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This paper discusses language awareness activities for sensitising trainee English-language teachers to suprasegmental phonological features in English, with particular reference to features associated with the concept of 'stress timing'. After an initial discussion of stress timing and how it relates to English, the article discusses the use of quasi-authentic material drawn from a television programme – with which course participants were familiar – as the source material for the language awareness exercises on suprasegmental phonology. The article discusses why segmental phonology is given broad coverage on many English-language teacher training programmes but suprasegmental phonology is not; in part, it is argued, because segmental features are more easily explained and taught than suprasegmental ones. The article therefore makes a case for using material which is authentic and with which participants are familiar – hence the use of a popular television programme. Having made a case for use of the material described, the article describes how participants are made aware of features of stress timing by using computer technology which allows graphics of the speech waveforms to be captured and subsequently analysed.
