What is Suprasegmental

This chapter reports on a study which evaluates the effect of a language teaching approach called the Somatically-Enhanced Approach (Zhang, 2006)in the teaching of Thai to Vietnamese learners in Vietnam. The teaching methodology deals with training students’ pronunciation in Thai from the beginning. Innovations include: the using relaxation techniques to relax students; the use of humming, clapping and physical gestures to emphasize the rhythm of Thai; the use of a Speech comparison tool (Sptool) (Zhang & Newman, 2003) and the provision of all learning materials on CD-ROMs. Results show that after 12 face-to-face hours, Vietnamese students who undertook an intensive course in SEA achieved the same level of fluency in spoken Thai, in limited contexts, as their fellow students who studied Thai for 1 year using the traditional approach. Both quantitative and qualitative results of the study will be briefly reported including an evaluation of the Speech comparison tool.