said about ____

I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Could you explain that again?