Freshman Aural-Oral Training
Instructor: Karen Steffen Chung

Please see Karen Chung`s homepage at:
http://ccms.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/
for more information.

Course overview:

This required course for freshmen has two foci: correcting pronunciation and intonation; and offering opportunities to practice English listening comprehension skills.

This will be done by:

(1) memorizing and reciting one poem a week; students will receive individual guidance in correct pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm when they recite; corrections will be recorded in a pronunciation journal;

(2) going through the text _Clear Speech: Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension in North American English_, 2nd ed. (Judy Gilbert. 1993. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; available through 東華書局) to learn the basics of practical English phonetics and intonation; and

(3) doing weekly take-home listening assignments, including transcriptions, cloze exercises, and answering questions on the content of recorded pieces, e.g., TV programs, movies, talk radio, and pop songs; some of the exercises will be based on audio, video, text and graphic files available on the Internet.

Students are requested to bring a blank 90-minute cassette tape on which will be recorded the poems and some of the listening exercises. The assigned textbook may be purchased as a group after the first day of class. A small notebook will be needed as a `pronunciation journal` to record pronunciation corrections.


Grade calculation:

Students` grades will be based on class participation and performance, occasional dictations, a written and oral final exam, and attendance.

Students who are absent from more than three classes or are late to class more than five times without a valid excuse will not receive a grade for this course.