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McGregor et al. (2016) pointed out that most pronunciation textbooks treat intonation in a mechanistic way that belies its relationship to context. They chose to analyze aspects of intonation (prominence, salience, tone choice) employed in a Ted Talk using both a perceptual analysis (thought groups, pitch changes, etc.) and an interpretive analysis, examining given and new information, speaker’s perceived attitude toward content, and speaker’s perceived attitude toward audience. Ted Talks are generally recognized as informative monologues presented with the intent to persuade and educate in an effective manner, and are exemplars of successful communication. Speakers make an overall impression on their listeners not only through the content of what they say, but how they say it in real time. McGregor et al. showed in this study that intonation conveyed the speaker’s attitude toward both the content and the audience – thus it carried meaning that goes far beyond the typical atomistic treatment of intonation in pronunciation texts (e.g., raise pitch at the end of a yes/no question). Intonation, they argue, contributes to meaning-making in a holistic way and should be taught as such. They suggest bringing students’ attention to the general impression created by the speaker, followed by an examination of how that impression was developed by examining the structure of the talk.