Phonetik im Fremdsprachenunterricht Deutsch by Helga DielingReview by: Dorothy M. ChunThe Modern Language Journal, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 127-128Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers AssociationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/329286 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 09:21

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Wiley and National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations are collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to The Modern Language Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.142.30.234 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:21:35 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

BEILE, WERNER & ALICE BEILE. Alltag in Deutschland. Inter Nationes, 1992. Pp. 223. Paper. --. Two audiocassettes.

Alltag in Deutschland, a series of brief conversa- tions on twelve topics, is available in book form and on tape. The primary purpose of the set is to build audio understanding and vocabulary in such general areas as Wohnen, Tagesabliiufe, Einkaufen, Essen gehen and Reisen, but also some unusual topics, such as Autoinspektion and Das grammatische Telefon (a grammar-advice service). The authors make it clear that they are not giv- ing a systematic introduction to German life, but intend their texts to be used as supplements to normal classes and books, and to be selected by teachers according to their individual needs.

Teachers could start using the texts at an in- termediate level. Almost every chapter has at least one part that can be used with the inter- mediate level student: the Erstellter Einstiegstext, an introduction to the topic spoken by profes- sional actors at average speed in a controlled setting. Other texts in each chapter use ordin- ary native speakers, noncontrolled settings, of- ten with background noises, poor enunciation, and many colloquialisms. Texts become pro- gressively more difficult, with some being char- acterized as useful for advanced learners only.

Beile and Beile give some guidelines for using these texts in the classroom. Each series of dia- logues comes with teaching tips, which range from preparatory discussions to guided listen- ing or vocabulary exercises and often lead be- yond the texts at hand, suggesting role plays involving the students' own experience, for ex- ample. There are also Lerntips on good listening and learning skills; particularly helpful ones (pp. 157, 163, or 186, for example) are listed to- gether in the introduction and should probably be read by students before any exercises are done.

The first good thing about any such collec- tion of listening exercises is that they are pro- vided. Students do not get enough exposure to different audio materials or different speakers in a normal classroom setting. Topics and exer- cises are generally helpful and could theo- retically be used by any teacher, regardless of textbook or approach.

In practice, of course, there are some prob- lems. First of all, there is the time factor. Going through the texts and the exercises in a chapter in detail could take hours of classroom time. Selecting only part of a chapter will be useful, but then much of the cumulative effect of listen- ing to increasingly more difficult patterns and dialogues will be lost. Second, the book has no glossary. While some helpful hints attempt to train students to find their way through texts when they do not know every word and to get meaning from context, working with the book may occasionally be frustrating. Finally, there is no attempt to integrate some grammar practice. The book is, of course, not a grammar review text, but a few more exercises like the preposi- tion use on page 197 might have been helpful, and teachers using the texts might consider pre- paring some such exercises of their own.

HEIDI M. ROCKWOOD Georgia Institute of Technology

127

"Le Secteur tertiaire en pleine expansion," and an essay on marine pollution.

As for the editorial work, one does not really find here, as claimed, "un appareil pidagogique complet" (preface), but many of the activities that have been provided will facilitate wide- ranging oral and written expression. Less- talented class members may appreciate having true-false items and boxes to fill with factual information. The chapter-by-chapter glossing, though generally adequate, is less extensive than would be desirable for second-year classes; there is no end-of-book vocabulary list. A few annoying typos-e.g., "petits files" (p. 69) and "sont tet baties" (p. 106)-escaped the eyes of the otherwise careful proofreaders.

RICHARD DANNER Ohio University

DIELING, HELGA. Phonetik im Fremdsprache- nunterricht Deutsch. Berlin: Langenscheidt, 1992. Pp. 134. Paper.

Since many contemporary beginning language textbooks lack pronunciation guides or exer-

This content downloaded from 193.142.30.234 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:21:35 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

128 The Modern Language Journal 78 (1994)

cises and encourage more "global" acquisition of the language without specific attention to phonetics, the first purpose of this handbook is to inform (and ultimately persuade) teachers of German about the important role of phonetics in foreign language instruction. The second purpose is to present the main phonetic diffi- culties that speakers of other languages en- counter when learning German. Inventories of the sound systems of thirty languages are included.

The first three chapters provide very general descriptions of how and why phonetics should be taught. In chapter one, Dieling advocates the teaching and learning of pronunciation, not for the sake of phonetics, but rather for the sake of improving communication between speakers and hearers. For this reason, intona- tion, or speech melody, is thought to be a more important component of phonetics than indi- vidual phonemes. Chapter two briefly outlines what teachers must know about phonetics and phonology, including intonation, phonetic transcription, rules of pronunciation, and stan- dard pronunciation vs. dialectal variations. The third chapter cursorily sketches what students need to know about phonetics and the psycho- logical barriers that hinder mastery of pronun- ciation, e.g., interference from one's native language.

Chapter four provides a more detailed dis- cussion of what can be done in instruction. However, the descriptions of both the "tools," such as the language lab, transcriptions and practice with minimal pairs, as well as the meth- odology for teaching, reflect fairly traditional practices. The types of exercises suggested are found in other handbooks on pronunciation. For example, at the global level learners distin- guish which word in the speech act has the greatest prominence or whether a speaker is speaking in a neutral, angry, or friendly way; at the intonational level, they focus on which sylla- ble has the accent or whether the melody rises or falls; at the phonemic level, they distinguish long vs. short vowels; at the phonetic level, they learn how /r/ is pronounced in different en- vironments; at the orthographic level, they learn the correlation between sound and sym- bol in German and how to overcome the inter- ference from the orthographic conventions in their native language.

Chapter five briefly outlines the different materials beyond the traditional books and work sheets that can be useful in pronunciation training, particularly those addressing other

senses (e.g., tactile tools, audio materials, graphic charts and drawings, and audiovisual materials such as videos). Computers can be used to display articulatory information and help with phonetic training, but unfortunately, their potential is downplayed because the author feels that they are not universally accessible.

The second half of the book is contained in chapter six and presents the major phonetic difficulties for speakers of thirty languages- as well as German dialect speakers-who are learning (High) German. Despite the author's belief that intonation is more important than individual sounds, for each of the languages only brief references are made to intonation, word and sentence accent, and other supraseg- mental features, usually in a single paragraph, and with sweeping, general statements; for ex- ample, "Arabic intonation is softer than Ger- man intonation, which is marked by a staccato rhythm" (p. 68), or "Finnish and German in- tonational patterns are very different, and this causes Finnish speakers considerable diffi- culties in adopting the models of the target language [German] which may seem not infre- quently to be over-excited" (pp. 78-79). For each of the thirty languages, a phonetic inven- tory of the vowels and consonants is provided. However, not even the affricates or diphthongs are listed, nor is the phonemic system dis- cussed. The inventory for each language is then compared with the German inventory, and the sound-symbol relationship for each orthographic system completes the two-page summary for each language.

In summary, this handbook might be of gen- eral use to teachers of German as a foreign language whose students speak a variety of mother tongues. It would not be useful for German teachers in the United States whose students are primarily English speakers. In ad- dition, the level of generality, the brief, some- times superficial explanations, and the lack of innovative exercises or the incorporation of recent pedagogical theories and methods for teaching foreign languages make it of limited use for those wanting to teach more than the individual sounds of the language. The bibli- ography is also unfortunately not as complete or up-to-date as it could be.

DOROTHY M. CHUN University of California, Santa Barbara

This content downloaded from 193.142.30.234 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:21:35 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions