{"id":1140,"date":"2017-11-16T11:31:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T16:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grieve-smith.com\/blog\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2022-12-03T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T19:33:06","slug":"teaching-with-accent-tags-in-the-face-to-face-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grieve-smith.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/teaching-with-accent-tags-in-the-face-to-face-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching with accent tags in the face-to-face classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

In September I wrote about how I used accent tag videos<\/a> to teach phonetic transcription in my online linguistics classes. Since I could not be there in person, the videos provided a stable reference that we could all refer to from our computers around the country. Having two pronunciations to compare drew the students? attention to the differences between them – one of the major reasons<\/a> phonetic transcription was invented – and the most natural level of detail to include in the answer.<\/p>\n

In the Fall of 2015 I was back in the classroom teaching Introduction to Phonology, and I realized that those features – a stable reference and multiple pronunciations of the same word with small differences – were also valuable when we were all in the same room. I used accent tag clips in exercises on transcription and other skills, such as identifying phonetic traits like tongue height and frication.<\/p>\n

One of my students, Alice Nkanga, pointed out a feature of YouTube that I wasn’t aware of before: you can adjust the speed of playback down to one-quarter speed, and it auto-corrects the pitch, which can help with transcription.<\/p>\n

After reading my previous post another linguist, Jessi Grieser, said that she liked the idea, so I shared some of my clips with her. She used them in her class, including a clip I made contrasting two African American women – one from Chicago and one from New York – saying the word ?oil.?<\/p>\n