Why is Intonation a Cinderella in Class?

Abstract

Little attention has been given to intonation in English teaching here. This is in spite of the often acclaimed target of communicative English. Empirically speaking, this deplorable state of affairs is reflected in the indifference to the subject and hence lack of understanding of it on the part of many teachers, and publishers as well who put together teachers’ manuals or guides. There are quite a few English phrases and sentences in textbooks where the intonation deviates from the ‘standard’ norms, though not for contrastive purposes. Apparently there is no logical reason behind highlighting function words or repeated words. Unfortunately the teachers’ manuals make no reference to them, to say nothing of explaining such exceptional cases. This paper focuses on ‘intonation in context’ seen in a few textbooks for junior high schools, shows how it is almost always treated like a stepchild in class, compared with other aspects of instruction, and then proposes a few concrete and practicable ideas by which to improve the situation. In particular I discuss mainly default/‘normal’ intonation patterns versus colloquial ones, quoting examples from the textbooks and explaining intonational meanings of them.