Despite the enthusiasm for communicative language teaching in Japan, intonation teaching has been confused and is lacking in an agreed theoretical base. This paper first compares six intonation theories to seek the most appropriate intonation theory for pedagogical use. The discussion of the intonation theories follows two perspectives: 1) to see how practical and easy the notation system is, 2) to evaluate the validity of the intonation theories. With regard to the notation system, simplicity and the accuracy of representing intonation contour are considered. Moreover, as for the validity of intonation theory, the importance of the discourse perspective is taken into account. As it fulfils these conditions, this paper finally proposes David Brazil's discourse intonation theory as the most appropriate theoretical foundation for intonation teaching.
ARELE: Annual Review of English Language Education in Japan 11 (0), 91-100, 2000
The Japan Society of English Language Education